GACHP?! What is that?

I recently received an invite luncheon to a local chapter of GACHP, what? I honestly wasn't familiar with the group and had to Google it! GACHP stands for the Global Association of Christian Hospitality Professionals.

I met President Marcus White, Vice President Paul Sofka, and Dennis Seastrom of Navigator Group Purchasing Inc. along with a number of local and out-of-state hospitality professionals.

Marcus and Paul both come from large churches that see many events each month(First Baptist Orlando also has a school). Marcus is at First Baptist in Orlando where he is the Food Service Ministry Director and Paul at Houston's First Baptist Church where he is the Culinary Service Director. Marcus says they call it Baptist World because its close to Disney World and you may recognize Paul's church as Beth Moore's place of teaching for 29 years! They did an excellent job hosting with Mary Lou who is the Food Service Director in the kitchen here locally at Whitesburg Baptist where the luncheon was held. Sounds like a "baptist only" gathering doesn't it? Nah, its not.

Although several other churches/organizations were represented basically this is a group that would be good for any Christian in foodservice. They are here to help with ideas, resources, materials, conferences, classes, certifications...anything to help further your ministry/career in hospitality.

Dennis GPO, Navigator, represents retirement homes and faith-based organizations with over a billion dollars buying power, yes, BILLION! What's a GPO? ANSWER HERE!

It was a good time to meet new people and make connections.

* I am a long-standing member of CCI (Christian Chefs International) and will be attending their annual conference this year(more on that later). But sometimes people are members of several groups. GACHP is one of those groups where their passion and ministry overlap with CCI.