Refueling the Tanks

Okay I'm re-learning. Or rather, re-initiating.

Sometimes I go to the gas station and pull up to the tank, and I notice that the person who fueled up before me has put $1 or $3 into the tank. For some reason, putting one gallon of fuel in the tank actually catches more of my attention than $75. It kinda makes me...sad. I know in these tough economic times that dollars are more difficult to come by maybe than anytime in recent memory. And so for the person who's just left this tank, perhaps they've indicated by their purchase that really life for them right now is an exercise in just getting by, an exercise of just making it one more step, one more day.

Don't get me wrong. We all have days like that. Days where if we can just make it back to our head on our pillow at the end of the day accomplishing emotional or relational or work survival, that will be a victory. But the truth is, we all probably have fewer of those days than we want to acknowledge. At some point, there's got to be more in the tank than what it takes for just one day. Sometimes we have to fill the car beyond the point where the low fuel indicator light actually goes off. We need more than a day's worth of fuel.

Here's the reason for my metaphor. I used to be a voracious reader (or at least in my own mind). I felt like I was filling the tanks all the time. And so the intellectual seeds God was sowing were bringing lots of cool harvest potential. But in the last few months, (probably about a year now) the discipline of sowing had basically dried up. Sure I'd do a little reading every once in a while (just enough to get my intellectual tank off the pegged "E") but not nearly enough to have time for what was sown to actually grow into something bigger. It's like eating the seeds instead of putting them into the ground. You get by for one more day but you really have nothing in the hopper for the days and months ahead.

And my schedule basically had no time for the discipline of refilling the tanks. So today, I've made the decision to rework my schedule and create planting space through reading. It may mean that a few things that ordinarily might get done Monday morning jump to the afternoon. But I am realizing that if I don't refill on Monday, the rest of the week is spent hopping from one splash and go to another, which kills my efficiency and probably short circuits God's preparing me for the rest of the week.

For me right now, empty tanks mean more reading. What about for you? What's on E in your life? Actually the bigger question might be, "what's on E that you need to take regular time to get closer to F?" We all have days when a little splash and go is all we can muster, but I can tell you from personal experience, you do that more than a week or two and that habit will lock itself in much quicker than you ever could imagine. And that will be to your detriment as well as to the people around you.

Map out time this week to take steps toward a fill up.

Catalyst rewind in your rss reader

If you use an rss reader to follow the Catalyst church blog, and want to continue following the Sunday rewind, an easy way to follow is by going to this link. Anytime a new note is added, it'll automatically load to your reader.

feed://www.facebook.com/feeds/notes.php?id=109497719322&viewer=680611118&key=6a22a1f729&format=rss20

Thanks for continuing the journey with us.

Chris

Catalyst rewind posted at Facebook fan page

Just a reminder that we've moved our rewind post to the Catalyst facebook page, which you can access by clicking on the link to the right. Thanks for checking in with us.

Is It Wrong to be Unsatisfied?

Okay, so I'm going to be brutally honest. I'm dissatisfied. I don't know what I anticipated. I don't know if my perspective of timing is off. But I'm dissatisfied. Dissatisfied with myself. Not mad at anyone. Not blaming anyone, except maybe myself. And I'll work through it, I'll get over it. But I'm not satisfied.

Influence is something that you don't earn quickly. Lots of things can draw a crowd quickly. When people have asked what my goal is for Catalyst, one of my answers has always been, "Big influence, not necessarily big numbers." The numbers are often an outside force that are important but somewhat beyond our control. Influence is something all of us have the opportunity to produce. So when our numbers aren't huge compared to the week before, or (gulp) they go down, why am I so dissatisfied? If the God ordained goal is influence, and letting numbers be a byproduct of big influence in the community, then why can't I be patient. Influence doesn't come overnight. You earn influence. You build influence as you build trust. 8 week olds are cute, but they don't have influence. (If they do, you've got a monster on your hands before too long) God, help me to remember that if you answer my prayer, it's going to look like what it looks like. And I do want Catalyst to fulfill its full redemptive and influential potential in this community. So God remind me what that means, what that takes and that we function in your timeline not our own. Remind me that numbers are a means, not an end.

