Roadtrip to the GroupLife Midwest 2012 Conference

This weekend I was incredibly blessed to be able to head up to the GroupLife Midwest 2012 Conference for small group leaders. Even better, I got to go along with 8 of our outstanding small group leaders from Calvary Baptist Church! We had a blast together. The best part may have been stopping at Giordanao's after the conference to debrief over a Chicago deep dish pizza :)

The Keynote Speaker was Steve Gladen, the pastor over (thousands of) small groups at Saddleback. Steve shared about the courage and character of a leader, and had a special breakout session for those of us leading the small group ministry at their church. It was like drinking from a firehouse of helpful information. Steve has recently put out two books along these lines - Small Groups with Purpose and Leading Small Groups with Purpose. Steve is just an incredible person. He's really passionate about helping churches all over the world transform lives with small groups.

In addition to the wonderful talks and great breakout sessions, I was thrilled to be able to meet up with some people I have followed and/or interacted with online for quite some team -- Mary Beth Stockdale, Mark Howell, Rick Howerton, Eddie Mosley, Mindy Caliguire, and of course Steve Gladen. These are all very cool people with great hearts and a ton of practical know-how on small groups and ministry. If they hold this event again next year, I hope to bring the rest of the team, and will get their earlier for the meet-the-speakers event :)

Catalyst Conference 2008 - Day Two

Day Two Recap

• Tim Sanders led things off on day two of the Catalyst Conference 2008. Tim is the author of "Saving the World at Work", outlining the Responsibility Revolution. "Leaders gauge reality and give hope."
• Dave Ramsey was warmly welcomed. To my surprise (or ignorance) he didn't actually speak on finances, but on leadership (!)  Dave shared about some key principles used as he leads his own organization. Key idea: Lack of unity is a real killer in the church, especially among staff and leaders. He shared his five main enemies of unity - 1. Poor communication,  2. Gossip, 3. Unresolved disagreements, 4. Lack of shared purpose, 5. Sanctioned incompetence. (Chris Martin has some more details on Dave's talk)
• Our course, they couldn't let Dave Ramsey escape the stage without sharing a little bit on our current economic situation. Breathe. The world is not coming to an end. There is a spirit of fear on Wall St. Stock prices are at an artificial low driven by emotion and fear. Don't pull everything out.
• Comedian Jeff Foxworthy made an appearance to talk about making a difference among the poor in Africa.
• Standing ovation for Catalyst Lifetime Achievement award to Billy Graham. His son Franklin Graham accepted and gave an inspiring talk. (See Tony Morgan's blog for more on Franklin's talk or Tim Stevens' on the award)
• Ed Stetzer was a statistical Maverick, encouraging us to engage young folks today with the gospel.
• Andy Crouch, an expert on engaging culture, shared four bad ways in which the church tends to engage culture: condemn, critique, copy, consume, and gave an alternative better approach: cultivate that which is good.
  
• Andy Crouch spoke of Creative Circles. More often than not, great ideas get their birth with a circle of three - where there is suspension of impossibility; this grows to 12 who bring depth, then 120 who bring breadth.
  
• "Cultural change always moves the horizon of the possible." was a great quote from Andy Crouch. 'Help your three, your twelve, see where horizons must move.'
  
• Three questions for a takeaway: 1. What are you cultivating? 2. What are you creating? 3. Who is in your creative circle?
• Matt Chandler was up next. Matt preached passionately from I Timothy, chapter 4. Wow! These young guys have a very different style yet are clearly anointed by God for this generation, connecting in a way to younger people in a way that's very real.
  
• "You can teach what Christ commands without being a jerk!" "Careful! If you've been at church more then four years, then where the church is weak... you are weak!"
• For more notes on Matt Chandler, see Will Johnston's notes. (Actually, Will has great notes on almost all the sessions, check 'em out)
• Andy Stanley closed out the Catalyst Conference 2008 very strong! He shared five quotes he loves because they challenge him greatly and because, well, he doesn't know the answers - but is committed to keep working on them.
• A favorite quote Andy shared is from Craig Groeschel - "To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing." For the other quotes and take-home points, see notes by Brad Ruggles, or the excellent summary by Tim Stevens.
• Another thought by Andy that I want to think about a lot more - "What currently can't be done in the church, but if it could be done, would fundamentally change the church."

