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What if you had an inside look into a day with Death? Well, now is your chance. We followed along with the Grim Reaper and saw first hand how he spends his days. Enjoy.

We got our hands on the super awesome, fantastic, mega, amazing, deluxe disc edition of Twilight. On the extras we found a character we are glad was axed from the movie.
Enjoy.

We got our hands on the super awesome, fantastic, mega, amazing, deluxe disc edition of Twilight. On the extras we found a character we are glad was axed from the movie.
Enjoy.

A few Sundays ago we used text messaging to interact with the audience. We asked people to text/email their name and response to the what we were talking about to "text@forefront.org"

We had a HUGE response. People didn't have to have Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace. They just needed a phone and the ability to text. So, we've been encouraging people each week to text in if they have questions about the message or service. Each week we'll respond to people individually and place some of the questions (without names) here on the blog. It will be a way to keep the discussion going. Here we go...

Question:
Why do we do communion every week? I went to a church as a kid and they did it once and awhile. Just curious.
Answer:
One of the the things we talked about today in the message was the early church in Acts Chapter 2 from the Bible in the New Testament. We discussed what example the early followers set and how we (Forefront) want to follow that example. When they met, they studied God's teachings, shared community (share life together), they broke bread (communion) and prayed to God (Acts 2:42). Since they met together every week to do these things, Forefront's Sunday services reflect that. We also sing to God and have a children's ministry (which aren't noted in this passage), but we feel that by doing so it enables us to communicate God's message effectively to the entire family.

Question:
In Jason's message today, he talked about some signs a church is doing community like God says. Is there any way I can get that list?
Answer:
Absolutely. All of the signs are ways you can measure if a church is fully committed to Godly community and following the New Testament Church. It's found in Acts 2:42-47. We don't think it's a coincidence they are in the order they are, so without further delay, here ya go:

• Sign #1: The Church Together Weekly v. 42 “The devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching & to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
• Sign #2: Miraculous Things Are Happening v. 43 “...and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.”
• Sign #3: Everyone Is On The Same Page Toward God’s Mission v. 44 “All believers were together an had everything in common.”
• Sign #4: The People Are Sacrificial and Giving v. 45 “Selling all their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.”
• Sign #5. Meeting & Eating Together v. 46 “Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts...”
• Sign #6: People Are Giving Their Lives To God v. 47 “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

This has already been called one of THE most powerful moments in Catalyst's ten year history.

There wasn't a dry eye in the arena after Jimmy Wambua met Mark, his Compassion Sponsor of 19 years, for the 1st time. It was an unbelievable moment... Jimmy begins to share at minute 3:45.

Compassion International is a great organization.
Check out their website right now.

Jason *over and out*

Main Session 4: Matt Chandler

Let me just say, Matt Chandler is one of my heroes. I know we don't agree on everything, but I love to hear him speak. His passion for God and His Bible/Word are amazing to me. He has a great way of communicating things and is able to correct you and poke a little bit at your insecurities without making you feel like turning and giving up. Just has a way of bringing things clearly and balanced.

Okay, enough on my "man crush" Here are a few of my notes from His talk during day one of the main sessions...

• Hebrews 11, History is a weird animal, how history haunts
• The fall happens and fractures everything, Cain and Abel, God regrets He made us. Then the great children’s story when he destroys the world... We talk about this with our kids like it's some kind of fable of child's tale and do these stories/history a diservice and someitmes feel like as adults they don't mean anything for us now. (And most of those Old Testament stories should scare the crap out of little kids).
  
• The rest of time it is God preparing the world for reconciliation from the fall
  
• Let all the nations be glad because of what God is doing
• 400 years of silence, then Jesus, and that is the Gospel, His sacrifice alone and grace of God
• Jesus walks righteous life, dies righteous death, Matthew 28 is a collision of human mess, Jesus ascends into heaven and some believe and some still doubted...
• It's like there was a guy there looking up and just goes, “I don’t know... I dunno? I got a cousin down in Capernum who does something similar.” Are you kidding me? He went up into Heaven and you people are still doubting?!? Then...
  
• Peter gives the most un-seeker friendly sermon ever and thousands were added to their number. 3,000 and then 5,000 and then it keeps going by the hundreds.
• Cornelius’s house: Get up and eat Peter. THen it's like Petere responds, “No way! Remember that rooster thing, nah uh, where is that rooster, no way man. No way.”
• Cornelius gets saved and Peter goes, oh great, and runs back to the leaders and they gather everyone together to see if it’s okay. Cornelius speaking behind him and asks if gentiles can be saved. They say it’s all good, as he speaks tongues behind him.
• What God says he was going to do in Genesis Chapter 12 is happening right now. RIGHT NOW.
• Hebrews 11, The Faith of our Fathers
• Switches from some great stuff to torture and more, quite a switch with no transition and then talks about the cloud of witnesses
• Let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings to us & our being
• 1 John 5- God is light, in Him no darkness...
• Run with endurance in the race God has designed for us.
• Nobody wants the ministry of Moses. His ministry was wandering in the desert with whining people for 40 years (but people have changed in our churches, HA), some of you will spend your whole life with stiff necked people and you’ll never be called to speak at a large conference and God is going to reward you in the end of all of this.
• 1, He is the Founder of our Faith
• 2, He is the Author & Perfecter of our Faith
• 3, He is the Joy of our Redemption

Main Session 3: Robb Bell

I know there is more than enough controversy surrounding Mr. Bell to last an entire year of blog posts. In my own RSS reader I probably see 3-4 posts a week from different people ready to string him up. That's not what these take aways from Catalyst are for. I am not a big fan of Robb Bell or have a "man crush" on him like some pastors do, but he had some good things to say while at the conference.

