Sunday Recap...

• One of the coolest days ever for me as pastor of Catalyst Church and I did not preach and Jonathan did not lead worship.
• My wife Heather led worship and I mean led worship this morning. It was like watching a spiritual breakthrough happen right before my eyes. She has always resisted leading and IMO has let fear hold her back. Yesterday was like a coming out party, it was like the Heather the Worshipper was unleashed on Catalyst. I was sitting in my seat thinking, this is just unreal!
• I listened as Sprang brought the word. Nothing flashy, nothing edgy, just a great explanation of the baptism and the importance of water imagery in the story of God. People had to have walked away with a better understanding of why we baptize than when they walked in.
• Had a young man that isn't attending anywhere come out talking about how much he enjoyed the service.
• I walked away from the service thinking, if something happened to me, like I got hit by a Mac Truck, or somebody mistook me for the lead-singer of Mercy Me and assassinated me, Catalyst would be alright, this group of people would continue to impact the city or Rowlett. Let me tell you, I have no death wish, but it is great to think we have hit a point where this church has enough strong leaders to keep it going without me.
• Had a great lunch with some folks from church. Had a young guy be real honest with me about his past experience with church and his resulting absence from church. He told me it is worth the drive from Arlington to be a part of a church like Catalyst. He made a comment that Catalyst is a place where I sense God every time I am there. I about had a shouting fit right in the middle of the restaurant.
• Went to the Callahan's for our first Catalyst Baptism Celebration. Got to baptize Dana, Gary, and Nathan. Great to see teens and adults going public with their faith.
• Gotta admit, I had a hard time not crying as I read Nathan's testimony, a teen that was very anti-God, anti-church, until a few months ago. I believe that God orchestrated a series of events in this young man's life, to draw Nathan to Himself. I am excited to track Nathan's journey with Christ to see what God has planned for this guy.
• Super cool to see a bunch of our newer Catalyst folks show up to the Baptism Celebration. We had nearly 60 people at the baptism, just a few months ago that would have been a great number for Sunday morning worship.
• Hung out with the Callahan's longer than we should have. Left their house at 10:00 last night. Chris, Shari, and their kids hold a special place in my heart. They were our first family to stick with Catalyst that had no family or friend ties to the original Catalyst group.
• Oh yeah, 116 people worshiped at Catalyst yesterday. I believe that is the most we have had since our grand opening on Easter Sunday. Folks, churches are supposed to limp through the summer. It is like a game of Survivor for a lot of churches. Attendance is supposed lag and sag in the summer. By no means are we supposed to be setting attendance records with little to no advertising.
• I met with Sprang this morning, we talked about how a lot of guys in ministry never get to be a part of something this exciting in their entire pastoral career. We are in the middle of something "God-Sized" and we are committed to staying out of His way and allowing him to work in and through us.