Phew! Catalyst is over! The conference was fantastic, very challenging. Wrap up consists of Red Thai curry for dinner at Mama Fu's, reading "Tribes" on the plane back home, and the need for a few days to process the rest...

Catalyst Conference 2008 - Day One

Rather than just scribble notes on paper that would get tucked away and never read again, I thought I would experiment with twitter to share key thoughts online. I posted regularly at http://www.twitter.com/ltbaxter from my trusty iPhone (challenging the battery in the process.) Fortunately this makes it easy to share a summary of what went on during day one at the Catalyst Conference 2008.

Day One Recap

• Worship was absolutely amazing! Steve Fee rocked the house and everyone loved being united with 12,000 others in praise.
  
• Andy Stanley led off with some powerful words on leadership, reminding us that as God calls us to be leaders, our influence is based on moral authority as our deeds match our creed, and far less on our position.
• Some amazing parallels were drawn between the days of Nehemiah and today, including the economic situation, credit crunch, and the crippling impact of too much debt and high interests rates (!)
• Three key areas where it's absolutely critical for our creed to match our deed: Forgiveness, Family, and Finances. In these areas it's far too easy to lose moral authority, but by doing right over the long haul with these, we gain moral authority and influence.
• "Prioritize the role no one else can play over the ones other people can play"
• Andy said "I'm no financial guru, but let me break this down for you." Pulled out ten one-dollar bills. All ten belong to God and He asks us to manage them for him. The first bill goes right back to Him. The second ones goes to savings if we're wise. That's a whole lot left for us to use. If you like it even shorter, in order: Give, save, live on the rest.
• If we don't get this right, our walk matching our talk in forgiveness, family and finances, the rest will just bounce off.
• Next up we got a taste of the craziness (innovation) of Catalyst. Robert the "popper" from Dance with the Stars did an amazing contortionist act! 
• The next speaker was William Paul Young, author of "The Shack ", an awesome book aimed at people who are hurting, and Young shared an amazing testimony. The Shack is definitely on my short list of books to read.
• Jim Collins, author of "Good to Great" had quite the introduction. Since he spoke on 'getting the right people on the bus', they actually drove in a bus, from which came a mariachi band, a banjo player, and a large hog (?!)
• Churches need not strive to be more business-like, but there's value in understanding some key factors in being great instead of just good - and to a large degree, that's a choice -- Greatness is not a function of circumstances, but of intentional choice and discipline.
  
• In any great enterprise you will find a culture of discipline that is simply not present in average organizations.
  
• Jim shared some new research which looks at why great companies fall, and one common reason is overreaching - born of hubris when seduced by their own success.
  
• Key indicator of overreaching is when you sacrifice quality of people on the bus for the sake of growth. Remember, first who then what.
  
• Leadership, not just any kind, but 'Level 5' is required to go from good to great - and the common characteristic of Level 5 Leadership is humility that puts company/values above self. (No surprise to followers of Christ)
• On the Hedgehog principle, many people have a to-do list, but do you have a "Stop Doing!" list?
• Well that sure got me hungry for lunch, so with some prodding from friends, I ate a whole large hot chili pepper for a free t-shirt from Sermon Spice :)  (It's an excellent resource for video clips, sermon illustrations, and background loops)
• Brenda Salter McNeil led off the afternoon session, teaching from Acts 2 on how God shakes us up to change the world. As catalysts we accelerate change without being burned.
  
