I recently started doing “Conference Notebooks” as a simple way to compile notes from each conference I attended in PDF format. And as a Christmas gift to you, I have compiled some of the notes from key conferences I attended this year and am pleased to share my 2011 Conference Notebook with you.

My 2011 Conference Notebook includes notes from presentations at Catalyst West, ECHO Church Media Conference, Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit, STORY, Catalyst Atlanta and Catalyst One Day. Speakers featured include:

• Andy Stanley
• Dave Ramsey
• Dr John M Perkins
• Christine Caine
• @Jack
• Eugene Peterson
• Seth Godin
• Scott Belsky
• Steven Furtick
• Jon Acuff
• Matt Chandler
• Blaine Hogan
• Bill Hybels
• Andy Crouch
• Patrick Lencioni
• Erwin McManus
• Ed Dobson
• Ann Voskamp
• Jim Collins
• Joel Houston
• Blake Mycoskie
• Mark Driscoll
• Craig Groeschel
• …and more!

In a chaotic world filled with distractions, one of the most important things a leader can do is to be present… to be focused and clear, and to be continually in God’s presence.

Below are some of the key quotes from the two-day conference. Don’t ask me how I picked 37… these were just a few of the key ideas that stood out to me. Check out my entire recap of all of the sessions in my Catalyst 11 Conference Notebook.

• “The more successful you are, the less accessible you will become.” – Andy Stanley
• “God doesn’t tell us to care for the less fortunate, He demands it.” – Katie Davis
• “Greatness is a matter of conscious choice and discipline.” – Jim Collins
• “We live in a culture full of hares; but the tortoise always wins.” – Dave Ramsey
• “Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.” – Andy Stanley
• “Pray with reverence, not half-heartedness.” – Francis Chan
• “Don’t be fair, be engaged.” – Andy Stanley
• “Bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions.” – Jim Collins
• “You need self-control in an out-of-control world.” – Jim Collins
• “Fear in the mind causes stress in the body.” – Mark Driscoll
• “The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change, innovate, or grow; it’s chronic inconsistency.” – Jim Collins
• “Change your practices without abandoning your core values.” – Jim Collins
• “The great challenge is how to marry creativity with discipline so that discipline amplifies creativity without destroying it.” – Jim Collins
• “God’s presence is all that matters.” – Francis Chan
• “All you have is a gift a to give.” – Cornel West
• “When you are out of your comfort zone God can do what only He can do.” – Joel Houston
• “Adoption is a redemptive response to tragedy.” – Katie Davis
• “Courage isn’t about knowing the path, it’s about taking the first step.” – Katie Davis
• “Be an evangelist with your excellence.” – Dave Ramsey
• “Do not let your life, ministry or organization go faster than your resources.” – Dave Ramsey
• “If I could get a transcript of your prayers over the last month, what would be the one thing you kept praying for?” – Francis Chan
• “Start small.” – Blake Mycoskie
• “Make the most out of every single day you have on earth and be thankful for them.” – Blake Mycoskie
• “Fear is not always a sin but it always is an opportunity.” – Mark Driscoll
• “The problem with criticism today is that is instant, constant, global and permanent.” – Mark Driscoll
• “Fear is vision without hope.” – Mark Driscoll
• “Everything may not be OK but if God is with you, you will be OK.” – Mark Driscoll
• “Hatred of injustice is not the same thing as a love for everyday people.” – Cornel West
• “We are who we are because somebody loved us.” – Cornel West
• “We can be guilty of being “in the church” when God is calling us to be “in the city.” – Bob Lupton
• “Teamwork makes the dream work.” – Charles Jenkins
• “The world needs the church that this generation is capable of creating.” – David Kinnaman
• “We can see hope in the midst of hopelessness. We can see peace in the midst of chaos. We have a hope that the world does not have. We can see clearly… that all things work together for the good of them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.” – Priscilla Shirer
• “God has gone before us so we can walk in the future He has for us.” – Priscilla Shirer
• “Try to do for the next generation of church leaders what the previous generation of church leaders has not done for you.” – Andy Stanley
• “Jesus is the hope of the world and the local church is the vehicle of expressing that hope to the world.” – Andy Stanley
• “You job isn’t to fill other people’s cups. Your job is to empty yours.” – Andy Stanley

While an undergraduate student in Houston chasing a career in television, Priscilla began to feel the tug of God on her heart to pursue ministry. An internship at a Christian radio station became the catalyst that God used to turn her heart towards His will. Priscilla began to receive requests to facilitate small Bible study groups and women’s events. Barely in her 20s, she would share simple truths of Scripture to women of all ages, denominations and backgrounds. After graduation, she continued her pursuit of a broadcast career while God continued a passionate pursuit of her heart to conform completely to His will.

