Branded With Love

This has already been called one of THE most powerful moments in Catalyst’s ten year history.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the arena after Jimmy Wambua met Mark, his Compassion Sponsor of 19 years, for the 1st time. It was an unbelievable moment… Jimmy begins to share at minute 3:45.

Compassion International is a great organization.
Check out their website right now.

Jason *over and out*

Main Session 4: Matt Chandler

Let me just say, Matt Chandler is one of my heroes. I know we don’t agree on everything, but I love to hear him speak. His passion for God and His Bible/Word are amazing to me. He has a great way of communicating things and is able to correct you and poke a little bit at your insecurities without making you feel like turning and giving up. Just has a way of bringing things clearly and balanced.

Okay, enough on my “man crush” Here are a few of my notes from His talk during day one of the main sessions…

• Hebrews 11, History is a weird animal, how history haunts
• The fall happens and fractures everything, Cain and Abel, God regrets He made us. Then the great children’s story when he destroys the world… We talk about this with our kids like it’s some kind of fable of child’s tale and do these stories/history a diservice and someitmes feel like as adults they don’t mean anything for us now. (And most of those Old Testament stories should scare the crap out of little kids).
  
• The rest of time it is God preparing the world for reconciliation from the fall
  
• Let all the nations be glad because of what God is doing
• 400 years of silence, then Jesus, and that is the Gospel, His sacrifice alone and grace of God
• Jesus walks righteous life, dies righteous death, Matthew 28 is a collision of human mess, Jesus ascends into heaven and some believe and some still doubted…
• It’s like there was a guy there looking up and just goes, “I don’t know… I dunno? I got a cousin down in Capernum who does something similar.” Are you kidding me? He went up into Heaven and you people are still doubting?!? Then…
  
• Peter gives the most un-seeker friendly sermon ever and thousands were added to their number. 3,000 and then 5,000 and then it keeps going by the hundreds.
• Cornelius’s house: Get up and eat Peter. THen it’s like Petere responds, “No way! Remember that rooster thing, nah uh, where is that rooster, no way man. No way.”
• Cornelius gets saved and Peter goes, oh great, and runs back to the leaders and they gather everyone together to see if it’s okay. Cornelius speaking behind him and asks if gentiles can be saved. They say it’s all good, as he speaks tongues behind him.
• What God says he was going to do in Genesis Chapter 12 is happening right now. RIGHT NOW.
• Hebrews 11, The Faith of our Fathers
• Switches from some great stuff to torture and more, quite a switch with no transition and then talks about the cloud of witnesses
• Let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings to us & our being
• 1 John 5- God is light, in Him no darkness…
• Run with endurance in the race God has designed for us.
• Nobody wants the ministry of Moses. His ministry was wandering in the desert with whining people for 40 years (but people have changed in our churches, HA), some of you will spend your whole life with stiff necked people and you’ll never be called to speak at a large conference and God is going to reward you in the end of all of this.
• 1, He is the Founder of our Faith
• 2, He is the Author & Perfecter of our Faith
• 3, He is the Joy of our Redemption

Jason *over and out*

Main Session 3: Robb Bell

I know there is more than enough controversy surrounding Mr. Bell to last an entire year of blog posts. In my own RSS reader I probably see 3-4 posts a week from different people ready to string him up. That’s not what these take aways from Catalyst are for. I am not a big fan of Robb Bell or have a “man crush” on him like some pastors do, but he had some good things to say while at the conference.

Here are a few of the things I was able to type away while listening…

• Recently talking to a pastor who said he wanted to quit, I asked Him why, he said “I’m just really burned out from all of this ministry work.
  
• So, he turned over a paper plate, turned it upside down, drew a pie chart on the bottom and asked, what you do? He explained the office hours, multiple services, counseling, events, time away form family, retreats… He spent close to 90+ hours a week on the church and little to no time with his family.
  
• He had only been the pastor a year and “every day I want to quit.”
• Some of the other guys he talked to- preaches 5 services, craziness. Neglecting his families time and values
• Then the guy turned to Robb and said, “I have 300 people, but it’s nothing like what you are doing!” Robb responded, “as the French would say- “WTF?!?”
• “You have 300 people who are looking to you for guidance and they need a shepherd and you don’t think that is significant?” He urgently expressed to Him that God laid on him a calling to pastor/shepherd/and lead those people closer to Jesus.
  
