On Tuesday afternoon I am headed to Atlanta for Catalyst ’09.
I can not wait. This will be my first “full” Catalyst experience (I attended the One Day this Spring) and I can’t wait to soak it in.
The Catalyst Conference is the largest gathering of young leaders in the country, but it pains us to call it just a conference. Catalyst is more than just a three-day event – it’s a movement, a convergence, an experience where you find yourself fully immersed in learning, worship, and creativity. Catalyst brings people together – the influencers, the do-ers, the cultural architects, and the change agents who will reclaim our communities and culture for good.
Catalyst has been described many ways but once you’ve experienced it, you’ll call it what we call it – pure leadership adrenaline.
Here are a just a handful of the things I am excited about:
1. Spending a few days away with friends and colleagues. We have about ten folks from Thomas Nelson attending and the entire CrossPoint Church staff will be there not to mention other fun friends that I don’t get to see enough like Megan Miller and Jessica Esch.
2. Interacting “in real life” with people I’ve gotten to know through Twitter, Facebook, and blogging. I am attending the ChurchCrunch Anniversary Party and Blogger’s Meetup that Brad Ruggles organized. I am looking forward to meeting people I follow online, I just I hope that I am not super awkward.
3. Learning leadership from the best. The speaker line-up this year is phenomenal, seriously phenomenal. Malcolm Gladwell, Tony Dungy, Francis Chan, Andy Stanley and so many others.
4. Digging deeper at Wednesday’s Lab tracks with speakers like Nancy Ortberg, Mark Batterson, Jon Acuff, Anne Jackson, Carlos Whitaker, and Ion Cron.
5. And most importantly, worshiping with 10,000+ new friends.
Are you headed to Catalyst ’09? If so, what are you excited about?
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