For the past sixteen years, Priscilla has been in full-time ministry to women around the world. She and her husband Jerry have founded Going Beyond Ministries through which they participate in conferences hosted in city arenas that draw crowds in the thousands and produce materials to equip Christians for victorious living. She is the author of more than a dozen books and Bible studies including, Discerning the Voice of God, One In A Million: Journey To Your Promise Land, Life Interrupted: Navigating the Unexpected and the latest, The Resolution for Women (release September 2011).

Priscilla is passionate about ministry, but prioritizes her calling as wife and mother above all. Between writing and studying, she spends her days cleaning up after three fabulous boys: Jackson, Jerry Jr. and Jude.

• It’s possible for us to sleep through entire seasons of our life.
• If we’re not careful we can sleep-walk through life.
• We can be there but not really be there… to not be fully present, engaged, or invested in what God has in store for us.
• We can miss out on the gifts that God has for us in our current season of life.
• There are several places in Scripture where people were completely unaware of God’s presence with them in the here and now.
• Jacob – “surely the presence of God was here…”
• People can be with God and not even be aware of it.
• Our lives are filled with interruptions.
• We can have plans for our lives, ministries, families, etc. but life has a way of interrupting it.
• How can we be aware of God’s presence with us in the middle of an interrupted life?
• We don’t want to wake up and realize that we had missed God.
• If He is speaking, I don’t want to miss it.
• If He’s handing out His blessing and pouring out His favor, I don’t want to miss it.

Since joining Barna in 1995, David has designed and analyzed nearly 500 projects for a variety of clients, including Columbia House, Compassion, Easter Seals, Habitat for Humanity, Integrity Media, InterVarsity, NBC-Universal, the Salvation Army, Sony, Thomas Nelson, Time-Life, Prison Fellowship, World Vision, Zondervan and many others.

As a spokesperson for the firm’s research, he is frequently quoted in major media outlets (such as USA Today, Fox News, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and The Wall Street Journal). He is also in demand as a speaker about trends, teenagers, vocation and calling, young leaders, and generational changes.

The son of a lifelong pastor, David has served in various capacities within congregations he has attended, including working with teenagers, teaching, and providing strategic consulting. He graduated from Biola University (La Mirada, California), where he served as Student Chaplain.

David and his wife, Jill, live in Ventura, California, with their three kids.

• David did research to ask why and how young people are leaving the church.
• He went into the study assuming that people were leaving for the same reason.
• They discovered there were three categories that people fall into:
• Prodigal – the person who loses their faith.
• Nomads – people who still call themselves Christians but no longer attend church.
• Exiles – feels lost between the safe Christianity they grew up in and the culture they are called to impact
• Why people were leaving…
• They feel the church is too protected.
• We are one of the most protected, sheltered generations.
• The world is small, everything is closer.
• They want to engage the world but feel that the church is too safe and too small.
• They don’t see people in their churches taking the kinds of risks that they read about in Scripture.
• We’re losing young artist, musicians and designers – they want to engage the world and engage culture but don’t feel we are allowing them to express their God-given creativity in broad culture.
• They felt the church was anti-science.
• More than half of church-going teenagers want to go into careers that involve science.
• They feel many churches are silent or antagonistic towards issues of science.
• Knowing this information helps us rethink and understand people’s spiritual journeys.
• The world needs the church that this generation is capable of creating.
• How do we respond?
• This generation is asking new questions and living in a new culture.
• How do we engage in the spiritual journey of the new generation to ensure the future of our faith?
• How do we show them that the Church matters?

He made his film debut in The Matrix – and was the commentator (with Ken Wilbur) on the official trilogy released in 2004. He also has appeared in over 25 documentaries and films including Examined Life, Call & Response, Sidewalk and Stand.

