Just got back from my trip to Orlando. What a great time!

– My pre-conference workshop went great! Thanks for praying. I really felt like I was able to share some helpful stuff and hopefully save a lot of church planters a lot of mistakes. Thanks to Tadd for the “action shot” of me teaching.

– What I was able to see of the conference was great. Jim Putman did a workshop on connecting people into community that really challenged how we communicate the importance of small groups. We have 65% of our church in small groups. They have 100% participation. The reason is, everything they do is geared towards getting people into groups. I was challenged.

– Wayne Cordiero was a great. He shared some amazing insights and challenged me on some simple truths about prayer and reading the Word. It was great. By the way, I’d love to visit his church in Hawaii.

– I had a great time hanging out with some friends at the conference.

– Gary Lamb was kind enough to buy me a Chick-Fil-a lunch before the conference. Gary is a straight up freak! He’s as authentic as they come. I was really challenged by the couple of hours that we got to hang out. He knocking it out of the park in his town and loves the people he’s reaching. I wish I had gotten some more time with him. I came back to the hotel on Tuesday and my jaw hurt from laughing so much!

– Tony McCullum is one of the funniest people I’ve ever been around. There was a few times I was laughing so hard, I was wishing I was wearing Depends.

– Tadd Grandstaff is a great guy who put up with way too much abuse from all of us. But he hung in there and smiled. If he can put up with that, he just do fine when he launches his church.

– Scott Whitaker is another great guy that I’m just getting to know. I enjoyed watching him introduce subjects just to get Gary riled up! Hilarious!

– Ben Arment has got to be nominated for “Nicest guy on the planet” award. Every time (OK, both times) I’ve talked to Ben, I’ve felt encouraged. It just oozes out of him. Plus, every time I read his blog, he makes me wish I was smarter and more insightful.

– It was great to see Travis Johnson. We’re in a the same city and we both have to go to Orlando to see each other. What’s up with that? I’m going to make it a point to get together with him more.

– I was happy to see Matt Mehaffey, who’s going to be planting a church here in Miami. His worship leader, Alex was in my workshop and it was great to hear about their plans.

– I know I’ve forgotten a bunch of people that I met, but I drove home Wednesday night because I have early meetings on Thursday and I’m operating on 3 hours sleep.