Catalyst 2012 Revisited

Technically this is a repost of the last three day’s posts – but I’m reading through my Catalyst notes again (since the So. Carolina Georgia game is too frustrating to watch) and thought I’d combine them all together.

Which of the thoughts especially resonate with you?  Which ones do you disagree with?  Which ones make you go hmmmm?

The temptation is to study what “use to work” when we need to step toward where God wants us to go.

A leader who will take God at His word is a dangerous leader.

Steps of faith never get smaller - they only get bigger.

We know God is with us when we have an increased desperation for His word, increased love for people (especially messy people) and increased love for the vision.

If there’s a resume on your computer – use it…

Too many churches are enslaved to the personal preferences of out-of-touch leaders.

The purpose of the church isn’t for everybody to know everybody but for everybody to know Jesus.

If you aren’t excited… something is wrong.  If you have to manufacture energy… something is wrong.

If you don’t have someone mad at you, you aren’t leading well.

We have carpeted and air conditioned churches to make something that’s supposed to be messy, comfortable.

Quit something every Thursday.

If you “cleared the deck” and started adding things back – what would be number 7 on the list?

Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

No one has cancer when they are talking on a walkie-talkie.

God is a creator not an editor.

Never give a girl a daisy unless it has exactly three petals left.

Everybody wants to make a difference but no one wants to be different.

Love God.  Love People.  Do Stuff.

God has determined that certain expressions of His power will only be revealed through prayer.

The one thing a leader can never delegate is prayer.

Prayer is the difference between the best you can be and the best God can do.

Sometimes God shows up.  Sometimes God shows off.

We want God to do something new while we keep doing the same old thing.

Stay humble.  Stay hungry.  If you aren’t hungry for God you are full of yourself.

You may have to risk your reputation to establish God’s reputation.

What if we were known by the problems we solve?

Do we plant churches where we can grow the bigger churches or where people need the church?

Help others not to offer charity but dignity.

We are good at binding up the brokenhearted.  What do we do with ordinary-hearted?

Embrace the inconvenience of crossing the street.

The degree to which you are willing to be interrupted or inconvenienced is the degree to which God can use you.

The job description for each follower of Jesus:  “I’m personally responsible for the evangelism of the planet before the second coming of Christ.”

Think inside the box.  Constraints are a requirement for innovation and limited resources are an ingredient for creativity.  Embrace constraints.

Limited resources + passion = innovation.

Regularly exercise your change muscles.

Failure is a requirement for innovation.

Genesis 1 reminds us that we were made to make (create) not to consume.

As soon as we arrive at cool the line moves and you aren’t cool anymore.

Information and insight do not make a leader.  What every leader needs are an unexpected opportunity, unavoidable adversity and an unquestionable calling.  How you respond to the opportunity, adversity and calling determines whether or not you are a leader.

Leaders seize opportunities even if it means leaving the known for the unknown.

Make your response to an unexpected opportunity, unavoidable adversity and an unquestionable calling a story worth telling.

The greatest thing you do as a leader may not be what you do but who watches what you do.

Actions don’t only speak louder than words, they echo into future generations.

Influence is more important than positions or titles.

It’s better to make a difference that to make a point.

Pay attention to the tension in life.  That’s where God stirs our hearts and shakes our categories.

Move toward messes with the gospel of grace and truth.

Whenever we sing “Just As I Am” we should mean it (for everyone).

When you are an open-handed leader God will place things in your hands, but He will make you a leader when He starts taking things out.

People need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.

Organizational health is our greatest, and too often untapped, advantage.

Simple solutions require humility to practice.

To be successful you must be smart AND healthy.

Your staff should be able to imitate you.

Wine is the great elixir of truth.

If you can’t trust people, manage them off the team.

The leader has to be vulnerable FIRST.

The best leaders let others “see them sweat” and proudly show the “sweat stains.”

People will walk through fire for a leader they trust.

Embrace conflict.

Conflict with trust is the pursuit of truth.  Conflict without trust is politics.

We owe it to one another to disagree.

When we don’t disagree around an issue it ferments around the person and that’s destructive.

We crush someone’s spirit when we won’t disagree with his or her idea.

Great teams hold each other accountable.  They don’t go to the leader all the time.

Firing someone is the last act of cowardice.

The technical term for a leader who won’t hold someone accountable = wuss.

We avoid accountability not because we don’t want someone to feel bad, we don’t want him or her to blame us for making him or her feel bad.

You don’t change the world with the ideas in your mind.  You change the world with the convictions in your heart.

Too many people are living with a profound absence of hope.

We are all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.

The opposite of poverty is justice.  The opposite of poverty is enough.

