Catalyst, 6 Weeks Later

Wow. Where does the time go? [I can tell you, but it would likely bore you.] Has it really been 6 weeks since Catalyst? Again, WOW.

Catalyst was worth the time, effort and expense for at least two reasons. Francis Chan's message spoke right to the heart of some key issues that TSCC is dealing with, in terms of leaders leading a church. TSCC has relied too much on what other churches are doing, and has been guilty of trying to assimilate a grab bag of ideas into something that "works" at Tulip Street. This is a struggle for me, because I listen to every new "How we lead our church" message, and read every new church leadership book out there. Chan's challenge was to simply spend intimate time alone with God, seeking HIS reasons for our being on the corner of 9th and Tulip; in these quiet moments, God will reveal His purposes and plans for each of us and our ministries. All of that may make you go "duh!" but I'm tellin' ya, it is HUGE for us at TS.

The second reason was the message that Craig Groeschel preached. He spoke about being a "Practical Atheist." And he spoke about me. According to Groeschel, a practical atheist is a person who believes God exists but does life as if He does not exist.

Let that sink in for a second.

*pause*

How often are we guilty of living like that?

Groeschel remembers a comment that Bill Hybels once made that has stuck with him, and I found this to be profound: "The way that I was doing the work of God was killing the work of God in me."

*pause, again*

[I recently sent an email to the other elders and TSCC leadership that my life in Christ is being drained faster than it is being filled, and because of that, I am making some changes to maximize those things that are life-giving to me. I am working to slay the practical atheist within me!]

Because of the teachings of those two men, Catalyst was a beneficial trip for me. There were other decent messages, and if you're interested, you can find blog posts dealing with them here. Overall, Catalyst was loud, uncharacteristically unorganized, and kind of a frazzled experience. But even after all of the craziness of those two days, I'd go again, just to be around 10,000 people who are leaning hard into what God is calling them to be.