Group Leader Spotlight: Lu Bettisch

Working at Catalyst means a few specific things are part of your daily life; cubicles are turned into impromptu ball pits, birthdays are a BIG deal, and every now and then a story will make its way through the office that stops you in your tracks. Stories of leaders who love the Church. Stories of sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, stories that we can’t forget or let go of, stories that have woven themselves into the fabric of Catalyst.

Stories of people like Lu Betticsh.

A year ago, we didn’t know Lu, and Lu didn’t know us. She was busy pastoring a church in Morris, Illinois, meeting with families in times of laughter and mourning, spending time in waiting rooms full of anxiety, and family rooms ringing with celebration. A year ago, Lu was busy planning the trip of a lifetime to Alaska with her husband, Al.

It wasn’t until the dates for their Alaskan adventure conflicted with a different conference that a friend of Lu’s suggested she take a look at the website for our Dallas event.

“Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. It looked like it was for younger people, and I’m… well… not, but I thought to myself that we have a lot of millennials at our church, it’s probably a good idea to go and bring back some ideas of how to reach them and serve them.”

So that January, Lu signed herself and friend up to attend Catalyst Dallas.

 

Two months later, Al was diagnosed with Stage 3 Pancreatic cancer.

 

“Obviously our trip to Alaska was cancelled, and in my mind so was my Catalyst Trip, all I could think was, “I can’t leave him.””

That was that, Lu made plans to cancel her trip to Dallas, and began to let the people in her life know what was happening. The very next day she received a call from a woman in her congregation.

“And she said, “Lu, a bunch of us got together for dinner last night, and we wanted to tell you that you have to go to Catalyst. We’ll take care of Al, you go to Dallas.””

Incredibly, the people of Peace Lutheran Church had rallied together and created an exhaustive schedule wherein someone would be with Al whenever he needed anything, all so that Lu could go on her adventure to a conference she knew nothing about.

Cue flight trouble, cue hotel trouble. Suffice it to say, getting to Dallas proved to be an adventure all of its own, and so wiped out and carrying the worry of everything back home, Lu found herself walking into Catalyst Labs on a Wednesday afternoon with no idea of what to expect.

“As soon as I went into the labs, and began to listen, and see, and feel that this wasn’t just a classroom where I would be talked to, but that these people were here to share, and relate, and challenge, I realized what Catalyst was, that Catalyst was here to lift me up.”

And that’s where Lu’s story is impossible for us to stop talking about, because at the heart of Catalyst is a desire to inspire, champion, and breathe into leaders like Lu, leaders who spend every day giving of themselves.

Life since Catalyst has been rocky for Lu, recently Al’s cancer was moved from stage 3 to stage 4, in her words it’s no longer about curing Al, and more about spending what time he has together. Yet when you talk to Lu on the phone, her voice is unwavering, and her love and care for her congregation hasn’t skipped a beat.

She said that she wants pastors and leaders to know that they are not alone, and that when you spend all of your days pouring out, to make sure that you take the time to be poured into as well.

“I think people forget that pastors are people too, we have lives, we are broken, and we need help. For me Catalyst turned out to not be what I expected, but what I needed.”