T4G: Making New Friends in the Gospel

I posted earlier on a number of guys I was able to re-connect with at T4G. Here are some musings on men I was blessed to meet for the first time...

Tom met us at the airport to drive us to the Band of Bloggers meeting. I have totally blanked on Tom's last name, which is a shame since he is a great guy. He has been with C.J. at Covenant Life pretty much since "before the beginning" and now works conferences like this while not at his FAA job. He was one of myriad of incredible servants...

Timmy Brister organized the Band of Bloggers meeting, then drove Challies and I around for 4 hours after the conference and before our flight home. He, too, was a mighty servant! I mean, it takes a lot of patience to stand around a Border's Bookstore while two Dad's scan for the cheapest presents to take home for their kids. (Please thank your wife for us, too, Timmy!)

I had met Nathan Fullerton at Ian Vaillancourt's wedding a few years back, but his brother Ryan has always been "just a name." Our meeting was brief (in the line up at a Subway!) but more than pleasant! I was thrilled to get to know this transplanted half-Canuck and look forward to hearing more and more over the years how the Lord uses him at his church.

Terry Staufer is a regular commentor on this site from Alberta and who do you think the very first guy I met in the parking lot of Southern Seminary was?! A kind providence! The Lord crossed our paths many times over the next three days and it was great to get to know him.

Larry McCall pastors the church in Indiana that breifly served as home for my wife's family over 20 years ago! There we were talking, and me thinking, "I know this name" for 5 minutes or so until, BOING, the light went on! "I married little Susie!" Great to meet this faithful pastor.

Then there was Marc Heinrich of Purgatorio fame. Marc was... what I thought he would be - only better. I had the feeling that spending more than 30 minutes at a time with him would get me in trouble. Be sure to fill in your caption of Tim Challies picture on the Purgatorio blog... and just remember that if it wasn't for me he wouldn't have been smiling.

Scott Lamb was a new friend too. This guy seems as tireless as Mohler and will be a huge asset to the new Discerning Reader as an associate editor.

On top of this were the men I would sit with at each session, talk with at breaks, walk (shuffle) with toward elevators and all the other places through the mammoth hotel. It was a delight to meet them all. Presbyterians, Baptists, Independents, Sovereign Grace guys, "others..." it was truly a time of being together for the Gospel!