This post is part of the series Catalyst 2013.

Here are the links to all my posts from blogging Catalyst Atlanta this year:

Day One

• Live Blogging Catalyst This Week
• The Often Overlooked Tie Between Good Usability and Leadership
• Why Insecure Leaders Are so Bad
• Andy Stanley: Surviving Your Appetite for Being Known
• Malcolm Gladwell: David and Goliath
• Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell
• John Piper: Glorifying God by Maximizing Our Joy in Him

Day Two

• Update on Catalyst Blogging
• Lecrae and the Doctrine of Vocation
• Jud Wilhite’s Catalyst Message
• Angela Ahrendt’s Interview at Catalyst
• Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze’s Catalyst Message: Raising Your Kids to be Sound Financial Stewards
• Cory Booker: Putting Purpose Over Position
• Andy Stanley’s Closing Message at Catalyst: Leadership 101

This is part of the series Catalyst 2013. 

Andy Stanley’s closing message at Catalyst was fantastic. He went to the core, the foundation, that you need to understand in order to lead. These are the absolute basics, but they are almost never talked about. If you were at Catalyst and had to catch an early flight, I would especially suggest reviewing these notes so you can catch what you missed.

Here are my notes:

“Level 5 leaders have the humility to aspire to be the dumbest person in the room” — Jim Collins.

Today, it’s leadership 101. Taking it down to the most fundamental level. I had to do this to survive.

Here’s where this came from. When we started North Point, there was so much to do, and I felt early on it was getting too big too fast for me to keep up with. I have to reduce things to an irreducible minimum to keep my eye on the ball. So I wrote down off the top of my head what I’m about to give you to keep me centered. This is at the core and epicenter of my personal leadership.

So, when it starts getting confusing, and there are too many people demanding too many things, and you aren’t even sure what to focus on, this is what I retreat to. And perhaps we should all consider retreating to this. This is at the essence of where leadership begins.

Always have an answer to these 3 questions. If you can answer these, you’ll be OK.

1. What are we doing?
2. Why are we doing it?
3. Where do I fit in?

Everybody in your department, student ministry, staff, everyone in whatever your organization is, ought to be able to answer these questions.

The very next thing you should do in regard to your leadership is wrestle these questions to the ground.

1. What are we doing?

This is a participle. “We are creating” or “We are building” or “we are leading.”

About 24 years ago, Stephen Covey wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I got it right when it came out and couldn’t put it down. And there was a whole section on mission statements. Covey talks in there about the Ritz-Carlton, where mission statements had been embraced from the top of the organization all the way down. Part of their success was that everyone, even the cooks, had a mission statement. And I thought “can a maid really have a mission statement?” It turns out that the owner of the company was a friend of my dad, so I called him. I said “seriously?” Not disrespectfully, but I was wondering. We couldn’t even get our church to have a mission statement.

He said: “the only way to understand this is to go through our training for maids, cooks, and bellmen.” So we went and sat in on that training.

I cannot over emphasize the power of a statement that answers the question “what are we doing?”

In the training, the trainer brought everyone to a single statement: “we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” It was empowering and dignifying to the staff. They saw they were people worthy of respect–just as much as the wealthy people they were serving.

“That’s when I became a raving fan of the importance of mission statements.”

Most decisions are pre-decided when the mission is crystal clear.

It is critical to push decisions down in the organization. The better leader you are, the fewer decisions you are making. And people are empowered to make good decisions by a clear and compelling mission statement.

You’ll never be great at what you’re doing if you don’t know what it’s for. There are no great organizations that aren’t clear on what they are doing.

Without a mission statement, you’ll have a hard time convincing others to join you. For they won’t know what you are doing.

Leaders love to work for people who have given them crystal clear marching orders.

I am always hearing from sharp leaders who are frustrated because their organizations don’t make it clear what the mission is.

There is something that rises up in a leader when it’s clear what we have come togehter to do. And there are few things more discouaring to a leader than to be given a responsibility that isn’t clear and tied in to a mission.

