The Blogsphere is so cool. Yesterday I met two blogging guys In Real Life (IRL). I had morning coffee with Johnny Leckie of Compass Church and lunch with Mark Batterson and two of his guys, Dave Clark (Media Pastor) and Joel Schmidgall from National Community Church. I was then consumed with projects and meetings the rest of the day and well into the night, so I waited to Blog about this until I had the time to do it justice.

First, Johnny. This is a truly funny man (great dry humor, the best kind) who has had some tremendous life experiences on staff at what I'd call "the typical church". After a couple of interesting circumstances and 11 years serving on the same staff, Johnny was confronted with the realization, to quote him: "I was part of the problem. So we decided to start a new church plant and do it right."

This is, I think, the main motivation for most church plants. Johnny and his bride Leona are reaching a very fast growing area of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex on the far north side of Fort Worth. They're even changing (changed?) the church name from North Point Fellowship to Compass Church. There's a neat story in that, but I'll let Johnny do it justice on his blog.

We only had about an hour or so to meet and chat, so we've now scheduled a new meeting for two weeks from now after I've returned from Nashville where I'll be teaching at the WFX Conference. I'm really looking forward to it, as Johnny is a guy I want to get to know. We'll be meeting again at Lynn's Coffee Shop (a very cool place with four free computers and high-speed internet, two XBOX gaming systems and a PS2 gaming system, plus, of course, good coffee!) in Watauga - my old stomping grounds from my tenure at Harvest Church back in the mid-to-late 90's. If you're in the DFW metroplex, feel free to join us. Just email me (anthonyATanthonycoppedge.com) for directions, as, incredibly, Lynn's doesn't yet have a web page.

I then had lunch at Steak N' Shake with Mark, Dave and Joel. We ate quickly, talked a lot and then took a quick drive over to IBC since I knew that NCC is retrofitting a downtown building into a coffee shop church. IBC is a cool, under-the-radar church that I admire. I describe them as "Starbucks on steroids" for their town hall meeting space area. Cool building, cool staff, cool art.

I've heard a lot about Mark and NCC. The rumors are true: Mark is a strong, affable leader who is as quick to tell a joke as he is to ask a very smart question or make a deeply insightful thought. Dave, his Media Pastor, is also a very sharp dude who's paying attention to the big picture things and detail items that allow them to use media effectively. Joel is a nice guy, but didn't say much. I hope to get to know him better, too.

I thoroughly enjoyed my two Blog-to-IRL meetings! My only regret from yesterday is that I didn't invite Johnny along to meet with Mark, Dave and Joel! My bad, Johnny. Oh, and that I forgot the camera to take a picture of Johnny. I'll do that next time!