From our time with Matt Dumas, Minister of Equipping at Northwest Bible Church in Dallas, TX last Tuesday morning at La Madeline...

Imagine hiking along a mountain trail no wider than three feet across with a rock wall on the left and a 2,000ft drop on the right. The sun is rising on the horizon, and suddenly an unexpected slip turns a peaceful hike into a heart stopping plunge down a sheer mountain face. It sounds like a page from a story, but sometimes reality can be more terrifying than ficiton... as was the case in August of 2006.

Matt Dumas found himself facing sure death when he fell from a section of trail known as the "Narrows" leading to the summit of Longs Peak, a 14,000ft mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. Tumbling head over heels Matt fell 60ft before managing to find a narrow ledge where he slid to a stop just short of a cliff leading to the valley floor. He sustained numerous injuries that left him unable to move. Other hikers on the mountain saw the fall and found a way to get down to Matt... long story short, it took a team of several mountaineers, a helicopter, and seven hours to rescue Matt from Longs Peak. The story made headlines in Colorado, and today Matt remembers that day as a near death experience.

When a near death experience serves as the backdrop of change purpose becomes simply about enjoying the gift of life and adding value to others. Matt shared with us about his journey to Dallas about his new role as Minister of Equipping with Northwest Bible Church. He seeks to help equip people with the knowledge and skill necessary to build their spiritual core. Matt brought a team with him to Catalyst last year and shared with us about the greatest leadership lesson that he has learned this past year. As a leader Matt admits, "sometimes I want to say everything I'm thinking but many times I need to simply listen." A leader understands restraint. Matt referenced Proverbs 18:2, "A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind." The greatest leadership lesson Matt has learned this past year has been the power of an attentive listening ear.

It was a short breakfast but we enjoyed time with Matt and look forward to seeing him again in October. Check out more about Matt and Northwest Bible Church at their website - www.northwestbible.org.

3/2/08 - 10:25PM
We are back in Dallas tonight after an incredible getaway to Colorado... simply breathtaking! The flu is trying to hijack the Catalyst Road Trip but it's not going to work - it is simply slowing it down a little bit. LV has been sick this past week but managed to still work in a few runs at Vail and Keystone. The blog has two new posts with highlights from last week featuring our time with Pastor Tim Lundy from Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AR and the crew from C|Life Church in Forney, TX. We still have yet to post highlights from our time last Tuesday with Matt Dumas from Northwest Bible Church and Pastor Ed Young from Fellowship Bible Church in Grapevine, TX... we have some video from our time with Pastor Ed Young that is still being finalized; you will not want to miss this!

Please forgive the delay... new pictures have been added to Flickr (found along the left margin) so make sure to check those out and stay tuned for the updates from our time with Matt Dumas and Pastor Ed Young. Tomorrow, Monday the 3rd of March, we are meeting with the staff from Bent Tree Bible Church in Carrollton, TX. More soon!

Here is a picture of the sunset from the top of Keystone Mountain in Colorado...

From our time with David Griffin, Paul McDill, & Randy Wade last Monday night...
(this post is being today written from Vail, CO)

Five years ago, after the first night of the 2003 Catalyst Conference, David Griffin and Paul McDill were chewing on a message they heard from Louie Giglio - a message about the irony of leadership - "if any man seeks to save his life, he will lose it." Their thoughts snowballed and they began discussing new ideas about church. Eventually they talked with their good friend Randy Wade and today they are a team of pastors leading the congregation of C|Life Church in reaching the community of Forney, TX. 3 Senior Pastors? Yes. And it's working well!!!

David, Paul, Randy, and their families invited new Vanagon Vagabonds Chris Capeheart, Sally Hanson (my mom), and I to join them for dinner at Texas Land & Cattle - almost 20 people together in the back room for what quickly became the first Catlyst Road Trip Circus! Let's just say this dinner was anything but dull and boring. :-) Amdist the carnival of activity at the kids table next to us David, Paul, and Randy shared with us about how they felt "permission" from what they heard at the 2003 Catalyst Conference to dream ideas that challenge conventional process. 3 pastors? Some might say it can't work. True, it is different, but C|Life Church is being established around a vision and mission in place of a personality. Their pastoral team must be anchored to high trust as all three are close friends and admit their lack of immunity to comparison and pride. But as they shared honestly and openly, it wasn't a discussion about what has been... rather, what they know could be if they get caught up in themselves. Even at dinner it became clear that the three do not compete with eachother, they build on the strengths of one another, very encouraging and exciting!

We were very excited to be able to spend time with David, Paul, Randy, and their families and look forward to seeing them again in October! Follow the trio of pastors from C|Life Church in Forney, TX at www.clifec.com.

From our time in Little Rock, AR on 2/24/08
(this entry is being written today from the InxPot Coffee Shop at the base of Keystone Mountain in Keystone, CO)

Last Sunday we traveled from Memphis, TN to Dallas, TX and stopped in Little Rock to spend a few minutes with Pastor Tim Lundy from Fellowship Bible Church. We didn't know how much time we would be able to spend with Pastor Tim but he ended up letting us hang out with him in the parking lot for over an hour; guess it was a good thing he wasn't preaching that morning :). It's fun to be able to share the story of the Catalyst Road Trip and all that has been happening... the Polaroid pictures from different people we meet with are starting to take over the inside of the vanagon - it's awesome!

We began to film Pastor Tim's response to a question about leadership when we had some unexpected visitors come by the van. They told us that they wanted to see what was going wtih the "hippy van" in the parking lot! Let it be known - the only smoke that you will find coming from the vanagon will be smoke from a busted engine! (video)

Our unexpected visitors ended up including another pastor from Fellowship Bible Church, Russell Rainey. We were blessed to be able to talk with both Tim and Russell about the story of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock... the video below highlights some of our time together revealing more about their hope to be a "starfish" church as well as how they are connecting the older generation with the younger generation... AND you will even get a chance to meet Lloyd, an unsung hero for their church who came be the van to make sure everything was alright - it's pretty funny.

"Starfish Church" - referenced from the ideas found in the book, "The Starfish and the Spider." Napster cripples the global musis industry... Wikepedia turns Encyclopedia Briticana obsolete overnight... Craigslist stands toe to toe with newspaper giants... example after example about how decentralization stregthens the life of a movement. The video below highlights more of what we learned from Pastors Tim and Russell.

• How do you influence your community? Learn how Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AR engages their community with "Irrestible Influence" through what they call Sharefest - www.sharefest.com