Refueling the Tanks

Okay I'm re-learning. Or rather, re-initiating.

Sometimes I go to the gas station and pull up to the tank, and I notice that the person who fueled up before me has put $1 or $3 into the tank. For some reason, putting one gallon of fuel in the tank actually catches more of my attention than $75. It kinda makes me...sad. I know in these tough economic times that dollars are more difficult to come by maybe than anytime in recent memory. And so for the person who's just left this tank, perhaps they've indicated by their purchase that really life for them right now is an exercise in just getting by, an exercise of just making it one more step, one more day.

Don't get me wrong. We all have days like that. Days where if we can just make it back to our head on our pillow at the end of the day accomplishing emotional or relational or work survival, that will be a victory. But the truth is, we all probably have fewer of those days than we want to acknowledge. At some point, there's got to be more in the tank than what it takes for just one day. Sometimes we have to fill the car beyond the point where the low fuel indicator light actually goes off. We need more than a day's worth of fuel.

Here's the reason for my metaphor. I used to be a voracious reader (or at least in my own mind). I felt like I was filling the tanks all the time. And so the intellectual seeds God was sowing were bringing lots of cool harvest potential. But in the last few months, (probably about a year now) the discipline of sowing had basically dried up. Sure I'd do a little reading every once in a while (just enough to get my intellectual tank off the pegged "E") but not nearly enough to have time for what was sown to actually grow into something bigger. It's like eating the seeds instead of putting them into the ground. You get by for one more day but you really have nothing in the hopper for the days and months ahead.

And my schedule basically had no time for the discipline of refilling the tanks. So today, I've made the decision to rework my schedule and create planting space through reading. It may mean that a few things that ordinarily might get done Monday morning jump to the afternoon. But I am realizing that if I don't refill on Monday, the rest of the week is spent hopping from one splash and go to another, which kills my efficiency and probably short circuits God's preparing me for the rest of the week.

For me right now, empty tanks mean more reading. What about for you? What's on E in your life? Actually the bigger question might be, "what's on E that you need to take regular time to get closer to F?" We all have days when a little splash and go is all we can muster, but I can tell you from personal experience, you do that more than a week or two and that habit will lock itself in much quicker than you ever could imagine. And that will be to your detriment as well as to the people around you.

Map out time this week to take steps toward a fill up.

Catalyst rewind in your rss reader

If you use an rss reader to follow the Catalyst church blog, and want to continue following the Sunday rewind, an easy way to follow is by going to this link. Anytime a new note is added, it'll automatically load to your reader.

feed://www.facebook.com/feeds/notes.php?id=109497719322&viewer=680611118&key=6a22a1f729&format=rss20

Thanks for continuing the journey with us.

Chris

Catalyst rewind posted at Facebook fan page

Just a reminder that we've moved our rewind post to the Catalyst facebook page, which you can access by clicking on the link to the right. Thanks for checking in with us.

Is It Wrong to be Unsatisfied?

Okay, so I'm going to be brutally honest. I'm dissatisfied. I don't know what I anticipated. I don't know if my perspective of timing is off. But I'm dissatisfied. Dissatisfied with myself. Not mad at anyone. Not blaming anyone, except maybe myself. And I'll work through it, I'll get over it. But I'm not satisfied.

Influence is something that you don't earn quickly. Lots of things can draw a crowd quickly. When people have asked what my goal is for Catalyst, one of my answers has always been, "Big influence, not necessarily big numbers." The numbers are often an outside force that are important but somewhat beyond our control. Influence is something all of us have the opportunity to produce. So when our numbers aren't huge compared to the week before, or (gulp) they go down, why am I so dissatisfied? If the God ordained goal is influence, and letting numbers be a byproduct of big influence in the community, then why can't I be patient. Influence doesn't come overnight. You earn influence. You build influence as you build trust. 8 week olds are cute, but they don't have influence. (If they do, you've got a monster on your hands before too long) God, help me to remember that if you answer my prayer, it's going to look like what it looks like. And I do want Catalyst to fulfill its full redemptive and influential potential in this community. So God remind me what that means, what that takes and that we function in your timeline not our own. Remind me that numbers are a means, not an end.

And remind me often the words that I heard Craig Groeschel say this week. "People often overvalue what happens in the short-term and undervalue what happens over the long-term." Help me to value what you value, Jesus, and to not get hung up on the short term. Marathon not sprint.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, March 21st and final reminder

Today we celebrated another first at Catalyst. Held our first child dedication, celebrating with the Justus family in blessing their daughter, Ella Grace. It's always cool to embrace families who are committed to raising their children to follow the way of Jesus. One of the components of Child Dedication that often gets forgotten centers around the Jewish tradition of the community welcoming the child into the community and committing to do their part in raising the child in relationship with God. We also continued our Church Different series. Week 3 focused on a visual picture of what a life transformed by relationship with God looks like. Podcast is up and running from today. Had a few last minute shifts in the load-out crew this morning. Thanks to everyone who makes Catalyst come alive each weekend. Also feel like we got some things finally working better in terms of worship sound and recording. I'm actually not pulling my hair out in frustration because of our mp3 situation! Hooray!!! I'm also thankful for people who pray for what we're doing here at Catalyst. I'm not going to lie, this past week was a bit of an emotional struggle for me. With the combination of a shuffled schedule, some lingering illness and basketball (if you want the whole truth) I came into this morning feeling a little bit "Not with it." But as God always does, as I stepped up to speak His word, He brought clarity to my mind and I believe spoke an important word to each of us today. Had our first C.A.T. team (Creative Arts Team) gathering tonight to begin brainstorming for the Free Journey which begins Sunday April 11th. Good stuff ahead. Excited about completing the Church Different series, about Easter and about the Free Journey ahead. More info will be on our website about the Free Journey in the next couple of weeks!

