Jonathan Herron

Embracing Change

Change is hard. 
Especially within churches. 

Sacred cows are beloved in church cultures. 

But I believe change is necessary for growth.  Instead of becoming museums of the past, we have to pour new wine into new wineskins as a movement forging the future. 

At CATALYST, we never want to put man-made traditions over Jesus and His movement.  We believe that sacred cows make great burgers!  I'm excited about some new changes coming down the pike.

I was talking with our new Lead Worshiper, Jason Bonham, today - -
he's absolutely stoked about joining CATALYST starting March 2nd.  He was telling me about some upcoming gigs he has at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston and Alive Festival in Ohio.  I love that he's devoted to musical artistry and strong, authentic worship.

To help make this a smooth transition, we've asked Chas Ridley to become Jason's right-hand man and head up all the technical arts involved with the worship environment of CATALYST.  Chas has been with CATALYST since Day One.  Chas is both a hilarious and humble man who is absolutely sold out to the vision of our church plant and has an eye for undistracting excellence.  I'm thrilled to have him on the team.

Lots of change and transition at CATALYST...
part of forging the future in faith!

Unleash

For what it's worth, I know a number of church planters and ministry leaders follow the caffeinated journey on this blog.  If I could suggest just one ministry conference to attend in 2008 from among the multitudes (outside of the Acts 29 Bootcamps), it would hands-down be Unleash.  Why?

- One day: It's tough to take volunteers to a multi-day conference.  NewSpring does it all in one.

- Free food. Enough said.

- See scenic Anderson, SC.

- Heart.  These guys are definitely smoking what they're selling.  It's all about sharing what God's teaching them and doing in their midst!

Get more info over on the Unleash Conference website.  And tell 'em Jonathan sent ya...

After the Red Sea parted, a million+ people of God were high as a kite, celebrating and partying like it's 1999 B.C.

And they lived happily ever after. 
For about a day.

3 days later, the Israelites freak out on Moses.

They go from being passionate God-worshipers to totally-bummed, anxious worriers.

Sure, it's easy to worship God in the good times... but what about after the "high" is over?

Join us this Sunday as we tackle EXODUS 15 and 16.

CATALYST, 10:30am, The Kent Stage.
Live band.  Totally relaxed atmosphere. 
And a wicked sense of humor.
CATALYST KIDS, 10:30am, the125.

BECOME A FAN on the NEW CATALYST Facebook PAGE...

Loopy Thoughts after Back Surgery

Yes, I am alive.  The pic to the left is of Josiah, who has taken it upon himself to "entertain" his invalid daddy with his plastic giraffes, Leopold and Mrs. King.

Thanks for your prayers - - we'll know if this back surgery was successful or not in 6 weeks.  Right now I'm on pain-killers... my mind is loopy and I have random thoughts rushing through my head at 110 miles an hour:

- These ads always creeped me out.  Glad they're gone.

- LOST returns this week!  Ken Wilson reminds us where the saga left off...

- Brilliant quote:  "Trying to keep people out of church will always win us more publicity than trying to invite people in to church."  Sad but true.

- Hey Catalyst Road Trip: Come visit CATALYST.  We're like freaky cousins, or something.  And we have the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in our backyard.

- Perry Noble gave me a phone call last week to see what's up at CATALYST - the man is such an encouragement in my life.  I told him that this post particularly fueled my fire!

- Last but not least, I'm a little bored here lying on my stomach.  Drugs make it hard to read and focus.  Do you have a suggestion for how to use my loopy-minded time in recovery?  Leave a comment...

Craziness

9:15am:  I'm in the middle of Theology Lab when Dave the Lights Guy pops in saying something's happened in the Stage.  Lo and behold, a major water pipe busted and gallons of water were pouring into the sound & lights booth. 

I stick my head into the back alley and see this:

Yes, that is water flowing out of the 80-year-old solid brick building of The Kent Stage!  We had to caution-tape off a whole section of seating due to flooding.

Long story short, it was a crazy Sunday morning at CATALYST.  Our tech crew and band pulled things together at the last minute.  We had to go acoustic and a Kent fireman was randomly wandering around the Stage throughout the message. 

You can hear some of the craziness in this week's podcast (EXODUS study notes are here).

Tomorrow I'm having surgery on my back.  Prayers appreciated.  If this week's smattering of blog posts are a little loopy, it's the vicodin talking.

Spurgeon

“Many hearers lose much blessing through criticizing too much, and meditating too little; and many more incur great sin by calumniating those who live for the good of others. True pastors have enough of care and travail without being burdened by undeserved and useless fault-finding. We have something better to do than to be for ever answering every malignant or frivolous slander which is set afloat to injure us….there are tender, loving spirits who feel the trial very keenly, and are sadly hindered in brave service by cruel assaults. The rougher and stronger among us laugh at those who ridicule us, but upon others the effect is very sorrowful…

As ministers we are very far from being perfect, but many of us are doing our best, and we are grieved that the minds of our people should be more directed to our personal imperfections than to our divine message….

Filled with the same spirit of contrariety, the men of this world still depreciate the ministers whom God sends them and profess that they would gladly listen if different preachers could be found. Nothing can please them, their cavils are dealt out with heedless universality. Cephas is too blunt, Apollos is too flowery, Paul is too argumentative, Timothy is too young, James is too severe, John is too gentle…

Well then, let each servant of God tell his message in his own way. To his own Master he shall stand or fall…

Judge the preacher if you like, but do remember that there is something better to be done than that, namely, to get all the good you can out of him, and pray his Master to put more good into him.”

- from Eccentric Preachers by C.H. Spurgeon via Mark Driscoll

EXODUS 2.0

After a break for our Christmas series and 2008 Vision-casting at CATALYST, this weekend we return to the great epic of EXODUS.  We'll be hitting the themes of redemption and bold faith found in Exodus 12.33 - 14.31.

Love this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr:

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.“

Facebook has more info on Sunday's Theology Lab at 9am and CATALYST at 10:30am. 

And yes, we'll be tackling the most famous miracle of Moses' journey.  If Google Earth had existed back then, satellites might have captured this picture:

Defining the Win

People new to CATALYST sometimes ask me, "How do you know if this church plant is making a difference?  What is the win?" 

My reply? 

Seeing people receive Christ and be baptized. 
That's how we know God is in this.

The past 2 Sundays, we've seen lots of wins...


That last picture is the sermon. 

It is the Gospel: Jesus' message of reconciliation, hope, adoption, love, healing, radical acceptance, salvation... uncensored grace.

Sunday's podcast // What If? Study Notes
Baptism video-highlights coming to CATALYST YouTube soon...

Back Surgery

For the second time in 7 months, I will be having surgery on my back on Monday, Jan 28th.  As this impacts my schedule, blogging may become sporadic for a while and my response time in returning emails to people outside of CATALYST may slow.  Prayers appreciated!

Introducing Jason Bonham

In my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined God bringing to CATALYST a new Lead Worshiper who is on the cusp of national prominence.

Ephesians 3.20, baby.

After 8 months of searching, this morning at CATALYST, we announced that Jason Bonham will officially be joining the team on March 2nd (although don't be surprised if he pops in before then to say 'hey!').

Jason brings not only a professional skill-set honed from studying under guys like Ryan Wilkins, but also a transparent and humble heart that absolutely blows me away.

Take some time to become acquainted with Jason's music via MySpace and Virb... or grab his album off iTunes.

Please pray for Jason as he moves to Ohio from Massachusetts and pray for our band during this transition time...