Catalyst Day One

This is my second year at Catalyst Conference in Atlanta.  One of the things that I love about this event is the creativity.  They pull out all the stops and this year was no exception. 

I’m here with three other leaders from our church and two from another FWB Church close to our town.  There are just over five thousand churches represented all together and people literally from all over the world - all coming together for some of the best worship and leadership development on the planet!

Our morning in the arena kicked off with a kicking stage production – Fee leading worship and then Andy Stanely sharing from Nehemiah 5:6-18.  He emphasized the importance of our creed aligning with our deed or as he called it “moral authority.”  In layman’s terms – you better live the life if you want others to follow your leadership.  And sometimes it takes time for us to live it out in front of those God has called us to lead. 

For most of us as leaders, all we have is influence and at the end of the day everyone following is a volunteer – thus our moral authority is paramount.  He then challenged us to make sure our moral authority was being lived out in three areas; forgiveness, family, and finances.  What people want to know is do we, as leaders believe what we say – and do we live it. 

What a way to start the day!  It was if God reached down and grabbed my heart from the very beginning. 

Jim Collins challenged us in the area of Good to Great.  He was good as well but I will share two main thoughts from his session.  First, the major difference in a level 5 leader and a level 4 leader is humility.  Leaders at the top of the spectrum are humble – period.  Secondly, too many of us have “to do” list without having “stop doing” list.  Huge point.

Steven Furtick spoke from I Kings and dealt with keeping your vision in sight when you can’t see anything.  God’s had is all over this guy.  His ability to preach, keep the attention of the audience and nail the point down is incredible. 

Brenda Salter McNeil fired me up!  I loved her passion and style as she dealt with shaking things up.  Her text was from the book of Acts and focused on us getting out of our comfort zones and into the world for Christ. 

Seth Godin was great for people like me with ADHD.  He used lots of pictures and was really pretty funny.  Plus, he gave us a free book!  How cool is that.  Now I have to read it to figure out all he was saying today!

Craig Groeschel wrapped things up with Joel 2:12-13.  Three main points – God stretch me – God heal me – God ruin me.  Our prayer should be for God to give us a heart that is broken for the things His heart is broken over.

God seemed to use each aspect of the day from the music, to the announcements, to the speakers, to impact me in a huge way.  My head and heart are overwhelmed by what God is doing in me.  I literally felt His hand upon my shoulder tonight as my heart opened up to Him and He showed me some things that need to be dealt with.  I am broken – I am in awe!