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?)
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.
It’s one thing to take in amazing teaching and content in a short period of time (some call it trying to “drink from a fire hydrant”) but it’s quite another thing to try and meet and really connect, I mean really connect, with so many amazing men and women who are having profound influence on the front line of the church. It seemed like everywhere we turned we were shaking hands with someone significantly serving people in their community. Sure, some were well known people like Andy Stanley, Mark Batterson, and Ed Stetzer but we had the chance to meet SOOO many others that shared stories of their experience as church planters and pioneers in the church. Reality is there is an undercurrent of men and women that are not seeking to build a building but are seeking to love others and build the Kingdom of God through a selfless and foolish outpouring of genuine love…these are people that are truly motivated to be church and not do church.
Chad Johnson, Dwayne Melton, and LV Hanson spent time at the Catalyst Vanagon meeting many attendees from the conference while Brad Lomenick had a the opportunity to interview several key leaders and conference speakers for the Catalyst Podcast - stay tuned in to upcoming Catalyst Podcasts for more insight on the backstage happenings from Exponential!
The Catalyst Road Trip Team makes their way back to Atlanta tomorrow morning to get ready for The Orange Conference in Duluth, GA next week. Those of you in Atlanta that are following the Catalyst Road Trip, please get in touch with us to let us know if you would be interested in having a visit from Your Friendly Vanagon Vagabonds…and if you’d rather just take a picture with the Vanagon and ignore the smelly drivers then we can arrange that as well! The Catalyst Vanagon is coming home for several weeks.
More content from past road trips are still in the works. We haven’t forgotten!
Your Friendly (and sunburned) Catalyst Road Trip Team
This is LV reporting from the Green Room at the 2008 Exponential Conference. I’m sitting here quitely typing away on my computer while Brad Lomenick is hosting a brand new Catalyst Podcast interview with Mark Batterson, Scott Hodges, and Jeff Shinabarger. Let’s just say that the most widely used phrase of the interview has been, “will you edit that?!” It’s hillarious! Scott is telling Brad about how he hijacked Ed Stetzer’s phone (Ed is speaking right now) and is going to send Ed ransom notes complete with photos. This is basically a grown man’s sandbox and these guys are having a blast playing with super expensive toys…I’m cracking up right now!
Looking forward to the next Catalyst Podcast…more from Exponential soon!
LV on behalf of the Catalyst Road Trip Team
(Chris Elrod, Todd Rhoades, and Jay Hardwick just walked into the room, the blog world is on hold right now!)
The Catlayst Vanagon and the Road Trip Team have ventured back into the Sunshine State for Exponential 2008 - The National New Church Conference in Orlando. Brad Lomenick is flying in tomorrow morning to meet Chad Johnson, Dwayne Melton, and LV Hanson where the entire team will be focused on connecting with church leaders and sharing the vision of Catalyst. We are excited to be a part of this great event and even more excited to have another opportunity to meet leaders serving on the front line of the church. It’s going to be a great week!
What’s Next?
The Catalyst Road Trip is shifting focus over the next several weeks. Since January we have been traveling around the country meeting with individual leaders, their families, friends, and many church leadership teams hearing stories about what God is doing in the church and catching glimpses of what is happening on the front line. It’s been nothing short of amazing, and the fruit from this ongoing adventure remains to be seen…it’s very exciting!
We will be traveling back to Atlanta late Thursday night and will spend the next several weeks in Georgia making a point to hear stories from many of our very own Georgia based Catalyst Fans. We will also be visiting the 2008 Orange Conference & The 2008 Drive Conference (both in Atlanta) offering even more opportunity for people to see the Catalyst Vanagon up close and personal!
Stay tuned, we are planning trips back to OH and then down the East Coast. We are also hoping to make it along the southern coast through AL, MS, & LA. Stay tuned! (There is also talk of a West Coast visit; although a long shot, we want to make it happen. Who knows, if we can get Donald Miller to jump in the Vanagon with us we just might be able to make it up to the Northwest!
We’ve been traveling all over the country hearing from men and women about what’s happening on the front line of the church, many of whom have been a part of the Catalyst Experience.
What is Catalyst?
Take a minute to find out…
October 8-10, Join us for the 2008 Catalyst Conference!!!
(for more information, please email Dwayne Melton)
The NEW 2008 Catalyst Conference Website is now up!!! Check out the 2008 Speaker Lineup as well as new videos, AND an option where you can upload a picture of yourself…it’s time we Come Together!
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.
Bruce Hardy & the team from Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, GA
The Catalyst Vanagon is coming home for several weeks.
