Although this was the 29th Annual Event, it was my first.  Four of the others who went had attended previous conferences but our Pastor also had not.

ACS Technologies is the world’s leading provider of church management software and service solutions and our church, Pender United Methodist, uses several of their products.  As the church webmaster, I set up event registration, so I got to go.

This annual ministry ideas and implementation event is one of the largest church management software gatherings in the country, with more than 1,000 church administrators, lay leaders and pastors in attendance from across North America and the world.

“We find that the Ideas to Impact Conference provides us with a tremendous opportunity to connect with ACS Technologies’ staff, developers, and support team,” said Glenn Wood, church administrator for Seacoast Church in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. “It’s also a great way to interact with other church staff and learn from their wisdom.”

The 2016 Ideas To Impact Conference features for the latest tools, ideas and resources to take back to their churches, schools and organizations. With more than 200 classes, organized in tracks, attendees can select the training that best meets their needs in order to help them gain new skills and ideas that are immediately implementable at their church.

“We are excited to announce the 2016 Ideas To Impact Conference will be held in Baltimore next year,” said Marvin Owen, President of ACS Technologies. “Baltimore is a great city and I can’t wait to eat blue crabs with our clients from all over the country. Meeting new clients and catching up with old clients is a highlight for me every year.”

I had a great time with our other church staff, meeting them for meals, wearing our matching outfits, attending some classes.  We also all went out to dinner together at an Italian restaurant and took the Baltimore water taxi to an Orioles game.

On Friday, Tom was going to pick me up at the hotel because we were going to drive to Boston for his brother’s funeral.

While I was waiting, Tom called me and my phone played its usual ringtone of Scotland, the Great.  The woman next to me told me that her father had played the pipes and had been a pipe major.  Small world!

I may add more to this later but I’m playing catch up since there’s another trip next week!

To be continued in the next post…