Here are a few of the things I was able to type away while listening...

• Recently talking to a pastor who said he wanted to quit, I asked Him why, he said "I'm just really burned out from all of this ministry work.
  
• So, he turned over a paper plate, turned it upside down, drew a pie chart on the bottom and asked, what you do? He explained the office hours, multiple services, counseling, events, time away form family, retreats... He spent close to 90+ hours a week on the church and little to no time with his family.
  
• He had only been the pastor a year and "every day I want to quit."
• Some of the other guys he talked to- preaches 5 services, craziness. Neglecting his families time and values
• Then the guy turned to Robb and said, "I have 300 people, but it’s nothing like what you are doing!" Robb responded, "as the French would say- "WTF?!?"
• "You have 300 people who are looking to you for guidance and they need a shepherd and you don’t think that is significant?" He urgently expressed to Him that God laid on him a calling to pastor/shepherd/and lead those people closer to Jesus.
  
• But... Is bigger better? Robb would answer no.
• You are a living Eucharist
• We are loved exactly as we are! Don’t be seduced by “The Big, The More…” Your Heavenly Father is not asking them to be you & you to be them… rather asking You to Be You!
• “Put the crack pipe down!” as it relates to Christian organizations ranking churches. Why are we putting out lists of who is better and bigger in the kingdom? Remember when Jesus said the last shall be first and the first shall be last. If you're on those big church, exciting churches list, do something to get off them- because Jesus said you are basically out of luck in the end if you're on that hip, cool, look-at-me list.
  
• John 6, Jesus has a crowd that is following him, verse 22
• Verse 66, “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him...”
• Sometimes the crowd thins and people leave (when the truth is shared)
• In the journey of God, if we are to choose between the cross and the flag, we choose the cross. Sometimes it's not politically correct, but we're not call to be P.C.- we're called to follow the Creator of the Universe.
  
• Sometimes everything is up and to the right. (like a diagram, we watch as we mathematically do the "right things" and se see movement and growth. But, those ideas don't always translate to the idea of "success" that all these big time guys promise. you can't melt down the growth of God's church into an equation. It takes out the power of God to do what He does)
  
• If you do “A” and “B” and “C”- then this and this and this will happen. Not true in the church.
  
• Jesus would say, "I love your desire and passion, and sometimes their are crowds and you find yourself with a parking problem, but the crowd will eventually thin and your methods aren’t always going to produce the “results” you thought.
• You might even think with some people, "I thought we were going to go the whole way together? I thought you were going to be here from beginning to end?" Unfortunately (or fortunately) some people only stay for a season. That is alright. Let them go. Keep moving forward.
  
• Luke 21, looked up, saw the rich, saw the poor widow drop two copper coins, widow put in more than all the others. All the peeps gave from wealth, but she from poverty gave all she had to live on...
• John 5, Deuteronomy
• "When you obey God- you won’t want anyone else’s life."
• So now, let’s talk about a couple things, love your neighbor as yourself. How are you doing with the "as yourself" part of that?
  
• Is there any possibility that you haven’t taken care of yourself enough and in turn you cannot love your neighbor as God calls you too?

Main Session 2: Shane Hipps

Shane is the author of Flickering Pixels and is the pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church. He is an ex-employee of strategic planning for Porsche (bizarre). Anyway, in his talk during the labs day and on the main stage the following day- he covered the ideas in his book that technology shapes our faith. We take in so much from TV, Media, Computer, Web, Music, Movies, etc. that it begins to mold the way we process information, believe in moral absolutes, and more.

It was an interesting talk and I'm not quite sure I'm even on the boat with him at this point... but, I'm willing to listen and process it more. I think he is a little off base at times, but we can agree to disagree. His stance on "a couple things concerning God's message and it's evolution over the years" has gotten me a little stirred up, but you can read His idea about it here at this blog post and draw your own conclusions.

Anyway, here are the notes I jotted down while trying to wrap my head around all the really gargantuan words he was saying. Seriously, the guy has quite the vocabulary.

• At Porsche, He was responsible for strategic planning
• Brand people’s brain with the Porsche logo and make you think you need their cars
• Christianity is fundamentally a communication event
• Pillars of fire, smoke, prophets, burning bushes, donkeys, etc.
• "The medium is the message"- Marshall McCullen
• What you communicate with is going to determine how the message is received
• When a human reads printed words, left brain, mathematical encounter
• When you show an image, right brain, experience & encounter
• Mark 2:22
• One day I was spending time at a pretty famous art museum. I walked into a very stark room with one piece of art. There was a gaurd there who was very serious and stern watching everyone who entered the room. The guard in the museum was there to protect an artifact, walk out to the garden and the gardener is promoting life and growth.
• What if what Jesus said is actually true, that the gospel is a lot more like the garden than a painting. If that is true, the kingdom needs more gardeners and a lot less guards.
• Guard is motivated by fear, a Gardener is motivated by love and looks for growth and life. To cultivate the gospel rather than being a guard who spends their time tearing everyone else down because they don't start every sentence with the word, "Gospel."
  
• We simply need to love this gospel because perfect love casts out all fear.
• Is the bible old and a relic? No. As trees grow, roots go deeper and deeper. So it is with the local body. As we learn the fundamentals of His heart, our roots will grow deeper. We don't need to strive for just plain old knowledge. Better to put that knowledge into practice.
• When you do, you won't have time to criticize others... you'll be too busy spreading the gospel as a gardener and less likely to sit as a guard doing nothing.