Launch team

Okay, so there's a million things to do in beginning a new church.  Obviously one person cannot do these million things alone.  So how does a new church go from the God's heart to the mind of a few people to a gathering of hundreds in the span of 12 months?  With a team of people united with the same purpose/vision for connecting themselves and their community with God in a deep way.  

So, how many people does it take to launch a church?  How many does it take to launch Catalyst Church?  Well, you can launch with all size launch teams and honestly get churches started of varying sizes.  Our plan for Catalyst is as follows:  

75 adults on our launch team.  These 75 are part of the "all hands on deck" crew, getting all kinds of tasks accomplished from serving in community connect events over the next months, running our preview services, inviting people to join us on a journey with Jesus from wherever they are in terms of faith, and inviting people like crazy to join the team or to join us during our previews and launch month.  These people will be pouring lots of sweat and passion into helping birth Catalyst Church into the world.  

50-75 "Go for" team members.  These partners are persons who may currently be part of other local churches, but have offered to lend themselves to the cause by serving in particular areas of ministry for a period of time to help us get going.  These are kinda the "midwives" of this delivery process.  Though they may not be with us to see this baby through to childhood and adolescence, they are certainly critical to getting the baby "born."  Some of these helpers will be asked to simply help provide that critical mass feeling during our launch.  We want a packed house because a packed house just creates an energy and momentum moving forward.

I know that some of you are reading this from a good distance away.  I'm asking you to mark your calendars now for the four Sunday's in October.  Maybe for one or two or all of those Sundays you'd be willing to come help us "deliver."  If so, I can't tell you how huge that would be.  There'll be all kinds of areas to serve, from Tech and Hospitality to children's ministry and even setup/tear down.  We'd love to have you join the go for team.

So, that's the launch break down.

75+75=150 people before we ever send out the first postcard inviting our friends and neighbors to this new thing called Catalyst.

So where do we stand right now...?

Glad you asked.

Right now we're at 20 launch team and 11 go for team members.

In other words, we're at 20%, with 6 months to go til opening weekend.  So in other words, we're on our way, and we're asking for your serious prayers that God will lead other people to join us on this journey as we invited disconnected people to connect with God in deep and significant ways through interpersonal connection.  And if you'd be willing to add your name to that Launch team or Go for team, please always feel free to email me at chris@iamcatalyst.org. I'd also encourage you to take a look at our website, http://www.iamcatalyst.org, for some up to date information about what Catalyst is beginning to look like.  If you're a Twitter person, you can follow us at CatalystPndltn for real-time updates as well.

Grace and peace to each of you who journey with us via blog.

Turn it off...

You remember the part in the Forrest Gump movie, when he decides to go for a jog, and then runs for like 3 years, 4 months, 19 days...whatever!  Even though he said, "when I was tired, I slept, when I was hungry, I ate; when I was...you know, I went!" the truth is, everyday he got up thinking first and foremost about running.  Well I have a question.  I know of course that it was a movie...but, how did the guy just turn it off?  

Right now, my running is launching Catalyst Church.  When I'm hungry, I eat, and when I'm tired I sleep (although not all that well some nights).  I'll keep the other stuff to myself, but right now I'm struggling to know how to turn it off.  The thoughts of planting, of things to do, or people to meet with, pretty much never leave my mind.  This is good most of the time, because the eating and sleeping and spending some time with my family are good diversions, but I'm beginning to find that even those times are being spent thinking about Catalyst.

Case in point.  My birthday was this past Wednesday.  We got 2nd row tickets to the UK-ND basketball game in South Bend.  A great opportunity to shut it down mentally and just enjoy the game.  But the entire time up the road I couldn't stop thinking about all the things I needed to be doing instead of driving to the game.  I think about the time we got inside the arena (following three phone calls I needed to make) I got zoned in on the game.  My thoughts though kept me awake for the very late night drive home (arrived at 1am).  

