After my mother suddenly passed away in 2003 from leukemia, times were a bit tough for my father. He was (and still is) a dedicated family man and missed having someone to share life with. After spending some time focusing on his faith in God and re-establishing his life, he met Linda while dancing at a local casino. For those of you that know my father (or Pa, as I call him)...you know he LOVES to dance.

Pa and Linda dated for a while and soon I received the most exciting invitation of my life. At the end of 2007, Pa and Linda asked me if I would perform the wedding ceremony. Immediately I said "yes", but was a bit nervous since this would be my first wedding as an ordained pastor.

At the wedding reception, I was greeted by the guests who had very encouraging and warm things to say about the ceremony that I preformed. This was a huge relief as I wanted only the best for Pa!

The Exponential Conference is an annual gathering of 3,000 people who are focused on planting new churches. As a missionary, I am VERY passionate about planting churches and think it's important to meet with these "church planters" to help them understand the bigger picture of a global focus.

This conference gave me an opportunity to pull out some of my marketing and event skills from my previous life in the corporate world. I had the opportunity to create signage, commercials, promotional materials, and an exhibit booth. (wow...guess I just can't get away from my marketing roots...haha).

All-in-all, attending this conference was very productive and I made a lot of new connections. Hopefully, by the grace of God, we will see new faces in the Dominican as these new church planters bring teams of people to help the local people.