Catalyst

For those of you who aren't familiar with Catalyst, they are an INCREDIBLE organization with a HUGE heart for church leaders.

Do you ever wonder where the church will be in twenty years? In fifty? In a hundred? Our world is constantly changing around us but is the church still trying to reach their community with the same methods they used ten years ago? These are the kind of questions Catalyst encourages leaders to wrestle with. That's why they are dedicated to raising up wise and culturally relevant leaders in the church who know the pulse of the community and the world around them.

Back in October, I had the privilege of going to Catalyst 2009 in Atlanta, along with 13,000 other people and got to hear everyone from Malcolm Gladwell to Tony Dungy speak. I've been to conferences before, but nothing like this. They even set another world record this year. Check out the one they set in 2006 here- the world's largest pillow fight. These guys know how to have fun!

I drove back down to Atlanta this last December to spend a day with the Catalyst team.

Our Goal Was Three-fold:
#1. Headshots
#2. Group Shot
#3. Journalistic Shots

Selfishly I was most excited about the journalistic approach since I pretty much never get to shoot that way. But when I told them we were going to be shooting in the Huddle House, I was met with confused, slightly terrified looks. If you're not familiar with Huddle House, picture an older Waffle House with the color scheme of a McDonalds… It was not the cool "old diner" look we'd wanted, but the staff at the Huddle House took the BEST care of us and let us basically take over their diner for hours! Props to Jamey and his staff at the Huddle House for being such awesome hosts!!

Well, I could go on and on about the Catalyst team. They actually made me miss having a "real" job.

Say What?!!

Seriously though- they make working in a team look like fun- who knew?! I just think the world of every single one of them!

Hope you enjoy the pictures! =)
-Mel

Jesse

Stan

Jason

Courtney

Melissa

Sally

Brian

Courtney (Such a trooper! Carried my ladder and diffuser around all day for me!)

Aaron

Chad

Huddle House

This was my "brilliant" idea to get a cool shot of the team with a "sky" backdrop. That is, until we realized that the ladder ended about five and a half feet from the top.


Brad (their fearless leader-more to come on him in a later blog post) calming the crowd when we realized there was no way to get down...lol...




Aaron taking a break after the traumatic dumpster experience...




**Not pictured in above shots: LV Hanson - Catalyst National Tour Coordinator