Well.. actually we are going.  To Atlanta that is.  The 2007 Catalyst Conference will be held in Duluth GA this week and we are taking a group of 16 from our church down to attend.  This is my first Catalyst, but I have heard great things about them, and I have seen the line-up of speakers and that makes me slightly pumped.  There will be speakers from a wide range of emphases:  Rick Warren I am sure will be bringing the PDL flavor along with his PEACE plan, and Shane Claiborne will stir us all up and make us want to sell our cars and ride bikes home (actually he would probably challenge us to cling closer to Jesus and live that out in radical ways), and Patrick Lencioni, the team-work guru will most likely bring his blunt and humorous take on team-work in ministry.  There are many other speakers, such as Erwin McManus - the pastor of Mosaic (a Church that meets in a bar - i think - and its Southern Baptist!).  However an interesting note is that there are no female main stage speakers.  This was pointed out to me by our sassy former-Children's minister who happens to be a women.  This is something that I admittedly did not notice.  However, even though the conference will definitely betray some of its Southern Baptist origins there is still much to be gained (no offense to all my Southern Baptist peeps out there, just keep letting all the women preach to the kids and youth :).  I do hope that the group we take will be encouraged to be the change at our church and that this doesn't turn out to be an adult version of Resurrection (the youth conference we went to as young members of the Holston Conference where the typical pattern was to get fired up about God for one weekend, only to see the last dying embers only a few short weeks later).  I do believe it will be an exciting time of fellowship and renewal, and I am looking forward to getting to know the folks we will be traveling with over the next few days.  

The hard part will be leaving Morgan with Nanna and Poppa for three nights.  Sarah and I aren't ready for that and I know there will be many phone calls over the next few days.  She has been saying that she didn't want us to come with her.  Usually this came out as, "you stay here, I go with Nanna". I know she will have a blast over the next few days as she plays with Nanna and Poppa and gets pretty much anything she wants!  However, it broke our hearts as we were putting her to bed tonight and she said, "Mommy, Daddy, you come with me".   Children have such an innocence about them that I have a hard time grasping sometimes.  Morgan's unpretentious nature humbles me and makes me regret those times when I am legalistic with rules and get grumpy or pre-occupied when all she wants is attention and love.  We will definitely miss her spontaneous songs and smiles while we are on the trip.  

Posted In: life children

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