Gilbert Thurston

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

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Archives for January 2009

25 More Things

January 30, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

A popular thing happening on Facebook right now is something called 25 Things.  Basically if someone tags you, you have to write 25 random things about yourself and then tag 25 others to do the same thing.  Here’s a link to the first time I did it and I said that if I were tagged by enough other people I’d do it again so here we go…

  1. Looking out my office window here at home I can see Whitetail Ski Resort.
  2. When I was 17 (and travelling as a professional magician, when school wasn’t getting in the way), the famous magician Harry Blackstone Jr. and I had lunch together and he recommended that in a few years I marry his daughter.  The reason is one of the most respected magicians ever (and even bigger than Houdini in his day) was a man named Howard Thurston.  Blackstone thought that a Thurston-Blackstone wedding would create quite a buzz. 
  3. The largest and best dessert I ever ate was with Lisa, Andy and Gayle when we were in Vegas at the Rainforest Cafe.  It’s called the Volcano and between the 4 of us we couldn’t finish it all.
  4. My biggest pet peeve is when you’re getting on the interstate and there is only one other car and they refuse to move over to the left lane to allow you to get on.  Why?!  Why?!
  5. A few years ago I switched over to basically only drinking water.  About once every other month or so I will have a soda or sweet tea or something else, but usually it’s just water…and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made!  Feel much healthier and hardly ever get headaches like I used to.
  6. If I had been born a girl, my parents would have named me Denise.
  7. Lisa and I went to the same high school but never met each other until afterwards even though we were only 2 years apart.
  8. My favorite food to order off the menu is ribs.  If it’s my first time at a restaurant that is what I always try first.  The best ribs I’ve had is a tie between Dinosaurs (a biker bar in Syracuse, NY) and The Rib Crib (in Oklahoma City, OK).
  9. The largest crowd I ever  spoke in front of was 17,000 at Liberty University when I worked for Purpose Driven.
  10. One of the smallest crowds I ever spoke in front of was also the very first funeral I ever performed.  I didn’t know the guy which is always hard.  What made it harder was his sons and daughters hated him…had him cremated (because it was cheapest) and figured they needed someone there to “bless” his ashes before they buried them.  So it was me and a handful of people who hate him.  At the end, the one son took off his baseball hat and took up and offering…guess he figured that’s what you do in a church service.
  11. Before becoming a Christian I was a huge gambler.  I once lost over $1000 in a single hand of poker…for the night I was down over $2000.
  12. My grandfather Thurston owned both a do-nut and pretzel shop in Hagerstown, MD.  Even though the pretzel shop closed well before I was born, I still get asked to this day when people find out my last name if I know anything about pretzels…man they must have been good!
  13. Lisa and I’s wedding ceremony lasted only 7 minutes because Lisa had stage fright and wanted the shortest ceremony possible.
  14. My top 3 spiritual gifts are teaching, leadership and evangelism.  To find out yours, click here. 
  15. My all-time favorite sports star was Cal Ripken.
  16. One of my scariest yet most rewarding memories is of a group of us from the church where I was pastoring at the time, going up to New York City about a month after 9-11 to minister to people on the streets.  Sadly even though it has been a month, there was still smoke rising from the ashes and the smell was terrible.
  17. One of the greatest things I miss about working for Purpose Driven is getting to spend so much time in Southern California where it is always sunny and the temperature is usually in the high 70’s to low 80’s.  I loved it there as well as Seattle, Washington; Autsin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona…I could totally live in any of those places.
  18. I believe that your car should be a “University on Wheels”.  All of us spend so much downtime in the car that if we used it to learn instead of just listen to music, we’d be so much better off.  Not that music is bad sometimes, but with the amount of free podcasts and other teaching tools out there, there is no reason not to spend at least part of your time learning.
  19. My right shoulder after so many years of baseball and then softball is basically shot.  I really should have surgery on it, since it’s painful to throw or to lift any amount of significant weight, but I want surgery like I want another hole in my head.
  20. Today I did one of my favorite things…shop for and buy books.  I picked up six altogether.  A Whack on the Side of the Head (creativity), The Big Idea (church leadership), Purple Cow (marketing), Free Prize Inside (marketing), Tribes (leadership) and Refuel (idea for potential future sermon series).
  21. I have two brother-in-laws both named Brian.  My wife and my aunt are both named Lisa Thurston and our church secretary and the young woman at church who is going to help me with adminstrative tasks are both named Jenny….ahhh this is too confusing!
  22. Between just Lisa and I we currently have 5 computers running right now in the house.  Mmmmm can you say geeks!
  23. I usually start formulating ideas for a sermons at least 3 months in advance of when it will actually be delivered.  The message itself is ideally written 3-4 weeks before I actually give it (meaning I’m always working on multiple messages at a time) with revisions coming the week of.  Between gathering ideas, studying, writing, revising and rehearsing, the typical message has anywhere from 40-60 hours invested in what will typically last 25-30 minutes.
  24. I would love to someday climb a mountain.  The highest I’ve ever climbed was to the summer snow line on Mt. Rainer in Washington state.
  25. This blog post on our site www.unitedworshipexperience.org automatically generates itself on Facebook as well.  I’d love to know where you read this…here is the link back to the post on our site.  Click it and leave a comment about whether you read it originally directly on the site or on Facebook.  You can also leave any other comments about numbers 1-24 if you’d like.  Look forward to hearing from you.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Thursday Thoughts

