Makes you wonder if the government uses this type of math…

Kentucky Math

I gave a not very obvious hint and teaser to this year’s costume a while back and at long last, here it is – The Swedish Chef of Muppet fame!

Wish I could have done better with the eyebrows and mustache, but did what I could with what I could find. Had to buy a costume beard (which was too dark) and cut it up, but you get the idea…

Pictures as up in the gallery – 2008 – MacFarland’s Halloween Party.

Don’t know the chef? Check out this video and you’ll get the jist.

This is a continuation of my thoughts on the 2008 Catalyst conference. See Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

The first speaker of the last half of the Catalyst conference was Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making. He talked about…culture, of course. Specifically, he talked about culture making from a Christian perspective, saying we (Christians) tend to first condemn, then critique, copy and consume culture, all of which are easy to do. Instead, he says, we should strive to cultivate and create culture. Creating culture is always done together and begins in small groups, usually in a creative circle of 3 people, where there is a suspension of impossibilities. From here, it moves up to 12 people, which adds depth, and from there 120, which adds breadth. He pointed out we all have a circle of 3 and asked what are we creating.

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Texas was next up. Loved him! Such passion, awesome speaker and he brought it. I had never heard of him prior to this conference, but now I’m subscribed to his podcast.

Chandler opened with a story about a recent baptismal service at the church, where a witch, a drug addict and a Baptist kid were baptized. He said the story of the Baptist kid bothered him the most, bothers him that people who grow up in the Church but miss the Gospel because religion had gotten in the way of what matters most – Jesus.

With limited time, Chandler quickly went on to teach from 1 Timothy, chapter 4, saying somehow doctrine has become synonymous with historical fundamentalism. He spoke on something that I’ve been struggling with lately, that if we’re after Jesus because we think he’ll give us a happier life, a spouse, wealth, that dream job – well, we’re after those things not after Jesus and become an idolater. He says the great revealer of our heart is how we spend our money and how we treat people. The good news of Jesus Christ is not that everything is going to go well, but that when it doesn’t (and it won’t at times), He is sufficient no matter what. He also said that we need to keep watch on the areas in which we are weak, we must guard our life and doctrine closely. By doing this, we’ll work out your salvation, and others will come to know Him.

Andy Stanley closed out the conference, sharing his thoughts on 5 quotes that are hanging in his office and conference rooms at this church.

• “To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing.”
  –Craig Groeschel

  Take Away: Become preoccupied with those you haven’t reached as opposed to those you are trying to keep.

• “The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.”
  –Al Reis

  Take Away: Be a student not a critic.

• “What do I believe is impossible to do in my field…but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business?”
  –Joel Barker

  Take Away: Pay attention to the people who are breaking the rules.

• “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do? Why shouldn’t we walk out the door, come back in, and do it ourselves?”
  –Andy Grove

  Take Away: Acknowledge what’s not working and own up to why you are unwilling to do anything about it.

• “When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.”
  –Michael Hammer

  Take Away: Don’t let success overshadow your vision.

Wrap-up thoughts:
Catalyst was awesome! As the hosts said a couple of times throughout, it was like a fire hose turned on full…so much good stuff coming at me so fast, it was almost hard to take it all in. If even a little of what I learned stuck with me, I’m much better for it. Hopefully, now that I’ve blogged my notes and thoughts, I’ll have them to refer back to in the future. My reading list has essentially doubled and I’m really anxious to get to the books. I’ve also added two new preachers to my sermon podcasts and subscribed to several new blog feeds as well. I would highly recommend the trip to anyone who is interested in being filled with the knowledge of some of the most passionate and knowledgeable people out there, no matter if you’re a leader or not, a Christian or not.

