This post is a synopsis from the first main session with Andy Stanley.  His talk was called "Gaining and Sustaining Momentum."  He hung on 3 words, New, Improved and Improving.  

New: New things always trigger momentum.  People want to check out the new thing, they just do.  New events can be posetive or negative.  They can also cause posetive or negative results.  One time he had in this section of the notes is "Negative circumstances are the fretile soil for a burst of positive momentum."  In organizations momentum can be created by new leadership, new direction, new programs.  These three thing can help you when evealuating something that lack momentum.  This thought hit home with me "Momentum is never triggered by tweaking something old.  it is triggered by introducing soemthing new.  Minor improrvments in something old will not create momentum."  

Improved:  "The new must be a noticeable imporvement over the old."  this must be a signifacant change in order for it to create momentum.  

Improving:  "momentum is sustained thourgh constant imporvement"  He said it's important to build into your system or organization the imporving of that system or organization.  

Momemtum stoppers:  "diengaged leader, overactive manegment, complacency, complexity, a breach of trust"  Complexity hit home with me.  He also said that complexity grows with age.  2009 is our 100 aniversery as a church. the management point hit home too.  We tend to like thing neat and tiddy and he said that there needs to be some messiness for creativity and space for God to work.  [Caordic is a word that's been typed here before I believe, that's what he was after I think.]  

another takeaway was somthing he said about the people that work with us or our congregations.  If people are behaving in ways that we don't like, ask your self, what systems have we created that foster that behavior?    

All in all a good talk.  Andy is on my short list of speakers.  Every time I've heard him speak he's really hit home.  I really apprecaite his openness and honest to share his mistakes and what he's sturggled with.  

On thing I really liked about this format is a Q & A after every talk.  They got to expand or clarify and points that they talked about.  I didn't realize that there were pages in the Catalyst One Day booklet for that too.