Wednesday
Aug042010
cat•a•lyst: a substance that increases the rate of change
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 7:45AM
October can't come soon enough: I signed up for Catalyst 2010!
I had never heard of it before some pastors I follow on Twitter talked about how they're going to it. I went to the site and felt something really strong telling me to sign up, but then I remembered that I'm not a leader... of anything. What's an IT Engineer going to do an event geared for church leaders to change the world? A lot of things have changed this year. One of my New Year's resolutions was to live this year fearlessly. I didn't realize what that would mean.
Earlier this year I read Max Lucado's Fearless. Max talks about how when you're afraid, you become a control freak. Guilty -- I've lived my whole adult life this way. Then a few months ago I was listening to The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns and my heart broke for those living in poverty. Rich talks about living a life of significance instead of success. He asks if you would be completely willing to go where the Lord sends you. My answer was "kind of". Then I listened to Fancis Chan's Forgotten God and learned about all the awesome, inexplicable things the Holy Spirit does through those who are willing. He also talks about how most Christians aren't differentiable from anyone else because we do not show the joy of our salvation. We worry about retirement, terrorism, finances, jobs, etc. and that worry tries to keep us safe, not daring to step out on a limb if the Lord calls us. All of these books helped me to realize that I'm missing something. I've been saved since I was a kid, but I've gotten used to being a faithful Christian who is still focused on pursuing the American dream. And I can assure you that this dream is hollow.
At The Cove, we participated in OnePrayer where we watched videos of other pastors preaching on common themes. This year's theme is "Unstoppable". The first week, we watched a video by Craig Groeschel on Unstoppable Courage. This was the greatest message I have ever seen/heard in my life. Craig talks about how the path to your greatest potential is through your greatest fear. That is spot on with me. My fear is being out of control, leaving my bubble of familiarity. But my potential is much greater and I can't deny the Lord calling me to give up everything I'm clinging to to serve a purpose much greater than I could accomplish on my own. That day something changed. The part of me that needs to understand and anticipate my future died and the part of me that is eager to begin this brave new world was born. I have this passion to encourage people, get involved in world missions, and do whatever else that will mean. So signing up for Catalyst doesn't seem that far-fetched now. I'm not afraid of looking stupid by going because my life is getting so crazy in the best way. No expectations. No worries. No pride. Just faith.
- Andrew
I had never heard of it before some pastors I follow on Twitter talked about how they're going to it. I went to the site and felt something really strong telling me to sign up, but then I remembered that I'm not a leader... of anything. What's an IT Engineer going to do an event geared for church leaders to change the world? A lot of things have changed this year. One of my New Year's resolutions was to live this year fearlessly. I didn't realize what that would mean.
Earlier this year I read Max Lucado's Fearless. Max talks about how when you're afraid, you become a control freak. Guilty -- I've lived my whole adult life this way. Then a few months ago I was listening to The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns and my heart broke for those living in poverty. Rich talks about living a life of significance instead of success. He asks if you would be completely willing to go where the Lord sends you. My answer was "kind of". Then I listened to Fancis Chan's Forgotten God and learned about all the awesome, inexplicable things the Holy Spirit does through those who are willing. He also talks about how most Christians aren't differentiable from anyone else because we do not show the joy of our salvation. We worry about retirement, terrorism, finances, jobs, etc. and that worry tries to keep us safe, not daring to step out on a limb if the Lord calls us. All of these books helped me to realize that I'm missing something. I've been saved since I was a kid, but I've gotten used to being a faithful Christian who is still focused on pursuing the American dream. And I can assure you that this dream is hollow.
At The Cove, we participated in OnePrayer where we watched videos of other pastors preaching on common themes. This year's theme is "Unstoppable". The first week, we watched a video by Craig Groeschel on Unstoppable Courage. This was the greatest message I have ever seen/heard in my life. Craig talks about how the path to your greatest potential is through your greatest fear. That is spot on with me. My fear is being out of control, leaving my bubble of familiarity. But my potential is much greater and I can't deny the Lord calling me to give up everything I'm clinging to to serve a purpose much greater than I could accomplish on my own. That day something changed. The part of me that needs to understand and anticipate my future died and the part of me that is eager to begin this brave new world was born. I have this passion to encourage people, get involved in world missions, and do whatever else that will mean. So signing up for Catalyst doesn't seem that far-fetched now. I'm not afraid of looking stupid by going because my life is getting so crazy in the best way. No expectations. No worries. No pride. Just faith.
- Andrew
in Faith
Faith
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