Gilbert Thurston

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

  • About
  • About

Archives for January 2011

Inside Today’s Experience (vacation edition)

January 30, 2011 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Last night while in vacation here in Orlando we went to Northland:  A Church Distributed for their Saturday night worship service.  Here are my thoughts:

  • Forgot how much I love going to Saturday night worship services…we used to do that at Saddleback…always a great way to end a day.
  • I wanted to visit this church when I worked for Purpose Driven but never got the chance.  The Senior Pastor is Joel Hunter, the brother-in-law of Mark Beeson from Granger Community Church which I spoke at before and visited again this past summer.
  • Interesting that 2 people from the same family pastor 2 of the top 20 largest churches in the US…wanted to see what they did or did not have in common.
  • One of our core values at ExponentialChurch.tv is that it takes all types of churches to reach all types of people…that was very evident seeing Northland’s campus and style of ministry.
  • Whereas Granger and Exponential go for the more cutting edge contemporary side of things, Northland is a bit more traditional in their look, sound and style.
  • Now you may look at the picture on this post and go…that looks pretty contemporary to me, but as our staff was recently discussing, the word contemporary has lost it’s meaning because it now covers such a wide perspective.
  • In other words a lot of churches that pull out a guitar and sing a few “praise choruses” advertise that they have a contemporary service.  On the other end of the spectrum would be churches where it sounds, looks  and feels like your at a rock concert.
  • Nothing wrong with any of those or the myriad of styles in-between.  All that to say that even with the cool tech stuff, Northland probably falls at about a 5-6 on the contemporary scale.
  • Ok…let’s back up and take this from the beginning…
  • Driving in, it was one of the more confusing parking lots to navigate that I’ve ever seen.  Every time I thought I figured it out, I didn’t and so we ended up parking in the back in a grassy area.  Now leaving was a different story.  Because of all the circles, it made it easy for the huge crowd to be able to leave.
  • We walked around to the front…have I mentioned the mid 70’s weather yet on this trip?  Haha…for those of you who keep up with me on Facebook and Twitter you know what I’m talking about.
  • We explored what used to be their old building which is now used for youth, offices, etc.  Neat to see where they were as compared to where they are today.
  • Inside the main building the first thing that jumped out was how nice it looked…think lobby of an upscale hotel or museum.  Dark woods, tile floors, huge paintings on the walls.  Very formal feeling…also noticed that lots of people were dressed up or at least in business casual…guess who stuck out like a sore thumb in their jeans and t-shirts?
  • Before I go any further…let me be clear that we really enjoyed our time at Northland.  Everything was done with excellence although as I’ll note, a few things did make me cringe.
  • Ok back to the lobby…had a very nice Cafe and Bookstore that many people were taking advantage of before the 5PM worship service began.
  • Walked into the main auditorium and WOW!  One of the largest I’ve seen and trust me that’s saying something since I’ve been to most of the largest churches in the US.
  • Love that like at Granger the rear screen is edge blended for the entire width of the stage…so many cool things they can and did do with it.
  • Weird though that the two side screens are literally perpendicular to the stage.   Couldn’t see any other way though without taking away from what they had.
  • Alright now to two cringe things…the service started with 15 minutes of announcements.  I hate announcements and I try to keep them as short as possible, but that was ridiculous and especially as the first thing…after all you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
  • To make it worse  they then had any one that was a first time guest stand up.  Wow that’s an old-school move and even as a pastor I was embarrassed…imagine what an unbeliever who reluctantly agreed to try out church would feel like.
  • Of course I say that as someone who is passionate about using worship experiences as an outreach tool.  For a church like Northland, it was obvious by many things that worship services are more for the already convinced…again nothing wrong with that…just giving you my perspective which is neither right nor wrong.
  • Once the music started …FYI the worship pastor looked like Danny Gokey…it was done with excellence and as I mentioned before, they were able to do some cool stuff with the projection screen.
  • The songs were essentially modernized versions of hymns and some older praise songs but again with fresh arrangements.
  • Joel Hunter’s message was about abiding in Christ.
  • Even though I look at the worship experience with a critical eye when visiting elsewhere, my main mission is still to worship and grow in my relationship with Christ…the message spoke to me in a variety of ways and I’m thankful to Joel for using his gift so God could speak to me.
  • His style of speaking is like that of a wise grandfather just telling stories to make his point.
  • As I mentioned earlier the focus seems to be on those already who are following Jesus because at multiple times he said, “Oh well you all know the story of so and so in the bible”.  Helped to save time, but again an unbeliever would have been very confused.
  • The best part was the response song after the message.  The female vocalist did a tremendous job and Northland’s use of lighting for dramatic effect was perhaps the best I’ve ever seen in a church.  Great job…very moving.
  • That was it…I for fun decided to take the Visitor Card which they handed us when we were standing up to the Welcome Center to see what they did or gave to first-timers.  The answer…nothing.  Just a “thanks for coming”.  Hmmmm…the embarrassment without a “pay-off”…weird.
  • All in all, I can see why this church is popular…excellent worship service and from what I could gather very active missionally in their community and the world.
  • Final verdict…completely different than Granger…bet the Thanksgiving conversations are interesting between Mark and Joel.  Personally I lean more the Granger way, but again, it takes all types of churches to reach all types of people.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Core Values, Granger Community Church, Joel Hunter, Mark Beeson, Northland

