Jonathan Herron

Youth Retreat Speaker

Spent some time the other day praying over the phone with Greg Foote, one of the organizers of this weekend's District-wide Youth Retreat for the Evangelical Free Church of America.  Excited to spend time with hundreds of teens plus my family at a massive indoor sports complex in Pennsylvania.  Also gives my two-year-old, Josiah, an opportunity to expend some energy and mix it up indoors in the midst of this snowstorm!

I love speaking for new groups of teens - sharpens me as a speaker and God always has much to teach me.  On top of the 3 main sessions, I'm also leading a late-night improv comedy event on Friday night.  Greg thinks that Josiah will become the retreat "mascot" among the teens - love it!

Church at the Movies Preview

Here's the digital video preview of our move to Regal Cinemas this Sunday - enjoy!



Church at the Movies from Jonathan Herron on Vimeo.

Catalyst Offices

Lots happening at the Catalyst Offices this week.  Tons of emails, phone calls, connections being made.  I took a break and snapped these pix of the band trying out the new drum set:
 
I think Matt is getting overwhelmed by all the phone calls.  But he was happy when he spotted our Facebook presence online:

10,000

"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?"
- Paul in Romans 10.14 (ESV)

10,000 invitations to Catalyst at Regal Cinemas were sent out this morning.
10,000 opportunities for fresh life-change to occur.
10,000 prayers to be prayed.

Thank you, Catalyst, for your faithful giving that enabled these personal invitations to hit mailboxes this week!

* How People Change: The Big Picture

Previously:
Change is a Community Project
How People Change
Counterfeit Hopes
Here's Where God is Taking You
Married to Christ

Israel experiences hardship while following God:

"And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes..." - Numbers 11.1

If we are honest, we would have to admit that in times of trouble, more complaint comes out of our mouths than praise.

The story of Numbers is our story as well. 
Complaint and blame continues: Num 11.4-6, 10-15; 12.1; 13.26-29; 14.1-14).  The authors draw parallels to how we as Christ-followers respond to our hardships in life.

"We face hard things and we complain...   Before long, our complaining becomes an assessment of blame.  Then the blaming goes vertical as it questions God's wisdom and goodness."

Very true.  The solution found in 1 Corinthians 10 is the Cross. 
"Christ sustains me so that I can live with Him and for Him even when I struggle.  His grace not only forgives, it enables and delivers.  It endows me with wisdom, character, and strength...   In Christ, you have been given more than your heart will ever grasp!"

Scripture makes it clear that our responses to trials are not forced upon us by the pressures of the situation.  What I do comes from inside me.  It's under pressure that a man's true character is revealed.  Is it Christ that emerges from my heart or someone/something else?

Closing Time

"So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend.
Closing time,
every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

The band this morning played us out to part of the song Closing Time.  God has been exceedingly gracious to our church start-up during this season at The Kent Stage.  Today we worshiped there one last time - so many memories. 

Catalyst has gone from our living room to a traditional church building to the Stage... and now we look ahead to Regal Cinemas - a new season of ministry and opportunity awaits!

Driscoll on Nightline

ABC News covered Mark Driscoll last night - link to story:

"Jesus is typically portrayed as very effeminate guy, kind of long, flowing hair wearing a dress, always smiling, [making] pithy Zen statements that read like fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant," he said. "And the truth is that he was a construction worker. He was very controversial and got murdered."

* UPDATE on 01/28/09: Nightline's piece aired last night.  Although ABC News did push a provocative story angle subject (sex), Mark did a great job of trying to re-focus everything on Jesus Christ.  Video is on the Nightline site.

New Site is Live

Kudos to Jerry Brownell for completely recoding and relaunching our Catalyst website.  Jerry is a senior Kent State graphic design major earning internship hours through his volunteer work at Catalyst this semester.  Great guy to work with!

While we loved our previous site, it was hard for visitors to navigate.  Our web presence is our church's front door; we want potential guests to find what they want as quickly as possible...

Oaf of Office

We've all been there.
You're under pressure to
perform for your boss.
Playing it cool.  No sweat.
And then you blow it.

This week, it was the Chief Justice flubbing the Oath of Office for President Obama's inauguration.
D'oh!
But it's the type of performance-failure we all experience at some time in life, right?

So isn't it reassuring that your performance isn't under the microscope when it comes to God?  There's tremendous freedom in understanding that God loves you - accepts you - regardless of your flubs and failures.

"For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God." - Jesus of Nazareth in John 16.27

Just call me that Youth Retreat Speaker/Wedding Officiant/Pastor Guy

I was sharing with a friend over breakfast on Tuesday about the jam-packed busy season I'm entering with changes at Catalyst and speaking engagements:

• Officiating a wedding this Friday...
• ...in Columbus
• Tuesday nights I'm now leading Financial Peace University at the Catalyst Offices
  
• I'm the youth retreat speaker for an Evangelical Free district event next Fri-Sat in Pennsylvania
• Next Sunday, Feb 1st, we're moving Catalyst to Regal Cinemas 
• ...also launching our new series that weekend, Reverse Engineer Your Life
• ...and inviting 10,000 area households to our February teaching series
• The following weekend I'll be speaking to hundreds of middle school students at Camp Orchard Hill's Winter Blast event in Dallas
• Wednesday evenings I'm leading our HomeGroup through Vintage Jesus
• The final Sunday of February I'll be speaking at Fellowship Bible Church's worship services in Chagrin Falls

Whew!  And that's just February...