Definitely a highlight, the unChristian session in the evening was almost as good as the book itself. I had purchased unChristian before the conference and had worked my way through a major part of it. During Q this past Spring we had heard about the book and had been able to hear from David Kinnaman. The research is great and the insights are eye-opening to say the least.
Well, I didn’t have access to do updating of the blog on the fly. So I decided I wanted to hear Reggie McNeal, but instead I’m listening to John Ortberg’s wife Nancy. I didn’t plan on hearing her, but I can tell you that she has a presence in speaking that is both captivating and gentle. You know that when she talks about “Catalytic Leaders” she knows catalytic leaders. Throughout the discussion she brings up examples both personal and professional that point to her own point which is that for leaders to become catalytic they must take advantage of moments and opportunities that are presented to them.
The first session is being led by Mark Batterson. He is the pastor of National Comunity Church and the author of In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day – a great book. During this session he simply stated that we should live life on offense and not on defense. Three things, he said, should be primary to us. We should do things that are Scary, Crazy and Risky. Attack the lion of life and you will be living a life that is worth telling stories about. I wish he was going to be speaking in the main Catalyst Sessions, but I’m definitly glad that I was able to get to hear him in person. His book, by far, has been one of the most influential in my life this year.
The pre-lab is being done by Reggie Joiner again this year. The set is a stage full of enlarged pictures on lighting trusses. He and Lanny Donahoe went backand forth for a while, but then Reggie began his talk.
The jist of his discussion was that we need to make a key transition change in the way that we think about “doing church”. Instead of focusing on the outward things like production, content and growth, we should look at relationships.
Reggie is always a great communicator and did not fail this morning. Some of the information I had heard previously at the Drive conference in 2006, but that did not negate the importance of the talk.
Looking forward to the Catalyst Conference this week. We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning at the butt-crack of dawn – so I may not remember the trip up to Atlanta – but the lab line-up looks good. I wish my friend Margaret Feinberg was speaking this year – she did an awesome job the two previous Catalyst’s – but I’m looking forward to hearing Tri Robinson. I got his book earlier this year at the Q Conference and thought it was great.
Hoping the Gwinnett Center is wi-fi. The internet cafe is always packed full, and I want to do a real-time update on the sessions. I met a guy from Church Relevance.com at Q and his team is trying to use their influence to positively effect churches. He had attended Q with the purpose of blogging – so I have been inspired.
christopherhildreth 