• But… Is bigger better? Robb would answer no.
• You are a living Eucharist
• We are loved exactly as we are! Don’t be seduced by “The Big, The More…” Your Heavenly Father is not asking them to be you & you to be them… rather asking You to Be You!
• “Put the crack pipe down!” as it relates to Christian organizations ranking churches. Why are we putting out lists of who is better and bigger in the kingdom? Remember when Jesus said the last shall be first and the first shall be last. If you’re on those big church, exciting churches list, do something to get off them- because Jesus said you are basically out of luck in the end if you’re on that hip, cool, look-at-me list.
  
• John 6, Jesus has a crowd that is following him, verse 22
• Verse 66, “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him…”
• Sometimes the crowd thins and people leave (when the truth is shared)
• In the journey of God, if we are to choose between the cross and the flag, we choose the cross. Sometimes it’s not politically correct, but we’re not call to be P.C.- we’re called to follow the Creator of the Universe.
  
• Sometimes everything is up and to the right. (like a diagram, we watch as we mathematically do the “right things” and se see movement and growth. But, those ideas don’t always translate to the idea of “success” that all these big time guys promise. you can’t melt down the growth of God’s church into an equation. It takes out the power of God to do what He does)
  
• If you do “A” and “B” and “C”- then this and this and this will happen. Not true in the church.
  
• Jesus would say, “I love your desire and passion, and sometimes their are crowds and you find yourself with a parking problem, but the crowd will eventually thin and your methods aren’t always going to produce the “results” you thought.
• You might even think with some people, “I thought we were going to go the whole way together? I thought you were going to be here from beginning to end?” Unfortunately (or fortunately) some people only stay for a season. That is alright. Let them go. Keep moving forward.
  
• Luke 21, looked up, saw the rich, saw the poor widow drop two copper coins, widow put in more than all the others. All the peeps gave from wealth, but she from poverty gave all she had to live on…
• John 5, Deuteronomy
• “When you obey God- you won’t want anyone else’s life.”
• So now, let’s talk about a couple things, love your neighbor as yourself. How are you doing with the “as yourself” part of that?
  
• Is there any possibility that you haven’t taken care of yourself enough and in turn you cannot love your neighbor as God calls you too?

Jason *over and out*

Main Session 2: Shane Hipps

Shane is the author of Flickering Pixels and is the pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church. He is an ex-employee of strategic planning for Porsche (bizarre). Anyway, in his talk during the labs day and on the main stage the following day- he covered the ideas in his book that technology shapes our faith. We take in so much from TV, Media, Computer, Web, Music, Movies, etc. that it begins to mold the way we process information, believe in moral absolutes, and more.

It was an interesting talk and I’m not quite sure I’m even on the boat with him at this point… but, I’m willing to listen and process it more. I think he is a little off base at times, but we can agree to disagree. His stance on “a couple things concerning God’s message and it’s evolution over the years” has gotten me a little stirred up, but you can read His idea about it here at this blog post and draw your own conclusions.

Anyway, here are the notes I jotted down while trying to wrap my head around all the really gargantuan words he was saying. Seriously, the guy has quite the vocabulary.

• At Porsche, He was responsible for strategic planning
• Brand people’s brain with the Porsche logo and make you think you need their cars
• Christianity is fundamentally a communication event
• Pillars of fire, smoke, prophets, burning bushes, donkeys, etc.
• “The medium is the message”- Marshall McCullen
• What you communicate with is going to determine how the message is received
• When a human reads printed words, left brain, mathematical encounter
• When you show an image, right brain, experience & encounter
• Mark 2:22
• One day I was spending time at a pretty famous art museum. I walked into a very stark room with one piece of art. There was a gaurd there who was very serious and stern watching everyone who entered the room. The guard in the museum was there to protect an artifact, walk out to the garden and the gardener is promoting life and growth.
• What if what Jesus said is actually true, that the gospel is a lot more like the garden than a painting. If that is true, the kingdom needs more gardeners and a lot less guards.
• Guard is motivated by fear, a Gardener is motivated by love and looks for growth and life. To cultivate the gospel rather than being a guard who spends their time tearing everyone else down because they don’t start every sentence with the word, “Gospel.”
  
• We simply need to love this gospel because perfect love casts out all fear.
• Is the bible old and a relic? No. As trees grow, roots go deeper and deeper. So it is with the local body. As we learn the fundamentals of His heart, our roots will grow deeper. We don’t need to strive for just plain old knowledge. Better to put that knowledge into practice.
• When you do, you won’t have time to criticize others… you’ll be too busy spreading the gospel as a gardener and less likely to sit as a guard doing nothing.

