Tuesday, July 7
Morning - Tim Harlow at Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, IL
Late Morning - Staff at Parkview Christian Church
Early Afternoon - Haydn Shaw from Franklin Covey
Evening - Tim Stevens & Kem Meyer at Granger Community Church in Granger, IN

I expected Chicago to be blazing hot this week, but it's been actually pretty mild...and I am NOT complaining!  Today began with a morning meeting at Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, IL with their lead pastor, Tim Harlow. 

Tim Harlow - Parkview Christian Church
I asked Pastor Tim several questions about the story of their church and what he has been learning as the leader of a 5,000 person church in south suburban Chicago, an area with strong Catholic traditions.  Check out this video with Tim in his office sharing more about what ministry is like in Chicago, questions of leadership development in light of a fast growth rate in their church, AND what Tim is learning right now...

Interview Highlight with Tim Harlow
LV - "How do you reconcile the exponential growth of the church with the lagging growth of developing leaders?  What do you do?"
Tim - "You must force yourself to develop leaders.  What is the cost to do this, what is the price?  You won't get everything done that you want to get done.  It's a foregone conclusion that your numbers growth will slow.  But they will eventually slow down regardless of whether or not you develop leaders.  Either you slow the pace intentioanlly and thereby build the potential for greater growth in the future, OR you watch your growth dry up because of a lack of leaders."

After my meeting with Tim I met with some of the Parkview staff and heard more about what is happening at Parkview and in the southern area of Chicago.  Rich Beil, Casey Tygrett, Sean Mixson, & Brian Hunt all took time to share about their roles at Parkview and what they are learning on the front line of ministry.  Picking up where Tim and I left off this group took the leadership development discussion a bit further and hit a question that I think is a healthy question to wrestle with as leaders, "Given how much this next generation is on the go, moving from one place to the next and slow to commit to anything, how do you raise up leaders without pressuring them and expecting them to stay on your team?"  We didn't answer this question, but it was a great conversation and one that will most likely stir even more questions before any solid answer is nailed down...and those are the questions that are fun to process.

I will take time tomorrow to share more about the afternoon with Haydn Shaw, Sr. Consultant with Fanfklin Covey, AND a VERY fun dinner with Tim Stevens and Kem Meyer from Granger Community Church in Granger, IN.  I recorded a fun interview with Tim and Kem which will hit the blog soon.  For now, I will leave you some pictures from the day AND a glimpse of what is happening tomorrow on the Catalyst National Tour in Chicago:

Tomorrow - Wednesday, July 8
Morning - Tim Schraeder and Jackson Crum at Park Community Church near downtown Chicago
Early Afternoon - Darren Whitehead at Wilow Creek in Barrington
Late Afternoon - Mark Bankford at Heartland Community Church in Rockford
Evening - Todd Lowans & Mike Handler in Shaumburg

Stay tuned for more updates from Chicago!

LV