• Next speaker was an amazing young man of God - Steven Furtick of Elevation Church brought it like no one else did today, pouring out his 28-year-old heart. His message was one of exhortation to be patient and faithful in that gap between when God makes a promise and when we see the fulfillment of that promise.
• We learned about Hoops of Hope, helping children in Zambia by... shooting free throws! For fun and to raise some cash, there was actually a slam dunk exhibition in the arena :)  And oh, the ministry was started by a 9 year old boy!
• Another highly regarded business figure, marketing expert Seth Godin told us about some key cultural changes that impact how people and organizations connect, grow, lead, make a difference. He talked about the importance of "Tribes". Oddly, Seth challenged us to be heretics (in the good sense of the word... hmm.. didn't know before there was a good sense of the word!) He was kind enough to share with us a free copy of his new book "Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us". (I will review that shortly - it's actually a pre-release copy due out October 16th)
• An amazing movie opens today, a "Rockumentary", part concert, part story about slavery going on today - Call and Response.
• Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch ended the day with a passionate plea to allow God to break us, heal us, use us. "Ruin us!"
  
• Outstanding day capped with an outstanding dinner at Fogo de Chao, both food and conversation were wonderful!

That's my recap! For some more detailed notes and other thoughts from outstanding blogs check out:
- Tim Stevens at Leading Smart had highlights from day 1, notes on Andy Stanley, Jim Collins, Steve Furtick, Seth Godin.
- Tony Morgan also had great coverage on Catalyst Conference 2008, with notes on Andy Stanley, William Paul Young, Jim Collins, Steven Furtick, Seth Godin, and Craig Groeschel.

- Thom Reece of the Simple Discipleship blog put together some great notes on the Jim Collins talk. He reminded us that in the church, BHAG is spelled BHAGGG - a Big Hairy Audacious God-Glorifying Goal.

Back from Catalyst

I got back late last night from Atlanta, after two fantastic days at the Catalyst Conference 2008. My head is swimming with a holy swarm of challenges, information, stories, and so much to process. I could use another few days just to think through the experience, process what I've learned and renew notes, and several more days to reconnect with my beautiful wife and kids. Inbox is in good shape, but 371 posts in my RSS reader and I need to prep for teaching on Wednesday night - alas life doesn't wait...

It's a bit hard to describe Catalyst or what I learned there. Part of it is a you-just-gotta-be-there experience, but there was also a lot of practical teaching, inspirational preaching and story-telling. The theme of the conference was "Together" and much of it focused on community. Catalyst is geared toward motivating the Next Generation Leader and helping young men and women dream dreams. The challenge to the older guys (sigh... ok... us old folk) is to realize that those who come after us will be the ones to reach their generation and be the vessel through which God does the next great thing. More and more we need to encourage, coach, empower - indeed unleash younger people for ministry, those with the passion and energy to be used mightily by God. Ok, rather than wait in vain hope until I have everything figured out and neatly packaged, I'm going to get a few short posts out sooner rather than later. If you do have any questions on any of the sessions or want to know more, please ask away in the comments!

Heading to Catalyst Conference 2008

Today I leave for Atlanta to attend the Catalyst Conference! I'm pretty excited - it'll be my first time at Catalyst and I've heard some great things about it. It's a high-energy power-packed innovative-church conference aiming at raising up the next generation of leaders in the church. (Shhhh! Don't tell anyone I'm just a bit older than that demographic! Although, I still have young kids... plus I play the drums!)  With 12,000 people expected to come I don't know if I'll run into anyone I know besides the folks from Calvary, but it sure would be cool to meet some fellow bloggers!

A key theme of the conference is on Community. What is the body of Christ supposed to be? What is the church supposed to be when we're working together? What does your Community look like? Do you have people helping you to finish well? Do you have people you're walking through life with? What does it mean to be working together in community on projects? 

There's a lot of ways for you to keep up with going on at Catalyst.

• As an experiment I'm going to try to be more active on Twitter - follow me as ltbaxter (or if you want to drink from a firehose, keep up with the hashtag #catalyst08 on twitter)
  
• Your special backstage pass is at the Catalyst Backstage blog (or grab the RSS feed) - they may even show some videos from the conference here
  
• The Catalyst Space website will have lots of news and articles
• There's even a "road-trip" version of their podcast to listen to on your way there
  

Here are six elements of being a Catalyst Leader:

• Passionate about God
  
• Courageous in Their Calling
  
• Intentional About Community
  
• Engaged in Culture
  
• Uncompromising about Integrity
  
• Authentic in their Influence