And remind me often the words that I heard Craig Groeschel say this week. "People often overvalue what happens in the short-term and undervalue what happens over the long-term." Help me to value what you value, Jesus, and to not get hung up on the short term. Marathon not sprint.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, March 21st and final reminder

Today we celebrated another first at Catalyst. Held our first child dedication, celebrating with the Justus family in blessing their daughter, Ella Grace. It's always cool to embrace families who are committed to raising their children to follow the way of Jesus. One of the components of Child Dedication that often gets forgotten centers around the Jewish tradition of the community welcoming the child into the community and committing to do their part in raising the child in relationship with God. We also continued our Church Different series. Week 3 focused on a visual picture of what a life transformed by relationship with God looks like. Podcast is up and running from today. Had a few last minute shifts in the load-out crew this morning. Thanks to everyone who makes Catalyst come alive each weekend. Also feel like we got some things finally working better in terms of worship sound and recording. I'm actually not pulling my hair out in frustration because of our mp3 situation! Hooray!!! I'm also thankful for people who pray for what we're doing here at Catalyst. I'm not going to lie, this past week was a bit of an emotional struggle for me. With the combination of a shuffled schedule, some lingering illness and basketball (if you want the whole truth) I came into this morning feeling a little bit "Not with it." But as God always does, as I stepped up to speak His word, He brought clarity to my mind and I believe spoke an important word to each of us today. Had our first C.A.T. team (Creative Arts Team) gathering tonight to begin brainstorming for the Free Journey which begins Sunday April 11th. Good stuff ahead. Excited about completing the Church Different series, about Easter and about the Free Journey ahead. More info will be on our website about the Free Journey in the next couple of weeks!

Just a final reminder that after this week's post we will be moving the rewind exclusively to the Catalyst Facebook fan page. You can look to the right for a link to the page. (I don't believe you have to be on Facebook to view this page, so click the link and take a look.) Thanks so much for your interest in the exciting stuff that's happening at Catalyst.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, March 14th and reminder

Any time you do firsts, there's always the potential for greatness and for some challenges. We had three firsts yesterday in the young life (we're still just six weeks old at this point!) of Catalyst Church. All three of them were overwhelmingly great. No challenges at all. Not bad for a six week old.

• Just like everywhere else, yesterday was Time Change Sunday. Time Change Sunday takes on a whole new meaning when you setup and teardown every week, because even though the clock says the normal time, when you roll in to begin setup at 6:30, it still feels like 5:30am! Everyone was on time, in good spirits and...I wish i knew how to adequately express this...but every week the load in team sets the "temperature" of the day. If their attitude is good, and the conversations are flowing and the laughter is rising, you know it just sets a good vibe for the day. I know "vibe" isn't an inherently spiritual word, but attitude is a huge leadership character trait, and I can't tell you how great Load-in does on this every weekend! Ryan Webster and his team nail it every week.
• We did miss a few people because of the time change I think but I think the people who were with us yesterday were definitely impacted by the experience.
• Brad and Jared led worship yesterday with an acoustic, relaxed set. It gave us an opportunity to sing a few songs we haven't yet, and though the volume was significantly different, I think the worship experience was powerful. We're gonna take risks around here. We're gonna change things up. We're gonna do whatever it takes to help people draw closely to God. Good stuff yesterday.
• Pastor Dan taught yesterday on what a spiritual journey is, and the rewards of each stage, beginning, middle and end. MP3 will be posted by noon Monday.
• Great points...the reminder that Jesus chose the disciples, and He Chose You First! If you've ever been told you're not good enough, You're good enough to follow me!
• Hebrews 12 Run the race with perseverence...1 Corinthians 9...run the race to win the prize. The prize is the point!
• Celebrated our first practice of Communion, Lord's Supper, Mass, Eucharist, whatever you're used to calling it. To see people hop up out of their seats to receive the elements, was a powerful moment in our young life. Nothing unites people like our common faith in Christ as Savior and Lord of our life. Communion affirms that. It's me saying to the people in community with me, "I'm headed more towards Jesus." It's those participating around me saying the same thing.

