What do we do with our adult children?

I remember my daughter Camden’s Child Dedication* Day pretty well.  It was Mother’s Day, 2008.  I cried.  I’ve done lots of Child Dedications for other families, and for some reason they’re always emotional for me.  I never know why I get so emotional for other parents, even people I don’t know all that well.  Or at least I didn’t until just recently.

Now I get the emotion.  It’s not for the kid, although they’re always cutely dressed, sometimes playful, sometimes silly, and sometimes a teary basket case (not unlike me. haha).  It’s for the parents.  Because I truly believe that that little ceremony is the first moment that the enemy puts families in the crosshairs.  Anytime you say you’re going to commit to raise your child to know about and follow Jesus, the enemy doesn’t like it.  And somehow he doesn’t forget.  And I think that I’ve come to realize that every kid at some point is going to make life very difficult for their parent, just because…well just because.

Now when I say difficult I don’t mean that every child is going to be a Charles Manson someday.  Some will be little troublemakers.  Some will run with the wrong crowd.  Some will have serious boyfriends too young (I’m looking at you Carlotta [my wife.] haha).  And some are going to do something that breaks their parents hearts.

And actually, some are going to walk away from the faith and the values that they were raised with.

Now it’s here that some people think that Pastors are scripturally obligated to insert the verse from Proverbs which says,

“Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
-Proverbs 22:6

And then to say, “don’t worry, if you’ve done this right they’ll come back.”  This notion creates either a boatload of guilt for parents the longer their kids don’t come back to God (if you did it right they’d have come back by now the thinking goes) or the thought that there’s no longer a need to pray for them or prompt them conversationally about their own faith, because God will just “make it happen” on His own.  Maybe some of both.

Here’s the problem with this verse.  It’s not that it isn’t true.  It’s that we read it in a way that it’s not meant to be read.

Every person who’s ever come to Jesus has come because it was their personal decision to pursue a personal faith with the One who gave His life for them.  This includes you and me.  People don’t come to Jesus til they know He’s not part of their life and needs to be.

Reading this verse sometimes tends to imply that a person can’t get away from Jesus if their parents just raised them right.  In all honesty, as a parent I wish this were true, but it’s not the way faith works.  Actually I think this verse should be interpreted, “if you train a child in the way to love Jesus, they will know that the love of Jesus is always available to them, no matter where they go, what they do or where they end up in life.”  Meaning, when they desire to choose Jesus for themselves, He’ll be right there waiting.

I think I’ll jump into a list tomorrow of some do’s and don’t thoughts, but let me ask this, before we pass judgment on our kids for their decisions, (and I’m not saying we ever justify sinful or stupid behavior) do we ever honestly evaluate our part as parents in that verse?  Meaning, how often do I (in real time) evaluate and ask God how well I’m showing Camden to love Jesus?  Am I willing to own the responsibility of being her spiritual leader even more than worrying about being her moral example?  I mean I can be a pretty good moral person and not really show her how to love and follow Jesus with all of my heart.  And for some of us, if we’re honest, maybe that’s the rub.  Because when we read the Bible, we’re not altogether sure we want them to follow Jesus all the way, just enough to keep from getting bad grades, drinking too young, or not getting pregnant too early.  Now, none of those are great things, but right now my biggest prayer isn’t that God would protect Camden from the world.  It’s that she would see me following Jesus so closely and would love her daddy so much that following Jesus becomes a natural part of her life.  And out of that, her moral choices would be good and she would have the guts to follow Jesus for her whole life in whatever He calls her to.

If you and I will set as our goal making Jesus so real in our lives that it has to be at least real in our kids lives…then we’ve lived out this verse.  It’s actually an instruction to parents, not to kids.  They will never be able to flee from the notion that Jesus loves them, has plans for them, and really has the best possible life for them if they follow and love Him back.

And yet, the result of that doesn’t always mean that Kids who grow up seeing someone love Jesus will be in perfect relationship with Him too.  So what do you do when your adult kids go a different direction than your walk with Jesus compels you?