It takes courage to embrace the broken instead of the comfortable.

In a world where too many people are willing to “cast the first stone” there is a need for “stone catchers.”

No mater what I do I can’t make all the people happy – read the Bible – neither could God.

When we stop screaming at the world to “discover me” and start asking God to “develop me” we begin the journey from here to there.

It’s okay to never get noticed.

David didn’t use his anointing as an excuse not to go through the process of leadership – or to not have to carry the cheese and bread.

If you are gifted don’t tell us, show us.

The next time you think the task you are asked to perform in ridiculous – remember what Saul asked David to bring him from the Philistines.

Most of us are getting paid to do what traditionally people gave their lives to do.

God won’t trust us with greater things unless we are faithful with what we are doing now.

When someone throws a spear at you – its time to go.

1 Samuel 22: 1 is the prefect description of a church plant (or any church).  Look it up!

With ordinary people Jesus began a movement that is still moving today.

The deepest wounds lead us to empty tombs.

If you need to be certain you’ll never do anything.

If you start walking down the street announcing a parade – you might start one.

The key to story telling is to remember that everyone connects with an authentic moment.

Always ask if this is for me or for Jesus.

Read Judges 2: 10 and remember how quickly it can all fall apart.

If you don’t honor those who came before you, you will forget about those who come behind you.

The last thing the Body of Christ needs is another wounded healer putting his or her junk on someone else.

Nothing can kill you quicker than a spotlight.

Most “suddenlys” in the Bible took about 25 years.

It is better to be marked by God than marketed by man.

Get off Facebook and get your face in THE BOOK.

Your talent will open the door but only your character will keep you in the room.

There’s really only one love language – to die to self and pray “nevertheless….”

If God puts you somewhere its His responsibility to keep you there.  If you make your own destiny then its up to you.

If it’s not about the numbers then how come everybody is counting?

Before you go and make disciples examine your own life and ask if it’s a life that should be replicated.

Does my life remind anyone of Jesus? Can I say follow me as I follow Jesus?

It’s easier to make friends at church than to go out and make disciples.

Jesus sent us to go and make disciples but we like to sit and make excuses.

When we get scared and need more boldness we need to pray. When the early church did this the ground shook!

Pray for power and courage.

Remember who you are and remember you are not what you make.

Fame is the most dangerous drug in Christianity.

Be content that the Creator of the universe knows your name.

God and His glory will never be handcuffed by your failure or unleashed by your success.

What if our celebrations were so big and exciting that people would stop to ask what’s going on?

Only God fixes problems with parties.

“I’d rather go to a pet store and look at kittens than go to Wal-Mart” – Criag Groeschel.  Amen!

Trust the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  Live deo ho pneuma

Don’t stop just because you don’t know what might come next.

To step toward your destiny you will have to step away from comfort.

Whenever you take an uncertain step of faith you will face resistance.

If you are not ready to face opposition for your obedience to God you are not ready to be used by God.

Everything of God, everything significant and everything new and effective will face resistance.

If I blame myself for the declines then I will take credit for the increases.

Don’t worry when you are being criticized – worry when you aren’t.

Uncommon clarity can’t be achieved without taking a first step of faith.

Smiles on faces sometimes hide devastated hearts.

There is a temptation to define our value by external things.

We can’t.  God can.  Rest in that!

Be faithful wherever you are, but celebrate what God is doing in other places (especially other churches)!

This job is not better than knowing Jesus.

We are never going to make Christianity so cool that no one is offended.  If no one is offended its not the gospel.

Inspire people to do what inspires them.

Everyone knows what they do.  Most people know how they do it.  Few people know why they do it.

People aren’t drawn to what you do, they are drawn to why you do it. So define yourself not by what you do but by why you do it.

To be successful you need the clarity of why, the discipline of how and the consistency of what.

Never confuse celebrity with leadership.

Everyone in your family thinks they are in your top 7.

Leaders never leave early.

Church is a place where people give money to create volunteer positions they have to fill.

If you don’t know why something is working when its working you won’t know how to fix it when it breaks.

Seminaries create thinkers.  Churches need doers.  Recruit doers not thinkers.  It’s much easier to educate a doer that to activate a thinker.

Great vision without great people is irrelevant – Jim Collins

Put the best people on your most important tasks.

Performance-oriented people like to win – define the win.

Don’t force people to work around the organization.

Critical mass is critical to success.

Bad wisdom – “Its not about your ability its about your availability.”  Would you choose a surgeon based on that?

We can’t make anyone fall in love with Jesus, but we can set them up on a date.

What we (the local church) is doing is important because we are the Body of Christ and Jesus Christ is the Hope of the World!