Darin Avery and I are in Orlando at the National New Church Conference.  We arrived yesterday to the wonderful sunshine of central Florida and no humidity which was a welcome surprise.  We did not register for any of the pre-conference conferences. Could that be classsified as an oxymoron? A pre-conference conference!
Instead of attending the pre-conferences we arrived, we to our motel for check in and the headed over to Cocoa Beach to sightsee and finds a good seafood restaurant.  Here is a pic of Darin at Cocoa Beach..  We hung around the beach and  watched some kids (9-12 year olds) surf.  There was a surf warning, but these kids were locals and were out there catching the waves.
I had never been to a Ron Jon Surf Shop, so we had to go into the one at Coca Beach to see if we could find a souvenier. Lots of stuff in that place and pretty pricey for a t-shirt.  Couldn’t help myself, had to buy one and a shell necklace for my daughter Emily. After driving around aimlessly for forty five minutes trying to find a seafood restaurant, we had to stop and ask a local where we could get some good seafood. The elderly African American gentleman who is a security guard directed Darin to the local Red Lobster. Finally he calls his wife who tells him to send us to Corky Bells in Coca.  After some driving we finally found the place.  It wasn’t anythig fancy, but was in a new building which was clean and bright and there were cars everywhere. The food was great! We ordered a platter for two and it could have fed four. We had to leave some food behind as we couldn’t finish it off.
Today the conference begins and I am looking forward to meeting and networking with other church planters from around the country. Darin and I are in the post launch track. I am looking for tips on how to take us to the next level and what we need to do to begin the process of planting a church out of Bridge Church.
Look for my next update later today.
Jeff