Catalyst Defined!

We at Kingdom Causes call ourselves "catalysts" and even have that name printed on our business cards. I've had to muddle around what we mean by that when people ask or give blank looks, often substituting "director" to help people understand.

But this book I'm currently reading called The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations has given me a great answer as to why we call ourselves catalysts--it even has a whole section on what a catalyst does to help effect change in communities.

For those who don't know the contrast between a starfish and spider is really a contrast about organizational life: do you have a centralized hierarchy (a spider) or a decentralized organism (starfish)? It's the difference between the music industry (spider) and Napster and all its permutations (starfish). You can chop a spider's head off and the whole body dies; a starfish can be chopped several times and each one grows into another starfish!

Anyway, one of the keys to a starfish organization is a catalyst. A helpful chart at the end of the chapter on catalyst contrasts a CEO's characteristics with a catalyst's:

CEO: boss, command-and-control, rational, powerful, directive, in the spotlight, order, organizing
Catalyst: peer, trust, emotionally intelligent, inspirational, collaborative, behind the scenes, ambiguity, connecting

The above really captures my values and approach as the "catalyst" for Kingdom Causes. But I still can't explain this any more succinctly the next time someone asks what a "catalyst" is!

Happy Sabbath New Year!

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted; I got sick and injured during the days following Christmas, and I'm still not 100%. While I was in that time of recovery, this passage from a book on Sabbath by Wayne Muller came to me:

"If we do not allow for a rhythm of rest in our overly busy lives, illness becomes our Sabbath--our pneumonia, our cancer, our heart attack, our accidents create Sabbath for us. In my relationships with people suffering with cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illness, I am always struck by the mixture of sadness and relief they experience when illness interrupts their overly busy lives. While each shares their particular fears and sorrows, almost every one confesses some secret gratefulness. 'Finally,' they say, 'at last. I can rest.'"

The fact that this came at the beginning of the new year was also a reinforcement of this Sabbath lesson as I couldn't just jump out the gate with new ideas, projects and plans. Phone calls weren't made. E-mails weren't answered. I didn't go into the office.

On the other hand, I felt more compassion for those who were sick and chronically ill. I had to surrender the idea that life, ministry, and work is all going along fine without me (at least temporarily). I needed to live within my limits.

I hope we don't forget to be "useless" regularly this New Year!