Tonight I’m tired.

I learned a lot from the speakers, the friends I’ve caught up with, and the all around Catalyst experience.  I was thinking about giving you our schedule for the day, but since I like to highligt relationships, I’ll share the people I saw speak/met/reconnected with.  It’s a great list.

Speakers @ Catalyst on day 1:

Andy Stanley (Once again. he would not let me wash his feet with my hair)
William Paul Young (author of “The Shack”)
Jim Collins (author of “Good to Great”)
Brenda Salter McNeil (author of “A Credible Witness”)
Steven Furtick (amazing pastor!)
Seth Godin (One of the best bloggers out there)
Craig Groeschel (founder of “One Prayer“)

People with whom I reconnected:

Dave Huey & Cherie Rector (Dave and I go way back to PCC days)
Tim Payne (doing a great job as the life groups pastor at this church)
Shane Kenney (Saw him from ’93-’97 at PCC and never talked to him until this conference)

People I’ve met:

Vince Antonucci (author of “I became a christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt“)
Hank Wilson (planted a church in Boston)
Pete Wilson (No relation, but it was an honor to meet this great pastor/blogger)
Tim J Chambers (great to finally meet this pastor from New Jersey)
Steve Harrison (invited me to dinner with him and the remainder of this list; capped off a super day)
Michael Harrison (pastor in VA and brother of aforementioned new friend)
Aaron Swensen (Life group pastor of Lifechurch.tv Tulsa Campus and hater of Sonnys BBQ ribs)
Jay Stevenson (self professed bum who will someday find a job, and a nice guy)

I love Catalyst and seeing all of my new and old friends!  And Billy, Bramlett, and Al loved seeing Robbie Seay Band and Jon Foreman play an acoustic concert tonight.

They were on the front row.

One year ago today I started blogging.

I wrote of my trip to the Catalyst Conference ’07 (which at the time was my 4th) with my cousin Tim, and how Rick Warren brought it to 12,000 pastor-leaders.

Today I’m back in Atlanta at the Catalyst Conference enjoying my team and some old friends, and ready to be influenced by some of the greatest Leaders of our generation:  Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Andy Stanley, Seth Godin, William F. Young, Craig Groeschel, Jim Collins, and Steven Furtick are just a few of the names that have already impacted me significantly through books, blogs, and messages I’ve heard and read.

You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or this blog (blog posts in the evenings this week).  I’ll share what I’ve learned, who I’ve heard, and who I’ve connected with as I keep an account of what’s happening here in Hotlanta.

Tonight at 7PM, we’ll be hosting another live broadcast of what we’ve learned on FCTV.  We tried this last night, and it went well.  People connected with us by texts and with each other by the chat mode on FCTV.  Latest reports have people tuning in last night from Massachusetts, Virginia, Germany, New York, and of course, Atlanta.  So check it out tonight, October 9th, at 7 pm.  (This time may be changed if we do not get out of the conference in time, but I will offer prompt notice on twitter and facebook if this occurs.)

Hows your week going?

And now it’s time for the 2nd Bloggle awards, an award ceremony that happens every 6 months here on martyholman.com, giving the common person (like the author) access to some amazing blogs on the web 2.0.  Hopefully, we’ll get some acceptance speeches.

Most focused blog
Nominees:
Ethos: a cultural Watercooler by Randy Elrod;  From where I sit by Michael Hyatt; Gotcha by Jake Holman;  History in the making by Ben Arment;  Reluctant Republicans for McCain by Clay Davis
THE WINNER:  History in the making by Ben Arment
Anything this guy writes is gold.  He’s somewhere around brilliant and then some.  His focus is creativity in the church.

Best blog, comedy
Nominees:
Rainy Day Communications by Katie Ferguson; Stuff Christians like by the Prodigal John; Don Miller is by Donald Miller;  Vince Antonucci by Vince Antonnuci
THE WINNER:  Stuff Christians Like by The Prodigal John.  Wildly funny, and will make you laugh out loud in your office every time you dare to read it.

Best blog, story
Nominees:
Trek to the summit by Tom Hogsed;  Scott Hodge by Scott Hodge;  Jenn with 2 n’s by Jenn;  Connecting with Pastor Mike by Mike Laurence
THE WINNER:
Jenn with 2 N’s by Jenn

Best blog, pastor
Nominees:
Velocity by Dave Ferguson; Leading Smart by Tim Stevens;  Life Church.tv:  Swerve by Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald;  Perry Noble dot com by Perry Noble;  Tony Morgan Live by Tony Morgan;  Without Wax by Pete Wilson
THE WINNER:
Life Church.TV:  Swerve by Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald.  This was the hardest to judge.  These blogs are amazing!

