The Digital Sanctuary » mark-batterson

Catalyst’s West Coast debut ended yesterday and will never be back! At least not in the same venue. As you can clearly see from the photo below, beloved #catwest outgrew it’s Mariner’s Church facility offering nothing but standing room only by day two.

Here’s a shot of Erwin McManus on the Catalyst stage yesterday. Erwin, a self proclaimed misfit, captivated us all with his ability to show us what our lives would be like if we accepted our weaknesses and didn’t let them teather us back from accepting and serving others. The woman sitting next to me, whom you’d of course all know, was reduced to tears.

And here’s Brad Lomenick, Catalyst’s Big Tuna, stopping in behind the scenes to ask locals where the next largest facility is in case they need to expand next year. Pretty amazing since this is the spread outside for socializing…..

Catalyst West Coast in Full Swing

Cynthia — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:20:41 +0000

Today marks the “official” launch of Catalyst West Coast – a huge, inspirational party designed to feature some of the speakers listed in my last blog post. And create a venue for many innovative ministry related products and services.

You can join us with your very own all-access pass through the Catalyst Green Room site.

Candid shot of the pre-party hosted by Carlos Whittaker with Foursquare Pastor John Cox basically bustin’ a move.

Catalyst Hits the West Coast this Week

Cynthia — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:05:02 +0000

Here’s a link fest for those of you who want to familiarize yourself with some of the Catalyst West Coast festivities….

Wednesday evening Before Party hosted by:

Carlos Whittaker

Worship with:

Speakers include:

Interactive sessions with:

Thursday evening House Party for Gift Card Giver hosted by:

If you’re anywhere in the Southern California area, we’ll see you at Mariner’s Church in Irvine. Follow me on Twittter for more details.

Group Life Conference Spotlights Technology

Cynthia — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:28:53 +0000

Today I’m presenting “Leveraging Technology to Support Community” at the Group Life Conference. I’ll upload it to SlideShare when I have time so you can access it. My experience at Willow Creek has been amazing and being with scores of people who are desperate to learn how to serve others better has been invigorating.

Yesterday, in an afternoon session, Mark Batterson asked the attenders (about 2000, I’d say) how many were using Twitter and got about a 5% response rate. Also, in that session, we had an opportunity to use a new system for texting in responses live during the keynote sessions. Everyone got out their phone and we had a tutorial walking us thru how to text in our answers. Of course, the instuctor was a 12 year old girl. I’m going to post a more detailed review of this product within the next two weeks.

Following my presentation I’m heading off to attend a series of other presentations by friends who are also here. It’s gonna be a packed day. Unfortunately, while I’m speaking, I will miss Scot McKnight’s “Women in Ministry”. Gotta download that one.

Willow Creek Hosts Group Life Conference 2008

Cynthia — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:22:16 +0000

Early morning for me today headed over to the Group Life Conference at Willow Creek. Going to moderate a “coffee discussion” (I think) as a pre-conference warm up. Hope they’re well stocked because they have no idea how much coffee I can actually drink.

Then going to check out session topics for Mark Batterson & Heather Zempel (National Community Church), Miles McPherson (The Rock) and Dave Gibbons, whose New Song Church (Irvine campus) just hosted one of the Church 2.0 Local Forums.

I’m looking forward to my breakout “Leveraging Technology to Support Community“. Hope to see you there.

Win a Free Copy of Wild Goose Chase!

Cynthia — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:06:40 +0000

Last Thursday night, I had the privilege of hearing Washington D.C. Pastor Mark Batterson speak at the ECHO Conference in Dallas, Texas. Mark is the Lead Pastor of National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America’s most innovative churches.

NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC’ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill.

Pastor Mark is a widely read pioneer blogger (evotional). He’s also one of the very first pastors to add The Digital Sanctuary to his blogroll.

Wild Goose Chase was my airplane reading on my way to ECHO. I loved it. Brilliantly basic, crystal clear and cheerfully convicting, Wild Goose Chase is an exploration of the pursuit of the Holy Spirit. Using a non-scholarly, conversational approach Mark writes the same way he teaches, using fresh parables and simple illustrations. Challenging us to leave behind the cages that obviously hold us captive, Wild Goose Chase is an invitation to freedom and adventure.

Here’s an excerpt from the book’s introduction:

Most of us have no idea where we’re going most of the time. Perfect.
“Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit–An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.’ The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something….

Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure.”

You can win a free copy of Wild Goose Chase by telling me what I tweeted (twitter.com/cynthiaware) about National Community Church’s baptism video — the one played at ECHO Conference.

You can also purchase Mark’s other best-selling book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day online.

Dallas Hosts ECHO Conference

Cynthia — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:31:33 +0000

A conference for church leaders that love using media, technology, and the internet to be more effective in sharing God’s story.

This Thursday through Saturday, Dallas will host the ECHO Conference. If you have interest in using media, technology and the internet to be more effective in ministry, then Echo is for you.

Hosted by Watermark Church (I blogged Watermark here) it promises to be an inspiring and creative gathering of church innovators. Authors, pastors and media-savvy experts will explore the dynamic opportunities available for churches & individuals and sponsors will provide the means to do so.

There are ample breakout sessions and keynotes that include these speakers:

Donald Miller, Matthew Paul Turner, Mark Batterson, Todd Wagner, Mark Steele, Brad Abare

Echo is brought to you by the team at Igniter Media, WorshipHouse Media, and Collide Magazine

Want more information? Check out the Echo Blog, watch this Teaser Video, or use this Conference Quick Look

If you’re in Dallas, stop by and check out Greg Atkinson’s Church 2.0 breakout session. Meet Greg, Tony Steward and myself – all contributors to the upcoming Church 2.0 book.

2008 Awaken Conference Wrap Up

Cynthia — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:30:24 +0000

Although I only got to go for 1 day, causing me to miss a couple of the speakers I had hoped to hear, I had a great time at the Awaken 2008 Conference put on by Mosaic in Pasadena. Erwin McManus did the hosting and I did get to hear an evangelism panel discussion with Lee Strobel, Mark Mittleberg, Rick McKinley, Dan Kimball and Eric Michael Bryant.

And speaking of Eric, he was kind enough to get me in at the last minute unexpectedly and he made sure my registration was covered because I could only be there for the day. And he reminded me that he's making a special offer at his website on his book Peppermint-Filled Pinatas – if you buy a case, he'll give you a case free! You can find my interview with Eric about the book here.

I was also able to visit a couple of booths. I got to talk to the Sermon Spice folks whose beautiful media resources you've read about here. I also got to meet the founder of a prayer application called Kindle Joy. I hope to look into this product further and if you've used Kindle Joy let me know.

I also got to share time with Mynhardt & Lisha Van Pletsen who were wonderful to connect with. Timely, too, as they only have months left in the US before returning to South Africa. More on the launch of their the bread & wine.org soon, I promise.

By the way, Dan Kimball – who I practically ran into jumping out of a PT Cruiser (I know, so appropriate) – wrote a good Awaken wrap up here with a photo of wired DJ Chuang in all his orange-ness. My wrap up can't complete with his and neither can my iPhone photo of DJ.

~~Erwin McManus &~~ the red sofa

Mark Batterson out of the pit & onto the big screen

Me, Mynhardt Van Pletsen, DJ Chaung, Lisha Van Pletsen