Exponential Day 1

I arrived in Orlando yesterday and had to rent a car. This was unplanned, but after discovering that a one-way trip from the airport was $55, I realized that I’d spend more on taxis than I would on car rental, so I’m styling in a Ford Edge. It is very nice, but it lacks get-up-and-go.

I drove to First Baptist Orlando where Exponential is being hosted and walked around, viewing the different ministry booths, picking up free pens, bags, and books. (Yippee!) I also had a chance to visit with several other church planters/new church pastors. The pre-conference intensives were very impressive, but the two that I wanted to attend were full. Bummer.

The full conference starts today, and I’m looking forward to hearing from Mark Batterson (I didn’t know he’d be here!) – he’s the pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

Here are some things I’m hoping to glean from the next few days;

Some new relationships with church leaders across the U.S.

• Fresh insight, encouragement, and wisdom related to our church
• Tools and resources for community development and impact
• Spiritual refreshment
• Personal conversations with some of the guys that I’ve followed for a while