Best blog post
Nominees:
“A couple of my rules for startups” by Mark Cuban (March 14, 2008);  “Creating WOW product experiences” by Michael Hyatt (May 17, 2008);  “The Lifetime of an opportunity” by Steven Furtick (July 30, 2008);  “The Secret of the web” by Seth Godin (August 11, 2008);  “The Bible said so” by Winn Collier (September 2, 2008);  “What Complaining says about you”, by Ben Arment (September 9, 2008);  “Palin, Religion, and how Secualrism is out of touch” by Dale Fincher (September 15, 2008)
THE WINNER:
“The Secret of the Web” by Seth Godin (August 11, 2008).  This was not an easy task.  I have so many subscriptions to blogs and highlight very few of them, but very few of so many is still a lot.  These are all excellent posts, written originally by the authors.

Best blog, pictures
Nominees:
It’s all going to change by Kevin and Jen Richardson;  Mark Beeson by Mark Beeson;  Ethos:  A Cultural Watercooler by Randy Elrod
THE WINNER:
Ethos:  A Cultural Watercooler by Randy Elrod  Randy always helps me to think more artsy than I really am.  He bring out the culture in me, and I don’t use that term scientifically.

Best blog, intellectual
Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk;  Dale Fincher by Dale Fincher;  Jeffs Deep Thoughts by Jeff Campbell;
Jenn with 2 N’s by Jenn;  Winn Collier by Winn Collier
THE WINNER:  Winn Collier by Winn Collier. I’m pretty sure his nominated post for best blog post won him this award.

I wish I knew him or her (no winners, just a list of 3)
Steven Furtick by Steven Furtick
Flowerdust.net by Anne Jackson
Blog Maverick by Mark Cuban

I’m glad I know him or her (no winners, just a list of 3)
Mill Industries by Eric Mill
Brian Howe by Brian Howe
You can know God by Michael Lukaszewski

Thanks for joining me for the 2008 Bloggle awards!  Check back for the acceptance speeches and comments about how wrong I was.  And…

Please vote for your favorite all around blog

Back in one of my earliest posts, as I had just started off as a newbie pastor here at Fellowship Church, I shared the next 5 series would be doing over the next several months at our church.  So I thought I’d do it again.  Here they are, and I’ve also put were I came up with the idea below.

Nature Lover:  A journey through Psalms- 4 weeks
Begins July 6th at the Party in the Park and ends on July 27th
Idea:  Came from my head.  I’m an ideator.

Treasures:  Finding Proverbs - 5 weeks
Begins August 10 and ends on September 7
Idea:  Came from my head, but was probably inspired in some way by Lonnie and Andy.

Changeup:  The story of Pauls conversion- 4 weeks
Begins September 14 and ends on October 5
Idea:  From the old noggin, but was probably inspired by my 1st grade teacher, Miss Talis.

the Levite Chainsaw Massacre:  The worst story in the Bible - 4 weeks
Begins October 12 and ends on November 2
Idea:  Once again, came from my head, but was probably inspired by Hannibal Lector (just kidding)

The Fellowship Globe:  Missions - 2 weeks
Begins November 9 and ends November 16
Idea:  Probably something like a missions conference, which I was exposed to growing up in this church. 

Say what you need to say:  A bucket list of words - 2 weeks
Begins November 23 and ends November 30
Idea:  Andy

Presence:  The Gift of God - 4 weeks
begins December 7 and ends December 28
Idea:  Steven Furtick

30 Days to Live – 4 weeks
Either in January or February
Idea:  Craig Groeschel

Got any more ideas for me?

This weekend will be one of the most fascinating services we’ve had at Fellowship Church in a long time.  4 baptisms, including the baptism videos, from ages 10-70, the Lord’s Supper for the first time in several years in our church (Generally we take this ordinance of the church in our “life groups”), A focus on this ministerial use of technology in our church, and a testimony that is one of the most powerful testimonies of coming to Christ I’ve ever heard.
It’s also the last message in this 2 part series called “Something old, something new.”
Next week, we’ll begin the series, “One Prayer” with 1200 other churches and 750,000 other church attenders.  This is a four week series where we will ask this question:  “If we had one prayer to pray for the church at large, what would it be?”
Over the next four weeks will hear from 4 pastors (3 on a video venue) where they will be answering that question.  The first two weeks are:

June 8th, 10:30 am – Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church:  “Make us Audacious”
June 15, 10:30 am (Father’s Day) – Pastor Marty Holman, Fellowship Church:  “Make us Lead”

So my encouragement to you over the next few months is not to get in a summer rut, but be ready to see God work in amazing ways here at Fellowship Church.  Invite your friends.  Play a part in something bigger than rest and relaxation.  (by the way, I’m not talking about vacation, I think people need that)

Let’s see what God can do!