Let’s talk more about that tomorrow…

 

Sunday Rewind, September 25th

In the message today, Tyler said “this may be the longest speechless speaker you’ve ever heard, because everything about this story really leaves me speechless.”  That word speechless just sums up today for me.  I think no matter how long we meet at Maple Ridge, it may be hard to top the experience we shared at Catalyst today.  (If you weren’t able to be with us, the video podcast will be up in a day or two, and we promise we’ll post a link for you to check it out.)

• We literally were as full people-wise as one service could hold, and had 100 kids and CKidz workers today.  Yes, you read that correctly, 100!  Heather Webster, Jenny Justus, Megan DePaola and Lauren Brickley and your teams…you deserve to be recognized publicly by name for the Homeruns you hit today.
• The place literally looked extra beautiful today.  Thanks to Beth Beeler at Kroger (Olio and 116th Fishers) for all the beautiful flowers, and also to the Flower Cart in Pendleton for the beautiful last minute flower arrivals.
• Ryan Webster and the load-in team…thanks so much for all your extra hard work this weekend.  We had plenty of space for all our guests, and I hope and believe everyone felt very comfortable together this morning.
• Joe Davis and your hospitality team, unbelievable job helping people feel welcome, well cared for and served today.
• Brad and the band and the tech team, perfect music selection and worship leading.  We really wanted to find a way to honor God and thank Him for all He’s doing in our church, our lives, and in Andrea’s healing.  You did a great job doing just that.
• Jeremy Johnson.  If you haven’t heard this guy, find him and check out his music right now.  Literally, stop reading this and go listen to this guy.  And, oh by the way, the second song Jeremy did this morning was actually a WORLD PREMIERE.  Yeah, he wrote that incredible song at 10pm last night.  Amazing.
• Tyler Voss and I prayed that God would guide our words and lead people to healing and hope, and I know God answered our prayers as hundreds stood to say publicly that they had committed or recommitted their lives to Christ as a result of Andrea’s journey…and some of those were first time commitments TODAY AT CATALYST!  I know that God really has His hand on Tyler’s life right now.  And we are blessed to experience how God is working through him in a powerful way.  Thanks Tyler for sharing the word of God with us today.
• I never get tired of the “I love our church” posts!  They bring a smile to my face every single time, because I know Jesus is doing something real in people’s lives here, and we make no apologies for boasting about that.
• I probably had 10 families tell me or others, “we’ll be back to Catalyst” today.  We obviously didn’t do this event to grow our church, but as I said at the walkout today, we started this church with the intent to love and serve our community, to extend healing and hope.  And that’s what we’ll continue to do each week.
• An extra $1500 was given to the Vellinga Support Fund today through gifts at Catalyst.  I can’t imagine how much money has been raised to bless this family over the course of this last three days alone!!!  Love springing up to generosity is New Testament Church at its finest.

If you were our guest today, thank you so much, for sharing your heart and your Sunday with us.  I hope and believe that you are like me.  Your life will never be the same from being part of today.  If you took a step of faith today, or if you still want to but need someone to help guide you along that path, we’d love for Catalyst to be a great place for you to take next steps in your journey with God.

Because just like in Andrea’s story, the best is still yet to come…

On the same wavelength…

“How do I stay focused on God, spirituality and the church while other family members, including my spouse, may not be on the same wavelength?”

I think this question is one that lots of people wrestle with.  It’s almost got a paradoxical part to it.  Like, well, I want to be focused on my relationship with God, but I also don’t think that God wants me to have strife in my marriage, so if giving more time to my relationship with God hurts my marriage, that isn’t good is it?

I think the answer to this question actually needs to be broken into a couple of parts.  First, focus on relationship with God is a discipline that is not unlike focus on any other relationship.  It takes dedicated time and focused presence, a term I talked about in last weeks post about my relationship with my daughter.  One of the struggles many of us have is finding time even for the things we enjoy most.  The tyranny of the urgent pushes us quite often to invest time in things we must do but things we’re not passionate about.

