Catalyst Road Trip

Good morning, We would be remiss if we didn’t take the opportuntiy to wish all of our magnificent moms a Happy Mother’s Day! You don’t hear it enough - you are appreciated so much more than you know, and so much more than is ever communicated. Enjoy this day, we hope you are allowed to rest and have some time to yourself.

Earlier this week there was a post on Shane Kennard’s Blog highlighting our time with Matt Keller. Shane is a  youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Heber Springs, AR and has been following the Catalyst Road Trip for some time now.  If you didn’t get a chance to catch this video from our road trip into Florida, take a minute and hear Matt Keller’s thoughts on this generation. Shane found it valuable and we hope you do too -

http://shanekennard.com/?p=270

Once again, Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Your Friendly Catalyst Road Trip Team

Today was our first full day of visiting some of our Catalyst friends from the Atlanta area.  Video and pictures are being logged, and today we captured some pretty fun video - to the crew from North Atlanta Church of Christ, thanks for providing what could very well be the greatest reaction to the Catalyst Group Leader Kit (video coming soon)

Yesterday, Steve Smith from The Autobahn Society worked on the Vanagon and even installed a new horn…now we can honk back to everyone on the road trying to say hi (or those that offer graphic suggestions that we drive a bit faster :))

It’s late and the weekend is here, more details on our Atlanta stops soon.  Enjoy your weekend!

Your Friendly Catalyst Road Trip Team

Wednesday was the final day of Drive 08. We packed up the Catalyst Booth and left during lunch…but only after running into a friend of ours, Carey Nieuwhof. Carey is the lead and founding pastor of Connexus Community Church, a multi-campus church north of Toronto, Ontario and strategic partner of North Point Community Church. Last week, during moments when he was not teaching breakout sessions for the Orange conference, Carey spent time with the Catalyst team. It was much of the same this week. Carey has tremendous influence and has provided a significant voice for those on the front line of the church. He came out to the Highway Highlighter and took a picture with us…make sure to check out more of what’s happening with Carey and Connexus Community Church!

Thursday the Catalyst road trip took to the streets of Atlanta to deliver group leader kits. More about Thursday’s activities soon…Ben Arment enjoyed his first adventure in the Catalyst Vanagon - he’s a natural! (not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing :))

By the way, it’s good to be home.

Your Friendly Catalyst Road Trip Team!

The Drive 08 Mini Road Trip Surprise did NOT disappoint! Jeff Foxworthy took over for Andy Stanley and provided the evening entertainment at Browns Bridge Community Church, the northern most campus of North Point Community Church located 20 miles north of the main campus. Today was day two of the Drive Conference and the Catalyst Team had a chance to reconnect with several people that have been a part of the Catalyst Road Trip since January. Rick Bezet from New Life Church in Conway, AR stopped by to say hi, Kevin from Access Church in Jacksonville, FL came over and reminisced with us about our random visit at Times Grill, and Todd Mullins from Christ Fellowship in West Palm, FL joined us for a few minutes and had a chance to meet our director, Brad Lomenick and our the newest member of the Catalyst Team, Ben Arment.

Ben Arment actually just published a post on his blog, benarment.com - a very popular blog, about his time with us at Drive. We’ve heard from many people around the country that the Catalyst is picking up a quality guy, one who will add tremendous value to the team - it doesn’t take long to recognize that they are absolutely right. Ben is amazing with people…

Here are some pictures from the day -

Brad Lomenick (far left) and two guys that actually listen to the Catalyst Podcast
(proof that we have at least two listeners!

Lanny Donoho releases his latest movie May 22!

We had many visitors at the Catalyst Vanagon!

Andy Stanley told everyone that after tomorrow night’s evening session ends they will be hosting a must experience road trip around Atlanta - “You will not want to miss this road trip!”  I wonder if Andy wants to use the Catalyst Vanagon?  All he needs to do is ask!

We have the Vanagon outside in the parking lot near the large tent and a Catalyst Experience Booth inside North Point Church near the resource center.  Could we be called the latest conference junkies?  Possibly.  From Exponential in Orlando to Orange last week in Duluth, and now, Drive 08 in Alpharetta, we are moving from one conference booth to the next.  But if it gives us a chance to connect with just one church leader and encourage them in their journey then it is absolutely worth it.  Sure, we are telling people about the Catalyst Movement, but the greater purpose and the real heartbeat behind what we do is the building of the Kingdom of God…and that happens one person at a time. Today we met leaders from South Africa, Brazil, and New Zealand.  This is truly a global event, and it’s an honor to have a presence.

Tomorrow morning we kick things off at 8AM.  More soon…

Your Catalyst Conference Junkies Road Trip Team! 

This morning I spent time with the team from First Lutheran Church in Vista, CA and helped with their Sunday morning service. I had the chance to join Eisha Bohman in leading the children’s time during the service as well as speak for the entire congregation after the children were dismissed for children’s church. Later, in a smaller fellowship hall, Ramon Zarate invited me to share part of my testimony with some of the leadership students and a small group from their Latino congregation. Ramon translated as I shared and we ended with a brief time of worship and prayer - lead in both English and Spanish. Worship takes on a whole new dimension when multiple languages come together in harmony - it was absolutely beautiful!

