Catalyst Pondering
Along with the majority of the Christian universe, I am at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta this week. This will be my 9th time to attend Catalyst – that just seems ridiculous. Ridiculous because when I starting coming to this conference for “next generation leaders” I actually was a “next generation” leader. The startling reality that I can’t quite come to grips with is that I’m really not a young leader or a next gen leader anymore, I’m a now generation leader.
And if I’m a “now generation” leader, am I really doing all that I can do to lead well? Am I assuming the responsibilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to me? Am I embrace my role and influence for the furtherance of His kingdom and His plans?
Am I still too caught up in learning from the elite and making all the “right” connections, that I’m missing the moments of leadership right around me?
Do I understand my calling, or rather… God’s calling on my life?
Am I embracing that passionately or do I still see myself as that young punk kid wannabe leader?
Leadership, like most of life, is a journey. I’m beginning to discover that I won’t one day wake up a great leader. I just have to lead in the moments and opportunities that I have.
I won’t know it all or have it all figured out. In fact, it’s probably better that I don’t assume that I have it all together.
I just need to lead and do the things that God has placed upon my heart, the passions He’s burning within me and do that with the humility and grace that comes with knowing that my life is not my own.
That’s what Catalyst has me pondering already this week.
Are you attending Catalyst? How is it challenging your thinking?
The slow increase in the average age of attendees at everything from Christian conferences to Christian music festivals is a kind of microcosm of what happens in local churches, with Willow Creek being a good example. You can either lament that process, or try to find ways to keep the events and church services relevant to the true next generation.