Catalyst

Catalyst was awesome!  This is a leadership conference held here in Atlanta Georgia.  Most of all of our administrators go to this conference.  This year was awesome.  Andy Stanley of the North Point Community church was the opening keynote and also closes this conference out. He is my new hero.  He has an amazing insight to Leadership in our churches and our institutions.  

I actually needed this conference after our JV Volleyball season. I got the chance to go to the Preconference labs and the actually conference itself.   I am always introspecting and after this season I have done it more than I needed to but did it anyway.  Leading is hard!  No one wants to do it these days.  People are always second guessing the leadership.  I have to admit I question a lot in an attempt to make things better. I offer solutions, not just complaining about how things are going.

Many great speakers at this conference.  My favorite was Dave Ramsey.  He is on the radio and TV.  He talked about how Christians should not have that fear that exist now in our world.  We should be the model on how to handle things during this tough time.  I also got a chance to eat lunch with him thanks to Andrew Baker, a good friend who works for Harding's Institute for Church and Family.  I am very thankful to him(Andrew) in allowing me to join him for lunch/ He gave great insight on how he runs his business and shared stories that I will never forget about the atmosphere there.  I would love to one day run my own company with many employee's.  

The music was incredible.  I don't listen to a lot of contemporary christian music.  Strange for a worship leader, but I truly enjoyed the music this year.  I love to get lost in the praise.  As a leader, I had the opportunity to just praise God without thinking about anything but God.  I still love Acappella singing, this was one experience I will remember for along time.

I highly recommend this conference for ministers, educators, and anyone who would love to learn more and be encouraged while doing so.  They do a great job at Catalyst.  Hope to see you there next year!

COMMUNITY

I am in searcy, Arkansas today! Two of the large churches of Christ puts on a community carnival event to kick off their vacation bible school. I love seeing churches reaching out to the community. This is what it is all about. It is hot, but it does not matter.( I can't believe I am saying it either) I am sooo proud of the churches here. They have been doing this for awhile also combining their vbs and working together. Many times when I was here in searcy- competition of who will get the college students were a concern. Not many will acknowledge this, but I;m free to say what I want . So there it is. Anyway, today was great to see people serving and having a great time in one of the parks in Searcy. Great day for God! Tank Daniels of the New York Giants was there giving away bikes and signing autographs. No one wanted mine( I know who cares)

Uplift Uplift Uplift. This is what is about this week. Spurring on teenagers to continue their walk with God no matter what. I am excited and will continue to be. I have reconnected with many friends here in searcy. They all guess that Uplift must be here, but I have a glow about myself. Special thank you's I would love to give to Brandon Tittle and Andrew Baker. I don't know why they would want me here for 3 weeks. I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet and encourage all those coming to Uplift. Last night, I met the group from Bammel Road in Houston. I am having soooo much fun. (Wife or potential wife- I am in my zone meeting new people and singing) I could go to heaven anytime now after being here with soo many on fire for Christ. This week I will be leading in the morning and at the baptisms. They have soo many, so I kinda serve as host. My other duties this week is to MC went we all get together. I love this role as well. Give me a stage and you never know what might happen. I will just say that we will have fun this week. Go be good!