In this context, speaking to both questions, I think the people closest to us need to see us pursuing growth in our relationship with God even if they don’t share our value for it.  In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul (who wrote much of the NT) talks about the idea that every person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned us to.  (1 Corinthians 7:17)  Meaning, pursuing your relationship with God, growth in it, connecting with other believers, (being part of a local church) and even passing on connection with God to your children if you’re in that stage of life, must be a passion we give ourselves over to, even if it creates a bit of tension in relationship with our spouse.  Paul mentions in verse 16 of that same chapter, how do you know how God may use the work He’s doing in your life to actually reach your spouse, to help them warm to faith or to grow to a deeper place.

You actually asked the question how, how do we grow in the midst of a tension created by our following Christ?  One of the things I think is helpful also is to find ways to share what God is doing in your life with your spouse or other family members, not in condemnation of them, but just in excitement of how your life is changing.  In the end, every person has to make decisions about faith for themselves, and I believe it’s your desire to see your spouse grow in their own connection with Christ.  Paul also says in another place, how can they know unless someone shares with them?  In other words, while it may create some awkwardness, you also know best how to connect with the people you love.

One last thought.  Though it wasn’t expressly communicated in your question, I know there are situations where one partner in a marriage or other family members may in fact be not just at a different place spiritually, they are actually antagonistic toward your faith or your “indoctrination” of your children.  Although it might seem easier to just disconnect from that person if they are trying to make your relationship with God difficult, the scriptures compel us to “stick with them” unless they are the one who decides to bail. If this is your situation, I would strongly encourage you to have some people around you who are praying with you about how to be the best example of Jesus in your home that you can possibly be.  (Actually, we all should do that anyway, regardless of our circumstance.)  As challenging as it may be, I’ve watched people walk with Jesus faithfully who’s spouse or other family members have begun to warm to connection with God over the course of time, just watching the journey of their spouse.

In the end, all of us will get to stand before God and hopefully hear, “Well done, Good and Faithful Servant,” and then hear how He used our own relationship with Him to connect with the hearts of those in our family.  Keep growing.  Make your connection with God a priority, because you never know how He will use that to speak into and love into others, including those closest to us.

Family Portrait Questionnaires

I know sometimes you may think that we ask for information a lot but don’t always get back with you well on things people have inquired about.  Case in point:  the Family Portrait Questionnaires we gave out at Catalyst about 4 weeks ago.  We asked you to submit topics and questions that are coming up in your life at home these days, places where you are seeking out biblical direction to take family life to the next level.

The cards we received are sitting right in front of me just waiting for a response.  We haven’t forgotten, I promise.  And so beginning today and throughout the next week, I’m going to take each of these questions and respond to them through blog posts.  I believe it will be a huge help.  I also am going to take an entire post to connect you with links to other very helpful resources that can help take family life up a notch at your house.

So be on the lookout in the next little bit for Q1.

 

Sunday Rewind, September 18th

If you were with us at Catalyst today, you got a snapshot of several things we really value.

• We love great music.  Brad and David leading together today with the rest of their worship and tech teams helped us connect with God in a powerful way.  If you haven’t heard the song “Awakening” by Chris Tomlin, stop reading right now and Youtube it.
• We love kids, and once again our CKidz areas were packed with great kids and a great team to share with them that God loves them in amazing ways.
• We love to laugh.  Ben Stuckey and Dan Towle shared the message time today, making us laugh and cry with incredible stories from the Bible and their work together with our Friendship Bible Classes.
• We love the forgotten.  We’re ready to Kickoff a new year of Partnership and ministry through our Friendship Bible Classes.  And if you’re part of Catalyst but wasn’t with us today, we’d love to have you join in the partnership.  We’ll post this week’s podcast tomorrow, so check it out here
• We love our leaders.  We had a great leadership team conversation over dinner Sunday evening talking about the exciting next steps God has in mind for Catalyst.  I know our best days ever are just ahead…