The reason you don’t have a simple and sticky mission statement is becuase you haven’t taken the time to create one.

Some people say “the local church is too complex and doing too many things; you can’t boil it down to one thing.” Oh yes you can. You just haven’t thought about it yet.

I’ll tell you what will happen when you do this: you will be perceived as the leader, you may make some waves, you may get fired, and we’ll hire you.

In 1997 Jobs comes back to Apple, and he says “Here’s what we are going to do: we are going to create easy to use computers. That’s what we do at Apple.” Boom.

For us, we decided we are going to create a church that unchurched people love to attend. And some years went by, and we said “let’s go create some churches unchurched people love to attend.”

My question for you is: what are you doing? One of the most healthy exercises is; your church probably already has a mission statement, and it’s way too long. If I were to ask you your mission, if you have to look away to remember it in order to say it, it’s too long. It needs to be short and memorable.

What’s the point of change if you don’t know what you’re trying to do? Change means you were going this direction and now you are going that direction. If you don’t know what that direction is, you can’t change. You aren’t changing.

What have you come together to do? If you can’t answer that question, you will never bring about meaningful, healthy change.

Wherever you have influence in the organization, start the conversation. “What are we doing?”

2. Why are we doing it?

The answer to this question is where you find your inspiration. This answers the qeustion “what’s at stake? What goes away if we go away? What problem goes unsolved? What question goes unanswered? What service goes unprovided?” When you drill down on why, you will find the emotion rising and rising.

Don’t be afraid to reach back to God’s personal call on your life to answer the question why.

Here’s why: your personal call is where you found the courage to take the first step. You have to stay close to that, because ministry requires courage. And your personal is where you are going to find your passion.

What was it that first got you into the ministry? Behind your call was a why. Go back to that. You need to tap into this even in your division and department and organization. This is not selfish, because you are a leader, and when leaders tap into their passion, they attract people with a similar passion. And before you know it, you have a movement.

That’s how great things are accomplished.

Some of you right now have a calling that is so deep, and so rich, but you’ve allowed it to become vanilla because you are in a place that has squashed it. Get out of there!!! You will wake up one day and say “what happened to me?”

My dad would say: “Don’t you ever, ever let money, don’t you ever let money stand in the way of what God has called you to do.”

Maybe just one person in this room, God wants to do something extraordinary through you; if you stay where you are too long, and let organizational structures constrain you and the fear of how you’ll pay your bills keep you back, not only will you miss out, thousands of people will miss out.

Step into the gap. It’s not about you are your ego, it’s that you can’t imagine devoting your life to anything else.

Why has the power to get you through the tough times. When you retreat back to why, you will find your energy.

3. Where do I fit in?

Ask yourself, “what is my unique contribution. What is my core responsibility?” If you could only do what you could do, you need to identify it and schedule accordingly.

Your organization will be at its best when you are doing what you do best. Your entire organization.

To drive this deeper, create a one sentence job description for each of your direct reports. This is time consuming, but it’s almost magic. No matter how big the job is, you can boil it down to one sentence. And when you do, it’s gold.

My one sentence: “Inspire our staff and congregations to remain fully engaged in our mission and strategy.”

Our CFO: “Create, implement, and monitor systems that ensure our organization remains fiscally secure.”

My administrative assistant: “To keep Andy’s path clear of nonessential tasks and decisions so that he can do what only he can do.”

Leadership team: “Create a lcoal church culture that inspires, empowers, and equips our staff and congregation to engage in our mission, strategy, and vision.”

Can you imagine what would happen in your department or division or church if even just 75% of the leaders could answer these 3 questions?

This is part of the series Catalyst 2013.

It was great to see Cory Booker interviewed at Catalyst this year. Cory couldn’t be there in person, but was interviewed at his office in advance, and the video was shown. Cory is the mayor of Newark, New Jersey and a candidate for the US senate.

(In the time since Catalyst [two weeks], it looks like he has won the election and become New Jersey’s first ever African American senator.)

