#CAT09 Reflections part 2
This is a continued post about Catalyst ‘09 and the great people that I was able to “lean on”.
Brian Metz-I met Brian at “The Nines” online conference via twitter. He asked the question, “does anyone need a roommate for Catalyst? I wasn’t even sure if I was going yet, but I said “sure, I do!” So we talked, via twitter/facebook. I never even heard his voice until I met him the hotel lobby the night before the event. I LOVE that aspect of social networking. It’s not really complete unless you actually meet the person at some point. Brian was an awesome guy, one that I connected with right away. We talked A LOT about things that we had no fear of talking about, because we were both in non-threatening positions with each other. I was very liberating. I shared some stories about our struggles trying to have kids. He shared about moving to Boston to plant a church, but a year later having to leave it because of a terrible illness in the family. So, by the end of the two nights we spent together in the comfort of our Hampton Inn beds, watching MLB playoffs (read: Red Sox losing), he called me legalistic on some issues, I called him a coward on some issues. But it was all in love, with a goal in mind to build each other up in the name of Jesus.
Brian, I miss you buddy. Glad we could get together and challenge each other! Hope to see you soon.
Brad Ruggles-As mentioned in a previous post, I attended the Blogger’s Meetup at the Loafing Leprechaun on Wednesday night, before the Catalyst event began. Brad was the mastermind of this event with many notable faces there. More important than that was the connection we could make with new people or the face we could put to a twitter account. Brad did a great job with this event, securing 100 spots at the restaurant and putting together some AMAZING Swag bags. I got the new Skillet, Phil Wickham, Kari Jobe, Jason Gray, North Point Live and more CD’s. The Divine Commodity (awesome book, btw), Master Leaders, The God of Guinness, God’s Blogs, were among the book titles as well. My friend made a Swag bag video if you want to see it. I don’t know Brad well, but I follow him and enjoy his creative perspective. You should follow him too. Check his site, linked above and enjoy. THANKS BRAD!!!
More to come, the saga will continue…
-AOD