My point and my prayer request...I know Sabbath is important, but for me I'm discovering it's a mental thing as well as a physical thing.  I don't feel physically drained, but mentally, I'm kinda feeling a little toasted right now.  My mental batteries are like a bad laptop battery.  I'm not holding my charge as well as I used to, and I know there's no potential for replacement for my brain.  So pray with me that there will be some moments (maybe like Sunday afternoon this week) where I can just unplug and get a good slow mental recharge from God.  

Thanks for following this journey with me and for your prayers for my family and Catalyst Church.

Sorry I'm a bit behind...missed a few posts

Life has been so busy doing a lot of the church planting prep that I haven't taken the time to write about the church planting.  Apologies.

So let's roll the update machine here.....

Since our last post, I've gotten a second walk through at the school where we're going to meet.  We have a contract in place at a very reasonable (almost unbelievable if this weren't a divine thing!) price.  Our goal from the very beginning of our church was that we'd live by a 50-25-25 scenario where 25% of our resources are always going away in some missional direction.  (Outreach, community/world needs, etc).  While this was our goal, I thought we might not be able to get there in the beginning because of startup costs.  This cost for our school rental is going to make that goal possible from the very beginning, I believe.

While we haven't gotten everyone together in the same room yet, we're right around 14-15 adults on our launch team.  Our goal is to get to 75 by launch date.  So we're praying, asking God to lead us to people who may join with us on this journey.  Yesterday, 7 people (6 from Crosspoint and 1 other) committed to "Go For" Catalyst.  This means that they will be volunteering short term with our launch team in certain ministry areas to get us going.  For instance, some may be willing to work in our children's ministry one Sunday per month, or come every Sunday for the first 2 months, something like that.  Maybe you're a person reading this and you'd say, "I live a good distance away, but I'd be willing during one or two of the four weekends of launch to come down (or up, or east, or whichever direction you'd come) and give you guys a hand getting going."  If that's something you'd like to think about, ask about, or say, "yeah, count me in!" please contact me.  There's all kinds of ways to help Catalyst launch!!!

Yesterday I got to teach at Crosspoint and share the vision of Catalyst Church.  If you'd like to check it out, here's a link to get to their itunes page, or, you can download the mp3 here.  It will hopefully give you a feel for where we're headed, what God is doing to form us and lead us.    Also yesterday at Crosspoint, I got to work with Brad Brickley, who's going to be leading our worship.  You know it's a good sign when (unprompted) people begin asking, "who is that guy leading this morning?" and making statements like, "He's awesome, what a great leader!"  And he led TWO Songs!  I can't wait to be around to get to hear more and more!  And I think this is just going to take his life and his faith to the next level, too!

We've also held weeks 2 and 3 of our life group.  Little smaller than in previous weeks, but I believe this week we're going to be back on track.  We're going to be moving our life group to Monday's in about 3 weeks, which will give us another bounce I believe.

And we're pushing toward our goal financially as well.  Not there yet, so if you're still interested in partnering with us in this way, but haven't made a contribution yet, your support will continue to push us forward and will help people who need to connect the dots about God so they can connect with Him do exactly that through Catalyst.  

Because you see that's what we're about.  We're about helping people connect with Jesus, together.  We're about deep relationships...and we believe that through those connections, we can be part of God's restoring work in the world.  That's what we're giving our lives to.  That's what people are joining us to be part of.  We'd love for you to join with us in this endeavor as well.  

Now I'm Understanding

I never knew church planting was such a journey toward self-understanding as well as others understanding as well as understanding Jesus.  For me it's a journey in discipleship (which I guess I should have known but now I am more fully beginning to understand this).  I'm learning how many spiritual things I need to practice, not because they make Jesus love me more, (which is impossible according to the bible), but because they just make life better, sanity more realized, and help me want to treat others the way they deserve to be treated (the way Jesus treats them).  

I'm learning lots of logistical things.  Things I thought I knew how to do.  I'm learning how much faster the clock seems to run and how efficiency really is not a constant but runs in spurts.  

