Catalyst Day Two – Chuck Swindoll

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Darren

At Catalyst, Chuck Swindoll received the lifetime achievement award and was well recognized by the nearly 13,000 people in attendance. It was a treat to get to hear what this Godly man had to share. First up, he shared the TOP TEN LEADERSHIP LESSONS IN 50 YEARS OF MINISTRY. The 10 lessons are from Chuck but the stuff in between are what I thought of with each lesson (which may or may not correspond with what Chuck shared. I’ve got to admit – when he mentioned each of these lessons my brain and heart were sparked with all kinds of insights…)

1. It’s lonely to lead

Yes it is. Why is this the case? Because a true leader will sometimes make decisions that no one else understands but himself. Also, a leader will often, by virtue of leadership, be out in front of those following. Out in front is lonely. However, while this is true – it is also why it is paramount that a leader doesn’t get stuck in his loneliness. Good leaders will find others to grow with. Good leaders will find ways to stave off the loneliness – recognizing that it comes but also staying out the the quicksand of its grip.

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Catalyst Day One – Rob Bell

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Darren

Rob Bell was the first catalyst speaker to begin his session by opening in prayer. I’m not saying that is necessarily a fault of all the other speakers but it WAS something that stood out for me. It was an invitation for the Holy Spirit to be at work in and through him as he spoke to us and I do believe God answered his prayer.

Here’s a few things that stood out for me:

I was recently talking to a pastor who said he wanted to quit…. So I asked him to draw a pie chart of what he does every week. He had been a pastor for a year and wanted to quit every day…. So I asked if he practiced Sabbath.

Umm yeah, there was silence in the auditorium after that statement. Funny thing is, this isn’t the first time it’s been said or asked. There’s gounds of speakers and writers that have promoted the teaching of the sabbath and yet when Rob asked that question you could still feel the conviction in the room. I know I make my best effort to take my day off as my day off but lately I’ve been slipping on that. When you skip the sabbath, then motivation and energy skips you. Sabbath is important.

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Catalyst Day One – Malcolm Gladwell

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Darren

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, talked about the danger of overconfidence at his catalyst session. I found it hard to hear most of his session but there were a few things that stood out for me:

Incompetence irritates me, but overconfidence scares me. Incompetent people rarely have the opportunities to make mistakes that greatly affect things. But overconfident leaders and experts have the dangerous ability to create disaster.

How much disaster could be averted if leader’s didn’t get so overconfident? A scriptural parallel to this might be King Saul, or even King David and his decision to conduct a census of the number of men able to fight in Israel (disobeying God in the process).

In times of crisis we don’t need bold and daring decision making from our leaders we need bold humility!

Reggie Joiner joined the stage and had two questions for Malcolm. In his answers, Malcolm revealed that the primary warning sign of overconfidence is when you stop listening to others (incidentally, this reminded me very much of a chapter I read in Andy Stanley’s book, “Principle of the Path” a really good read). Malcolm also made the statement that when a leader can no longer do everything all by himself, he has to change. When a leader’s growth reaches a certain point, he has to change. He presented the idea (probably not a new idea but nevertheless) that leadership has to become more collective.

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Catalyst Day One – Getting Things Started and Andy Stanley

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Darren

Well today was the first day of Catalyst. Since this is my first year there everything is new to me. And everything was WOW for me. They really don’t spare any change in making this an unforgettable event. At least I know now why the tickets are so much…

Anyway, today was a day full of incredible stuff that challenged, some stuff that was controversial and some holy moments too. When trying to think, of a way to describe what Catalyst has been for me so far this is what I’ve come up with

What catalyst does is mix your mind and your heart together and adds a good helping of holy getupanddosomething

Yeah, that good.

One disappointment with catalyst was the unreliability of the wifi – I was really hoping to blog during the day so I wouldn’t have these late night posting sessions but it looks like I wasn’t alone in this. Many of the official bloggers of catalyst were unable to get any kind of wifi connection either with both the in house arena wifi and at&t not playing nicely. Still, blogs are getting written! If I come across any I’ll post them at the end of each post I make on Catalyst.

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Keeping Momentum

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Darren

Momentum is a tricky thing. It can be positive or negative. Positive momentum is movement forward in the right direction, negative momentum is moving in the wrong direction. Positive momentum leads to growth, negative momentum leads to death. The more momentum there is the quicker either will happen.

Every organization has momentum – I really don’t believe there is any such thing as the “status quo”. When you are maintaining the “status quo” all you’re really doing is slowing negative momentum. Here’s the thing – negative momentum happens when you do nothing. Positive momentum takes a lot of energy to get going and a constant addition of energy to keep it going. The key to keeping positive momentum is to focus your energy on the right things:

Identify the momentum killers in your organization and deal with them. Quickly. The sooner you do so, the longer the positive momentum will continue and the less energy you’ll expend to keep it going. This requires the ability to see down the road and anticipate the things that might slow your positive momentum.
Identify the momentum builders and release them. Ask the question, “What is keeping my momentum builders from building?”

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Leaders are followers…

Posted on March 5, 2007 by Darren

This is some thinking I had on leadership recently…

A key to great leaders is that they are discerning followers. Why is that?

Everyone follows something/someone.

The claim, “I don’t follow anything” is groundless. From the moment of birth our lives are impacted by external stimuli bombarding our senses. Some of these things we have no choice over initially (the environment we start out life in, our parents/guardians, where we live etc.) but as we grow the amount of choice we have with the influences in our lives increases exponentially. With these increased choices comes the opportunity for us to choose what we follow.
This is where the difference between the average person and great leaders has a stark contrast. Great leaders are careful in choosing (where they have control over) what they will follow, the average person is more indiscriminate.

The evidence isn’t discovered until after the fact…

Great leaders aren’t always observed until sufficient time has passed that filters the great things they have been involved in. In hindsight, studying a great leader will reveal that their discernment in what they followed had bearing on what they accomplished. Whether it was a school of thought, influential individuals, certain habits or practices – these followings had a definite role in the outcome of the leader and thus contributed to what made them “great”.

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Five non-religious arguments for marriage over living together

Posted on October 23, 2006 by Darren

I’ve always been against the practice of living together before marriage and for the wonderful commitment between a couple in getting married. However, even though I disagree with a guy and gal living together before marriage I still understand why some people think it’s okay. There are many reasons why I disagree and of course among them is the Biblical teaching on the sanctity of marriage. However, I must admit (to my chagrin) that the Bible just doesn’t carry the initial influence that it once had in society (gasp!) and frankly a “religious” argument just doesn’t have any impact on “reasoning” with people that it once had. That doesn’t make the Biblical teaching invalid or worthless – it just means that I can’t make the assumption that quoting scripture is going to convince people that living together is not a good idea or is even living in… (whispers conspiratorily) sin!

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Unfolding Neurons

Tag Archives: Leadership