Like Angela Ahrednt, it was refreshing to hear how biblical principles informed the way he thinks about his vocation. The Golden Rule (“how would I want others to treat me? treat them the same way”) is at the foundation of how he thinks about everything, which is exactly as it should be. As with Angela, we see again that this is not only the right way to be, but that it is also the way to truly be most effective in your work and life. It is, as I argue in my upcoming book, the essence of how to be truly productive.

Here are my notes from the interview:

Don’t get so obsessed with position. Purpose is more important than position. Ask “what gets me up in the morning? What excites me? Is it creating things, serving people, going on adventures? Stay loyal to your passion.”

“For me, it was having the courage to confront fear. There is an old definition of faith that has always helped me: faith is coming to the end of a dark tunnel and stepping out, and knowing that one of two things will happen. Either there will be solid ground beneath you, or God will bring people to help you fly.”

“This world is going to do a lot to try to make you conform, to try to fit you into boxes. That’s wrong. We were made to stand out. As Lincoln said: everyone was born an original, but most of us die copies.”

“When I was in my twenties, I had a lot of people coming to me and saying ‘you should do this.’ And I said ‘why? I don’t want to do that.'”

“You should take risks, especially in your twenties.”

Talent is important, but values are even more important.

A lady in the inner city said to him once “Only if you are one of those stubborn people who whenever they open their eyes see hope and opportunity no matter what, only then are you a person who can help me.”

“You cannot have extraordinary results without extraordinary effort.”

AMEN!!! Way to go, Cory.

From the series Catalyst 2013.

I had actually not heard of Jud Wilhite prior to attending Catalyst this year. Jud is an author, speaker, and senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing churches in American.

What stood out to me the most about Jud was his authenticity. That always goes a long way with me. As I mentioned in a previous post, I mixed it up between taking extensive notes on messages and taking just a few notes. I took just a few notes from Jud’s message so that the core points would stand out. Here they are:

“Everybody loves you until you lead.”

Embrace your unique calling in your life.

Love the calling you have, not the calling you wish you had.

Those are worth reflecting on.

OK, it’s time to (finally) finish posting my notes from Catalyst Atlanta. Sorry for the delay! I will schedule the rest of my notes to post between now and the end of the day tomorrow.

The last post will be Andy Stanley’s final message, which was especially fantastic because it gives the foundational concepts that every leader needs to know, but rarely hears.

This part of my series of posts on Catalyst 2013. 

I loved listening to hip-hop artist Lecrae at Catalyst. He didn’t perform but rather gave his testimony. Interestingly, his testimony was about far more than his story — it was just as much about some core theological truths that are at the foundation of his life and faith. Especially helpful was hearing him talk about the role of the doctrine of vocation in his thinking (the truth that we can serve God in all areas of life, not just the “religious” sphere), though he didn’t call it that.

Here are a few of my key notes from his message in that vein.

“As Christians, we’ve tended to say of late that we just care about “religious truth.” Then we leave every other area of life to the world, and don’t seek to think about them in a Christian way. We’ve rejected the concept of total truth. We are refusing to think about _all of life_ from a Christian perspective.”

“We limit spirituality to salvation and sanctification. And so we are missing out on the opportunity to glorify God in every area of life.”

“This idea of this split was started with guys like Plato who thought there was a problem with matter. But we know that ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.'”

“How dare I, after being redeemed, sit back and leave this world untouched.”

This is part of the series Catalyst 2013.

After Malcolm Gladwell was done with his message at Catalyst, there were a few minutes left so Andy Stanley did an impromptu Q&A with him on the book. It was incredible.

Here are some of the key points Gladwell made, without the questions (which I didn’t write down for some reason!).

Weakness: The Foundation of Innovation

David’s ability to win the battle begins with his weakness. That forces him to be creative and come up with an innovative strategy. This is the foundation of innovation. Being barred from the normal way of doing things and having to come up with a solution to the challenge.

Your obstacles and moments of weakness are your greatest opportunity.

I found that when I interviewed people for this book, when I asked them to explain their journey, they always started with an obstacle or weakness. No one ever said “when I was eight years old, I was given a million dollars.” You never hear that.