Jason *over and out*

Interview with Jessica Jackley, founder of KIVA

KIVA is a micro-lending initiative to help individuals world-wide start businesses, get rolling, give back to the community, and pay back their loans… so they can re-invest again. It’s an amazing concept and it is obviously working according to the stories of people who have been touched by this. Check out this video on how KIVA works:

Here are some of the notes I took during her interview with Reggie Joiner:

• Jessica spent some time really trying to gain a clearer perspective on our world and helping people in need
• Normally the situation for giving in many organizations is to give to a hurting need and out of pain. Watching the hurt and (in the nicest way possible) throwing money at it.
  
• Kiva strives to move in a different direction
• Compassion is part of these situations when we look at them and a larger part of that is guilt. Guilt for the situation we live in as compared to how they live
• But the problem kept raising questions in her soul…
  
• What is my personal role in all of this?
• Tried out multiple different serving opportunities, but something wasn’t filling this compassion for people who need something more.
  
• Micro Finance, lending for the poor. All of these are built for the needs of someone living on a few dollars a day.
• It was about trying to encounter business entrepreneurs who are trying to build businesses from the ground up
• As you help them, you build up a livelihood for the community
• They already have amazing stories, why can’t we lend a few hundred dollars to get them to the next level? Let’s help them help their communities.
• Went from 7 to 50,000 to 1,000,000 to 100,000,000 in less than four years. Insane.
• KIVA basically works with the banks for the poor (Micro Financiers).
• Work by posting people who need loans, profiles of everyone, people browse, lend money, get updates, get paid back so they can lend again.
• It’s interesting to watch how people view KIVA over the course of it’s life, but the money moving back and forth is a tool. To help people and to bring lenders to a new place of understanding.

I was truly inspired by her heart and dedication to serving God and loving people.
Very cool.

Jason *over and out*

Main Session 1: Andy Stanley

Andy talked through Joshua’s story and how we have some defining moments as leaders. Here are (some) of the bullet points I walked away with from His talk.

• Our desire is that when we leave this earth, people will talk about our mark, praise our mark, and love the fact that we walked through life with God and it impacted them
  
• Some of you (leaders in the room) view leadership is a bad thing
• “If you are discontent with the status quo, it’s because God is building in you the heart of a leader.”
• You won’t realize your biggest mistakes until years later and you won’t realize your defining moments until long after you’ve left it
• I don’t want to make a difference for my sake, but for God’s sake and the kingdom growth and unfortunately you won’t know the thing you did to leave that mark and change/ create significance until much later
• Joshua 23
• “When you have all the things you need, don’t forget the Lord your God”
• Nation had crossed the Jordan River, mana from heaven had stopped coming in the morning and they got up and now started living off the land
• On the other side of this incident, Joshua is about to take down the walls of Jericho and he is on the verge of making his mark in God’s name
• When he was 110 years old, he addresses the nation and tells them that through his whole life he was dependent on God
• Joshua 23:8, Cling to the Lord your God, Take heed to love God, If it is disagreeable to serve God, choose who you’re going to serve. But as for me, in light of everything up and down, we will serve the Lord…
• You’ve probably seen this at your little granny’s house, “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” It’s in every old farm house in the south.
  
• I would like to think that when I make my mark at the end of my lifetime, to continue to be in love with God, he used me in a significant way, and there is no greater joy than to take your leadership gift and use it for God.
• Later, a couple days out from taking Jericho down, 5:13, he looked up and saw a man with a drawn sword, not following rules or an assassin, are you for us or are you against us?
• Neither, vs 14
• And the angel of God said… No.
• It was as if God was saying to Joshua, I have not come to be a part of your story or the story of Israel, or what I’m doing through Israel, I’m coming to see if you want to play a role in MY story. Your answer will determine what mark you make and “whose” mark you make…
• Am I willing to submit myself to a bigger story and not to live a selfish story
• Angel says, “But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.” and waits for Joshua’s response
• Joshua fell down in reverence, “What message does my Lord have for His servant?”
• He would be a man of authority, He was going to be a leader under authority and allow God to move through his life and not waste one minute of time on people who were for or against him, but who his life was for.
• Joshua is falling to his knees, And the commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for where you are standing is Holy Ground.”
• The point was simply this, “Before your name becomes great and you become a household name that god had to make sure Joshua was a leader “under” authority and you are leader who is more concerned about whose side you’re on than who is on your side.”
• A man out to SERVE SERVE SERVE the Lord.
• Daily thing on our knees where we say before God, “Thy will be done and Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done and Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done and Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done and Thy Kingdom come.”
• It doesn’t happen until we come to that place that once and for all and every single day that we are under His authority, making His mark, and being devoted to “Whose” you are and who you’re for and not who is for you.
• Our mark isn’t worth our life. Living to make my mark is too small to live my life for. Living for His mark is worth giving my life to.

