I wouldn’t mind being at Catalyst Conference lounging with some of you bloggers that I’ve come to know or follow stalk. I’ve yet to go. Don’t know if I really ever will.
Catalyst has provided some great fresh ideas and fuel for next gen church leaders. I think they’re doing some pretty cool things but I do wish I could see some more diversity from such an influential effort that seeks to shape and impact the next generation of church leaders.
Is there a lack of minority esp. Asian voices making an impact on culture?
Or is it that these voices are just too busy actually making an impact on culture?
You can follow the tweets along with me or try to follow their live conference setup through Catalyst Backstage with Anne Jackson. The live ustream.tv for interviews were pretty buggy yesterday.
So I’m sure you expect this comment: I’ve got full summaries of each session up on the blog. I loved Catalyst this year. I think I would agree with your diversity view, though. Even to my culture-centric eyes it was a pretty white crowd. But the question remains how you impact that: through staying away or trying to build into the culture? I don’t have the answer to that, but I’d prefer to see you there and hear what your community has to say. That was one thing I enjoyed so much about our time at Q.
Thanks Marla, I’ve been living my conference life vicariously through your blog and others on twitter. I think Catalyst is great and helping push the envelope in church leadership. I think Q was much more diverse and I appreciate how much Jeff Shinabarger had sought to make that a reality. I’m mainly referring to the array of speakers and organizational leadership behind these events when I say diversity and not so much the attendees. They need to be diverse if they want to 1) demonstrate leadership in this area 2) appeal to other ethnic groups/cultures 3) provide a richer perspective and dialogue for next generation leaders/influencers. These are some of the same principles you find in church planting and church growth discussions particularly for multicultural contexts.
Hopefully you do see me making the effort to be part of these events and the discussion behind them. You and others I’ve met at Q have really helped further that so I’m really grateful for that grace. Maybe one day I’ll make it out to Catalyst. I could only afford to go to so many conferences a year.