January 29, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • My back is sore from shoveling.
  • Yes, I’m whining…get over it.
  • Found out today that a friend of mine by the name of Rick is being laid off from his pastoral position at the church where he serves.
  • No…it’s not that Rick…it’s another one…besides RW no longer takes a salary from Saddleback.
  • In any case, please pray for Rick and his family as they transition to hopefully another church.
  • Found out yesterday that another church I greatly admire had to lay-off seven of their staff members.
  • It’s amazing but with all of our growth, we are still seeing higher amounts of money come in!
  • Thank you to all of you who faithfully tithe and trust God even despite the tough economy.
  • One good thing about the snow was I was able to work from home….and without all the distractions (re:  Aaron J) I was able to get a lot of work done.
  • Basically I have a pretty good idea where we’re going with every series through the end of June!
  • I read this morning that President Obama is going with a more relaxed dress code in the Oval Office…YES WE CAN!!!
  • Anybody watch LOST last night?  Although it didn’t dramatically advance the plot, there were still some cool things that happened.
  • Can’t wait for this weekend.  I have a feeling a lot of the 9:15 crowd is going to want to come back for 10:45…you’ll have to be there to see why.
  • Found out we had a guest on Sunday who was checking out what United does so they can incorporate some of it into their church soon.
  • I love that…the more we can help other churches the more the Kingdom will grow which is what it’s all about.
  • Or as we said at PD…”If my bullet fits your gun then shoot it!”
  • Sitting here at practice and there almost done…extra early!   Red Robin here we come! 
  • Filed Under: Uncategorized

    The Christian Writer’s Market Guide 2009

    January 28, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

    CWMG 2009.jpg

    Lisa and I would both like to someday write a book.  Since I think she’ll beat me to it, I asked her to review the Christian Writer’s Market Guide 2009 Edition.  Here’s what she wrote…

    The “Christian Writers’ Market Guide 2009” is the essential reference tool for the Christian writer.  I love it because it’s not a few hundred pages full of opinions and projections.  There’s a simple getting started guide that is important for you to read to get the most from the book, and the rest is up to date research.  It’s a one stop shop for all the current information on the Christian publishing industry.  Whether you are just getting started or a seasoned writer this book is an extremely valuable tool.  If you are just getting started in the writing industry it gives you a starting point.  It gives instruction on how to choose a publisher, and realistic expectations on breaking into the business.  For seasoned writers you have a well organized book as well as a CD to get you up to date in this drastically changing market.  The listing of publishers also includes how to contact them, the name of the editor, a statement of purpose, publishing statistics and so much more.   Along with everything you wanted to know about book publishers, you will also find listings and market analysis for periodicals, greeting cards and specialty markets, and a list of helps for writers such as conferences, workshops, agents, contests and so much more.  Thanks to this book the overwhelming task of getting published has become a feasible step by step process.  If you are looking for resources as a writer I would recommend this book to you.start here.

