Jonathan Herron

Fear Nothing

“Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of God on earth.” - John Wesley

Acts 29 Church Planting Bootcamp

Excited to be heading to Vintage 21 (the guys who made the hilarious & infamous Jesus Videos) in Raleigh, NC this Sep 19-21 for the next Acts 29 Bootcamp as an assessor for potential church planters.  Incredible speaking line-up (seriously): Mark Driscoll, Dr. Ed Stetzer, Chan Kilgore, Scott Thomas, Daniel Montgomery, Jason Roberts...  not to miss.  If you're headed there, let's connect up for coffee.

Picnic

I love our Core Team at Catalyst - they work hard every week creating an experience of undistracting excellence at The Kent Stage, sacrifice their wealth for the vision, and pour out their talents like nobody's business.  Some of the team got together Monday evening for a picnic in Kent.  Pix courtesy of Chaz Ridley Awesome Quest Productions, Ltd.

Picnic

I love our Core Team at Catalyst - they work hard every week during our Sunday Experience at The Kent Stage, sacrifice their wealth for the vision, and pour out their talents like nobody's business.  Some of the team got together tonight for a picnic  - doing life together.  These pix are Copyright 2007, Chaz Ridley Productions, Ltd.

A Late Summer Day

 

I can't believe the Little Man is almost a year old!  Emily Powers took these late summer pix last night - there's TONS more on her blog.  And yes, she and her sister do travel for photo shoots, so hurry up and request their services!

>>>WeekendRewind

BACK:  ...from Colorado.  Fun time had by all.  Amber has blogged pix of our adventures.  And Josiah now growls at everything that moves.  Love that kid.

JOY:  I'm very excited about our new Family Environments Head Honcho - Joy Trachsel.  She blogs about why she drank the Catalyst Kool-Aid.

LOVE WINS:  The summer message series wraps up this Sunday with 3 John (because all good series are trilogies).  Final message's title?  "Don't Be A Jerk."
Next Sunday we tackle a stand-alone Bon Jovi topic: Livin' On A Prayer (Ezra 8). 
And then we celebrate Catalyst's 1st birthday in 2 weeks by kicking off a fresh new mega-series on Exodus.  Can't wait.

CHURCH PLANT TV:  This is stinkin' cool - a church plant in Utah was offered a timeslot on television if it reached the 20-something demographic.  Now they're making it happen.

Vacation

I used to make fun of people who announced on their blogs that they were going away on vacation and shutting off the comments while away. 

Now I am becoming one of those people.

I'm outta here for a week with my family in Colorado.  The cellphone and Mac are staying in Ohio.

Seacrest Out.

Introducing...

About 2 months ago I asked for prayers concerning 3 big things at Catalyst:
1)  More space for children's ministries
2)  Family Environments person (as Marilyn Schuck transitions out of leading Catalyst KIDS)
3)  Lead Worship person

2 out of 3 prayers have now been answered!  You all know about the125project, now meet our new Family Environments person...

Joy Trachsel drank the Catalyst Kool-Aid and is transitioning into the Families position at Catalyst after Labor Day!   This is a HUGE answer to prayers.

Joy brings a fresh spirit of creativity and a wealth of experience to the table.  She's worked very closely in ministry with Marilyn and myself in the past, which makes this a huge win in terms of a smooth transition.  I love Joy and her family very much and am personally excited to hang out with her again (she has a tremendous sense of humor!).

Please pray for the entire Trachsel clan as they transition into making Catalyst their home church.  And keep praying for #3 on our list above...

300

I finally rented the movie '300' to understand what all the raving was about.  I was not disappointed.

Persian officer:
"Spartans, lay down your weapons!"
King Leonidas:
"Persians! Come and get them!"

From a historical point of view, it was fantastic.  I'm a visual-learner, so seeing an artist's rendition of Xerxes (yes, that warrior-king whom Esther slept with in the Hebrew Testament) was awesome.  Bald, piercings everywhere, fierce.  A great antihero for the slave-powered antikingdom.

Narratively, '300' excels in its obvious Christology and masculine spirituality.  King Leonidas personifies the fearless leader every man desires to rally behind.  That he honors his wife so deeply ("My Queen, my life, my love") is a powerful example for all men.

I highly recommend the film - even the ubiquitous sex scene has redemptive qualities in that it honors the marriage bed and actually points to a biblical view of sexuality. 

I am most interested in re-viewing '300' in light of Ed Marcelle's blog posting of the Eye-Patch Guy, Dilios:

He is also the narrative device for the story. His is the first and last voice. He is sent home from the final and sacrificial battle against Persia to go to his kinsmen and tell the story of Leonidas. He is chosen by His King because of a recognized skill. He is the preacher of the king. And he does his job well. His narrative is not about himself. There is no “www.dilios.com” that accompanies his speaking engagements. The message crescendos several times to a focus on Leonidas...

2 Quick Links

1)  Catalyst's site has been revamped for our Fall 2007 ministry season.  Go enjoy.

2)  There's a Virtual Baby Shower happening for a very deserving young lady at an army base in Washington State.  She & her husband are sacrificing a LOT to serve our country and they could use your help.  Amber has the details.