CATALYST WEST: What I learned from Donald Miller, Scott Belsky, Kay Warren, Wes Stafford, and Andy Stanley

CATALYST LEARNINGS #3:

Donald Miller – Author, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” and “Blue Like Jazz” (www.donmilleris.com)

• We often try to avoid problems, danger, and conflicts, but those are the things that make life thrilling, interesting, and gets us to big results. Every good story has a character that wants something and overcomes an obstacle to get it.
• What is the something I’m going for? What’s my story about? Will I overcome the obstacles to get it? What if…

Scott Belsky – Founder and CEO, Behance & Author, “Making Ideas Happen” (www.behance.net)

• When working with the creative, set clear guidelines and timelines.
• In our culture there are too many incoming information vessels (Twitter, Facebook, Emails, Instant Messaging, Texts, etc), so create windows of non-stimulation in your day and week: no task list… do only the important things, not the urgent ones.
• Create short-term goals and measure your progress. Share them with others so that you stay accountable to them.
• Measure the effectiveness of meetings with the action steps that result from them.

Kay Warren – Author, “Dangerous Surrender” and wife of Rick Warren, Saddleback Church (www.kaywarren.com) / Wess Stafford, President of Compassion International (www.compassion.com)

• If our faith is genuine, we must do something about the poor, orphans, and widows in the world. It is not optional; it is a requirement of our faith. (James 1:27)

Andy Stanley, Lead Pastor or Northpoint Community Church & Author, “The Principle of the Path” (www.northpoint.org)

• LEADERSHIP WISDOM: The less you do, the more you accomplish. The less you do, the more you enable others to accomplish. So do only what only you can do.
• Focus on your strengths, position others to make up for your weaknesses.

CATALYST WEST: What I learned from Andy Stanley, Charlene Li, Mark Driscoll, Reggie Joiner, and Loiue Giglio

CATALYST LEARNINGS #2:

Andy Stanley, Pastor of Northpoint Church (www.northpoint.org)

• Your picture of the future will be no bigger than what you think is possible.
  
• Jesus' movement brought about the reconciliation of sexes, cultures, ages, social status... we are called to continue that movement.
  

Charlene Li - Co-founder, The Altimeter Group & Author, "Groundswell & Open Leadership" (www.altimetergroup.com)

• Social media is no longer to be treated as a side note or small part of communication with others. Make time to dialogue, innovate, and invest in this form of communication.
• Organizations need someone in charge of dialoguing through social media - respond to people's comments, add new friends/followers, web communication, use it for specific purposes...

Mark Driscoll - Lead Pastor, Mars Hill Church (www.marshillchurch.org)

• Ministry is not what we do for God, it is what God does for and in us.
• Jesus Christ is the Senior Pastor of the Church. Don't build yourself as the head.
• The Holy Spirit chooses leaders, we just appoint them. (Acts 20:28)
• God gifts people in the church - build a team of specialists, not generalists.
• We can't do what God calls us to do with our own strength.
• The Holy Spirit falls when Scripture is taught. Teach a Scripture/Jesus centered life.

Reggie Joiner - Founder, The Rethink Group & Author, 'Think Orange" (www.rethinkgroup.org)

• The ONE thing that gives us influence (Luke 15:2): See people through the eyes of a loving father.
  
• Loving fathers are preoccupied with whoever is missing (friends of sinners); older brothers are preoccupied with themselves. Loving fathers operate from the context of forgiveness; older brothers operate from a context of shame. Loving fathers throw parties; older brothers throw fits.

Loiue Giglio - Pastor, Passion City Church & Leader of Passion Conferences (www.268generation.com)

• The early believers didn't "decide" to be an Acts 2 Church - it happened as a result of something. All they had was: (1) The Word of God - teachings of Jesus. (2) They experienced the Resurrection. (2) The Holy Spirit's power.
  
• Trust the power of God's Word in your leadership. Show people how to experience Jesus and know Him. Have Spirit-appointed leaders, Spirit-powered worship, Spirit-gifted believers, Spirit-filled preaching... and Acts 2 type of church will happen.
  

CATALYST WEST: What I learned from John Ortberg, Dino Rizzo, Dan Kimball, Scott McKnight, and Aaron Keyes

Over the next few days, I'm going to post my top learnings from the Speakers at the conference. These are things I felt were most significant as it relates to my life and ministry. Also, in some cases, what I write I learned from these men/women are not things they directly spoke about, but I just felt God speak to me as they shared their messages.

Aaron Keyes – Worship Pastor, Grace Fellowship (www.aaronkeyes.com)

• Some people don’t connect well with Aaron’s style of leading worship because he talks a lot in between songs, but what really challenged and encouraged me was the amount of Scripture that he quoted (from memory) from the stage. He led worship just as much with Scripture as he did with songs. Every song was soaked in Scripture as we sung it.
• God’s Word needs to be a bigger part of my life and ministry. Always know the biblical foundation for the things you do.
  

Scott McKnight – Professor and Author, the Jesus Creed (www.jesuscreed.org)

• It’s trendy to be a “missional” church, but many are becoming less evangelistic as they are engaging in justice and poverty initiatives. *Be missional, but also gospel-centered and driven. Souls are what really matter.
• The definition of Christian is not someone who has all the spiritual disciplines, but one who follows Jesus – interacts with him, listens to him, goes where He leads…

Dan Kimball – Pastor of Vintage Faith Church and Author, “The Like Jesus, But Not The Church” (www.dankimball.com)

• If we hold the church’s historical view of sexuality, it doesn’t mean we are fundamentalists or hateful. Teach your church to deeply love those who are not in alignment with you and teach a biblically holistic perspective on sexuality.
• We have now shifted to communicate the Gospel with deeds and social actions well, but most of our churches don’t know how to articulate the Gospel with words anymore. Teach people to articulate the Gospel clearly with words.

Dino Rizzo – Lead Pastor, Healing Place Church (www.healingplacechurch.org)

• Jesus washes the feet of His disciples and then tells them, “I have given you an example to follow… now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13:17)
• Guard your heart so that you are constantly growing as a servant. Also teach your team Jesus’ way of leading – by humbly and sacrificially serving others. God’s blessing comes when we lead this way.

John Ortberg – Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (www.johnortberg.com)

• If you gauged spiritual maturity by disciplines, the Pharisees would always win.
• Let God’s grace shape your life in the uniqueness that God created you.