This is a continuation of my thoughts on the 2008 Catalyst conference. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Tim Sanders, Former Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo! and author of Love is the Killer App was first on tap for day 2 of Catalyst. Sanders was another speaker which I was looking forward to hearing speak. His session was based on his latest book, Saving the World at Work, and he started by encouraging us to take our values to work – learn on Sunday, be a rock star on Monday. He said good (as in moral good) is the new great, observing that our generation more than others in recent memory desire to do good, giving back to the community and helping others. He asked “If not you, then who?” and “If not now, then when?” I enjoyed Sanders and wish he had had one of the longer blocks of time.

Speaker number two of the day was the man himself, Dave Ramsey. I was wondering if Dave would talk about his specialty – personal finance – or have something different to say. Turns out he had a lot of different things to say. His session was on the enemies of unity:

1. Poor communication
2. Gossip
3. Unresolved disagreements
4. Lack of shared purpose
5. Sanctioned incompetence

Ramsey specifically focused on gossip and how it can destroy an organization. He says “a successful leader develops and maintains a culture in which negatives are handed up and positives are handed down,” and went on to explain that “gossip is when a negative is discussed with anyone who can’t help solve the problem.” He also spent some time talking about conflict, that it needs to be dealt with quickly before it infects everyone and that the leader can’t be like a squirrel in the middle of the road. Much more I could talk about here, but I’ll leave it at this.

The next session revolved around the Grahams – Billy Graham and his son Franklin. After playing a nice video montage of Billy’s life, the Catalyst Conference presented Billy Graham with the lifetime achievement award. Franklin accepted on his father’s behalf, saying Billy was doing well, that “His mind is sharp, but his body is wearing out.” Franklin went on to speak about the Gospel. I don’t remember much detail about this session, but here are some quotes:

“The Gospel is God’s power.”
“There is Holy Ghost power in the Gospel message.”
“God uses his Gospel to penetrate and go right into the heart of a person.”
“Everything is about the Gospel. Without the Gospel, there is nothing.”
“We have the responsibility to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”
“You’ll never get another opportunity friends. You only get one life.”

He also spoke about Operation Christmas Child, the charity which involves sending shoe boxes of supplies and such to less fortunate children around the world. Over 8 million shoe boxes were distributed last year and 100 countries will distribute them this year. He said the organization is “going to do everything in our power to tell them that God loves them and Christ died for them” and encouraged us to pray for the children that would receive the shoe boxes.

I’ll wrap this up with Part 4 soon.

This is a continuation of my thoughts on the 2008 Catalyst conference. See Part 1 here.

After the lunch break, Steven Furtick, the youthful pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, spoke on the process that is between the promise and the payoff. Referencing 1 Kings 18:41-46, he said we needed to keep the vision in sight even when we can’t see anything at present. He became really passionate when encouraging us to be faithful and do our best wherever we are, whether you’re preaching to 20 people in a small town church or pastor to 2000 at a mega church, whether you’re a musician struggling as you play to small crowds or headlining a tour. The quote of the talk is: “God’s preparing you for what He’s prepared you for.” I had not heard of Furtick prior to the conference but he was one of my favorites. Since hearing him at Catalyst, I’ve downloaded and listened to several of his sermon podcasts and enjoy them. He is really passionate and in love with Jesus. Looking forward to hearing more from him in the future.

Next up was Brenda Salter McNeil, author of “A Credible Witness.” She was very a very passionate and energetic speak, and you could tell she was enjoying her experience at Catalyst as she preached on Acts 2:1-12. She said we needed to stop retreating to committee meetings when we don’t want to do something or feel unsure and need to be completely sure. She talked about God wanting to shake things up, just like He did with the disciples at Pentecost, just like He always wants to do. Quote: “If we are looking at God then there is no way we can stay the way we are.” One point she made that struck me was about the Pentecost, when the disciples started speaking in tongues. She likened this to a playground where many mothers are calling out to their children, and through all the noise, each child recognizes and understands his mother’s voice over all others. Very cool analogy!