The Refusal to be Passive

Is there anything that demarkates the person who says “we aren’t going to let this stop us” versus the one who says “I give up”? David is remarkable by his refusal to be passive. And the second thing is, he is the only one who correctly understood the strength that his faith gave him. Just like the people in the village.

The Freedom to Fail

There is no question that the David position is a high-risk position. He had a very small target on Goliath, for example. We need to keep this in the back of our mind and be forgiving of those who have failed. Part of what gives people the courage to go up against Goliaths is the knowledge that if it doesn’t work, they can get another shot. This is essential to making this all possible.

This is part of the series Catalyst 2013. 

The wifi connection in the event center wasn’t so great, so I wasn’t able to post anything on Friday. I’ll be posting the rest of my notes throughout the day today.

For some sessions you’ll see I took a minimalist approach and took very few notes, in contrast to the messages I’ve posted on so far (Piper, Gladwell, and Stanley), which are more detailed. I think there’s value in both. The value in the shorter notes is that it is perhaps easier for the chief points to make their impact, since they are right there without much else. So, I tried to do that with some of the sessions.

This is part of the series Catalyst 2013.

Malcolm Gladwell’s message today was excellent and full of counterintuitive insight, as always. I’m very appreciative also that he chose to be here. With his new book out this week (David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants), he could have been anywhere in the world today, and he chose to be here, at Catalyst. Thank you, Malcolm Gladwell!

Here are my notes.

Brad Lomenick (preisdent of Catalyst): “Gladwell could have been anywhere in the world today, and he chose to be here, with Catalyst.”

Gladwell: “It’s great to be back. I think this is my third time. It’s always a pleasure to come to Catalyst.”

Gladwell begins by retelling the story of David and Goliath, highlighting details we often overlook and pointing things out that we often don’t pay attention to.

Was David Really the Underdog?

David had a slingshot. Goliath was a heavy infantry. Most people favor the heavy infantry because of their size. But heavy infrantry–Goliaths–are sitting ducks for slingers. Slingers are quick and nimble. Goliath is large and slow.

Everyone was thinking David would be going up to fight hand-to-hand with Goliath, according to the heavy infantry model. Even Saul was assuming this when he tried to give David his armor. But David wasn’t planning on hand-to-hand combat. Why would he? He was planning on fighting with his sling.

“So we have a lumbering giant operating under a false assumption, and a nimble kid with superior technology and filled with the Spirit of the Lord. And yet we think of David as the underdog. Shouldn’t we think of the person filled with God’s Spirit has having every advantage in the world?”

Doesn’t the verse tell us not to look on outward appearances, but the heart, as God does? And if you look at the heart, isn’t David the favorite?

“We radically understimate the power of the heart.” [My note: Amen!!!!]

The Underdog Town that Stood up to the Nazis

Gladwell then tells the story of a town that famously stood up against the Nazis during WWII.

The most extraordinary story from the history of the town was when the false government that was opposing it and in league with the Nazi’s during WWII came with a large, complicated itinerary, and nothing went according to plan. The people in the town made sure the food at the banquet was really, really terrible. Half way through someone “accidentally” spills soup down the false government minister’s suit; no one shows up for the parade; a guy preaches on “he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”

Then the kids, talking to this senior minister from the fake government, reads a letter to him stating they are hiding Jews, and they will not turn them over.

The story of this town is famous for its resistence to the Nazis, and the incredible courage of the people who lived there, and how they were one in a million during a time when real courage and bravery were in dire need.

But the way the story is often told is misleading. There is nothing extraordinary about the people who lived there; they were simply people who had an accurate assessment of where power truly lies. They knew themselves. Most people would say “you versus the Nazis is a lopsided battle.” But they didn’t see it that way. They would have said “we have a whole bunch of weapons of our own.” Ex: half the year, the mountains were filled with snow, making it hard for the Nazis to hunt Jews. And there were all sorts of people willing to help hide the Jews. “Shouldn’t they have been concerned the Nazis would just obliterate the whole town?” The Nazis had bigger fish to fry.