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    Random Tuesday Thoughts

    January 27, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

    • Have I mentioned how much I hate snow.
    • Decided to work from home today to avoid having to go out in it.
    • I’m getting tons done though so that makes me happy!
    • One of the things we have to be consciously aware of as the church keeps getting larger and larger is to make sure people have an opportunity to get connected into relationships with one another.  So we…
    • Just added the Get Connected event to the calendar so you can start signing-up.
    • This event will be a lot of fun, you’ll meet new people and we’ll offer you opportunities to keep the relationships going beyond just that one night.
    • Seriously last weekend had to be the worst weekend of sporting events in history. 
    • The only thing to look forward to was Maryland playing Duke (but my Terps got crushed) and the NHL All-Star game…except…
    • …Ooops the NHL was only airing the game on the Versus network.  Honestly do any of you actually get that channel?
    • I have with Dish Network what’s called the America’s top 300 package and I don’t get it.
    • Come on NHL that ought to tell you something.
    • Oh well at least LOST started up again last week!
    • I’m eating my lunch right now and Lisa bought imitation Dip-N-Dots from the store.
    • Oooo yuk…just goes to show you that imiations never stack up to the real thing.
    • That’s why it saddens me when people follow the things of the devil instead of the things of God.
    • Don’t know all the reasons why, but the last two weeks I have lost a desire to blog.
    • Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop but I need to get motivated again.
    • Wow read today that a woman in CA gave birth to octuplets (8 babies) last night.
    • I’m really enjoying what’s happening in our church right now!
    • Yeah we are experiencing some growing pains, but I’d much rather that then be worrying about why were not growing.
    • Thanks to all of you for your patience as we continue to figure out how to make a bigger and bigger impact on the community yet at the same time make sure no one gets lost in the mix.
    • You all rock!

    Filed Under: Uncategorized

    Inside Today’s Experience

    January 25, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

    Inside Today’s Experiences

    SSPX0042.JPG
    • Think this is the latest I’ve posted one of these but I’m just now getting home at 10:10PM.
    • Another great day….set another attendance record at 9:15 and overall the numbers were great.
    • The most important number though is 9…that’s the number of people who today prayed to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins and to take control of their lives!
    • Man that never, ever gets old.
    • Wow I was all kinds of full of myself today…especially during the announcement times…even I was wondering if I was ever going to shut up.
    • Anytime though you can slip a Wizard of Oz reference and the phrase “lighting a fire under your butt” into the annoucnements…you know it was an interesting morning.
    • Said both of those things at the 9:15…yet another reason to attend then…you never know what will come out of my mouth before I’ve fully woken up.
    • Even Andy’s son Dylan (9 years old) was on me…he said, “Man Gilbert you went really long today…we were just waiting out in the hallway for you to finish”.
    • Truthfully the new song we did today I wasn’t 100% sure of even after Thursday night’s practice.   But as usual the team pulled it off great and I really got into it.
    • Yes, I do realize that the above means that I had to “Embrace Uncertainty“.
    • Funniest moment of the day occured when Andy’s daughter Hannah wanted to take both of her baby dolls to Sunday School, but Andy said no you can only take one.  She was about to get upset about it when he explained that we needed her in order to help run sound for the day.  So we dressed her up with full size head phones and put a mic in front of her.  Thus the picture above.
    • Aaron at lunch today asked me to say something nice about him in today’s blog…ummm…thinking…”Great comeback on me at the 10:45 about not wanting to worship&q

    Filed Under: Uncategorized

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