furtick's talk @ catalyst 08 (catalyst part 3)

[FSU just won again... I think we're on the rise finally. next year we'll definitely be back!]

[catch up on what I'm writing about HERE]

really the 2nd talk was jim collins, but it was probably the "pimpest" (yes it's a word... adjective in fact) of the whole conference & may take 2 blog posts, so I need more time to unpack it.

Pretty cool to have Steven Furtick on the main stage @ Catalyst... lead pastor of Elevation Church & representin' Charlotte, NC at THE premiere leadership conference! You can read my thoughts on Elevation HERE.

Steven REALLY brought it... he seriously brought the house down. tons of passion, a little yelling, and definitely lots of laughs. The guy is just an excellent communicator. At one point he used the phrase "Andy-freaking-Stanley" = everybody laughed.

His talk was meant to be extremely encouraging to everyone & he called it "From the Promise to the Payoff". 

-  he said "The space between the Promise and the Payoff is the [often painful] PROCESS."

some other good quotes from the talk:

-  "we must keep our VISION in sight when there's nothing to see."

-  "God is preparing you for what He's preparing for you." [you follow that?]

-  "We all know there's got to be more to life than 401Ks and buying a boat one day." 

= yeah, you're dang skippy, Steven. There's way more to life than that stuff! how in the WORLD did pastors & leaders ever start getting bogged down with that crap!?!? that pursuit of stuff is killing the mission while we're still in the process... before we get to the payoff.

*So, most of us are still in that PAINFUL PROCESS between the PROMISE [what God promised He would do] and the PAYOFF [the culmination of that promise]. So we've GOTTA stick with it. stay on mission. don't give up. 

Because it's so worth it in the end... 

beats a boat & a 401K any day... guaranteed.