Catalyst West Coast is less than 6 months away (April 21-23)!  Yesterday we hosted our first creative meeting for Catalyst West 2010 at Mariners Church; Brad Lomenick and Jeff Shinabarger flew out from Atlanta to join a host of southern California leaders (plus a special guest from Las Vegas, Mr. Jud Wilhite!).  We had a blast... 

Our theme for Catalyst West 2010 is Unusual Tomorrow - What's now?  What's next?  Imagine the future.  Envision what lies ahead.  One of the many fun questions we navigated during the afternoon was, "If you were thinking outside of the box, with NO BOUNDARIES, what is a creative experience that could best be described as "unusual?"  The responses were fantastic, ridiculous, hilarious, inspiring, and a host of other wild descriptions...what would you say?

Here's your chance to join our creative process!  We would love to get your thoughts...how would you answer, "What is one creative experience that you could imagine for Catalyst West Coast 2010 that would best be described as unusual?"

Here are some pictures from out time together...

Catalyst West Coast Creative Meeting

Would love to hear your thoughts - what's your most creative idea for an unusal experience at Catalyst West 2010?

Over the last month, Margaret Feinberg has been busy organizing a month-long, 100-stop blog tour to celebrate the launch of Scouting the Divine: My Search for God in Wine, Wool, & Wild Honey. She traveled to spend time with a shepherd in Portland, a farmer in Nebraska, a beekeeper in Colorado and vintner in California. With each person, Margaret asked how they read passages of scripture’not as theologians’ but in light of what they did everyday. Their answers changed the way she reads scripture forever.

Here are some of the bloggers taking part in the blog tour Mark Batterson, Jon Acuff, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, Cathleen Falsani, God Hungry, Tri Robinson, Eric Bryant, Amena Brown, Zach Hunter, Skye Jethani, Jonathan Merritt, Leonard Sweet, Rick McKinley, Luke Williams, Travis Mamone, Keith Jones, Building Church Leaders, Out of Ur, Rethink Monthly, Murph’s Place, Micah Foster, Troy Dooly, Luke Williams, Soul Munchies, Bag of Nothing,Bible Dude, Janet Oberholtzer, Kristina Petrella, Sharon Swing, ReadHearSeeFeel, Felicity White, Sarah Turnage, Tara Owens, Mike Foster, Rick Ellis, Justin Gerhardt, Leah Holamon, Flourish, and many more.

You’re invited to  join in the fun! All you need to do is select a date this month to post a review, excerpt, interview, or colorful anecdote about Scouting the Divine: My Search for God in Wine, Wool, & Wild Honey! We can provide cover art, colorful photos of Margaret nuzzling sheep (who are covered with poo!) Yum. Yum

If you’re up for joining in:

1) Pick a date in November!

2) Pick up a copy of Scouting the Divine online or request it at your local retail store, if you didn’t already get a copy at Catalyst!

3)  Comment on this post at www.margaretfeinberg.com and mention your blog/blog address so it can be featured on the new (yes new!) www.margaretfeinberg.com! If you want any artwork or colorful photos of Margaret nuzzling sheep (who are covered with poo!), include the request in the post!

Thanks for joining in the tour and reintroducing people to the wonder of God’s Word! Margaret’s hope and prayer is that through the process of reading Scouting the Divine, you’ll once again find yourself deeper in love with God and the Scriptures! The six-week DVD study will release January 1!

UPDATE: We've chosen a winner! #216, Jason Rogers, @indescribable13. Thanks everyone for playing!

If you missed Catalyst, you can still experience it w/ CDs from Catalyst or the Experience Kit which includes the CDs, DVDs, LABS, FILTER & several other resources.

Today we're giving away a Catalyst 2009 CD Set for FREE.

Here's how to enter the contest:

1. tweet this phrase: WIN a Catalyst 09 CD Set at 4PM(EST) today! Comment here http://bit.ly/pl1GO & RT (via @CatalystLeader)

2. Comment below (on this blog post, not on Facebook) with your twitter name & - just for fun - your favorite song right now.

3. At 4pm EST today (Wed, Nov 4) I will choose a random comment below (using random.org) to win the CD Set!

Good Luck!

Ron Edmondson is a wise leader, and Co-Pastor of Grace Community Church in Clarksville, TN.

He's always got great leadership content on his blog, so definitely check that out: RonEdmondson.com.

This week he shared 10 Lessons it Took Me Years to Understand.

Here are 7, go here to read the rest!

1. If you have to impress the friend, he or she isn’t much of a friend.
2. “Just once” probably is a bigger deal than led to believe.
3. The sooner you decide to get your life headed in the right direction the more time you have to enjoy it.
4. There are few shortcuts to success.
5. Hard times come naturally in life…determine early to use them for God’s glory and to help others.
6. Kids grow up too fast. Enjoy them at each stage.
7. There is wisdom with age. Always be willing to learn from those who have lived and experienced more of life.

Seriously, you should follow this guy, he's a wise dude. @RonEdmondson

Last week Brad Lomenick and I were able to spend a couple of days in Chicago to cheer on and support Ben Arment and the first ever Story Conference.  I was honestly bummed I didn't get a chance to experience the Cultivate Conference the day before; I heard nothing but great reviews; well done Tim Schraeder, Dawn Nicole Baldwin, and the many leaders that worked so hard to offer such an interactive connection opportunity for ministry leaders.  Make sure to check out Cultivate - all proceeds go to benefit the Center for Church Communications and Blood:Water Mission.  Definitely worth your time...

Ben Arment and his team of leaders did a great job with Story 2009.  it was fun to see Ben in his sweet spot creating, leading, and facilitating opportunities for leaders to experience a fresh glimpse of the greatest Story ever told...a Story still unfolding.  Can't wait to see what Ben and his team have up their sleeve next!

Here are some links to pictures from both the Cultivate Conference AND the Story Conference.  Thanks again to everyone for offering their gifts and talents on behalf of those in ministry that have been refreshed and encouraged!

Cultivate Pictures
TwitPics
Tweetstream from Cultivate

Pictures from STORY
Joshua White
Story Chicago Flickr Stream
Tweetstream from STORY

NOTE:  If you have other links or posts that provide even more pictures, content, or summaries please don't hesitate to link to them in our comments.  I know others would LOVE to check them out...thanks!