Today was another amazing & powerful day at Catalyst 2009. We heard from some of the most influential and anointed Christian leaders in America.
It’s impossible to transpose the lessons we learned today from our brains to your computer screen, but here are some of the “diamonds”:
FROM ANDY STANLEY:
1.”What man is a man who doesn’t leave the world better?” (quote from the movie, Kingdom of Heaven)
2. “Every leader leaves a mark; the question is, ‘Whose mark are you going to leave?’”
3. “Your mark isn’t worth your life — it’s too small a thing; allowing God to leave His mark is worth giving your life to.”
4. “When God does His greatest thing through you, you won’t even know it happened.”
5. “You should be more concerned about whose side you’re on than who’s on your side.”
6. “Leadership is not about being in authority; Leadership is about being under Authority.”
FROM JESSICA JACKLEY:
1. Microfinance = financial services for the poor.
2. “Not all stories about the poor are stories of suffering; many are stories of success and hope.”
3. “Money is a tool for poverty alleviation; it is also a tool for providing dignity, hope and respect.”
4. “We can believe in each other.”
5. Check out www.kiva.org.
FROM MALCOLM GLADWELL:
1. “Experts make mistakes. Why? What causes people who are really good to do things that are really dumb?” (ref: current financial crisis)
2. “Excessive information leads to overconfidence.”
3. “Incompetence is irritating but overconfidence is dangerous.”
4. “When you are overconfident, the world around you changes — but you don’t see it.”
5. “In times of crisis we think we need bold and daring leadership but we don’t; what we need from leaders in times of crisis is humility.”
*FROM SHANE HIPPS:
1. “Christianity is fundamentally a communication event.”
2. MYTH: The methods change but the message remains the same.
3. REALITY: The method is the message. (How you say something is more important than what you say because the mode of communication repatterns the neuro-networks in the brain.)
4. “A picture is not worth 1000 words; words & images are fundamentally different and are not interchangeable.”
5. “If you change your methods, you also change the message.”
6. “What if the gospel is a living thing rather than a lifeless artifact?”
7. PARADOX: “The ever-changing gospel message never changes.”
8. ** “There are diamonds buried in the rock of Scripture that we have yet to discover.”
*Note: I have some theological issues with Shane’s presentation, however, his insight into the digital culture is brilliant. He has something to say that we should want to hear; if I’ve sparked your curiosity, you might want to check out his book: Flickering Pixels.
**Quote inspired the title of this post.
*FROM ROB BELL:
1. “The bush is always burning and the ground is always holy.”
2. “Sometimes the crowd thins and people leave … and it’s really, really painful.”
3. “Put the crack pipe down! I cannot believe that a community of faith that professes to believe in inverse fidelity (the first shall be last; the last shall be first) actually has a church ranking system (i.e., Top Ten Churches).”
4. “The Eucharist is the ‘good gift of grace’ broken & poured out for the healing and salvation of others…The church is the eucharist to the world.”
5. “How can we break ourselves open and pour ourselves out for the healing and salvation of others?”
6. “The first nine of the Ten Commandments are externally measurable & observable; the tenth Commandment (thou shalt not covet) cannot be seen & rabbis believe it is a reward for obeying the first nine Commandments. In other words, when you obey God you won’t want anybody else’s life, because yours will be just fine.”
7. “Jesus wants to set you free to enjoy the place you are at & the work that’s in front of you.”
8. “Our children pick up on what really matters to us, without us saying a word.”
9. “If it’s going well with the church, but not with your family, then it’s not going well.”
*Rob Bell (pictured at the top of this post) is an inigma. Sometimes he makes my head hurt and at other times he’s brilliant. Today he was brilliant. (See quote #4 from Scott Belsky in yesterday’s post.)
FROM TONY DUNGY:
1. “I always felt my job as a coach was to help players be the best players they could be on the field; and the best men they could be off the field.”
2. Learn to distinguish between what seems important and what’s really important.
3. “Tough times can either draw you away from the Lord or pull you closer.” (In reference to being fired from Tampa Bay.)
4. “It’s never about me — it’s always about the Lord and His mission being accomplished through my life.”
5. Given 30-seconds to address 100M people after winning the Super Bowl, Coach Dungy chose to use that platform to give glory to God. The man practices what he preaches!
6. Stuff Coach Dungy is currently involved with: www.allprodad.com & www.imom.com. Check it out!
7. To the pastors in the arena: “We need you. People are looking for solutions & you have the Solution: Jesus Christ.”
FROM MATT CHANDLER:
1. “God help us and save us from taking what the Bible says and turning it into children’s stories instead of studying it to see what it is saying to us.”
2. “If you live and walk as if you have no sin — you are a liar.”
3. “We act as if there are bad sins and sins that Jesus is OK with.”
4. “Every bit of hesitancy in obedience is God beckoning you to deeper waters.”
5. “It is a lack of gratitude and a sin to be ungrateful for who you are.”
6. “There is going to come a day when history is rewritten as it really is. God has invited you to play a part in the story He is telling. Play your part well.”
FROM FRANCIS CHAN:
1. “When’s the last time you stopped and thought, ‘I should be in hell right now?’”
2. “People have told you that you’re not good enough, but God is in the room saying, ‘Oh yes you are!’”
3. “Are you so arrogant that you believe you can change the world, rather than Almighty God?”
4. “What will it be like on the day when the God of all grace, Himself, confirms, restores, strengthens and establishes you? Take a moment and think about that day…”
5. “Grace makes people say, ‘I wish I had your daddy!’”
Well there you have it. That’s a diamond mine & we’re not done yet! In our next post: Priscilla Shirer, Dave Ramsey, Chuck Swindoll, Louie Giglio & a wrap-up from Andy Stanley. God bless you! ~Kraig & Dawn
Thanks for taking the time to share all of these “diamonds” with us.
I really like these:
“It is a lack of gratitude and a sin to be ungrateful for who you are.” – God has put us where we are in life to reach out uniquely to those we come in contact with. Quit whining and start shining I say.
Thank you so much! What an amazing line up of speakers!
Good stuff, Kraig. Thanks!
So many of us here, wouldn’t have heard God speaking through His people there had you not obeyed Holy Spirit’s invite to “Break away , Come I have much to tell you for my people.” Amen God for technology and you!!!