Dynamite Sunday

Wow – what a great Sunday! Many Catalyst regulars were buzzing about the large number of first-time guests and the high turn-out on a holiday weekend – - myself included!

I credit the efforts of Campus Catalyst in getting invite cards/glasses into the hands of KSU students coupled with individual invites from those who call Catalyst their home church.

If I may be so bold, I’ll make an example of my wife – - Amber has been consistently inviting her hairdresser to Catalyst for over a year now. In God’s providence, today was the day that she tried Catalyst out and loved the personal attention her 19-month-old daughter received at Catalyst KIDS! She said she definitely would be returning next week for our new relationships series – yeah God!

Heading into September, I’m excited to see how the Spirit uses our new 125 facilities (we’re 90% finished!), new talk series, and new worship band additions to reach more people far from God.

Serving our guests will be paramount in the coming weeks. The new volunteer rotation for Sep will be emailed out early this week – - if you’re not already getting personally involved with serving at Catalyst, there’s no better time! Email Chas Ridley for more info…

the125 Inspections Update

Thanks for your prayers today – - here’s the update:

First, we should thank Catalyst volunteers Adam & Karen Boyer and Kyle Konet for wrapping up painting at the125! The colors are vibrant and bring great character to the space – thanks! Additionally, all carpeting is completely installed including floor baseboards.

Overall, city inspectors were very impressed with our rehabbing of the long-vacant 125 space and are excited to see Catalyst help bring life to the downtown district.

The inspections are in-process; our electrical inspection passed immediately, the fire inspector asked us to make some minor changes with our fire extinguishers, and the building inspector had a few minor items he’d like us to change & add before signing all the paperwork – - the biggest money-item being to replace all 3 office windows with specially-cut safety glass.

We appreciate your continued prayers and encouragement as we finish up the125 strongly. If you would like to help defray the costs of these additional work items (the windows alone will cost at least $2,000+ total), online donations to Catalyst Church are welcomed here.

Final Inspections Scheduled for 125

The City of Kent is doing their final inspections of the125 this Friday at 10am. Please be praying for a smooth, problem-free inspection with the City and Fire Department…

KSU Blast Off

Campus Catalyst gave away hundreds of free Catalyst glasses asking new KSU freshmen to give Catalyst a shot at Sunday night’s huge Kent State Blast Off event. Passing out Invite Cards to our September teaching series on relationships, Bringing Sexy Back, are some of Catalyst’s college students who organized the booth. Way to go, gang!

Carpet Complete

All that’s left at the125 are trim work, some painting, and furniture – - that’s it! We want to let everyone know that they are welcome to give a special gift toward much-needed furniture above and beyond your regular giving here.

This Sunday, August 24th, Catalyst KIDS will be open for Nursery and Toddlers. We will also begin using our new Parent Pager System for every family checked in before our 10:30am service. Everything is brand new, clean, safe, and ready to roll!

Andy Sikora @ Catalyst this weekend

This will be a pretty stinkin’ cool Sunday experience.

Yes, I said stinkin’ cool.

Andy Sikora of 707 will be guest teaching at Catalyst.
Andy is stinkin’ cool.

Plus our live, caffeinated band,
free Starbucks in the lobby,
and other hootenany’s.

If you came, that would be stinkin’ cool.

If you invited your Facebook friends to come, that would be doubly-stinkin’ cool.

Congrats, Melanie

Congratulations to Melanie (Ruggles) Williams, who was recently united in marriage to Scott Williams! After a honeymoon through the American Mid-West, Melanie & Scott will reside in Tallmadge and Melanie will jump back into volunteering on the Technical Arts Crew at Catalyst.

Introducing Pagers

As we transition into our new Catalyst KIDS environments over the coming weeks, we will also be introducing new check-in/check-out procedures for all children and parents.

First up are new pagers for parents. These vibrating pagers will add a new layer of security and peace-of-mind for parents checking in their kids. If a parent worshiping at The Kent Stage is needed during Catalyst, their blue pager will simply light up and vibrate as they head back to the125.

Watch for more changes coming to Catalyst KIDS in the coming weeks!

the125update

As you can see from the above pic, floor padding is being installed throughout the125 this week! Walls in Phase Two (the front meeting room) are also being primed and prepared for painting. And to top it off, we secured 2 contract workers to take care of post-demo ceiling work.

This Sunday, Aug 17th, we will repeat our temporary Catalyst KIDS set-up:

NO Nursery

Toddlers (18 months on up) open

NO Elementary.

Thanks for your continued prayers, encouragement, and giving toward this rapidly moving 125 project.

Thanks from a College Student

If you contribute to Catalyst in any way via hours or dollars, take this thank you email from an area college student to heart – YOU are making a difference:

HEY! I need to tell you something.

Thanks for starting a church in Kent. Seriously.