Well, day two is come and gone and as it is helpful for me to process what I was hearing yesterday, I thought I’d do a recap again. No doubt, the target for Catalyst is young leaders. In fact, I learned that John Maxwell kicked off Catalyst designed for younger (40 and under) leaders. Maxwell began to see a deficiency in his audience that was predominantly older so he strategically made a decision to shift gears, limit the conference to 40 and under. It has worked. The room is full of 40 and under… along with a lot that are a little older. I’m sure they’ve made some changes along the way.

If you read my last post, you understand that I was a little frustrated with what I was hearing. Today was a better day. To help with how I would summarize today, I thought I’d share different quotes that hit home.

• Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. -Andy Stanley
• You want to wreck your ministry, attach your ministry to your success. -Jon Acuff
• You must ask questions and be taught by everyone. -John Maxwell
• You can keep what you start, but if you keep it, it won’t be much when you end. -John Maxwell
• God called us not to be successful in the moment but to be faithful in the present. -John Maxwell
• Jesus doesn’t ask us to care about the least of these, he demands it. -Katie Davis (it seemed that her solution to every problem was, “Okay, come home with me!” It was beautiful… like tears moving.)
• Your calling before God is not to spectacular ministry, but a faithful and sincere heart before him. -Jud Wilhite
• When you’re at the end of your life, nobody cares about the ministry scorecard. -Jud Wilhite
• The world allows you a context to pour out what God has put inside of you. -Kirk Franklin
• Let us be faithful to God and let God decide our portion. Matt Chandler

Maxwell’s message hit home… despite him being a little weepy. Although, I think the weepy nature made it endearing. He delivered the talk in such a way that I felt like he was sitting across the table sharing some wisdom. There is value in this. The value is that he is a lot more reflective in his talk, and therefore giving us the nuggets he wants to be remembered by. It was good. One of the major points from his was consistency. The best way to be faithful and obedient in all things is to be consistent. Loved it.

Matt Chandler spoke tonight and he summed up a lot of my frustrations about the conference. He challenged the nature and tendency of having a bunch of ideas to go home with, but our affections never stirred for Jesus. You can have the right praxis, but if your heart is not delighting in God, it will burn out. He is just so faithful to the text and there is so much in me that isn’t. It was so good. So refreshing. And such a kick to the throat.

*Side-note, can we please stop singing songs that actually glorify self in a cloak of glorifying God? The focus of worship is not us, but God. So please, let’s sing songs that are theologically reflective of God and His work of redemption on the cross.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

As part of my D.Min. course at SWBTS, we have the opportunity to attend a conference that might stimulate conversation among us and challenge some of our thinking. Without a doubt, Catalyst does just that. There is such a conglomerate of people, ministries, philosophies, and theologies in one room, it actually becomes difficult to process it all.

There are moments I want to stand up and clap as I nod my head, and then other moments I want to stand up and jeer as I shake my head. Sadly, there has been more shaking my head than I like. I was always taught by my Pops that you should “eat the meat and spit out the bones” but several times during a LAB I felt that I was gnawing on more bone than eating any meat.

Don’t get me wrong – it has been stimulating. It has been thought provoking at times, but I feel I’m having to sift through so much stuff to get to what actually can be translated to my context. That’s probably more my problem than theirs, but it’s how I feel.

Look, I completely realize that criticizing a large conference that I paid to go to in which I had no say in the direction of is really easy. I mean, anybody can criticize – especially when they are clueless… and I certainly fall into that category. What concerns me the most is this trend I’m seeing among the audience of the LAB’s – people were lapping whatever they hear up like dogs, just because the person has a “platform” or is some internet “celebrity” or had “1,100 people saved” at Easter. What I mean is that just because someone is on stage does not mean you should agree with them… especially when they say something ridiculous. All the head nodding actually made me sad.

Granted, I was limited in which LABs I attended, therefore I am severely limited by my own experience, but out of the five offerings for the day, two were helpful. I guess I chose wrongly. As one friend said, “I felt like I heard a bunch of twitter quotes tied together.”

Granted, today were the LAB’s and the “heavy hitters” will be tomorrow and Friday. So, I look forward to tomorrows offerings. I really believe it will be better.

*side-note: I did not state which LABs I went to on purpose. I didn’t think it would be helpful for this type of blog post. Again, I’m thankful I’ve had the chance to attend and network with a bunch of people. I am also thankful for my wife who grants me the space to attend such a conference.