Great Conference! Good Weekend

Well, we all made it back from the Catalyst Conference and it was great. I think all of us were challenged, encouraged and refreshed being around 10,000 others who want to help change the world through Jesus Christ one life at a time. Out of all of it I think my biggest take-a-ways are

1. I need to work more from my strengths and less
   on what I'm just not that good at
2. I can't be creative and innovative if I'm not having
   fun so I need to schedule play times
3. There are greater injustices in the world than what's
   happening in my little world, but I can help make a
   difference and I need to
4. The church and the Jesus we sometimes offer focuses too
   much on offering a "product" to the "consumer" than offering
   real long-term life-changing hope to those who need it
5. My behavior and beliefs don't always line up - (there are
   some non-believers I really don't care about even though
   I want to and say I do) That's not a good thing, but I'm
   sure Jesus can help change my heart now that I recognize
   the cold hard truth.

After we got back, we of course held a service on Sunday. I've got to say, I'm not sure what's going on. It seems like we're almost going backwards in numbers, but I'm encouraged by some of the life-change and transformational stories people tell me. Size isn't the only indicator of health, but it's still one of the indicators and I'd like to see us grow more by that measurement standard. The good part was that Sunday night, I got to go and help Dusty and CrossLink and lead music with Randy and Davey for our new band "Sugarloaf" (we just made up the name on the spot - kinda). I had a lot of fun and think everyone else did too. But sometimes I wonder what it's all for and wonder if all our effort and work is really making a difference at all. Only time will tell really.