Pastor Steve Awbrey and the staff from First Lutheran Church have been overly gracious in how they have treated me and invited me to share part of my story. I just hope it has added value to their church and provided a reminder of the Father’s heart towards His people - He makes beauty from ashes, and somehow, life from death.

I fly back to Atlanta tonight and then tomororw head to the Drive 08 Conference at Northpoint Church in Alpharetta, GA. The Vanagon is back in action Monday!

LV, on behalf of the Catalyst Road Trip Team

This is LV reporting from San Diego! (but sad to say that this trip was taken through the air leaving the Vanagon back in Atlanta)  I am here spending time with the staff at First Lutheran Church of Vista. Pastor Steve Awbrey (yes, he is pictured wearing a Colorado Buffaloes shirt, awesome!), Cathy Bohman, & Eisha Bohman invited me out for the weekend to speak with their leadership team, host a volleyball camp, help with a Saturday evening outreach, & speak at church Sunday morning. It’s been a packed weekend already and an early morning awaits us tomorrow. Yesterday I had lunch with Pastor Steve, Cathy, and Eisha and had a chance to hear more about what is happening at the church and the next steps they are taking. Change is on the horizon for the staff and Pastor Steve is trying to stay ahead of the curve. He is asking the right kind of questions about vision and where they are headed as a leadership team. I was able to share about some of the stories we have been hearing from other churches and what others in similar situations are doing.

How do you leverage the resources you have to impact the community you are serving? Is it a strategy to identify that people that are available and the talents you have and then find a way to use them to do something…anything…for the community? Or, do you identify the greatest needs of your community and simply go after ways to meet them? It seems that the former leaves you with a focus on what you have and a strategy built on what seems possible, given available resources…the latter seems to leave you with a focus on a higher calling and a strategy that is rather impossible without the intercession of God. Steve and the team want the latter, and it’s so refreshing to talk with them about how they are going about it!

I have uploaded more pictures from the final days at the Orange Conference AND pictures from our first two days in San Diego - one more day left. It’s hard to imagine that some people, many people, call this place home. What’s even more difficult to reconcile is why I am not one of them!!! Can we move the Catalyst Offices to Southern California?!

LV on behalf of the Catalyst Road Trip Team
(west coast trip without the Vanagon…l wonder if she will take me back?)

Oceanside Beach - San Diego

This past Thursday we took to the streets of greater Atlanta visiting some of our Catalyst friends and delivering the latest and greatest Catalyst Group Leader Kits.  The Catalyst Team has done it again - an amazing experience package designed to equip group leaders to help build vision and excitement for the Catalyst Conference in October - usually delivered in the mail, but not today!  We traveled through parts of Lawrenceville, Buford, Gainesville, and Duluth making stops along the way to group leaders that have been a part of the Catalyst Movement - some for many years!

A huge thanks to Kristen Paxson, Bruce Hardy, & Sean Jazdzyk for taking time out of their busy schedules to briefly entertain us and the Catalyst Vanagon - for some reason, the Catalyst Vanagon seems to kill any and all office productivity!  We had a lot of fun…check out some of the pictures:

Bruce Hardy & the team from Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, GA

Sean Jazdzyk (far left) from Free Chapel in Gainesville, GA

New pictures from the second day of Orange 2008 are now up on our Flickr! Page, check them out! It’s been a great event and we’ve had a chance to meet a ton of people from all over the country - the bright yellow van is a great ice breaker! Breakout sessions are in progress and then the final session will begin at 4:15, just wanted to send a quick update…

Your Friendly Catalyst Road Trip Team
(just had a conversation with a new friend from Toronto, could the Catalyst Vanagon make it that far north???)

It’s late and we have an early morning tomorrow morning. Tonight was the opening session for the 2008 Orange Conference in Duluth, GA…the very same venue where Catalyst will be held in October. Reggie Joiner, the founder of The reThink Group opened the conference highlighting the very purpose of why Orange exists - the simple reality that tomorrow’s church will be today’s children.  Orange focuses on children AND parents:

“Orange is our color because it represents the idea that ‘two combined influences will make a greater impact together than just two influences alone.’ Red and yellow are fine on their own, but combine them and you get a third, more vibrant option: orange! It’s why we want to put children’s leaders and student leaders in the same room discussing their strategy for graduating Godly students. It’s why we want church leaders to combine their influence with parents. And it’s why we want ministries to be both relevant and strategic, to teach truth while offering hands-on experiences, to be more together than we could ever be alone.”

We will be at Orange through Wednesday and will post pictures from each day. Take a look! New Flickr! pictures are online now…click on the pictures along the left margin to see more action from Day One at Orange.

Your Friendly Catalyst Road Trip Team