But the most important weapon the people of the town had is that they had been through this before. 100 years before the Catholic church and ruthlessly persecuted the Protestants in the area. The Hugenot pastors were rounded up and murdered by the state, their children put in orphanages, the church was banned. They were forced to conduct all of their worship services in secret. But what did they learn during that process? How to band together, how to be strong, and most of all the power of their own faith. The French threw everything at them you can, and God protected them. So the Nazis came, and they were like “we’ve seen worse.” They were ready.

A woman tells the story of the first time a Jewish person came to her door asking for refuge. It never occured to her to say no, or that it would be dangerous. She didn’t think of herself as an underdog.

Now, here’s the question: There were millions of Christians in France during WWII, singing many of the same hymns, worshipping the same God. Why was this village the only one that gave refguge to the Jews?

Because the other Christians didn’t understand how powerful their faith made them. They thought they were underdgos. They looked at “Goliath” and said “there’s no way I can beat that guy.”

We under estimate the power of our faith, and that has real-world consequences.

If the millions of Christians had stood up against the Nazis, how many millions of Jews might have been saved? [My note again: Amen and well said.]

Misunderstanding Goliath

We not only misunderstand David; we also misunderstand Goliath. We think of him as this mighty warrior. But the Bible shows us that there are all sorts of things inconsistent with this notion.

For example, he has to be led down to the battlefield by an attendant. What? Why is that? And there is a mention of how slowly Goliath moves. That’s odd. Why is the writer of this account pointing out these things? Then there’s the fact that it takes Goliath so long to figure out what David is up to. Goliath sees David coming and is insulted. He shouldn’t be insulted, he should be worried. But he is oblivious to what is happening. And Goliath says “am I a dog that you should come to me with sticks [pluarl]?” But David didn’t have sticks. He had a sling. He had one stick, not two.

There is a growing consensus that Goliath was suffering from a disease of [My note: I can’t remember the term–I’ll call it Giantism]. And one of the symptoms of this is sometimes double vision, for example. This is likely why Goliath thought he say stick_s_ in David’s hands. And why was David led by an attendant to the valley floor? Because he couldn’t see well; so he needed a guide.

What people did not understand was that the very thing that made the giant so intimidating was actually the source of his greatest weakness.

The Key Point: You Are Not an Underdog

We live in a world full of Goliaths. But we need to remember two things. First, that giants are not always what they same. And second, that someone with nimble feet and the best technology who is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, is not an underdog.

(For more on Gladwell’s book, and to see the video of the TED talk he recently have on it, see my post on his new book.)

This is part of the series Catalyst 2013.

This was a fantastic message by Any Stanley to kick off Catalyst today. Here are my notes.

The theme of Catalyst this year is Known. So Andy Stanley’s message is: Known Survivor: Surviving Your Appetite for Known.

Now with social media we know that everyone, including your grandmother, has an appetite to be known.

One thing about an appetite is that if you feed it, it grows; and, it is never fully satisfied.

The Desire to be Known

You have in you an appetite to be known

You will never hear “I have enough friends, followers and mentions; my church is large enough; we don’t want any more campuses; I’ve sold enough books.”

If you get this wrong, it will make you weird! Sometimes the appetite can get so big it tips you over.

How do you survive your appetite for known?

It’s not from numbers. There is no amount of known that will satisfy your appetite to be known.

Almost titled the message “How Known is Known Enough?”

“Some of you are saying ‘I don’t struggle with this, but I’m sure glad my senior pastor is here to hear this.'”

But it’s in all of us to want to be known.

Even when you’re preaching, you can be thinking at the same time “Is she texting or taking notes? Does she have an emergency or does she just not like my message?”

You can’t help this. So what do you do with it?

Especially since there is no amount of “known” that will fully satisfy anyone.

The Laws of Applause

Part of this is the because of the “Laws of Appluase.” (“I just made this up.”)

1. What’s applauded as exceptional the first time will be expected the next time.

Exceptional becomes expectional.

