Gilbert Thurston

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

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Archives for March 2010

Inside Today’s Experiences

March 28, 2010 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Wrapped up the Littlefaithers series today by looking at the story of Elijah.
  • Again I was able to come in a little later…I could get used to that.
  • Had some things today that were sloppy and that always drives me crazy…however for the most part it was a good day.
  • Had a guy at the second Experience that just moved here from Charlotte.  He has been attending Elevation Church.  I told him I’m no Steven Furtick but he came up afterwards and said he’d be back so I guess I didn’t let me down too bad.
  • Had our regions director of church planting, Chuck Frank, in attendance as well.  Heard a few people “lovingly confronted” him about stealing me away.
  • For such a heavy topic, I thought we did good of sharing God’s Word these past few weeks in a way that was uplifting instead of depressing.
  • Can’t wait for next week…EASTER!
  • So who are you inviting?
  • Pray this week that God will open up the hearts of those you’ll be inviting, that He will open up doors for you to invite and that you will have the courage to open your mouth to make the invite at the appropriate time.
  • Invite like crazy this week…let’s pack the place out and see many have their eternal destinies changed!

Filed Under: Inside Today's Experience's Tagged With: Chuck Frank, Easter, Elevation Church, gilbert thurston, invite, Littlefaither Series, Steven Furtick, United Worship Experience, worry

Acts 29

March 25, 2010 by Gilbert 2 Comments

This morning in my personal devotions I finished up reading through the book of Acts.  Every time I do it’s always a wonderful reminder of the hard work and sacrifice that early Christians put in to get the church started and the message of Christ spread.  It’s also a reminder of how utterly useless we are without the help of the Holy Spirit.

However, what I’m always most struck by is the ending…or lack thereof.  If you’ve ever read through, you know that Luke the author goes into great detail for 28 chapters talking about times and places and doesn’t leave any loose ends…until the end that is.  Paul has just been put into a Roman jail and Luke ends by saying, “Paul stayed there for two years bravely preaching about the Kingdom and no one tried to stop him”.  And that’s it!  Done!  What?

Luke how can you leave us hanging like that?  If this were a movie we’d say…”Oh it’s obvious they are setting it up for a sequel”.  Here’s my theory.  There is a sequel called Acts 29 and it covers a period of nearly 2000 years.  It’s still being written and you and I are some of the co-stars.  In other words, Luke intentionally (being directed by the Spirit) abruptly ended his writing because God didn’t ever want us to think the story was done.  Acts 29 is where you and I continue on the work of the early church in making sure the Gospel gets preached throughout the world.  Acts 29 is you and I sacrificing of our time, talent and money so that others might hear the good news of what Jesus has done for us all.

I’ll end with a simple question…Are you off script?

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Acts, church, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Luke (Apostle), Paul (Apostle), sacrifice

David Lee Roth & M&M’s

March 23, 2010 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever heard me preach you know that I will do just about anything to include M&M’s in as an illustration…and not just a few either…pounds of M&M’s have helped illustrate giving and how our emotions sometimes come pouring out of us.  Well I just read an article in Fast Company magazine that had to do with M&M’s and I thought I’d share.

Back in the 1980’s when Van Halen was in it’s heyday, David Lee Roth was known for his wild antics and what we’d call diva like attitudes as he and the band were on the road.  One such diva like characteristic was that the band wanted bowls full of M&M’s in their dressing room.  Wow the nerve of some people right?  Wrong…read on to find out why.

Van Halen toured to many cities every year and when they pulled into a city with 9 tractor trailer loads full of equipment and staging, there was a lot of work for the local promoter and stage hands to set-up.  Van Halen like all bands had a contract with the local promoter of everything that needed to be done in order to ensure a successful and profitable show.  There were many technical points in these contracts like, “There will be 15 amperage voltage sockets at 20-foot spaces, evenly, providing 19 amperes.”  Roth himself said the contract was thick and convoluted but needed to be followed exactly in order to not have technical errors that might destroy the entire show.