Seth Godin, world renowned business blogger and author of many books including Purple Cow, followed Salter McNeil with a talk based on this newest book, Tribes (which he gave to all twelve thousand Catalyst attendees for free!). It seemed he had given his talk a few too many times, as it seemed canned, rushed and too scripted, and the slides, which seemed to changed every few seconds, were a bit distracting. Still, he had some interesting thoughts and insights. He talked about the three main tribes – church, work and community – and that we shouldn’t take the power of these tribes for granted. Even with the growing world population, the world is becoming small, so much so we’re down from six to four handshakes/degrees of separation. He said we needed to do something that people criticize, not play it safe in the middle ground. He went on to say that most people ask two questions when invited to participate in something – “Who is going to be there?” and ‘Who is going to lead us?” One point he made that caught my attention was that a leader needs to lead, not control, and that most people want to be sheep. He ended with 4v2 – do something FOR the tribe, not TO the tribe.

The final session of the first day was Craig Croeschel, author and pastor at Lifechurch.tv. My friend Dan had previously recommended him, so I’ve listened to some of his sermons and was looking forward to hearing him in person. Groeschel’s talk centered on his latest book, IT – how to get IT and keep IT, and how to find IT when you’ve lost IT. He explained that 1) God makes IT happen, 2) that IT’s not a model or system, 3) that the upside of IT is seeing lives changed and 4) the downside of IT is being attacked and criticized. There was an emotional moment for both Craig and the audience when he talked about getting IT back and three things we should pray about – stretch me, heal me, ruin me. He said we need to let God break our hearts with the things that break His. He implored us to not insult the work of God by saying careless things about it and said there is a big difference in building “His” church and building “my” church.

Thus ended Day 1 of Catalyst. Posts about Day 2 to follow…

Finally, a long overdue post (one of several, it seems) on my trip to Atlanta last week for the Catalyst conference.

Eight of us from First Church of Christ piled into a van and hit the road for Atlanta last Wednesday afternoon. The trip down went by very quickly, due to good conversations and the comedy of Brian Regan. We reached our destination after midnight, only to find that the guys didn’t quite have a destination after all. Somehow, one of our rooms at the hotel had been canceled, which left only one room for the eight of us which was not going to work. With 12,000 people in town for the conference, lodging was tight and most hotels, including the one at which we were originally booked, did not have any vacancies, so the guys went on a search for a place to stay. We found a nearby Motel 6 with plenty of vacancies (surprise, surprise) and crashed there (but we did hit the breakfast buffet at the other hotel).

The theme for this year’s conference was Together. Thursday was the first official day of the conference and first up, after the intro and music, was Andy Stanley, one of the founders of Catalyst (this was the 9th year of the conference). Stanley talked about moral authority, referencing Nehemiah chapter 5 and drawing an interesting parallel between the “bailout” Nehemiah did for the Israelites and our current financial situation. What goes around, comes around, it seems… As Solomon states in Ecclesiastes: “there’s nothing new under the sun.”

Stanley spoke further on the alignment between our creeds and deeds, that it takes a long time to gain moral authority, but only a second to lose it. He mentioned three areas of application for this authority:

• Forgiveness (we have been forgiven, so we should be the first to forgive others)
• Family (family should be a priority)
• Finances (give, save, live on the rest)

The second speaker was William Paul Young, author of The Shack. For those of you who have heard of the book, you may be familiar with the controversy surrounding it. Luckily, I was only a few pages from finishing it, so I was aware of the storyline and had previously heard plenty about the controversy. Young didn’t give a talk, per se, but was instead interviewed by Ernie Johnson, a sportscaster on TNT. Looking back, I can see why the organizers choose to go this route, as Young wasn’t much of a speaker. He was awkward at the start of the interview, but got more comfortable as the interview went on, even becoming passionate and emotional when prompted with certain questions. I might write more about the book in specific at a later time, but the interview was my least favorite session at Catalyst. It didn’t have anything to do with leadership or the theme of the conference, but instead was a promotion of the book and a rebuttal to the critics. I did enjoy hearing about his background and reasons for writing the book, as it helped me better understand the context and writing style.

