Catalyst 2011

This October 5-7, myself and two of my guys are in Atlanta for Catalyst. For those of you who are dropping by my blog and have no idea what Catalyst is; it is a conference of dynamic speakers, activists, and leaders pouring into other leaders non stop. A couple names that are included are Mark Batterson, Francis Chan, TD Jakes, and Lecrae Moore.

I didn't get to know about Catalyst until I joined Twitter over a year ago. I began to follow people like Scott Williams, Andy Stanley, and Brad Lomenick. These guys would constantly tweet about this event. Well, finally...here I am. This year's theme is "Be Present" and I can most certainly say that I am. After driving through the night from Maryland, I was only able to get about 2 hours of sleep. That really doesn't count though because sleep in the car kinda doesn't count as "real sleep". I do have a 5 Hour Energy on stand by for tomorrow, which I think I'm definitely going to need.

I learned a lot today and I only went to the Labs, which are like preliminary sessions before the main event sessions on Thursday and Friday. The topics I learned about were "Circling Jericho" from Mark Batterson, "Missional Living in the Urban Context" from Lecrae Moore, "The Multiplier Effect: Essentials to Leading Business, Politics, and Ministry" from Lisa Borders, and "Breaking the Mold: Leadership from a Different Angle" from Mary Graham/Jo Saxton/and Jeanne Stevens. And to top the day off, I had an AWESOME evening with some fellow bloggers at the Catalyst Blogger Meetup at a nearby restaurant called California Dreaming. It was awesome connecting with other bloggers and getting their insight, perspective, and various ways, tactics, and strategies to blogging.

Can't wait to see what Catalyst has in store for me tomorrow.