So Roth did something quite ingenious.  He inserted in the middle of the contract, Article 126 which said that the bowls of M&M’s backstage for the band must not contain any brown M&M’s or the promoter risked forfeiting the show.  When the band would show up the day of the show the first thing Roth did was go backstage to the dressing room to see if there were any brown M&M’s in the bowls.  If there were not it meant that the entire contract had been read and more than likely each of the other line items were being followed to a “T”.  If they weren’t removed then Roth demanded that every item of every line be checked since the crews were not paying attention to ensure the show went off without any technical glitches.

So what’s that have to do with us.  Simple…details matter.  Whether it’s in life, business or church, paying attention to the little details will go a long way in ensuring success.  So what are the brown M&M’s in your life or organization that you need to take care of today?

Filed Under: Growth Tagged With: David Lee Roth, details, excellence, Fast Company, M&M's, Van Halen

Inside Today’s Experiences

March 21, 2010 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Honestly I wasn’t all that excited about today until I actually got in.
  • As a part of the transition, I’m coming in a little later than normal which is nice…I like…no I love sleep!
  • Brian and the team are doing a great job…I’m leaving you in great hands.
  • Nice size crowd at the early Experience…2nd one is still down in size, although there was great energy at the 2nd today.  Loved it.
  • Have really enjoyed the music the last two weeks…nice selection of some older and newer stuff, along with faster and slower.
  • Loved Andrea on the new song…great job!
  • Had quite a few out of town guests with us today that are friends of mine.
    • Had another big group from Harrisburg down checking us out and eagerly awaiting our arrival this fall.
    • Had another church planter in attendance who I met in San Diego last month.  He’ll be planting in Reading this fall.  Great to reconnect and meet some of his friends he brought along.  Including a young man from Indonesia who is in the US for a year.  He couldn’t stop smiling he was so excited about everything!
    • Had a couple attending who used to attend the church I pastored at in Maryland.  Love them…we were in a small group together for about 2 years and they are a great couple.
  • Today’s message came out alright I guess.  Always amazes me that in the moment God always takes stuff and makes it better.  Wasn’t really liking it until after I gave it in the first Experience.
  • When I was sharing stuff with the creative team a few months ago about this series, they said I always got excited whenever I said Littlefaithers so that why we called the series that.   To hear what that name means, you’ll have to listen to today’s message.
  • I am looking forward to next week…will be sharing a cool story from the bible about a man who allowed worry to overcome him until God knocked some sense into him.
  • Gave some tours of the building today and then took some of the Harrisburg crew out to Moe’s.  Mmmmm…good.
  • Time for a nap as soon as the MD game is over and then back to church tonight for the informational meeting.

Filed Under: Inside Today's Experience's Tagged With: Andrea Miller, Brian Miller, gilbert thurston, Littlefaither Series, United Worship Experience, worry

Random Friday Thoughts

March 19, 2010 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Just got the web-site for ExponentialChurch.tv officially launched.
  • This is the launch team site.  We’ll do another site this summer that will be more geared towards those we’re trying to reach.
  • Everything is happening really fast now.
  • Yesterday I had the final meeting that was needed to officially become a church.
  • Once that was done I signed my contracts and got all the appropriate government numbers, etc.
  • Had a great practice last night for this weekend’s Experience’s.
  • Can’t wait to see what God might do this weekend.
  • Yesterday and today are a sport’s lovers dream and I have seen all of a couple of minutes of games.
  • From what I’ve heard, I think my brackets are busted.
  • MD plays tonight so I’ll definitely set some time aside for that.
  • This is my day off after all..  🙂
  • Just was reminded of how much I love Lisa.  After typing the above she came into my office,  “Are you still working on your day off”?
  • Great to have accountability.
  • So with that…I’m out!

Filed Under: Random Thoughts Tagged With: ExponentialChurch.tv, gilbert thurston, Lisa Thurston, United Worship Experience, web-site

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