My disappointment quickly disappeared with the next speaker, Jim Collins. Collins, author of Good to Great, Built to Last and a number of other books, was one of the speakers to which I was most looking forward and ended up being by far my favorite of the conference. I scribbled PAGES of notes and took away so much from what he said that I’m hesitant to even start writing about his talk because it will cause this post to be forever long. I will mention one of the things I took away from his talk but the rest might be grounds for a completely separate post… Collins talked about the infinite amount of work to needs to be done in a finite amount of time (there are still only 24 hours in the day – revelation!) and that many of us have to-do lists that keep filling up – but where’s the stop-doing list? He went on to say this was a lack of discipline and we have to figure out what gets in the way, what is not at the intersection of our passions, what we do best and what drives the resource engine.

At this point, we broke for lunch, so I’m break the post here as well. Part 2, with the second half of the day, will hopefully come shortly.

Pictures from the conference and trip are up in the Gallery.

Heard on the Dave Ramsey Show:

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

* Dave Ramsey did not write this. It has been circulating around the web for some time but seems more fitting than ever right now.

I’ve been given the awesome opportunity to attend the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta this week. I’m pumped and very much looking forward to it – the road trip, getting out of town, the chance to connect with people from church, the days off work, the conference itself. Gonna be a great week!

What is Catalyst?

The Catalyst Conference is the largest gathering of young leaders in the country, but it pains us to call it just a conference. Catalyst is more than just a three-day event – it’s a movement, a convergence, an experience where you find yourself fully immersed in learning, worship, and creativity. Catalyst brings people together – the influencers, the do-ers, the cultural architects, and the change agents who will reclaim our communities and culture for good.

Catalyst has been described many ways but once you’ve experienced it, you’ll call it what we call it – pure leadership adrenaline.

We are bold, vocal, and driven. We have a unique perspective of the future. We are compelled by all things excellent and passionate about participating in something big. We are intentional about doing good and believe we can make a difference. We lead, yet we humbly follow. We are diverse, yet we are one. A leader’s life is by definition social. We value intentional community and long for biblical unity within the Church. The Catalyst community is like a family, which makes this event more like a family reunion. The practice of togetherness fuels love, life, and leadership. We need one another to finish well.

I’ve heard great things about Catalyst from friends who have attended in years past as well as buzz on the web, so I’m pumped for the opportunity to experience it for myself this year. The line-up of speakers is incredible:

• Billy Graham (Needs no introduction, appearing via video)
• Franklin Graham (President and CEO, Samaritan’s Purse)
• Dave Ramsey (Author and National Radio and TV Host)
• Seth Godin (World Renowned Blogger; Author, The Dip and Purple Cow)
• Andy Stanley (Lead Pastor, North Point Community Church)
• Craig Groeschel (Senior Pastor, LifeChurch.tv)
• Steven Furtick (Lead Pastor, Elevation Church)
• Matt Chandler (Lead Pastor, The Village Church)
• Tim Sanders (Former Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo!; Author, Love is the Killer App)
• Jim Collins (Author, Good to Great)
• William Paul Young (Author, The Shack)
• Andy Crouch (Author, Culture Making)
• Brenda Salter McNeil (Author, A Credible Witness)

I’m especially looking forward to hearing from Andy Stanley and Jim Collins. All sessions should be great, though! I’ll blog about the conference afterwords, and I hope to have a lot to share.

Atlanta, here we come!

Seems that I’m going to have to deal with a stink when I get home this evening… This happened in my neighborhood, less than a quarter mile from my house. Ugh…

Oil spill stinks up Boone County

The J.S. Louis Construction crew was digging with a backhoe along Gunpowder Creek in the Pebble Creek subdivision, in the vicinity of Camp Ernst and Pleasant Valley roads, when the crew hit the pipeline about 8:30 a.m., Reuthe said.

…some of the oil did get into the sanitary sewer system, which brought the oil smell into some homes, Fletcher said.

Before the oil was shut off the smell drifted over the Camp Ernst, Pleasant Valley, Oakbrook, Houston Road and Burlington areas, dispatchers said.