I'm learning that there are certain things that are much harder for me than I ever anticipated.  

I'm learning that relationship building is the world's slowest, and yet most necessary process.  Forget for a moment about starting a church.  It just takes time to get to know people.  This isn't simcity (a computer game simulation where you control a world by constructing people and their lives, or a city for them to live) where you can speed up the clock to make things work faster or more effectively.  

And especially for today.  Even though I'm committed to the model we've chosen of life groups before public launch, I am understanding why nearly every church planting resource I know of says, "don't start small groups until after you've launched weekends."  My good friend Joe and I were discussing this this morning.  It's just so hard to differentiate the purposes for which people connect with you in group life.  Some are there just to get to know other people.  Some are there to hear about what you're doing.  Some are there because they've committed to what you're doing together.  Some are wondering, "well this is all well and good but don't we have plans to put together to get this baby into the world?"  And it's really tough to navigate all those waters when people come together, and we're only in week one!  Now our intent is to keep the "planning" separate from the life group.  And in practice that can be done.  But when people are coming to your entry point from different places, that differentiation is harder than I thought.  And this is going to be one of those entries that doesn't tidy up at the end.  I don't have an answer/solution for this paradox right now.  That's probably a part of the little knot in my stomach I'm feeling.  That and week 2 of life group is coming...and it's kinda like launch Sunday...you know where you really are beginning when week 2 rolls around.  Week 1=Curiosity, week 2=reality!

This obviously is not an all-encompassing list of everything I'm learning.  I'm also learning that while I'm forever a Mac guy, they do have a couple of faults.  I haven't resolved at least one of those either.  So, we journey forward into the darkness in several ways, hoping and believe that the Lord will illuminate the path at least a little bit ahead.  He has several times before, so I'm trusting we're not wandering blindly this time either.

We have liftoff!

Our first Catalyst life group launched last night.  There were seven of us who gathered in my living room to begin to envision with us what Catalyst will be, off the paper and out of my soul and into the real world.  Where do we go from this seven?  Only God knows that.  

We talked a little bit last night about mapping out a picture of our preferred future (vision) versus the importance of living in the moment, not trapped by the regrets of the past or the uncertainty of the future.  Somewhere as a church, people need to know where you're going, but I'm not certain that the way vision has been expressed has always been about following the way of Jesus, and instead has been about duplicating what we've determined "successful" churches are somehow doing.  So is vision that catches empirical or more abstract?  Or both?  

Recently, I sat down and wrote down a list of the characteristics of what I'd classify as a "mature follower of Jesus."  This is in fact what the scriptures compel us toward, spiritual maturity.  I hadn't really considered that this was an exercise in mapping out a preferred future for our church, really more for myself.  The conclusion I came to though is that if there were hundreds of people (adults and children) in our area in the next years who really began to, by the Spirit's discernment, evaluate where they are in terms of following Jesus and began committing their lives toward the goal of spiritual maturity, of growing to be more like Jesus in all areas of their lives, and our church could help encourage them and resource them and live life together with them on this journey, that that's a preferred future that I know the Lord would be pleased with.  I'd love your thoughts, additions, questions, maybe even subtractions to my list.  So I'm going to link it here, and I'd love your comments/thoughts.  Now again, these are my thoughts, but I'm not saying that this is the Gospel.  The Word of God is the Gospel, and I'm just trying to get my mind and arms around more and more of it as I grow forward.  You can leave comments on the blog comments section below this post, or you can email me your thoughts to chris@exit14church.org.  

Location, Location, Location!

Okay, quite recently I've found myself driving past this school that I've just felt is supposed to be our meeting place.  I'd finally gotten the paperwork started, and kept waiting and waiting to hear something, anything from the principal.  A little background.

When we first moved here, one of the first things I did was to contact the principal of the nearby Elementary School and the town manager of the City of Pendleton, just to introduce myself and actually to ask if there was anything we could do to serve them.  Neither ever got back with me.  We live in an area where there simply are not a huge number of potential places to meet.  As I heard more about the school I just felt more and more that this was the meeting location we should pursue, at least for the time being.  So I made a second contact to the principal, with no response.  