A lot of leaders get derailed right here.

2. Applause is intoxicating.

Those most applauded for feel most entitled to.

“I’m just not sure about senior pastors having reservied parking spots.” [Amen!!!] This is an entitlement. And the worst thing about a reserved parking spot is that it’s a public entitlement.

You don’t have to give in to this!

Haven’t you seen this wreck people’s careers? Wreck people’s churches?

3. Applause is addictive

If you get it once, you want it again. You can start looking for it, manufacturing it.

It is here that you can become a victim of “known.”

Known and the Challenge of Leadership

Here is the real challenge for Catalyst leaders: To lead, you must be known. So the solution can’t be “I’m going to become a hermit and stop leading.” As a leader, you’ve actually been called to be known. You’ve been called out into the spotlight. God wants you to use your skills, be published, have churches use your curriculum, and have your church grow. To lead means you have to be known.

The question is: How do we keep it from ruining us? How do you avoid becoming a victim of hte laws of applause.

The good news is that we aren’t the first generation to deal with this.

So let’s look at John the Baptist.

Surviving Your Appetite for Being Known

There is an amazing statement John the Baptist makes that gives us a clue about how to survive being known.

Mark tells us that thousands of people came to hear John the Baptist, potentially tens of thousands. And it was not an easy place to get to where he preached. Suddenly he went from obscurity to everyone in the region hearing him speak or on their way. He is a phenomenon. He is known.

The word gets back to Jerusalem. So the Pharisees send some folks and people ask “are you the Messiah?” And he says no, and not the prophet either. So they say “who are you?” And he quotes from Isaiah “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘make straight the way for the Lord.'” In other words, “I’m just a sign.”

Then the next day Jesus comes, and John says: “Look.”

The next day John saw Jesus passing by again, and he said “Look.” Then John lost two followers–they followed Jesus. Things are starting to decline, right?…

Some came to John and said “Rabbi, that man [Jesus], the one you testified about, he is baptizing.” As if to say, “What is he doing? You’re the baptizer. This is your deal. What’s he thinking? He’s stealing your show. And he’s even going multi-site, because he’s got his disciples baptizing too. And everyone is going to him.”

The statement John makes here is huge. He says: “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.” John would say to them, and say to us, is: “The reason I’m known; the reason for the crowds, is because God has given me this opportunity for this time. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Relax. It wasn’t me who made me known, and I’m not known for the sake of being known. God had a purpose in it, it wasn’t my idea, and now my time is up.”

Note the “only”! Heaven decides all things.

John survived extraordinary “knownness” because he understood what is often a cliche with us: “I am known in order to make him known.” The moment you focus on the amount of known, your history. You are known to make him known.

Surviving known, then, is this: Remember who it’s _from_, and remember who it’s _for_.

A great word from Andy about his dad, Charles Stanely: “One thing I’ve never seen in my dad is arrogance. He’s 81 and doing book tours right now! He’s always been known. And I’ve never seen him arrogant.” When people would ask him why not, he would say “because I know that God could cut it off in a minute.”

Your appetite for known will never be satisfied by a number. Only a name. A _who_, not a _how_ or a _how many_.

There is no number of friends, followers, fans, campuss, books sold, songs sold that can satisfy you. John the Baptist got it right: it’s a name, a who, not a how many.

The solution is to live for an audience of One.

Andy then gives a great story of the time he preached for the president, and received a personal, hand written thank you.

So, what if Jesus was telling the truth in all his parables, and in all his teaching, like the parable of the talents, and there is a moment when we open the envelop at the end of days, and open an envelop from Jesus saying “well done. You don’t let ‘known’ screw you uo. You never forgot who it was from or who it was for.” Shouldn’t this fuel inject, energize everything we do in ministry and life?

So: preach hard, work hard, go multi-site, publish, lead extraordinary worship, and do everything in your power to leverage your talent, and continue to always remember who it is from and who it is for. Never forgot that it’s from the one who _knew you first_ and knows you _best_, and has given you a stewardship of knownness for the sake of making him known.