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The Medium is the Message

June 03, 2008

If you don't listen to the Catalyst Podcast, you should. After you listen to our podcast, you should also listen to the Fermi Project podcast.

Recently Gabe Lyons interviewed Shane Hipps. This guy is a very forward thinker and makes some very compelling arguments about how "the medium is the message" and "you become what you behold." His was one of the most interesting talks at the Q conference. His book, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, has become a well-acclaimed favorite of Christians in the know.

Check-out that interview

Posted by Catalyst Admin at 06:18 AM • Permalink •

Big Day For Catalyst - Time To Welcome Ben Arment!

June 02, 2008

Ok, so here's the deal. It's true, it has always been true, and will probably remain true unless the cosmos intervenes and radically shifts the Mars vs. Venus dynamic - women are more thoughtful and caring than men. Case in point? Ben Arment's office. What did the men do to Ben's office? We packed it full of junk and allowed it to become a dirty, red-neck storage room. What did the women (uh, Melissa Kruse) do to Ben's office? Yeah, she cleaned it up. Ben, it's all Chad's fault!

Check out the "before" picture of Ben's office (taken from Ben's blog) and the "in process" picture taken this morning. Later this week Ben is going to post an "after" picture on his blog. Ben, we are glad you're here! (and glad that you're office no longer resembles the Catlayst Vanagon! :))

before, in process, & after...

Upcoming Road Trip dates and itineraries coming soon... stay tuned!

LV Hanson
on behalf of the pathetically messy guys of the Catalyst Team who could not survive without the persevering love, patience, and grace of our fantastic Catalyst Queens led by Melissa Kruse

AND, help me wish our director, Brad Lomenick, and faithful Catalyst Concierge, Dwayne Melton, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! If you can make it over to the Catalyst Office this afternoon feel free to stop by and enjoy some birthday cake with us! (birthday cakes provided by melissabakescakes.com - not an official website yet, but it should be!)

Posted by Catalyst Roadtrip at 08:16 AM • Permalink •

Pursuing the Ethic of Jesus

Evangelicals across the nation are shifting their political foci. A recent article from the New York Times talks about younger Evangelicals retreating from politically polarizing issues that have helped brand Evangelicals as ignorant and hateful. Furthermore, they are seeking to more fully embrace the issues that Jesus was strong on, but that many Evangelicals have been soft on: poverty, injustice, loving & engaging outsiders.

"They say they are tired of the culture wars. They say they do not want the test of their faith to be the fight against gay rights. They say they want to broaden the traditional evangelical anti-abortion agenda to include care for the poor, the environment, immigrants and people with H.I.V., according to experts on younger evangelicals and the young people themselves."

The article also highlights a reaction against this growing movement. The MO SBC is now reluctant to fund new church plants with more socially liberal leaning attitudes (like the one featured in the NYT article). Here's a VERY interesting quote:

"For Roger Moran, a lay Baptist leader in Missouri, being theologically conservative but culturally liberal could put evangelicals on the path to sin. To underscore that concern, the state convention will no longer finance start-ups of churches like the Journey."

This brings-up a very important question. Many pastors, including the venerable Craig Groeschel, seem to have embraced the philosophy "we'll do anything short of sin to get people saved." But does "being culturally liberal" put evangelicals on the path to sin? Please share your thoughts, this is a definitive question for Evangelicals.

Read the rest of the article!

Posted by Catalyst Admin at 07:40 AM • Permalink •

ONE PRAYER is Unifying the Church

June 01, 2008

ONE PRAYER is an initiative that was launched by Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.tv (well, probably, technically by several partnering churches too, but Craig's head is on the video).

The idea is simple: a bunch of churches are getting together to do a series called "One Prayer." It's a 4-week series on your "one prayer" for the Church. BUT you give the first message in the series, and for the remaining three messages (a-ha!), you use videos from other pastors (like Groeschel, Ed Young, Perry Noble, etc).

The cool thing about this is that it's helping promote unity between the various, independent, distributed pieces of the body. It's encouraging working together! They're even using the site to raise money to plant 500 churches overseas! Hotness!

They've already enlisted almost 1,000 churches, representing over 500,000 believers. That's powerful. Brings a tear to my eye. I'm so excited that there's a movement to help unite Christ's stereotypically divided Church and perhaps approach Christ's prayer that we would be one as He and the Father are one.

What does this mean for the Church? Do you think we're lacking unity? If so, what do you think OnePrayer will do for us?

Posted by Catalyst Admin at 12:56 PM • Permalink •

EXCITING NEWS! from our friends at ROOV.com

May 30, 2008

Check out this post from the Catalyst Blog highlighting some very, Very, VERY exciting news recently released from our good friends at ROOV.com. You may remember Chris Capehart and Micah Davis as former Vanagon Vagabonds... now check out what is happening with ROOV, THEY JUST LAUNCHED NATIONALLY!

"WEEKLY COMMENTARY:
Very excited about ROOV.com. It's a social networking site that works locally. It connects people in the same geographical area based on interests AND it gets people off the computer and into each others' FACE - as they hang-out and do fun stuff together. As social networking gains popularity, a few people have questioned whether this phenomenon is actually making us more isolated. I mean, we may have 300 friends now, but very, very little depth, and less human interaction. ROOV is a welcome remedy to that, using the internet to help you meet & connect in real life - facilitating conversations and experiences that have real depth and meaning." Go online to get offline...

What is ROOV.com?

Catalyst on Vimeo.

Chris and the ROOV team just released a pretty cool video highlighting ROOV - make sure to sign up at ROOV.com and find out how you can be a part of the ROOVment!

Catalyst on Vimeo.

Posted by Catalyst Roadtrip at 08:05 AM • Permalink •

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