And so we're on to next week...another one of those cool moments in the life of our church. We're celebrating child dedication with the Justus family. I'll be back to teaching the Word next week, focusing on what a transformed life looks like on the inside and on the outside. God is changing us and drawing us to Him. This would be a great week to join us at Catalyst, or to invite a friend to come along!

Just a reminder that we've shifted the main forum for our rewind to our Catalyst Facebook page. We'll continue to post here for a few more weeks, but primarily this blog is going to go back to Chris' postings about life, ministry and some of the stuff that's going on at Catalyst Church. Thanks for tracking with us, praying for us and helping us expand the Kingdom of God through God's calling on our lives to begin this new church.

The Cost

As a pastor, one of your great hopes is that when you get any opportunity to teach God's word, that there's significant carryover effect and the words you teach continue to speak to people for an extended period of time. Often you think about that in the context of the lives of your hearers, but rarely do we consider (or maybe want to consider) the carryover effect in our own lives. When we don't, it may be an indicator of a couple of things. One, that we're not teaching out of our own struggles, out of our own journey, for whatever reason, or two, that our own pride will not allow us to be open to areas where we need to grow.

Well here's an acknowledgement. I'm still stuck on the verse from 2 weeks ago in Matthew 16 where Jesus says, if any one of you wants to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. When we were at the churchplanters.com conference, I heard Rick Warren remind us that the way of Jesus transitions from come and see to come and die. The way of Jesus goes from the way of salvation to the way of sacrifice and suffering.

I've come to realize that there are some barriers in my life. Some strongholds that if I want to see break through in them, it's going to cost me more than I've wanted to pay before. I feel like Jesus is asking me to take on some disciplines, both personal and spiritual, that if I don't, my life and ministry will stall out where they are. I'm satisfied with neither of those options. A stalled life or a stalled ministry. I know that some of these things are personality deficiencies that I need God to work out. I know that some of these things involve other people and other people's free will. And honestly, some are issues where I personally struggle with some recurring sinful attitudes/actions. I believe Jesus is saying, if you want more from me, want more for this church I've given you opportunity to lead, there's a way of sacrifice to be walked. This is not a salvation issue, it's a favor issue. I don't believe that we earn salvation, but I strongly believe that our obedience impacts the fullness of God demonstrating Himself in our lives.

There's gonna be cost. I can already feel it. It's gonna be some discipline I need but don't have. So let's see what the next days and weeks hold for me and for my family and for Catalyst. Who's to say what God may be up to?

We're Changing the Format...

It's time for a little change up. So, going forward, I think my blog is going to be more of a personal posting place about life, ministry and some of what's going on at Catalyst. If you're interested in what's going on Sunday to Sunday through our rewind, I'm going to move that to the Catalyst Facebook Fan page. So if you're reading this, you must be on our fanpage list. If you're not, here's a link to get to that page. I'll be posting this note to my blog this week and doing the Sunday rewind in both places for a few weeks so that no one gets lost in the switch. And about yesterday, We began our new series, "Church Different." The weather is turning, we're seeing new faces each week, and all in all I feel like Catalyst is heading in a good direction. -Had new volunteers leading in the elementary and pre-school venues yesterday for the first time. Some of these folks had served in these areas before, but stepped into new roles of team leadership yesterday for the first time. -Band played my favorite cover so far. Life is a Highway. They nailed it. -Teaching time on church as community. Community is not a goal, it's not a value or a program or a ministry, it's a way of life in church or we're not doing it right. -Churches that do community right practice Matthew 16 and Matthew 18 well. -We also practice the one anothers well. It's how we live out Jn 13:35. -God is going to infuse Himself into this community through Catalyst. People will meet Jesus who might not have because of this church. In fact, I believe they already are. -Started men's basketball this week on Thursday night at 8pm. Had 19 guys show up and sweat, miss a lot of shots and sprinkle in a few all-star plays as well. Lots of good goings on at Catalyst. If you live in the area, or you know someone in the area, Catalyst could be a great place to connect with God for you both.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, Feb. 28th

It was another great day at Catalyst Church. You know that time when the sheer mental exhaustion of bringing home a new baby wears off, and the reality of "hey, we've got a baby to raise here" kicks in? We're there. We're having a great time watching this little baby church grow! It's hard to believe we're four weeks old!!! And It's hard to believe we're only four weeks old!

