I was unemployed when I went to my first Orange Conference in 2008. While working for my parents while interviewing for my current ministyr position, I saved money by buying Nintendo Wii systems and selling them on Ebay. Eventually, I had enough to pay my way to attend Orange, the week before I began my new role at Gateway. I wasn’t very networked and only met two or three people I’d connected with online. I’d heard of Jonathan Cliff, but didn’t know him well enough to try to connect with him (that was regrettable).

In 2009, I was so excited I was beside myself. I was finally going to get to meet and hang out with people who were quickly becoming close and dear friends. Matt, Gina, Jonathan, Sam and I spent a lot of time hanging out in hotel lobbies, waffle houses and riding all around Atlanta. Dont’ get me wrong, the conference was great, but Orange provided the venue for very important connections that were taking place in my life and ministry that have made me much better as a man and as a pastor. Orange can be that for you as well.

2010 was also a great year. It was a weird year. The five of use (mentioned above) all had stuff going on. Either we had teams with us, we were on new teams or we were starting new mobile app companies. It was still great to be with everyone. In 2010, I really enjoyed the level of networking that increased from years before. The tweet-up was packed out and it was like there wasn’t enough time to hang out with everyone.

Bottom line, my favorite memories of 2010:

  • Uncle Julios and Cheesecake Factory with Sam and Jonathan as we waited for Matt to show up
  • Winning at shuffleboard (can’t remember who I beat, but I’m pretty sure it was Sam Luce because I beat him a lot)
  • Hanging out with Cathy and Corey from my team and Sam and Andy all day Saturday going to see some baseball and having a phenomenal steak dinner (Dont’ forget Sam, NP doesn’t have Saturday night services)
  • Having some really cool conversations with people I’d never met in the bloggers lounge or the tweet-up