I just got back from Dallas/Fort Worth yesterday for a long weekend get-away. Man, it was nice. It was the first time my family and I have just gone up to DFW for no other reason than hang out since we moved away almost three years ago. Probably more than any other place, DFW has felt more like home for Sara and I, so it was so good to visit some of our favorite places and see some of our favorite people. After a busy summer and fall, the get-away was much needed.

However, I did take advantage of the time by spending a few hours with various kidmin and ministry peeps. It really hasn’t been since I’ve moved to Austin that I really started to expand my network and there are so many people in DFW now that I’ve connected with that I never knew while I lived there. So, here’s who I saw and what I did.

  • Fellowship Technologies: I met all kinds of people here. It was by far the most action packed two hours of my visit
  • Gary Lindsay and Cindy Metcalf: Gary is the Kids Pastor at Irving Bible and Cindy is at Denton Bible. I met them both in Irving and had a great time connecting. While I was there, I spent about 45 minutes getting to know the student pastor at Irving Bible, David Grant. He’s a great guy!
  • Reagan Hillier of Worlds of Wow: Our paths have crossed on multiple occasions, but I never had a chance to meet him. He bough be a coffee and we had an incredible 90 minute conversation covering ministry, social networking, technology and the best burgers in Texas. I look forward to meeting up with Reagan again, but I can’t help but feel that God’s stirring up some opportunities with Reagan and I.
  • Justin Kendrick: Don’t know him? He’s a young-20’s college student and intern at Fellowship Church. He’s been reading this blog for a while and he sought me out. I love this guy and his passion. I bought him breakfast and had a wonderful conversation with this really cool guy. When I talk to him, I see myself in him. We’re different in a lot of ways, but I walked a similar path at the same age. I know that when I was his age, I craved wisdom, ideas and advice, so I thoroughly enjoyed sharing with him.
  • Miguel Tovar: I took my old buddy Miguel to lunch. I hired Miguel as on of my Children’s Pastors when I was serving at Cross Timbers and he’s one of my favorite people in the world. He’s an incredible guy and a wonderful children’s pastor. I really miss him and serving in ministry with him. It’s always a treat to hang out with him.

Well, that’s just a quick overview of my “networking” time in DFW. I hope to go up again in a few months and meet again as well as meet with others that I missed. I did learn a lot from my various meetings and I plan to share some of my learnings in coming posts. Stay tuned…