We are still in Atlanta waiting to leave on our next road trip to the Northeast, Friday!  Before leaving town we had an opportunity to spend a few minutes with Julie Floyd and the team from Ronald Blue & Co. in Atlanta.  They have been coming to Catalyst for years and are, once again, bringing a large group to the Catalyst Experience in October.

I just got back from lunch with the team and wanted to share a little from our time together.  Do any of you remember Ted Dekker from 2004?  Well, his few minutes on stage are still a unifying topic of discussion mostly centered on comic relief.  A brief recap of our experience with Ted was the entertainment as we gathered to get our pizza and head back to the tables...the laughter was a great kickoff to an even greater time sharing impact stories from Catalyst and hearing about what is happening in the world of these "catalysts" working with Ronald Blue & Co.  Jeff, Mike, Marshall, and Julie shared personal accounts of their experiences with Catalyst and several others also added to the discussion, including Kate who shared about how she and her husband are stepping out and moving to Denver to start a new church.  What is it that moves a person from a place of comfort to a place of risk?  Why such a move?  Yet, deep down, it seems that our souls are stirred by the example of others who have risked greatly and stepped out to do what can only be understood in a context of radical trust and surrender.  What moves a person from comfort to risk?  Maybe that's a question that can only be answered by those that have made the move...understood after the fact.

The question was asked, "how is it beneficial for your team from a for profit financial planning organization to spend three days at an event like Catalyst?"  The responses were quick and varied along different themes - "it gets us out of our environment," "it's a tangible team building opportunity," and the one that stood out to me most because of the clear difference between Ronald Blue & Co, a for-profit organization, and Catalyst, an event whose demographic is clearly made up of mostly non-profit organizations, "our experience at Catalyst gives us a chance to challenge our customers."

Several people shared about how they supporting different causes through their everyday spending: Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee (featured at Catalyst last year) AND Ten Thousand Villages where your "Your fair trade purchase of handmade jewelry, home decor and gifts helps improve the lives of thousands of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East."  Even the slightest changes in what amounts to normal every day activity can help...the team from Ronald Blue & Co. was very encouraging in their sharing about how they want to make an impact.

I hope our lunch was encouraging and beneficial for the crew from Ronald Blue; it's an easy conclusion from my perspective - any opportunity to hear stories from men and women that are part of the Catalyst movement is a huge blessing.  Their story is not unique, as we see so many that continue to step forward in the journey of growing as a leader on the front line of God's work.  But their story is special, and for that, I say again thanks to the team from Ronald Blue & Co. for taking time to hang out.

We hit the road on Friday for the northeast, stay tuned!

LV
on behalf of the Catalyst Team

Happy 4th of July!!!  quick update from the Catalyst Road Trip...

The Catalyst Vanagon has found a refreshingly new place to park!  We wanted to streamline all that is happening in the Catalyst world so that you could experience the ever expanding kaleidoscope of activity through one viewer - to all of you that have been following the Catalyst Road Trip on our previous page, welcome to the new Catablog! 

• Here you will find continual updates and resources for all things Catalyst.  Future road trip posts will be highlighted in yellow and will have the Vanagon Icon in the top right corner.

• We are still working on fresh and innovative ways to make this page ever better than before so please stay tuned...this change is exciting, and I hope proves to add great value to you.
  

Enjoy your 4th of July weekend...We leave for our next road trip next Friday, July 11th!

(here is a snapshot of our previous road trip page)