Today was an awesome day. A long day too, but filled to the brim with memories and inspiration. I'm talking about Catalyst 2009, the leadership conference designed for the next generation of leaders - those either young or, in my case, young at heart. (One young guy told me today that in the early days they carded people and wouldn't let in anyone over 40. He was looking at my gray hair as he said it. Don't know if this is true, but he sure got a kick out of telling me!)
I'm a fan of the Catalyst podcast. I've been listening every month for two years now. On the last "road trip" podcast Ken Coleman and Brad Lomenick told us to arrive early. I took them at their word and rolled out of my hotel shortly before 6am. After a short breakfast and a brief drive on deserted, dark highways I arrived at the Gwinnett Conference Center around 6:40. I thought the doors were going to open at 7:15, but they didn't open until 7:50. That was my longest wait of the day. Good thing I had my Kindle with me and could get some reading in while I waited.
The Catalyst team did a great job of making the wait time as enjoyable as possible. They had hundreds of gallons of free coffee available. They had people walking around with paper clothing and magic markers asking us to "make our mark" on their clothes. They had a pre-show band. They even had a helicopter that came down load and dropped all kinds of goodies on us while we waited. I made friends with a young man named Roberto, who just recently was honorably discharged from the Navy. His home is in Denver, but he was stationed in Atlanta and decided to stay. Why? Because he attends "Andy Stanley's church" and loves it! Maybe ministry is in his future!
Speaking of Andy Stanley, he was our first speaker today and will be our last speaker tomorrow. Altogether there will be 10 sessions, 6 today and 4 tomorrow. Andy taught from Joshua on the topic of leadership. He referenced his father, Dr. Charles Stanley: "God takes full responsibility for the life wholly devoted to Him." Andy told us that when God does His greatest work in us, we won't even know it. Our mark isn't worth our life. Living to make my mark is too small a thing to give my life to. But surrendering wholly my life to God so He can use me - That is worth everything!
That was just the beginning of our day! For me, we could have stopped right there and I would have got my money's worth. But the day went on with great speakers and great singing and worship. Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, spoke to us about the dangers of overconfidence based on the abundance of information. Shane Hipps, lead pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church and a former career as a strategic planner for Porsche, told us that the medium we use to convey our message is important - that words and images are processed in our brains differently. Rob Bell, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church reminded us that sometimes the crowds thin. After all the crowds deserted Jesus - so we should not be surprised when it also happens to us.
And we heard from Tony Dungy, who won the Super Bowl both as a player and as a coach. He shared both a great personal testimony of his relationship with the Lord as well as some great leadership advice: "People need us as leaders most when things are not going well." Shortly after Tony's talk, Reggie Joiner - one of the founding pastors of North Point Community Church and a Catalyst Emcee - came to the platform to tell us that "sometimes we get so busy with what we're building we forget what we are becoming." He passionately advices us to take care of our families first and the church second.
Matt Chandler, lead pastor of the Village Church, reminded us that God has been using men and women to tell His story for thousands of years. We should run the race well for the 40 years we have our opportunity. And Francis Chan closed the last session with one of the best communion talks I have ever heard.
Throughout the day we were treated to an enthusiastic display of lighting, sound and music that, at times, almost seemed overwhelming to me. But, then as my friend this morning reminded me - At least I wasn't carded when I came in! In addition to the fun music, we also enjoyed the antics of Emcee Reggie Joiner (playing the straight man) and Lanny Donoho, cutting up with quips all day long. Though this morning the joke seemed to be on him. While we were waiting in the long line to get into the conference center, a petition was passed around asking Reggie to get a tattoo. It appeared to me that Reggie trapped him into saying "yes," and before Lanny could change his mind a tattoo artist appeared on stage to begin the process of "making his mark."
The theme of making our mark was repeated throughout the day. I actually benefited because my name is Mark. They asked all the Mark's to stand, at which point they passed us shirts that say, "Hello my name is Mark!" We were asked to wear the shirt all day, which I did. As a result I had people saying "Hi Mark" all day long. Even though this was my first time here, I felt welcomed by everyone I came saw!
This day made its mark on me in many ways. Right now I'm so tired I don't think I can keep my eyes open much longer. But I will dream of the things I experienced today. I'll wake up early and get back in line for Catalyst again tomorrow. And when I fly back home tomorrow night, I'll leave with a greater confidence that I am not alone. I am just one among many leaders, who desire more than anything, for God to make His mark through us.
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