Next weekend is going to be a HUGE (I wish there was a bigger than Caps way to express how huge) weekend at Catalyst.  I mean it’s going to be maybe the most meaningful service we’ve ever had, as we celebrate our part of the Pink Nation Celebration with Andrea Vellinga and her family.  Tyler Voss, Andrea’s brother and the author of the Facebook updates many of us have been so moved by, is going to be sharing with Chris next Sunday.  Also, we’re finalizing details to have Jeremy Johnson perform as part of our worship gathering.  The Catalyst band will lead us in worship, we’re going to hear stories from people near and far how Andrea’s battle has changed their own lives and help them reconnect (or connect for the first time) with God.

This will be the largest crowd we’ve ever had at Catalyst.  And if you’re thinking about joining us, we’re making space for you and your family!  I can’t wait for next Sunday, even as we’re still celebrating all that this Sunday had to offer.

 

Why I went to counseling…

I know this is hard to believe, but pastors don’t always remember what we talk about in sermons either. (haha)

So it may come as little surprise, but I don’t really recall if I’ve made a passing reference to some counseling I went for a couple of years ago.  It seems like a lot longer than that, and truthfully, it probably won’t be the last time in my life that I need to check in with someone.  But whatever you think of me, I want you to know without fear or shame, I know I was teetering close to a really bad place.

It was in May/June of 2009.  We were working as hard as I possibly could to build the launch team for what would become Catalyst.  I was exhausted, we weren’t seeing the results we needed to, and I fell into this trap that lots of guys do.

Namely that my success in this venture would be the pure determiner of my personal value.

That actually gets really screwed up when you add in the spiritual dynamic of my “faith” being the determiner of my success in planting a church.  In other words, I had reached a point where if Catalyst didn’t “happen,” then I was a failure as a man, as a worker, as a Pastor and as a believer.  No pressure there.

Now I’m not saying that God made me feel that way, or that any of those successes or failures would have been an indicator of God’s love for me or His use of my life.  I don’t feel that way, but that’s really not the point of why I’m sharing what I did.

I share my situation because it was one of those times in my life where I had to come to grips with the notion we talked about last weekend.  Namely, that some of my stuff, my feelings, and my emotions, were things that I was running away from.

If I just worked harder, I could put distance between myself and feelings I hadn’t dealt with for years.  Just like Jacob, the stuff I’d left undone, the bridges I was burning at the time, in my mind would have been just easier to say “Flame On” and run away.

Unfortunately, while running away from that stuff, I was getting precariously close to the ditch.  It got to the point where rather than running, I felt like hiding was the answer.  So I did.  I literally reached a point where I didn’t want to leave the house.  The safety of my four walls could protect me from the forces outside them that I thought were going to break me.

It wasn’t until I realized those walls weren’t protecting me, they were just hiding me, that I knew the time had come to go track down some of my ghosts.

Now I wasn’t in counseling forever.  I think I went for 3 sessions.  And that didn’t solve every issue I’ve ever had.  Many of you are my close friends; you know my issues haven’t all gone away. (Haha)  But pursuing a conversation with someone who had insight into my ghosts (or at least how ghosts usually work in all of us) actually was the step toward pro-activity and allowing truth to trump story that I needed.

Now I’m not saying that everyone needs to go to counseling.  I don’t believe that.  What I am saying is, whatever you need to do to look your ghosts in the eyes, remove their power and find healing and freedom from them through the Holy Spirit, take the risk.  Be pro-active.  Hiding, running and avoiding don’t help.  They really only prolong the length of time our ghosts hold power of us and linger in the background of our lives.

In closing, I’m asking us to start by asking this question.  What is the hardest step I need to take to exorcise the ghosts in my story? It’s easiest to say, what’s the first step I need to take?  If we were to ask ourselves, what is the hardest step to take, and we really by the power of God took it first, then all the other steps would get so much easier.  When we start with the easy stuff, there’s some momentum sometimes, but the walls do always seem to get taller. When we start with the tough stuff first, the first battle may be really difficult, but the terrain gets much more manageable from there and the confidence in God and ourselves that we face those next steps with is almost immeasurable.

