There has been a lot of discussion about the new $130 Million building a church has decided to build and relocate to. Of course there are opinions on both sides. Without getting into who & why I'd like to ask a question about this idea in general.

Some people uphold the idea to build a $130M building as a good investment (breaking eggs to make an omelet). Others think it's a bad investment (a waste of money). Actually, both groups are right ... from their perspective.

One group believes (simplifying) that the money should be spent on helping the poor, or building 130 churches ($1 million each), or a number of other things. Another group believes the building is a great way to breathe life into a struggling congregation, that money is no object to God and that the awesomeness of a beautiful structure glorifies God and gives the church credibility, and even more.

My question is, does Jesus or the Bible give us any principles or direction in this area? If so, what is it?

We use: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo & Flickr.

Facebook seems to be the gold-standard in social networking. You can easily share everything and keep up w/ your friends. However, Twitter is my favorite b/c it's the most fun! It gives you a quick view of what everyone is doing and you can quickly share interesting links. Something about the constant updates gives Twitter a velocity & energy that is really fun. Also, recently interested in Tumblr, b/c it lets you easily share photos & thots. And there's an app for your phone that lets you easily update it.

What social media sites do you use/like & why?

(Does anyone use peoplebrowsr or other tools to aggregate & manage all this social media nonsense?)

Our theme for Catalyst West 2010 is Unusual Tomorrow - What's now?  What's next?  Imagine the future.  Envision what lies ahead.  One of the many fun questions we navigated during the afternoon was, "If you were thinking outside of the box, with NO BOUNDARIES, what is a creative experience that could best be described as "unusual?"  The responses were fantastic, ridiculous, hilarious, inspiring, and a host of other wild descriptions...what would you say?

Here's your chance to join our creative process!  We would love to get your thoughts...how would you answer, "What is one creative experience that you could imagine for Catalyst West Coast 2010 that would best be described as unusual?"

Here are some pictures from out time together...

Catalyst West Coast Creative Meeting

Would love to hear your thoughts - what's your most creative idea for an unusal experience at Catalyst West 2010?

Here are some of the bloggers taking part in the blog tour Mark Batterson, Jon Acuff, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, Cathleen Falsani, God Hungry, Tri Robinson, Eric Bryant, Amena Brown, Zach Hunter, Skye Jethani, Jonathan Merritt, Leonard Sweet, Rick McKinley, Luke Williams, Travis Mamone, Keith Jones, Building Church Leaders, Out of Ur, Rethink Monthly, Murph’s Place, Micah Foster, Troy Dooly, Luke Williams, Soul Munchies, Bag of Nothing,Bible Dude, Janet Oberholtzer, Kristina Petrella, Sharon Swing, ReadHearSeeFeel, Felicity White, Sarah Turnage, Tara Owens, Mike Foster, Rick Ellis, Justin Gerhardt, Leah Holamon, Flourish, and many more.

You’re invited to  join in the fun! All you need to do is select a date this month to post a review, excerpt, interview, or colorful anecdote about Scouting the Divine: My Search for God in Wine, Wool, & Wild Honey! We can provide cover art, colorful photos of Margaret nuzzling sheep (who are covered with poo!) Yum. Yum

If you’re up for joining in:

1) Pick a date in November!

2) Pick up a copy of Scouting the Divine online or request it at your local retail store, if you didn’t already get a copy at Catalyst!

3)  Comment on this post at www.margaretfeinberg.com and mention your blog/blog address so it can be featured on the new (yes new!) www.margaretfeinberg.com! If you want any artwork or colorful photos of Margaret nuzzling sheep (who are covered with poo!), include the request in the post!

Thanks for joining in the tour and reintroducing people to the wonder of God’s Word! Margaret’s hope and prayer is that through the process of reading Scouting the Divine, you’ll once again find yourself deeper in love with God and the Scriptures! The six-week DVD study will release January 1!

UPDATE: We've chosen a winner! #216, Jason Rogers, @indescribable13. Thanks everyone for playing!

If you missed Catalyst, you can still experience it w/ CDs from Catalyst or the Experience Kit which includes the CDs, DVDs, LABS, FILTER & several other resources.

Today we're giving away a Catalyst 2009 CD Set for FREE.