Last, he has made three spoken word albums including Never Forget, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert. His recent spoken word interludes were featured on Terence Blanchard’s Choices (which won the Grand Prix in France for the best Jazz Album of the year of 2009), The Cornel West Theory’s Second Rome and the Raheem DeVaughn’s Love & War: Masterpeace. In short, Cornel West has a passion to communicate to a vast variety of publics in order to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.

• It takes tenacious audacity to lead a church in today’s world.
• Church leaders are the glue that holds society together today.
• Hatred of injustice is not the same thing as a love for everyday people.
• Love is about going on the offensive
• It pays a price.
• You’re willing to pay a cost that is real.
• Costly grace, not cheap grace.
• That’s what the cross was all about.
• We are who we because somebody loved us.
• Family, church and community help us learn to love ourselves.
• We only have our own life to talk about.
• We have to be true to the love that’s been given us and true to the gift of grace that we receive.
• The blood is what makes us different..
• The benchmark for me of a Christian pastor is the recognition that this world is not your home.
• You are a pupil, you are suspicious of all forms of idolatry.
• Wealth, status, stature, position… all of the things people are addicted to.
• All you have is a gift a to give.
• We have to love ourselves before we can love others.
• People are insecure and immature about love.
• Jesus is love… it’s unconditional, unapologetic and unequivocal.
• The distinctive feature of Martin Luther King Jr was that he was first and foremost a pastor and a teacher.
• He was a civil rights activist and a freedom fighter, but he was a pastor first.
• You are a part of the Kingdom activity in time and space.
• We must always move towards the cross.
• Messiahs are crucified; prophets are assassinated.
• Without Jesus, we cannot make it.

Blake has always had an entrepreneurial spirit; he created five businesses since college. His first was a successful national campus laundry service, which he later sold. Between business ventures, Blake competed in the CBS primetime series, The Amazing Race. With his sister, Paige, Blake traveled the world and came within minutes of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize.

He put this same tenacity for success into starting TOMS in 2006. When he witnessed the hardships facing children in Argentina growing up barefoot, he felt a need to help, and the One for One movement was born. He returned the following year with friends and family to hand-place 10,000 pairs of new shoes on children.

It didn’t take long for the world to take notice; TOMS was officially recognized for its unique approach to business only a year after its beginning. In 2007, TOMS Shoes was honored with the prestigious People’s Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. And two years after that, TOMS and its Chief Shoe Giver were the proud recipients of the Secretary of State’s 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) presented by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton. The award celebrates companies’ commitment to corporate social responsibility, innovation, exemplary practices, and democratic values worldwide.

While running TOMS, Blake also speaks at campuses and conferences all over the country. He is passionate about inspiring people to help make tomorrow better, encouraging everybody to include giving in everything they do, from business practices to everyday decisions. His hope is to see a future full of socially minded businesses, and consumers.

Blake is an avid reader and traveler. He is 34-years-old and lives on a sailboat in Los Angeles. A favorite quote of his by Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

On his book…

• Over the last 5 years he’s learned so much.
• The #1 question he got from people was, “I have an idea, how do I get started?”
• He realized he had not only learned a lot from his experience at TOMS but also from other entrepreneurs
• He wanted to create a “working handbook for anyone who wants to start something.”
• We all want our lives to be significant.
• We want meaning in the work that we do.
• 50% of the proceeds from the book go back to help people make their dreams possible.