• We finished our first series, "If You Really Knew Me," this weekend. Chris talked about the fact that we've all found ourselves wandering. It's our hardwiring. It's our nature. And God will work with us and through us even as we are prone to wander.
• Brad and the band keep getting better and better. They take it up a notch every week, and that's with a lot of new and different people playing and leading each week.
• I know we've only been at this a bit, but I'd put our load-in/setup team next to teams that have been setting up for 10x longer and they'd hold their own. Every week we walk away thinking, "okay, should we push back our setup arrival time" because they get finished so efficiently and quickly. What do you think guys, should we let them sleep in a little longer?
• Heather and Lauren and their team, so proud of you all. You're helping kids love church. Awesome.
• I think we've finally worked out our bugs with the podcast. This weekend's will be posted by tomorrow afternoon.

We've talked often about how our community doesn't need another church, but could definitely use a different kind of church. Next week, we begin our new series called "Church Different." We're gonna talk about thinks like what community, what journey, what transformation and what impacting our community looks like at Catalyst. If you're in the area, check us out. You'll love this church. We promise you'll leave feeling refreshed, encouraged and challenged to take the next step in your relationship with God. And if you're out of town, we're gonna blog more, keep checking out the facebook fan page and the catalyst website. it'll be somewhat like you're right here journeying with us.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, Feb. 21st

It was a quiet day this weekend at Catalyst. Seemed like though things went well we were just a half step off to begin the day. Maybe it was just the weather, but we were a little extra quiet this past Sunday. God still moved, still taught us and still drew us close to Him, and really that's all that matters.

• It was week three of our "If You Really Knew Me" Series. We talked about feelings of emptiness and fulfillment. If you're not following on Twitter, you should. We post teaching notes in real time, during the message. Just one more way to track with what God is saying to our community.
• We had some new people in different serving roles this week. Thanks team Catalyst for all you're doing each weekend. There is no Catalyst without each of you.
• One week left in the series, and it's going to be the best of the bunch.
• We're already gearing up for our next series, "Church Different," Easter, and the Free Journey coming up beginning April 11th. There is some great stuff coming in the weeks ahead.
• One apology. We continue to have some problems with our podcast. We've made promises about making teachings available online, and to be honest, we haven't gotten it done these past two Sundays because of recording issues. Please accept our apology for this. We think we have a solution that we can implement next week, and so if you'll extend us some grace one more week, we will have our recording situation straightened out this weekend we hope.

Brad, Dan and I are spending some time at Mountain Lake Church north of Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I can say without hesitation that Catalyst will be a more effective church at fulfilling our mission to help everyone in our community know how to continue our journey with God and live more like Jesus. Thanks for letting us continue to be learners.

The journey continues this weekend through life groups. Make it Personal guides are a great opportunity for further application from the weekend and are available online at catalystchurchweb.org. Looking forward to seeing you all again Sunday.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, Feb. 14th

So, everyone wonders...what do you do for week 2 after you have a great kickoff on week 1? We continued our series, "If You Really Knew Me." Today we discussed the statement, "I have doubts." Let me just say, we're a few months in, two weekends into our Grand Opening. And I love our church. Listen, it's winter in Indiana. Our team lost the SuperBowl last week. Snow is piling up, and we unload and load in in temperatures well below freezing. And yet, Catalyst is excited, committed and passionate about the eternal transformation we're working to cultivate in this community and beyond.