Here's how to enter the contest:

1. tweet this phrase: WIN a Catalyst 09 CD Set at 4PM(EST) today! Comment here http://bit.ly/pl1GO & RT (via @CatalystLeader)

2. Comment below (on this blog post, not on Facebook) with your twitter name & - just for fun - your favorite song right now.

3. At 4pm EST today (Wed, Nov 4) I will choose a random comment below (using random.org) to win the CD Set!

Good Luck!

He's always got great leadership content on his blog, so definitely check that out: RonEdmondson.com.

This week he shared 10 Lessons it Took Me Years to Understand.

Here are 7, go here to read the rest!

1. If you have to impress the friend, he or she isn’t much of a friend.
2. “Just once” probably is a bigger deal than led to believe.
3. The sooner you decide to get your life headed in the right direction the more time you have to enjoy it.
4. There are few shortcuts to success.
5. Hard times come naturally in life…determine early to use them for God’s glory and to help others.
6. Kids grow up too fast. Enjoy them at each stage.
7. There is wisdom with age. Always be willing to learn from those who have lived and experienced more of life.

Seriously, you should follow this guy, he's a wise dude. @RonEdmondson

Ben Arment and his team of leaders did a great job with Story 2009.  it was fun to see Ben in his sweet spot creating, leading, and facilitating opportunities for leaders to experience a fresh glimpse of the greatest Story ever told...a Story still unfolding.  Can't wait to see what Ben and his team have up their sleeve next!

Here are some links to pictures from both the Cultivate Conference AND the Story Conference.  Thanks again to everyone for offering their gifts and talents on behalf of those in ministry that have been refreshed and encouraged!

Cultivate Pictures
TwitPics
Tweetstream from Cultivate

Pictures from STORY
Joshua White
Story Chicago Flickr Stream
Tweetstream from STORY

NOTE:  If you have other links or posts that provide even more pictures, content, or summaries please don't hesitate to link to them in our comments.  I know others would LOVE to check them out...thanks!

The October edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see last month’s list, along with all the past editions, here.

1. Charles Jenkins- pastor of the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, along with being a community leader, entrepreneur and songwriter.

2. Jessica Markowitz- 14 year old from Seattle who started an organization called IMPUWE, which helps Rwandan girls attend school. Jessica will receive the UNICEF World of Children Award this week.

3. Dude Perfect Squad- group of college students at Texas A&M whose crazy basketball shots have become the most recent craze on Youtube. Been on Sportscenter, Good Morning America, and several other shows recently.

4. Pete Greig- founder of the 24-7 Prayer Movement, an international and interdenominational community based out of London.

5. Kari Jobe- worship leader and songwriter from Gateway Church in Dallas, TX. Most known for singing Revelation Song. Opened Catalyst a month ago with that song. Wow.

I was so inspired, I had to paste this snippet! Read the full article here.

"I think a pretty dramatic shift is occurring regarding innovation and the church. For so long, the conversation has centered around the church creating a new program, ministry, or innovative initiative to meet needs. There’s been an unhealthy culture of dependence on the “professionals” to drive innovation. We find a need, we design a plan, we allocate funding and resources, find a leader, and move on to the next innovative task. But I think that’s changing. More and more followers of Jesus are heeding the call to make a difference, to demonstrate the love of Christ themselves rather than depending on the church to do it all. And this, honestly, sets pastors up to make a pretty dramatic shift as well.

So many pastors are simply exhausted from being the CEO of an organization that drives and creates innovation. They signed up to shepherd a people, to reach a community, but lay in bed at night feeling like they are pimping a product, trapped in a cycle that is dependent on their ability to create, create, create. What if pastors made a dramatic shift in the way they did things?

What if they shifted from being drivers of innovation to being cultivators of innovators?"

//

Similar to the idea of multiplication vs addition, creating disciples vs appeasing spectators. If we can train church attendees to "do the work of the ministry" then an exponentially greater amount of work can be done.

What are the challenges involved with being a "cultivator of innovators" vs being a "driver of innovation"?

1. I cannot possibly change for real.
2. I do not need the church (or “Church”) to worship or live my life.
3. Jesus did not mean all the hard stuff he said, it was just “figurative” right?
4. Being “relevant” is the mission of the local church.
5. Drinking alcohol is a sin since the Bible teaches that.
6. If this feel so right then it can’t really be wrong–even if the Bible teaches otherwise.
7. I “go” to church.

Read the rest and discuss the list here. If possible, use scripture to refute one of the above 10 statements.