what is CATALYST anyway?

Ok, I'm back to blogging now... the Ridge team was at Catalyst last week and I had no time to write. Now that I'm back at it there has been a LOT of catching up to do as all of you know when returning from a trip!

Many of you I saw at Catalyst and gave you a big hug. We even broke some world records together! Many of you are jealous that you missed out on an amazing week. But there are still some of you who have no idea what Catalyst is. This is for you...

Catalyst is THE Premiere leadership conference in the country... hands down (whatever "hands down" means). It is about 10 years old and is touted as the conference for "NEXT GENERATION LEADERS". So, it started with mainly pastors in their 20s and 30s, but now has morphed into a huge gathering of ministry AND business leaders in their 20s AS WELL AS their 50s.

Last year was my 1st year and it blew me away. By far the best thing you could go to [besides probably a Passion gathering, but they're totally different things, so can't really be compared...] This year did not disappoint. every bit as great!

***I was overwhelmed and challenged and stretched and renewed during my time at Catalyst! I have SO many takeaways. Stuff I am still thinking through! So, I figured why not think through it and flesh it out right here with you guys at renown? Any good reasons why I shouldn't? no?well OK then... that's what I'll do. 

Be looking out over the next days and probably even weeks [like I said a TON of takeaways] as I will be writing and thinking out loud about the hundreds of takeaways I was challenged with at the Catalyst Conference = T08GETHER [took me like a day to figure that out... I also had way too much info flowing through my ADD-riddled brain.]

Now, I'm just going to give you a sneak peak of what you'll be reading in the coming week or so... An introduction of the lineup if you will. Who were the great minds who shaped my thinking last week? Drumroll please...

Andy Stanley - lead pastor, North Point Community Church. Pretty much the resident pimp of Catalyst. He leads off with a talk and ends Catalyst with a talk. The only guy who gets 2 talks. He seems to be the "Dad" figure a little bit. [Catalyst actually began on the campus of NPCC] [Andy also happens to be one of our teaching pastors at Ridge Church & the guy who's the pastor of the church we were planted by & are in strategic partnership with]

William Paul Young - author of the #1 best-selling book for 24 weeks in a row, The Shack.

Jim Collins - author of the great bestseller Good to Great and Built to Last. He is basically THE business GURU. The research King. This was the 1st time he had ever spoken to a Christian audience... His was probably my favorite talk of the week! Can't wait to unpack that one with you!

Steven Furtick - lead pastor, Elevation Church = right here in Charlotte, NC. actually it is the 2nd fastest growing church in the country! We have a great relationship with these guys, pray for them, and cheer for them. Steven is a very gifted communicator and tore it up with his 20 minute talk. Even got a standing O.

Brenda Salter McNeil - author, and leader for racial and ethnic reconciliation.

Seth Godin - Marketing Expert/Guru/King & best-selling author of Purple Cow & The Dip & 9 other best-sellers. He was also the VP of marketing at Yahoo! I'm pretty sure he has THE most popular marketing/business blog. To sum it up in 1 word, the guy is a GENIUS! Can't wait to unpack his talk.

Craig Groeschel - Lead Pastor, LifeChurch.tv & Author of one of my all time fav books Chazown. 

Tim Sanders - Former CSO of Yahoo! & best-selling author of a whole ton of books. really smart guy, but unfortunately we decided to sleep in the morning of his talk... so nothing to share with you from Tim. just go check out his website though.

Dave Ramsey - Our HERO! best-selling author & Host of the #2 radio show in the nation! + Host of The Dave Ramsey Show on the Fox Business Channel. The Total Money Makeover has totally reshaped our financial lives in the last year!!! We LOVE this guy!

Franklin Graham - Billy's son, President & CEO, Samaritan's Purse. Speaking & accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award for Billy Graham who was to sick to be with us. That would have been crazy cool.

Andy Crouch - Director of the Christian Vision Project (of Christianity Today) and author of Culture Making. Great stuff on culture!

Matt Chandler - lead pastor, The Village Church in Dallas. Also 1 of the fastest growing churches in America & part of the Acts 29 network.

The peeps leading us in worship were basically the North Point band & worship leaders = Steve Fee, Kristian Stanfill, Chrystina Fincher, Candi Pearson Shelton, and Eddie Kirkland.

Jon Foreman (the lead singer of SWITCHFOOT) also stopped by for a couple mini concerts.

The incredibly funny Lanny Donoho & his "sidekick" Reggie Joiner were again our hosts along with an appearance from Jeff Foxworthy.

OK, so I'm going to try to post some takeaways EVERY DAY for the next several days... until I'm done posting them. But remember, I have severe ADD, so I may start writing about other stuff and then come back...