Finally, a friend of ours began student teaching at this school.  He told me that this principal was a great guy, I needed to meet him and that he thought it would be a great possibility for us to meet there.  So I went through the procedure of attempting to rent the facility.  I filled out the paperwork and turned it back in to the school, hoping that day to get to meet the principal.  No dice.  I did get told that the school doesn't rent on Sunday mornings.  Had to go through the corporation office to confirm that was an old policy.  So I call on Friday of last week to see what the progress of my application was.  The school once again refers me to the corp office, who hasn't seen my paperwork.  Ugh!

Today I'm driving by the school.  And in my heart I am saying two things.  Lord, if you don't want us to meet here, please don't let me go home today without seeing some other secondary potential site.  But I just keep feeling drawn to this place.  I remembered the day in December when my friends from Church at the Crossing stood in the parking lot freezing our tails off praying about Catalyst (we didn't even have a name yet) and this facility.  

So I drive around town, and I find another rental location.  It's an empty retail site that could easily be built to some of our specifications.  It has ample parking and is in a great location.  So I get on the phone with the leasing company.  And it would be a great location....for $4,875 per month.  I posted earlier my status on Facebook, apparently the developers and leasing companies around here haven't got the memo that the economy is in the toilet, and that you really can't logically think that someone's going to cough up $20 per square foot for new retail space in these days.  Maybe 5 years from now, but that remains to be seen.  

And so I drove down to another place I'd looked at before.  This time I got to go inside.  And from the moment I walked in I just didn't feel like this place was right.  I spent the next few hours working on some other work assignments and overhearing a woman's spiritual conversation at the coffee shop in Pendleton.  It just reminded me one more time how this community needs what we're doing so much, not because it's about us, but because there are lots of people here who need Jesus, just Jesus.  And we're going to be a church that helps people meet and fall in love with and learn to follow Jesus.

So I'm driving home, and I'm tempted not to drive by the school again, because I don't feel like I've gotten my answer about a secondary location, but....Now this school is a pretty good sized building, and the last time I came to the school office, I asked for a building map because I've never even been anywhere in the building past the office.  Now at this point I don't know if what I'm doing is prophetic, or subconsciously prophetic, or whatever.  But somehow I'm prompted that I should drive around to the back of the building just to see the area where we might use as a parking area/entrance.  And then I drive on around the building.  But something prompts me to drive on around the building again.  And as I drive around the second time, my phone rings.  I don't recognize the number, but when I answer it, it's the PRINCIPAL.  HE'S CALLING ME TO TELL ME THAT HE JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH THE SUPERINTENDENT, (which is the next step in the process, a step he took before signing off on the contract himself,) and they've decided that they're more than happy to let us rent from them!!!  

Okay at this point I probably creeped him out a bit, because I said to him, (my actual words), "Are you still in the building?"  (Yes) "because I'm calling from the parking lot, I was just driving around the building and I've never been inside, so if you've got a couple of minutes, could you show me around?"  (Sure, come on in)  After I pull on around the building and compose myself (laughter this time, not the usual tears)  I run in like some giddy school girl, where the principal proceeds to show me around the building and basically imply we can use pretty much whatever we want!  He gave us permission to use the gym, the cafeteria, the light system, their sound system if we want.  I asked him for permission to come back with a digital camera and take some photos and he obliged me anytime after school is out for the day.  He was totally cool to meet and work with, and is going to introduce us to the head custodian, who is going to become our best friend and we are going to be his biggest fan.  Heck, we want to treat the custodial staff so well that other schools are envious of them just because they get to work with us.

