Last Tuesday at the Launch Confernce in NYC, I got to have lunch with a guy I've been admiring from a distance for some time now. His name is Greg Rohlinger (www.gregrohlinger.com). He is the Lead Pastor at Palm Valley Church (www.palmvalley.org) in Arizona. I first heard of him through a good friend of mine from Canton, GA - Gary Lamb (www.garylamb.org). Now, I wasn't the only one he was giving time to. I was with some of the key staff members of The Journey (www.nyjourney.com). But I felt honored to be included.

Greg's church is still portable even though they are running 1800 + in attendance each week. He talked like a regular guy - a guy who was blessed to be pastoring a church where God is obviously doing something great! Now, he knows I am not a mega church pastor, but man, he sat there and answered questions and talked to me and the others at the table like a regular guy. I'm sure he didn't think a thing about it, but it made a big impact on me. He also said he would love to get together sometime again for more conversation - and I think he meant it.

Dr. Van Murrell, my New Testament professor in college at Gardner-Webb University was right, you really don't have to be a jackass to be a pastor.

The reason this had such an impact on me is because over the last few months I've met pastors of churches half the size of Palm Valley who think they are God's gift to pastors. Very immature. It is also what makes it hard to learn from churches in your own backyard.

Hey Greg, if you come across this blog, I really appreciated the time and learning last week at Launch! Next time the chicken McNuggets are on me!

jimmy@jimmybritt.com