Catalyst 2011

So, it's really unusual to see me out of bed and ready to go at six in the morning.
It's unheard of to see me out of bed, dressed and on a ferris wheel at 7:30 in the morning!

Yep, it's me and yep, that is a ferris wheel.

So what in the world was going on?

Gwinnett Center

Ahhh...Catalyst 2011. Somehow now it makes sense. One of two good reasons to get up ridiculously early (the other being the Passion Conference). This is my second year going to the conference and I gotta say this year was even better than last year. I think somehow it had to do with less stimulation. Last year there was "never a dull moment" but this year they toned it down a bit. This was actually helpful to me because I feel like I processed more of what I heard.

Some of my favorite quotes:
"Live, live well. Breathe, breathe deep. Don't be alarmed, be alive. Taste life"
"Go deep rather than wide. Go long-term rather than short-term. Go time, not just money." (Andy Stanley)
"Jesus does not ask that we care for the less fortunate, He demands it" (Katie Davis)
"Everything depends on my connection with God..." (Francis Chan)
"Fear is vision without hope" (Mark Driscoll)
"We-as Christians-believe in a God who can do anything but we don't believe He can end extreme poverty through his people" (Scott C Todd) BTW, check out his website Live 58.
"A hatred for injustice is not the same thing as loving people" (Cornell West)
"You want what you want instead of what God wants" (Priscilla Shirer)

These are just a few of the nuggets we got during the two days we spent at Catalyst (By the way, "Catalyst is not a conference, it's a runway!"). I didn't get to hear Jim Collins speak because I had to attend online meeting and I'm really disappointed. Heard he was great. Mark Driscoll was huge surprise to me because I'd never heard him speak. Priscilla Shirer blew me away. Andy Stanley was-as always-awesome. Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS, was there. You should check out his new book "Start Something That Matters" (and let me borrow when you are done). And David Kinnaman's book You Lost Me" is now on my Must Read list (very near the top). Also, everyone needs to check out Katie's blog The Journey.

The Social Justice tent was really well done. Had amazing conversation with guy from International Justice Mission and he gave me copy of "Just Courage" which I'm excited to start reading! I didn't get a chance to go into the soak tent/meditation tent/reflection tent...forgot what they called it...and really didn't understand the placement of it anyway. Not sure how you could focus with the very loud music playing across the sidewalk...but that's just me. That and the fog which causes my eyes to water continuously are my only two negatives so I think that's pretty good. Well...the coffee line...but it's free coffee...and not just free coffee but coffee from Land of a Thousand Hills...so it is totally worth waiting in a line-no matter how long!

The worship was amazing!!! And I found out about Seryn! Which everyone else might know already but I'm slow so cut me some slack!

Catalyst has more swag than any other conference I have ever attended and this year was no different. A personal fave was the finger light.

Thanks to Donna for modeling her light so well!

13,000 attendees from all 50 states and 7 countries...letting their light shine.

(Ha, ha...yeah, I know it's cheesy...)

Obviously this isn't ALL 13, 000 of them.

Thanks for a great conference Catalyst. Hope to see you in 2012! Hope that what we heard doesn't fade but changes us in some way, changes the world in a big way.

"Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone...Maybe this is how we change the world..." (Andy Stanley)

PS If you are on Twitter, search #cat11 and you'll see just about every notable thing said during the conference!