Jonathan Herron

links//updated

Purged some old links, added new ones under Leadership Blogs - go check 'em out.

Politics & the Church

So Amber & I were at a coffee shop yesterday meeting with 2 college girls who had questions about Catalyst. 

Of course, one of the top 3 questions was: "What is Catalyst's political stance?" To which I quickly answered, "We are apolitical."  To which they almost jumped up and down with excitement - hey, we're only taking the stance that Jesus Himself took!

For what it's worth, Jesus Creed has a great blog post on why the Church must remain so.  My favorite quote:

“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses.
“When it conquers the world, it becomes the world.
When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”

Courage

"When we turn our hearts toward God,
all of our fears are consumed by One fear.
We are called to fear only God.
What we fear is what we're subject to;
our fears define our Master." - Erwin McManus

think BIG: Courage - 1 Samuel 17 & Ephesians 4.20-5.33 on iTunes or via Catalyst.

* Crazy side-note - we grew +30 iTunes subscribers since last Sunday - 140 subscribers now listen in each week!

Tonight @ Catalyst

Two things: 

1)  This marks the 500th post on this TypePad blog - woo hoo & all that jazz.

2)  I've completely scrapped tonight's talk on Ephesians 4.  This morning & afternoon I've spent a lot of time thinking through and penning down what God is teaching me right now as a leader that coincides with an area our launch team as a whole needs to work through. 

All of it revolves around Biblical courage.  So we'll be in 1 Samuel 17 and Ephesians 4.20-5.33 tonight.  And talking about this guy (yes, this is an actual photo I snapped last summer while on safari in the wilds of Africa): 

Do Blogs Negate Conferences?

It seems like there's a conference for everything regarding Christian leadership these days.  A friend of mine tracks 'em, these guys seemingly have a different one every month, and these guys inaugurated new ones recently. 

Here's the honest, respectful question I submit:  Do Blogs Negate the Need for Conferences?

Think about it.  If the reasons for having ministry conferences are to:

- Exchange Ideas

- Network with other Christian leaders & peers

- Unplug from your current surroundings

- Even have free give-aways

...don't blogs now accomplish these reasons?

I'm interested in your thoughts - I'm not critiquing any of these guys or conferences that I respect, just wondering out loud...

Patience

"Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living.  Wait patiently for the Lord.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes, wait patiently for the Lord."  - Psalm 27:13-14

::: Adoption News :::

Please be praying - just got off the phone w/A Child's Waiting with a potential infant match - a healthy baby boy born July 9th in this area.  Our letter to the birth parents along with our adoption profile are being FedExed overnight as I type...

And yes, we are planting a church at the same time...  we're suckers for emotional roller-coasters!

Gravity

Wow - this amazing, free Vodcast of Matt Chandler from The Resurgence made me laugh out loud and cry.  It really speaks to things I'm wrestling with right now as a leader.  Watch it.

Version 2.0

Version 2.0 of www.jonathanherron.com is finished - the main page now whisks you to one of 3 sites including a recently added Speaker page (this way our people @ Catalyst know where I am!).  Also tweaked the main blog a bit.  Enjoy.

Acts 29 | Orlando 2006 Audio

The mp3's from Orlando 2006 are now online for free. 

Highly recommend Driscoll's Reverse-Engineering Your Life (Amber keeps referencing it).