Just a final reminder that after this week's post we will be moving the rewind exclusively to the Catalyst Facebook fan page. You can look to the right for a link to the page. (I don't believe you have to be on Facebook to view this page, so click the link and take a look.) Thanks so much for your interest in the exciting stuff that's happening at Catalyst.

Catalyst Sunday Rewind, March 14th and reminder

Any time you do firsts, there's always the potential for greatness and for some challenges. We had three firsts yesterday in the young life (we're still just six weeks old at this point!) of Catalyst Church. All three of them were overwhelmingly great. No challenges at all. Not bad for a six week old.

• Just like everywhere else, yesterday was Time Change Sunday. Time Change Sunday takes on a whole new meaning when you setup and teardown every week, because even though the clock says the normal time, when you roll in to begin setup at 6:30, it still feels like 5:30am! Everyone was on time, in good spirits and...I wish i knew how to adequately express this...but every week the load in team sets the "temperature" of the day. If their attitude is good, and the conversations are flowing and the laughter is rising, you know it just sets a good vibe for the day. I know "vibe" isn't an inherently spiritual word, but attitude is a huge leadership character trait, and I can't tell you how great Load-in does on this every weekend! Ryan Webster and his team nail it every week.
• We did miss a few people because of the time change I think but I think the people who were with us yesterday were definitely impacted by the experience.
• Brad and Jared led worship yesterday with an acoustic, relaxed set. It gave us an opportunity to sing a few songs we haven't yet, and though the volume was significantly different, I think the worship experience was powerful. We're gonna take risks around here. We're gonna change things up. We're gonna do whatever it takes to help people draw closely to God. Good stuff yesterday.
• Pastor Dan taught yesterday on what a spiritual journey is, and the rewards of each stage, beginning, middle and end. MP3 will be posted by noon Monday.
• Great points...the reminder that Jesus chose the disciples, and He Chose You First! If you've ever been told you're not good enough, You're good enough to follow me!
• Hebrews 12 Run the race with perseverence...1 Corinthians 9...run the race to win the prize. The prize is the point!
• Celebrated our first practice of Communion, Lord's Supper, Mass, Eucharist, whatever you're used to calling it. To see people hop up out of their seats to receive the elements, was a powerful moment in our young life. Nothing unites people like our common faith in Christ as Savior and Lord of our life. Communion affirms that. It's me saying to the people in community with me, "I'm headed more towards Jesus." It's those participating around me saying the same thing.

And so we're on to next week...another one of those cool moments in the life of our church. We're celebrating child dedication with the Justus family. I'll be back to teaching the Word next week, focusing on what a transformed life looks like on the inside and on the outside. God is changing us and drawing us to Him. This would be a great week to join us at Catalyst, or to invite a friend to come along!

Just a reminder that we've shifted the main forum for our rewind to our Catalyst Facebook page. We'll continue to post here for a few more weeks, but primarily this blog is going to go back to Chris' postings about life, ministry and some of the stuff that's going on at Catalyst Church. Thanks for tracking with us, praying for us and helping us expand the Kingdom of God through God's calling on our lives to begin this new church.

The Cost

As a pastor, one of your great hopes is that when you get any opportunity to teach God's word, that there's significant carryover effect and the words you teach continue to speak to people for an extended period of time. Often you think about that in the context of the lives of your hearers, but rarely do we consider (or maybe want to consider) the carryover effect in our own lives. When we don't, it may be an indicator of a couple of things. One, that we're not teaching out of our own struggles, out of our own journey, for whatever reason, or two, that our own pride will not allow us to be open to areas where we need to grow.

Well here's an acknowledgement. I'm still stuck on the verse from 2 weeks ago in Matthew 16 where Jesus says, if any one of you wants to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. When we were at the churchplanters.com conference, I heard Rick Warren remind us that the way of Jesus transitions from come and see to come and die. The way of Jesus goes from the way of salvation to the way of sacrifice and suffering.

I've come to realize that there are some barriers in my life. Some strongholds that if I want to see break through in them, it's going to cost me more than I've wanted to pay before. I feel like Jesus is asking me to take on some disciplines, both personal and spiritual, that if I don't, my life and ministry will stall out where they are. I'm satisfied with neither of those options. A stalled life or a stalled ministry. I know that some of these things are personality deficiencies that I need God to work out. I know that some of these things involve other people and other people's free will. And honestly, some are issues where I personally struggle with some recurring sinful attitudes/actions. I believe Jesus is saying, if you want more from me, want more for this church I've given you opportunity to lead, there's a way of sacrifice to be walked. This is not a salvation issue, it's a favor issue. I don't believe that we earn salvation, but I strongly believe that our obedience impacts the fullness of God demonstrating Himself in our lives.

There's gonna be cost. I can already feel it. It's gonna be some discipline I need but don't have. So let's see what the next days and weeks hold for me and for my family and for Catalyst. Who's to say what God may be up to?