Now I could go all spiritual here and say that I don't believe the principal would have called if I hadn't listened to God's prompting to drive around the building.  I know he didn't recognize my car because we'd never met, and i wasn't even in my car that has the Denney license plate on the front.  You could get creeped out that I was stalking the parking lot.  (I decided not to bring it up when I got inside)  I just choose to believe that God heard my heart's cry this morning and chose to make something happen for our new little fledgling faith community that proves again He is bigger than our barriers and that hundreds of people's lives are going to be changed by this Catalyst that He is forming in Pendleton.

Does this solve all of our launch problems?  No, no it doesn't.  Does it mean the next few months are going to be easy?  No, no it doesn't.  Is it one more step on the journey for us, a step where God affirms He's God and we're on the right path?  Yes, yes it does.

Now....we wait to find out what "anything we need" is going to cost!  But you know what, I get the feeling that He who offers us resources will resource us with the funds we need to cover it.

Oh, and there's room in the potential worship area for I don't know, 450?  200 chairs on the floor and then we can use the bleachers if we needed to.  

There are details to nail down, some understandings to be reached about logistics, and so we're asking that you pray with us that all those things can be ironed out.  But today is a huge day for Catalyst Church.  And we thank you for praying and journeying with us thus far.  

And thank you God, You just remind us that when the enemy wants to discourage us, to tell us things are not going to work out, wants to convince us to quit, that You have lead us this far and You will take us to places which are unimaginable if we just keep walking in step with You.  Will You help us fill that place with people hungry to connect with You, to know You and to follow Your Son Jesus Christ.

Slow down

I should have written last night.  I was in a better frame of mind last night.

I'm having one of those days where I'm asking myself "do I have the personal discipline to plant a church?"  I never realized how much I have begun to default to this "it'll get done somehow" philosophy, without disciplining myself to put dates and times and deadlines to tasks.  Today has been a reminder of a few things.  First, I'm going to have to get up earlier in the morning.  Seems simple enough, except I really like sleep and Camden is starting to sleep longer.  If I want to accomplish all the tasks that need to be done as well as meet all the people I need to meet, it's going to take more hours than I have right now.  So, the best way to create more hours is to get up earlier.  

Two, I need more time for some contemplation.  I read in Luke 1 this morning the story that Zechariah had 9 months of silence while waiting for John to be born.  I gotta believe he did a lot of thinking in that time as well as a lot of listening.  And after John was born it said that he moved to the wilderness until his public ministry began.  Dude spent years in the wilderness, and a lot of that time he had to have been alone with God.  No wonder His ministry was infused with such power.

Third, nothing "Just happens."  Things happen because we plan for them to happen, we discipline ourselves into pro-activity so that they happen.  For me this means I'm going to have to sit down with my calendar, put blocks of time every day of every week to make certain tasks take place.  And I'm going to have to stick to those blocks of time, or I'm hosed.

Fourth.  I've got a huge amount of learning to do as a leader.  I'm just not that good right now.  I know my leadership potential won't thwart the sovereignty of God, I just don't want to get in His way.

Five, deadlines are a good thing.  They keep me accountable, especially to the things I don't want to do or feel uncomfortable doing.

Let me give you an update on Carlotta and Camden.  They are doing well.  Camden is just so busy right now, it's impossible to do any work and watch her at the same time.  Watching her is a full-time task.  Carlotta is going to begin posting on our blog site periodically.  She probably would have done it last night, but I wouldn't give her the know how on how to do it, because she had other things she needed to work on and I didn't want to get in the way of that.  So watch for that, and if anything I've posted today is where you are in life (and I was in several different places myself) then blessings to you in that.

One last thing.  We start our small groups on Thursday.  I kinda feel like Thursday is that day when you go to the doctor to do your first ultrasound.  You know there's lots of growing still to do, but you want to see what's developing so far.  As such, you can imagine I'm internalizing a bit of pressure, and I haven't got the discussion guide done for any of the next six weeks just yet.  So, any prayers you'd lift up for us are greatly appreciated.  Pray that what God is birthing in us begins to really take shape and resonate in an ever-growing group of people who will begin to journey with us.

Chris