Just something to ponder.  It wasn’t easy for me to say to myself, I can’t snap out of this.  That’s a serious pride issue for a guy like me.  And it was.  Walking into that room to spill my soul to a total stranger was one of the more difficult things I’ve ever done.  But taking the hard step first led me to some healing and confidence to move forward that baby steps were never going to fix for me.

What’s the hard first climb you need to take towards healing today?

The Ghost of “I’m too busy…”

First thanks for your grace as I have been at a 3 day meeting this week and haven’t gotten to post anything as followup from last Sunday’s Family Portrait message til today.

In the last couple of week’s I have heard Camden say something a few times that really frightens me. No, it’s not one of those words, although even though she doesn’t hear them at home, I’m sure we’ll have to have the conversation at some point that there are certain words we don’t use in conversation.

No, what scares me recently is how many times she’s used the phrase, “Daddy, I have to do my paperwork.”  Or, “Daddy, I have to get some work done.”

I’m learning an important lesson these days…it’s that our kids don’t repeat what they hear us say, they repeat what they hear us repeat.”  In other words, Camden isn’t saying she’s got too much work to do (even though somehow that work never is actually like picking up toys or cleaning up her room) because she heard me say that one time.  It’s because she’s hearing me say it over and over again.  So I’m in a dilemma.  In reality, one of the difficulties of working from home is the fact that I actually do have work to get done from there.  At the same time, work to do can become such an easy thing to say which translates in her mind, “my work is more important than you.”

Without going through the whole story, I remember the first time I perceived in my own mind that my parents were too busy to have time for my interests.  Ironically, one of the resistances I had about the calling to ministry as a life vocation was the notion that I felt there were times my dad, who is a great guy and mentor in my life, but rightly or wrongly I perceived that sometimes ministry took precedence over me.  Now dad, if you’re reading this, I realize that was easy to think at the time, because I’d, you know, NEVER ACTUALLY HAD A JOB.  In other words, I’m guessing like me there are a lot of us who really struggle to manage the tension of an ever-increasing work load and the desire of our children to have our attention and our focus.  Not saying I have easy answers, but there is one lesson I’m learning as I continue to work on this both in relationship to my wife and my daughter.

It is easy for me not to be fully present.

In the world of multi-tasking and constant, instantaneous availability, being fully present will just actually never happen for me (and probably for most of us) without specific intentionality.  I’ve had to become more intentional about Camden seeing me “work” less, meaning when it’s work time, I go to the coffee shop, or work at home while she’s at pre-school.  Even if I’m not a workaholic, if somehow she grows up perceiving that I’m a workaholic, then guess what, that ghost is going to be much more likely to linger in her adult life.  I’m teaching her right now as a 3 year old what it means to be a parent when she’s a 33 year old.  And when it’s her time, I’ve got to be fully present with her.  For instance, Monday’s are becoming more and more Daddy/Daughter time.  I know it drives mommy crazy because there’s no vegetables there (haha), but Camden likes for she and daddy to go to Pizza Hut for lunch on Mondays.  I reluctantly oblige (haha).

You know better than I what helps expose and exorcise the ghosts of I’m too busy in the lives of your kids.  Rarely are we completely clueless in this area. The issue becomes, will i discipline myself to actually prove to those around me that I’m not too busy for them.  That in the times that we’re together (and that quantity should be as much as possible while still being faithful as a steward of the work God has given you to do in this world) I’m fully present with them, giving them my engagement, love and undivided attention (in other words, bye bye smartphone).