Jason *over and out*

This is Amena Brown.
As they opened the session, she performed a spoken word piece that was so engaging- you could have heard a pin drop in a venue of 13,000+ people.
It’s people who grab a hold of the arts like this that encourage me to continue to pursue innovative and exciting ways to communicate God’s message of grace and love.
Here’s a pic of Amena performing at Catalyst…

As the church, I don’t think we need more “shows.”
We don’t need more rockstar worship leaders or paparazzi-seeking teachers & preachers.
We don’t need more tech, lights, sound, digital loops, or clever series set designs.

We simply need a voice.
A voice that is surrendered to God.
A voice that is connected to God’s heart and mission.
A voice that is truly courageous.
When we have that kind of voice…

The gates of hell will tremble as words roll off your tongue.

Jason *over and out*

A couple of quotes of guys who weren’t there from the lab session leaders:

“The size of your ministry is in direct proportion the the pain you can endure”
- Craig Groeschel

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with someone else”
- David Gergen

During the conference, we were not only challenged by the speakers, but had some fun with the videos and in between moments. Andy Stanley opened and closed the main sessions (we’ll get to notes from him later), but they remixed some of his live speaking moments into a music video.

It made the place go nuts. Too funny. I love it when leaders don’t take themselves too seriously.
Enjoy.

Jason *over and out*

Lab #3: “From Ideas to Action” with Mike Foster

If you’ve heard of the “Midas Touch,” many people say Mike Foster has it. The guy is the brain/founder of things like XXXChurch.com, Plain Joe Studios, Ethur, and Junky Car Club. Now, don’t get me wrong- all these people at conferences like these are just people.

You cut them, they bleed.
You look at their life, they sin.
You analyze their ministries, they didn’t make it amazing.
God did.

They are just men/women who are trying to follow God like you and I. Mike shared a good amount of information that moved me to fill three pages, but he told a pretty simple story that just got to me…

In CA, he used to go to a park on a regular basis. The park overlooked the water and he loved watching the boats as they go by. He told himself quite often he would one day sail, but years later- still no movement. One day he signed up for a class and began to learn the very thing he watched from the park bench for so long.

Towards the end of his class he was able to sail by the very same park he sat and watched boats from. This overwhelming feeling came over him. He knew what it was. It was moving from ideas to action. And life for Mike Foster was never the same after that. He wanted to be the kind of guy who moved in what God called him to do instead of sitting on the side lines watching and criticizing others. A pretty valuable lesson for each of us as followers of Jesus.

Here are some other notes I jotted down during His session:

• If God has a wonderful plan for my life, why doesn’t He just tell me?
• Why isn’t He just clear and tell us?
• You just keep shaking the eight ball until we get the answer to our question or the answer we WANT to our question of God
• It doesn’t come through yes or no answers, sometimes it’s through His word and His wisdom imparted to us
• Our actions and plan in life is not a bullseye.
• There is a little thing called faith that is a little more fluid than we might imagine. We sometimes wait on His blessing and getting it right, but He blesses action. Just do it.
• God will be excited with us when we act, even if we foul it up. He desires us to move and act in Him, not just listening to a direct voice form God.
• Church leaders are in a laboratory of ideas. Maybe you’ve hit a place that it isn’t working, it’s tough, you feel stuck and like a failure.
• Four things that can help you get perspective
• Number One, “What is right?” find it and optimize it
• Number Two, “What is wrong?” find it and change it
• Number Three, “What is confused?” find it and clarify it
• Number Four, “What is missing?” find it and inject it
• Keys to Initiate all of this Action
• A- Overcome Your Fear of Failure
• The Bible talks a lot about failure from different people in the Bible, we need to create a place and culture where people are allowed to fail
• We are all people of the second chance
• Love this saying- “God will not make His work made manifest through cowards”
• Courage, boldness, we all need a dose of this
• The idea of community is so incredible, especially when it comes to this idea of fears
• B- What We Do Needs To Flow From Our Story
• Everything Mike has done has been about Mike. It birthed from my passion for God and what He did in me. What you’re passionate about personally will move better than things you don’t feel passionate about.
  
• When we do things that spur from our story it motivates us to move forward
• There are two reasons to do thing, the good reason and the real reason
• Warren Buffet, “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
• C- Character Is The Foundation For Everything
• Too many leaders are leading people to something that they themselves don’t have the faith to live and character to maintain
  
• We need to have the character that stands above reproach

It was a pretty long session and I haven’t had the chance to process all the things discussed, but there were some good nuggets in there. More to come…

Jason *over and out*