• “I’m really bad at being present.”
• There’s nothing worse than being in a conversation with someone that isn’t present.
• Being present means dwelling in Him… His presence matters.
• If God decided to make His presence known, that’s all that matters.
• “…whoever abides in Me and I in Him, He will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing.”
• The one who abides will bear much fruit; if you don’t abide with Him you won’t.
• God’s presence matters
• It’s the Spirit that gives life; not the flesh.
• Psalm 27: one thing I have asked, and one thing that I seek… to dwell in the House of the Lord.
• “If I could get a transcript of your prayers over the last month, what would be the one thing you kept praying for?”
• Was it to dwell in the House of the Lord?
• David strengthened himself in the Lord.
• The enemy knows everything hinges on our connection with God.
• That’s why he works so hard to keep us distracted.
• Abiding in God bears much fruit.
• Hebrews 5:7 - Jesus was heard because of His reverence.
• God does not listen to all of our prayers.
• God does not hear all of our prayers.
• It even says, “God doesn’t hear the noise of our songs…”
• Instead of our fasting, God wanted us to care for the least of these.
• We ask and don’t receive because we ask out of selfish motives.
• If you pray with doubt He will not listen.
• It’s not about “just praying,” it’s about having a posture of reverence.
• Restore your relationships.
• Pray with faith.
• Care for the needy.
• Let your heart break for the things that break God’s heart.
• Pray with reverence, not half-heartedness.
• Are you present enough in your prayer life that God actually hears you?
• In his new ministry, they are adopting apartment buildings in San Francisco.
• People commit to praying 2-3 hours per week for that apartment building.
• They follow-up by going to those apartment buildings and asking them what they need… anything… from clothing, food, etc.
• Then, they ask how they can pray for people.

• It’s necessary to be present.
• We need to be roaring lambs.
• We need to take back ground for Christ.
• We want to be evangelists with our excellence.
• They decided to run their business God’s way.
• You don’t know you have a bad idea when you are in the middle of it.
• It’s important to be present.
• Leadership matters.
• The mechanics that flow out of leadership matter.

After graduation, Katie returned to Uganda, leaving behind family, college, friends, her boyfriend, and the American dream, to teach Kindergarten at an orphanage. As she walked the children home, she was shocked to see the sheer number of school-aged children sitting idly on the side of the road or working in the fields. She learned there were very few affordable public schools in Uganda, and none in the area where she was working.

God laid it on Katie’s heart to start a child sponsorship program, matching orphaned and vulnerable children who are unable to afford schooling with sponsors anywhere in the world. Originally planning to have 40 children in the program, Katie had signed up 150 by January 2008. Today the program sponsors over 400 children.

Shortly thereafter, Katie established a 501(c)(3) relief and rehabilitation organization called Amazima Ministries International. The organization seeks to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the people of Uganda who need it most. In the Lugandan language, Amazima means truth. Also, Katie became a mother for the first time in January of 2008 to three orphaned girls. Describing her new family, Katie shared, “I don’t believe in coincidences and I don’t really believe in accidents. I believe that God has a plan for my life and that these little girls are a blessing from Him.

Katie also reached out to the Karimojong people of the Masese community. The poorest of the poor, and losing their children to malnutrition and starvation at an astounding rate, she noticed their desperate need for nutritious food. She started a feeding program to the community in partnership with a local school, nourishing over 1,600 children Monday through Friday.

Amazima Ministries added community outreach, medical care/training, vocational training, spiritual discipleship, a preschool, and several other initiatives since its inception only a few years ago. Amazima employs a team of 10+ people in Uganda and works in partnership with several organizations to care for the orphaned and poor. Every outreach of Amazima shares the message of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of all.

Katie’s blog Kisses from Katie is visited by over 76,000 unique visitors each month. In October 2011, Katie will release her first book with Howard, a division of Simon & Schuster, chronicling her journey to Uganda and motherhood, and urging readers to say yes to God’s call to care for the least of His people.

Now the mother of 13 daughters, Katie offers, “People tell me I am brave. People tell me I am strong. People tell me good job. Well here is the truth of it. I am really not that brave, I am not really that strong, and I am not doing anything spectacular. I am just doing what God called me to do as a follower of Him. Feed His sheep, do unto the least of His people.”

• God doesn’t tell us to care for the less fortunate, He demands it.
• After a trip to Uganda, she knew that she needed to do something to help children in Uganda.
• With the support of her family and friends, she started Amazima.
• Her organization, Amazima now supports over 400 children.
• Being present means hearing God in the present.
• As a 19 year old girl, she became a single mother of adopted children; today she has 13.
• God is who He says He is.
• As we step out in faith, He’s right there to meet us with the grace, strength, and courage that we need.
• As we are faithful in the little, God is faithful with much.
• Adoption is a redemptive response to tragedy.
• God adopts us… He redeems us.
• Be faithful to what God has put in front of you.
• Courage isn’t about knowing the path, it’s about taking the first step.
• Say yes to God.