This fully present mentality (and I know I’ve talked about it before but it’s so important and such an ongoing need I’m bringing it up again) isn’t just a way to be a better parent, to exorcise ghosts or to have less troublesome kids.  It’s first and foremost a way we identify ourselves with the nature of Jesus, who no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the problem, no matter the size of the crowd, no matter the impending threat or pressure, always, always seemed to be fully engaged with whomever he was talking to in the moment.  Sometimes his friends chided him for not allowing his thoughts to guide him elsewhere (like when Mary and Martha were ticked that it took four days for Jesus to get to them when he could have saved their brother’s life).  Isn’t it amazing that Jesus never seems to feel guilty about where he is, what he’s doing, or that his attention should ever be directed toward anyone but the people standing before him in a given moment.  If only I can work hard to emulate that worldview, what kind of difference might it make regularly in the lives of the people who share my home with me?

My prayer today is that when this day is done, (and it’s got about 2 hours left) that I’m going to shut it down for the evening.  That this Friday night is family night, and nothing short of a catastrophic emergency will derail that.  I can’t answer for next week yet, but today, I’m glad to choose full presence with my little girl and her momma…that is if Camden doesn’t have too much paperwork to do.

Sunday Rewind, September 11th, 2011

I’m sure you often expect a pastor to say that he looks forward to Sunday with anticipation every week.  It’s part of our job, right?

I can say however with pure honesty that I can’t wait for Sunday just to see what God has in mind…and this Sunday was no exception.  In fact, I can honestly say that this was one of the best Sundays of my life today.  Which is ironic, because for so many in our country, September 11th will always be a day tainted by sorrow, by fear, by unanswered questions.

Today we kicked off a new series called Family Portrait.  I think the reason today was so meaningful for me was so clearly articulated by someone from Catalyst who said after today, “I’ve never really known how to heal…before today.”  Even though our subject matter wasn’t specifically connected to remembrance of 9/11, the truth is, all of us need healing.  God’s greatest desire for His people has been healing.  Forgiveness isn’t just an end unto itself.  It’s a means to restoration, to healing, to purging the ghosts that linger in our lives until they are exposed to the Light.  I truly believe these next few weeks are going to see some families revolutionized by what God is doing at Catalyst.

• We had our largest Sunday non-Easter attendance ever.  We had i think our highest Kidz attendance ever.  We’re actually going to go buy additional seating this week to create additional space next Sunday.
• We’ve had over 40 first time guests in the last three weeks.  Many of them have come back a 2nd and even 3rd time and are excited about finding places to connect at Catalyst.  Awesome stuff.
• Thanks to Dan for your hard work on the awesome stage decor and production work for our new series.  Lots of thought, planning and labor goes into adding these little details that reinforce our series.
• The most challenging message I’ve ever preached today.  I’m recognizing again that if we’re going to keep growing, the Holy Spirit is going to keep asking deeper, and sometimes harder questions of us.  I’m so thankful as a church we are willing to “go there” and “ask that” in order to follow Jesus more completely.

The next two weekends I believe are going to be nothing short of incredible.  They’ll both be weekends we’ll be talking about for a long time…and then October the 9th, Beyond Weekend where we share God’s vision for the next 12 months at Catalyst…and then the 16th, when we begin our fall Journey, called “Strong.”  Okay, I’m already anticipating again.  Call your friends.  Tell them if they’ve ever thought about checking out Catalyst with you, the time has never been better.  Only 156 hours til it’ll be time to gather one more time!

Sunday Rewind, September 4th

Yesterday was another incredible day at Catalyst.  We say thanks to the 25 first timers and return guests who worshipped with us this weekend.  Once again it was nearly a full house at Maple Ridge, (we’re adding more seats this coming weekend) as we wrapped up our series, Forgotten.

 

Here are just a few of the highlights.

• Our crowd for this Labor Day Weekend was double last years Labor Day Weekend attendance!  Wow.
• I think this series has really turned up the spiritual temperature at Catalyst.  We’re digging into deeper conversations about the tangible practical stuff that God wants to do in our lives.
• Ckidz was packed out again.  Our Kidz ministries are absolutely off the charts right now.
• We announced that we’ve formed a strategic team which will be pursuing some important next steps for Catalyst, including potential new sites and/or a 2nd service, new strategy for the space at Maple Ridge or other potential options.  We’ve not made any decisions yet.  We’re only in the very preliminary research stages.  As we pursue new information we’ll be sharing hopefully some very exciting next steps for us as a church on Sunday, October 9th.
• This next weekend we’re going to begin a new series that I’m as excited about as any we’ve done in long time.  We’re going to talk about some under the radar stuff that I believe has the potential to help families in incredible ways.
• I love our church.  I’m seeing and feeling and hearing how so many of you are just growing in your love and excitement for what God is doing here, too.  That makes me happy.

