Catalyst Road Trip

The Vanagon is running great and we are logging some serious highway miles! On Friday we left Tulsa, OK and drove to Fayetteville, AR where we were able to meet with Henry Ho, Rick West, and Clay Bell from NorthStar Partnering Group. The guys from NorthStar are leveraging their resources and connections to create jobs and impact people in a small Himalayan town.

Check out the video on the next page highlighting “Business As Missions” and hear more about the rest of our weekend…fun pictures to follow!

Business As Missions…

(Fayetteville, AR) Saturday morning we were able to have breakfast with Steve Graves, a consultant and founding partner of Life@Work Co., and Jonathan Beasley, Senior Pastor of The Church at Arkansas. Do you remember Craig Groeschel’s message at Catlayst last year? Jonathan shared about how he and his team left that session and began honestly praying a prayer that changed the face of their church, “Lord, disturb us.” Craig’s message cultivated a desire to have their hearts tilled so that their young church would not be formula driven…they wanted to hear from the Lord. Jonathan shared about how that prayer, “Lord disturb us,” is a dangerous prayer. Within three weeks Jonathan had to make a very difficult staffing decision which lead to a major shift in where they were going. He told us that it set the stage for the Lord to do what only He could…their vision was disrupted, but their trust in the Lord was growing deep roots.

We asked Steve to share about what he has been learning, and he took time to honor local pastors with his words. We know that not every pastor or church leader will hear these words from Steve, but it is our true hope that every pastor and church leader in the country would hear a message from someone that echoes Steve’s words. “The heroes of the next generation in the church are the men and women we don’t see on stage…men and women that are impacting people one person at a time.” Steve is not a pastor but has HUGE heart to help the church and invest in the Kingdom of God. He talked more about how we live in a culture that loves to highlight and platform the glamorous leader (the “rock star”), and while that is absolutely ok, it can be an invitation for others to embrace a success formula that is foundationally flawed. The true experts and the leaders that we must learn from are those “launching efforts for the community, dealing with payrolls issues, pornography issues with their staff, wondering why the microphones don’t work…the leaders that don’t get paid well, deal with all of the behind the scenes mess, and then…on top of it all, embrace the hurt and tears of their church members.” Steve’s words hit home. “These are the true experts.” If you are reading this and you are a pastor and/or church leader, thank you. If you are reading this and you know a pastor and/or church leader, please tell them thank you. Our unsung heroes are the men and women we don’t hear from…the very men and women we hope to introduce to you throughout the Catalyst Road Trip. Yes, we have high profile pastors and leaders featured throughout this blog, but the Catalyst Road Trip began with the hope of sharing personal stories and tangible wisdom from the leaders that you may not have heard from before…stay tuned, more insight from front line experts to come!

Before leaving Fayetteville Saturday morning we stopped and spent a few minutes visiting with David Roth, president of Work Matters, an organization bridging the gap between work and faith. Even though we were only able to spend a short time it was an honor being able to meet David and hear first hand about their ministry. Make sure to check out what they are doing by clicking on their website (above). You can see a picture of David and his family to the left…

Saturday afternoon we drove north to Branson, MO and spent time with the leadership from K-Life, a youth ministry focused on mentoring and discipling today’s teenagers. K-Life began as a follow-up ministry to campers from Kanakuk Kamps, and their relationship with Kanakuk continues to be an important part of both their vision and their heritage. Kyle Unruh, the president of K-Life, opened his home to the Catalyst Vanagon Vagabonds and even let us hang out with his kids! We had a great time connecting with Kyle and enjoying a day of rest with good friends. Kyle & Amy Unruh lead a great family, and their kids are incredible - check out some of our pictures around the Vanagon…we were having way too much fun with the whistle pops!

Tonight, Sunday night, we are enjoying time in Conway, AR with Chris’ family. (picture to the right) We are gearing up for the final two days of Road Trip #4. Tomorrow morning we are meeting with Bryan Shock from Turning Point Church, a new church in Conway. Bryan brought his team to Atlanta last October for the Catalyst Conference…we are excited to have a chance to spend some time with him and hear more about his experience on the front line of the church.

Tomorrow night we will be back in Nashville, TN…stay tuned for more from

Your Friendly Vanagon Vagabonds!