Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

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Archives for March 2008

Heaven gains as new memeber…Catherine Elizabeth Daveler

March 7, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

At a little after 11PM last night I got a call from my mom…as soon as I saw her name on the caller ID I knew something wasn’t right.  She told me my grandmother was being rushed to the emergency room with a heart attack.  I immediately jumped in the car and headed down to the Washington County Hospital in MD.

The weird thing is my grandfather had just had major surgery that same day.  When I got to the hospital, I knew she wasn’t going to make it by the way she was breathing.  They wheeled my grandfather’s bed down from the 5th floor so he could lay there beside her and hold her hand.  She was responsive all the way up to the end, but finally went home to be with Jesus at a little after 1am.  Please pray for our family in the coming days, weeks and months as the transition to life without “Mom” (pronounced “mum”) becomes a reality.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of His saints.
                                                                                           –
Psalm 116:15

To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.
                                                                                    
-2 Corinthians 5:8

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Time Change…not

March 6, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Don’t forget that this week we WILL NOT be changing our clocks until after the Experience.  Enjoy the extra sleep!

Article in today’s Public Opinion… no love for United though   :(

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History in the Making

March 6, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Our church is now 158 years old…you can see a picture of every Senior Pastor in the hallway outside the Music and Arts Room. Now some of you might say…”Who cares?” No one remembers those people, many have been dead for years and even our oldest members probably could only name a handful of them.

But they are important…what they did, the decisions they made, the mindset they approached church with…all of that mattered (and matters) tremendously. If they had thought differently, or done things differently … the history of our church might have been totally different, in fact, in might not even be in existence today.

I bring all this up because this weekend the churches leadership team will be meeting to pray, discuss, brainstorm, etc., what the future holds in the next few years for CFCOG. 100 years from now Earl’s picture will be outdated and almost know one will remember his name, however, the decisions we’re making will affect generations to come. In other words, how we’re living out our Christianity, how we’re reaching out to our community and the world, the culture we’re cultivating, the dna we’re creating…it all matters tremendously. We are blazing a trail that people will be walking for decades, maybe even for centuries.

So please keep us in prayer this weekend because what we’re doing and what you’re doing right here and right now is WAY bigger than you or us…we all have a part to play in history…let’s play it well.

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My head is spinning

March 4, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • With everything going on and the weirdest “cold” I’ve ever had to top it off, I’m not quite sure if I’m coming or going.
  • Everything’s great at the new house, but it still feels like I’m living in someone else’s house or on vacation at one of our time shares.
  • It’s frustrating not knowing where light switches are or where to find a fork, or last night searching for at least 20 minutes looking for my cordless drill.
  • For 3+ weeks I tried to work with Comcast to get our TV and Internet package put together.  I made 4 phone calls and they couldn’t get it straight.  On the final phone call they had lost all my information but promised to call me back last Friday…as of this morning…nothing.
  • So yesterday, I decided to go with Embarq’s phone, satellite and Internet package.  One quick call and it will all be installed by tomorrow.  Hurray for Embarq….boooooooooooo….Comcast.
  • So much for Comcast being Comcastic….should be more like Stinktastic.
  • My talk on Contemporary Worship went well yesterday despite my voice still not being back to normal.
  • It’s not that my throat is sore…it’s something deep in my chest that’s keeping my voice from working properly.  However, other than a minor tightness in the chest, I feel fine…no hacking cough…no spitting up phlegm (I know you wanted to know that)…it’s weird.  Oh well I’m weird so why should this surprise me.
  • Finally got caught up on some shows we had missed…LOST was incredible!  Why are we even wasting our time with AI at this point when it’s so obvious that David Archuletta is going to win…I read this morning that the company that produces Idol is already having writers write music for his album.
  • Tonight is small group…it’s been great to hear all the stories that are coming in from groups and especially the leaders of groups about how awesome getting to know each other has been.
  • Just ran the spell checker and the suggestion for Comcastic was Communistic…just saying.
  • Filed Under: Uncategorized

    Inside Today’s Experience

    March 2, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Woke up this morning for the first time in the new house only to discover that week’s of packing, the move itself, paint fumes and big in and out of the cold yesterday had rendered my voice almost completely useless.
  • No problem…not the first time it’s happened on a Sunday morning.
  • It’s amazing what prayer will do and trusting that God will provide a voice when I need it.
  • As usual He was able to take me from almost nothing to fairly clear, but a bit deeper.
  • The team was calling me Barry White but I was always a bigger fan of Luther Vandross.
  • It was nice not having a long commute this morning to church!
  • Great energy in the room today for the music.
  • Great to see Brian stepping out of his comfort zone and leading another song.
  • We’re starting to get a pretty good routine down on Sunday mornings and that is helping make the tech end of things go a lot smoother…I’m a big fan of things running smoothly so I very pleased with the way things are going.
  • How awesome to have 3 young girls sitting on the front row holding up signs professing their love for all things United, but especially for God.
  • I found out later that they actually called their grandmother last night and begged to be able to come today…how cool is that!
  • I didn’t have as much time as usual this week to work on the message, with the move and everything, but I thought it went well, bad voice and all.
  • I love talking about vision and reaching the lost…when I got to that section of the message I knew God wouldn’t let me down voice wise and he didn’t!
  • I can’t get enough of watching the Outdoor Baptism Video from last summer.
  • Having been the one that edited it together, I’ve probably seen it well over 100 times and I still get chocked up every time.
  • As I said, “Life change is what it’s all about.”
  • Speaking of…congratulations to the man and woman who prayed today to receive Jesus into their lives!
  • A huge thank you to whoever invited them to come out.
  • It was worth the risk wasn’t it?
  • Now don’t forget that everyone needs to invite at least 10 people to come with them for the Easter Experience on March 23rd.
  • Gene’s comment during the announcements about the spaghetti dinner being my idea was hilarious.  To find out why and to learn more about our vision to reach 5000 people in the next 5 years, click here.
  • I can see sleep in my future.
  • Please pray tomorrow morning that my voice has returned for the talk I’m giving to a bunch of pastors on Contemporary Worship Services.
  • Filed Under: Uncategorized

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