Catalyst

I spent the latter part of last week at Catalyst in Atlanta with several other leaders from our church, and it was just amazing. I don't know how to sum up a time like that, or how to put it in words, but I can try.

The worship was just incredible. I mean, over the top amazing. There's nothing quite like worshiping with that many people. I realized how lucky I was to have even experienced something like that before, and yet, there was something so amazing and real and authentic about experiencing it with literally thousands who have been called into church leadership of some kind. And it was so wonderful to share it with people from my group, people who I call deep, close friends. I think worship on Sunday morning the day after we got back was the best its ever been, and I think its a direct result of what we experienced in Atlanta.

With the speakers there were a mix of practical, leadership ideas, and inspirational messages. The two that have stuck with me the most, Francis Chan and Craig Groeschel, seemed to be just honest men with an authentic love for Christ above all else. More than anything, they encouraged me to just get serious and stop playing around.

And most of all - it was just fun! The people I traveled with are all people that are very dear to me, and to just be with them for so long was wonderful. I have never laughed so hard for so many days straight, and both my sides and my cheeks hurt.

Now that we're back, and have been for a few days, I'm continuing to process all of the things that we talked about, but what I'm most surprised about is that coming home, I'm not feeling an emotion let-down as I settle back into my regular life. Every other time I've been to a large-scale conference like that, I've felt almost depressed after I got home, but that's not the case here. I think, in large part, that its because Catalyst wasn't just an emotional experience, or even mostly an emotional one. And, maybe its just because I'm getting older.