• 88 persons with us today. 64 adults, 24 infant-elementary.
• Had several families return from Grand Opening last weekend, and we're having new families connect with Catalyst each week!
• Today was that day we've anticipated was coming...we hit a few tech bugs. Nothing that's not immediately fixable, but you know when you're getting started it's bound to happen. So we improvised.
• We ran out of bibles last week. (I may have mentioned that last Sunday, but it's worth repeating. It's always a good thing to get God's Word into people's hands.
• It's always awkward to compliment your own teaching, but I felt as in the groove today as I have on any Sunday so far. Used a lot of scripture passages today. Probably the reason it felt so good. Hard to screw up God's words, much easier to screw up your own!
• Key thoughts from the teaching...When we Have doubts/questions, it's critical that we keep with the journey, that we ask God for help with our unbelief, and that we build on the solid stuff that we do know.
• Catalyst Kidz is hitting it out of the park every week. I know that there are families who keep coming back because their kids are having a great time. Heather and Lauren and your teams, if you're reading this, I hope you know the world of difference you're making every week!!!!
• Had a little problem with the podcast this week, but we're going to work that out and get something posted.
• The adventure continues next week. If You Really Knew Me You'd Know I Still Feel Empty. Love to have you join us if you're in the area. Come check it out!

Catalyst Rewind, Sunday February 7th

Sometimes you have experiences in life which are hard to use words to describe. Yesterday at Catalyst was one of those days. It's like the birth of a child. When you hear that cry for the first time, how do you verbalize the euphoria that you're feeling? Week One of Catalyst's Grand Opening month took off with high energy, great excitement and a sense that this is just the beginning of something huge in Pendleton/Lapel/Fortville/Ingalls.

• 177 people were part of yesterday's grand opening. 50 of those were children!
• 7 new families indicated interest in being part of a life together group.
• Several extra volunteers in all our hospitality and Catalyst Kidz areas did a great job of assisting and guiding our extra guests.
• Setup team was awesome in basically reconfiguring our auditorium for additional seats.
• Thanks to our friends at Church at the Crossing for loaning us the extra chairs, we needed them all!
• It was a great time of celebration and worship. The band was on it's A-game yesterday.
• We began a new series called "If You Really Knew Me." Chris taught from Mark 5. We're all bleeding. Maybe the biggest step we could take is to finally admit to ourselves and to others that we're in over our heads.
• Brokenness+Openness+Jesus=Healing and Hope.

And now the countdown is on toward week 2. God set the bar pretty high for us this past weekend, and we believe that He's going to do even greater things in the weeks and months and years ahead.

We're already beginning to post some photos on our Catalyst Fan Page. Click here if you want to take a look or become a fan (or both). If you were praying for us, I believe God answered our prayers. If you were a guest with us, we hope that you connected with God and His Spirit moved you in our time together. And if you're considering giving Catalyst a shot, we'll be waiting to welcome you and refresh you and encourage you and challenge you to take the next step with God He desires for you!

Catalyst Rewind, Sunday January 31st

It's hard to believe that just one week from today, we go fully live with our Grand Opening. And yet today wasn't too shabby either. We finished up our Integrate series, focusing on the mental aspect of our spiritual lives.

-We're still working a few bugs out in our facility. While we had no intention of reminding everyone in the auditorium how cold it was outside by making it freezing inside, we kinda did freeze everyone out this morning. We've got a solution to that, and promise that we'll try to keep you much more comfortable temperature-wise next week. We learned, if you change the thermostat at 10am, its WAY too late.

We continue to see new people connect with Catalyst every week.

-I never knew you could start a church service with a Beatles Song, but we did today. If you look at the words to the Beatles Classic, "Let it Be," the message is one of a man searching for answers, to make things make sense in the world. Great connect.

-Band continues to do a great job developing a playlist of regular songs for Catalyst. Debuted two of my favorites today, "Your Love Never Fails (Lake Hills Church)" and "Everything. (Tim Hughes)"

-When Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden, it wasn't just knowledge of evil that came their way. They got intimate with evil.

-Knowledge has a deeply intimate power in our lives.

-Knowledge is only as good as what we practice (thanks for the reminder Allen Iverson).

-We announced that we're forming two new life together groups (one in Anderson and one in Summerlake Subdivision) and we announced our total gift to Haiti missions through Samaritan's Purse. Catalyst is already setting the bar in terms of multiplication and world transformation.

-Thanks to all our volunteers, but especially to the load-in crew. It was 8 degrees when we rolled up this morning. And for the crew and band who put it on the line early in the morning to make Catalyst into a worship facility I just can't say thanks enough.