Okay so one more closing thought.  Most of you know we get up pretty early on Sundays to get ready for Catalyst to go each weekend.  About 5am this past weekend as I got up to get ready to load in for probably the 60th time (love those summers off), I literally felt God remind me, “You get to do this.”  Like, every time you tell the story of setup/teardown, just make sure you inform people with your story that “I get to do this.”  The joy set before me unloading that trailer and setting up chairs and listening to loud music as we set the stage and the Kids areas…man I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world right now.

I am literally tearing up just sitting here thinking about the blessing of setting up folding chairs and folding tables and toys and televisions.  Of thinking about 40+ little ones coming in to hear about Jesus.  Of new faces and close friends gathering to fill that auditorium with praise and to hear the Words from the Bible that really can change us and help us live as Jesus would guide us.  I’ve never felt more alive, more excited, and more alive and connected with God than in these last few months.  And I totally totally believe that the best is still yet to come.

You’re not going to want to miss any of these weekends between now and Christmas Eve.  Every weekend is going to be powerful and transformational and a great weekend to invite family and friends.

Sunday Rewind, August 28th

How do you compare weekends at a Church?  I mean how do you say “this was the best weekend ever” without it seeming a little self-aggrandizing, and then subsequently putting the pressure on the following weeks to be even better.  I don’t know.  I do know that yesterday I felt the presence of God was so incredibly powerful at Catalyst yesterday.  I could hear voices singing that I don’t usually hear, and they were singing as a testimony not of newfound vocal skills but with confidence that we believe the words we sang.

As we post these rewinds, I’m going to intentionally begin posting information about our worship sets at the bottom, so that if you’re interested in getting songs via iTunes or wherever, the messages of these songs can go with you through the week.

Here are some highlights from yesterday:

• I truly believe Brad, David and our worship band have never sounded better than they did yesterday.  Powerful leadership today guys.
• I don’t say this enough publicly, but Dan and his creative work are truly amazing.  They’d be amazing for a church 10x our size.  To have a person with his skill to help with videos/graphics and the visual reinforcements we experience each week in a church our size is a huge blessing from God.
• Sorry a few of you stage right got a little “extra” blue light yesterday.  We’ll fix that next week, promise.
• Forgotten week 3.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t want to be our life coach, He wants to be our day to day leader.
• “When we submit our lives to Jesus’ forgiveness and leadership, and then we take back the leadership reins, that actually makes us a hijacker.”  Nobody wants to be a hijacker.  But sometimes, out of fear, out of what seems to be a better option, or out of comfort, we become one.
• “Mortgaged tomorrows never lead to changed todays.  Only sacrificed todays lead to changed tomorrows.”  If we could learn to practice this principle in several areas of our lives, it could be radically transformational.
• We had the highest non-holiday attendance we’ve ever had yesterday, and the highest number of children in CKidz ever!  Ckidz is busting at the seams, so we’re working on additional space for more kids even this week.

Next week we wrap up the Forgotten Series with another powerful role the Holy Spirit plays in our lives.  It’ll be life-changing I believe once again.  It’ll be a great time to invite a friend or neighbor (who’s not traveling for the holiday weekend, of course.)

There’s no better time to be part of the Catalyst movement.  There’s no better time to invite others to join the movement as well.  God is doing some great things around us and in us.

Worship Set (August 28)

No Chains on Me–Chris Tomlin

Forever–Chris Tomlin

Always–Kristian Stanfill

Day after Day–Kristian Stanfill

Never Once–Matt Redman