Gilbert Thurston

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

Archives for April 2009

Sex, Sex, Sex

by Leave a Comment

Mmmm…got your attention didn’t it?  Just even seeing the word sex so intrigues us.  In fact, I’m guessing that some of you are reading this that don’t normally read my stuff…why is that?  Well it’s simple, God put a desire in each of us to not only love and be loved, but to also express that love to another through the gift of sex. This weekend at the United Worship Experience that is going to be our topic.  Now let me give a couple of disclaimers:

  • If you’re are highly offendable, don’t show up. 
  • We are going to take a humorous, thought provoking, biblical look at what God says about intimacy.
  • I’ve given PG-13 warnings before, but this will be about as close to an R-rated message and Experience that you can get, so if you have children, make sure they are in children’s church, or make sure you are ready to process this information with them afterwards. 
  • Let’s face it, your 10 year olds and up are hearing about sex from their friends and Hollywood already, so hearing about it from their pastor can only be a good thing if you’re prepared to talk to them about it afterwards.
  • Alright with those warnings out of the way, let me encourage you to not only be there but to invite your friends with you as well. 
  • In fact, you probably don’t even have to ask them to come, you could probably just say, “I can’t wait for this Sunday, my pastor is going to be preaching about sex and he’s promised that they are going to some wild and crazy stuff”.
  • At this point you can shut up and they will probably beg you to tell them where there is a church where the pastor isn’t afraid to talk about sex.
  • In case your reading this and wondering will this really live up to the hype, here is a sneak peek at words that I guarantee will show up in the Experience through either the spoken word, video or song. 
  • Sex.  Masturbation.  Adultery.  Lust.  Pornography.  Ecstasy.  Oral sex.  Cleavage.  Homosexuality.  Condom.  Lap Dance.  Aborton.  Foreplay.

I truly believe that God is going to use this message to challenge your thinking in some areas and to ensure that going forward you have the red hot sex life that not only you want, but that He desires for you as well.

See you Sunday!

Random Wednesday Thoughts

by Leave a Comment

  • My talk went well yesterday…thanks for the prayers.
  • Had about 50 pastors and leaders attend and even though I had some tough things for them to hear, I think it was received well.
  • The AC wasn’t working in the room I was in so I was roasting by the time we were done.
  • It was great to have our own Adam Swisher there assisting me with the tech side of things for my presentation.
  • Adam and a few other of the guys from church are actually running all the tech for this conference and using alot of CFCOG’s equipment to do it.
  • This is the 3rd year I’ve been there and it’s by far the best it’s ever looked…not that I’m biased or anything.
  • Funniest thing was right before my breakout and lunch was a talk to the entire group from our keynote speaker, Craig Sider. 
  • Craig kept on giving the same quotes, scriptures and illustrations that I was planning on giving in my breakout…it was like we had the same notes.
  • To top it all off was when he showed a picture of himself skydiving from last year…well guess who else had in his presentation a picture of himself skydiving last year…yep that would be me for those of you playing along at home.
  • Eventually I realized that wait…maybe God is in this and some people that would be attending my breakout needed to hear these truths two times instead of one so I kept it all in.
  • When I got home I spent some QT with Lisa and then watched game 7 of the Caps vs. Rangers.
  • Didn’t have a good feeling all night about the game…they played terrible…but yet they pulled it out in the end.
  • Not only does this mean they advance to the next round, but it also means at least another week and a half of Andy growing his play-off beard.
  • I was supposed to be doing it as well, but one thing after another kept me from letting it grow so now I have to keep shaving because it would be unlucky now to start…not that I’m superstitious or anything.

    • Other Weekend Thoughts…and Beyond

    by Leave a Comment

    First Baptist Orlando

  • Wow sorry I haven’t been able to blog as much this past week or so…things have been crazy.
  • Many of you were following me on Facebook last week, so you’re at least partially in the loop.
  • If you haven’t yet signed-up for a Facebook account it’s easy to do and an awesome way to keep up with all of your friends at United.
  • Had a great trip to Orlando for the Exponential Conference at the First Baptist Church of Orlando.
  • Got to spend time with a few other guys from our region, including Mike Schooley who started United back in 2005 before heading to New York to start his own church.
  • Mike and I roomed together and every night after we’d turn the lights out we’d talk and dream about church stuff for a long time.
  • I told him the last night I was going to miss our “Walton’s Family” chats.
  • The worst part of the trip was when my good friend Chuck Frank had to fly home early because his wife, Tammy, fell and broke her ankle.
  • Please keep them in prayer…it’s going to be a long recovery process and may still require more surgery.
  • I got a ton of great ideas at the conference and can’t wait to try some of them out.
  • The pic above is of their sanctuary.  To try to give you some perspective, there were 3000 people at the conference and almost everyone sat on the floor level.
  • Perhaps the highlight of week was the very last thing.  Not only did Francis Chan deliever a great talk, but the intro that was given for him left everyone…including Francis saying wow!
  • Got to meet Francis then at the airport that day and he was still talking about it.
  • Was finally able to get the interview with Satan video online from the “Finding the One” message.  To watch it, click here.
  • Satan will be making another appearance this week as a part of the message about sex called, “It’s Business Time”.
  • Seriously the entire Experience is something that is going to be talked about for a long time…
  • …we have things in store for you that you just simply will have to be there to believe.
  • For those that can’t make it, the number of downloads I’m sure is going to not just break but shatter every record we have.
  • Tomorrow (Tuesday) I’m speaking for our denomination on how to reach the 18-35 crowd.
  • Please say a quick prayer for me.
  • Night!

    • Inside Today’s Experiences

    by Leave a Comment

    Co-habitation Ceremony

  • Another fun day!
  • I’m really enjoying this series.
  • Wow something happened to the air conditioner so it was HOT!
  • Of all days that I needed a jacket as a prop!
  • Oh well it was worth it!
  • I could tell a lot of people thought it was the real deal…suprise, surprise, surprise.
  • Many thanks to Dan and Sherri Bogle as real life married couple for playing the part.
  • An even bigger thanks to Sherri’s dad for showing up to walk her down the aisle.
  • It’s amazing how humor like the “co-habitation ceremony” can drive home the point.
  • Wow look how short I am as compared to Dan and Sherri in the picture….eeeshhh.
  • The 10:45 was really into things today…
  • I first noticed it during the worship time and then during the message you guys were responding great.
  • Keep it up…I love when you give verbal feedback like that!
  • Had a lot of guests at the reception today…so great to meet so many new people and hear their stories.
  • With the weather getting nicer, United t-shirts are back in high demand.  To get yours, click here.
  • Had a great afternoon and evening…the Caps won their game and we had ribs with friends tonight for dinner.
  • I’ve got a busy week coming up…I’ll hopefully fill you in tomorrow.