Later this week I'll post a special Grand Opening preview. But if you're reading this, then I want to ask you to join with us in prayer for the Launch. We sent out 10k mailers to our local community, and we're asking God to double the impact of our connections through this mailer. Usually a 1-2% response is pretty good. We're asking God for double that! That would be 300-400 households/families that God might grant us impact with! Huge stuff. So would you join us in that prayer. They don't all have to show up next weekend, but just that God would use us to help connect them to Him somehow over these next days and months.

Thanks for continuing to journey with us. The ride is going to get even more intense and exciting from here!

Sunday Rewind, January 24th

What...a...great...day!

From beginning to end, from the first box off the trailer to the last note from the band, I'm telling you, Catalyst was the place to be today.

*The band nailed it on every song, but especially with two of my favorites, "Take my Life" and "We are Yours."

*Our Catalyst Kidz venues are clicking on all cylinders.

*Teaching focused on how our emotional lives work in connection with our spiritual lives. The key question? Which has authority over the other?

*I also admitted that my streak is over....I got my first ticket ever yesterday! And in typical fashion, rather than accepting my punishment, I looked for someone else to blame.

*The story of Cain and Abel (which was our text for today) is a story about fixing your own junk.

*We also talked about the answer to the question, "Who is the Holy Spirit?"

*I wanna give some major props to our rep from the school, Tina! Tina totally hooked us up today in three our four very significant ways, and we couldn't be more thankful!

*We got some additional new bugs worked out in our setup and use of the school facility. Awesome.

It's hard to believe that our excitement level continues to ratchet up over these next two weeks leading up to Grand Opening. This week we're sending out 10,000 mailers to our four local areas. Would you pray with us that these mailers would find their way into hands of people who need to connect with God for the first time, people who need to reconnect with God in a powerful, life-transforming ways? You cannot imagine the energy, excitement and passion in the expressions of every person in the place today. If you've got no plans, be at Catalyst two weeks from today on Grand Opening. If you've got plans, change'em! God is changing lives at Catalyst. Come be part of the adventure!

Catalyst Rewind, Sunday January 17th

Hard to believe it's been four weeks since we met. But, we'll never have to utter those words again. Our new series, Integrate, is built around the theme that God does not compartmentalize areas of our lives, but wants to bring every facet our lives into wholeness with Him. This compartmentalizing idea isn't new. 2k years ago, a group called the Gnostics began teaching a heresy that basically our bodies were physical and our souls were spiritual, so as long as your soul was connected with God it didn't matter what you did with your body! This "dualist" theology forged one of the first schisms in the Christian church of the day. And even though this teaching was declared heresy, we're still battling the tendency to separate our lives these two millenia later.* So at Catalyst, we're tackling this idea head on, reminding each other that God wants every part of us, and wants every part of us to be One in Him.

**Continue to be amazed at the effectiveness of our teams even so early on. From the guys putting out the signs, to the setup team, to the Catalyst Kidz staff who create venues kids want to come back to, you're doing such a great job.

**Band was right on today. We're finally starting to get some volume issues balanced out with our own system and getting used to the gym as a worship auditorium.

**Associate Pastor Dan Towle brought some great teaching today. Talked about how the physical aspects of our lives contribute thoroughly in the spiritual. Wrapped up with parts of the Nooma Video Breathe.

**Our lives are begun and ended with us speaking the name of God, as we breathe.

**I got to say the words I've been waiting 15 months to say today..."JOIN US NEXT WEEK as we continue the Integrate Series."

**People hung out longer today after service than before. Great stuff. Got to meet several new families today. Exciting stuff.

**We're ready to launch a new group in Anderson as soon as we take care of a few logistical details, which hopefully will be in place by Grand Opening.

It's a great time to be part of this Great New Church. Whether you worship with, you pray with us from a distance, you partner financially with us, or read this blog regularly, YOU ARE CATALYST! God is using you to fuel transformation in Lapel-Pendleton and wherever God uses us in His world.

Next week we announce how Catalyst is going to be part of ongoing love for Haiti. As I mentioned via twitter earlier, you don't have to be a big church or an established church to make a big impact and spread the love to those in need. Check back next week to find out how.

Grace and Peace.

Chris