Inside Today’s Experience

January 16, 2011 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • The pic on this post is Chelsea leading our kids in worship today.
  • So awesome to see the kids that excited about Jesus.
  • I hated church as a kid so offering something for kids that is fun, relevant, but most importantly points them to Jesus is very important to me.
  • So thankful we hired Chelsea…she’s doing an awesome job!
  • It was funny…I left the main auditorium after giving the welcome and the band was doing 3 more songs.  When I left the crowd was about normal size.
  • When I came back I had to do a double take…where in the world did all these people come from.
  • I saw my dad and said, “Wow late arriving crowd”.
  • I’m not surprised though…late arriving for church seems to happen everywhere.
  • Wonder if people who are chronically late for church would also be late if they had tickets to see their favorite band in concert or sports team in action?
  • My guess would be no…which tells you something, doesn’t it?
  • My friend and coach Vince Antonucci had a different take on this today in his blog.
  • Think there’s probably a middle ground to be found.  Teach people why showing up on time honors people and God (which coincidentally was a part of my message today) but show them grace when they’re not.
  • Ok, now back to the beginning of the day.
  • You know how you sometimes sleep on your arm and it “falls asleep”?
  • Well I woke up today with my shoulder behind me and “asleep”.  Never had that happen before…man did it hurt.
  • Doesn’t help then to go into the theater and have all kinds of heavy things that need to be moved.
  • Thankfully we have an awesome team who keeps getting better and better with getting set-up.
  • Today we did full set-up, warm-up  and a full run-through in 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Wow…when you consider all the equipment and lighting we have to set-up, that’s amazing!
  • I also loved that after our team meeting and prayer time was over a little boy (7-8 years old) came up to me and said, “You forgot to tell them the 3 things”.
  • So cool that he’s heard me instruct the team enough that he picked up on important instructions I forgot to give.
  • Even cooler than he had the boldness to confront me about it.
  • Even better that when I got everyone’s attention again…Kendrick actually gave the instructions.
  • Not sure why everyone applauded when he did it but they don’t for me.  🙂
  • Nothing really out of the unusual as far as today’s Experience goes.
  • Band did great as usual and I felt good about today’s message talking about how to have both someone who believes in you and someone you do the same for.
  • Best part of the day was that 4 more people today prayed to ask for Jesus forgiveness and leadership in their lives!
  • I love seeing that…I’m addicted to lives being changed.
  • Don’t forget that our dinner for parent’s and those interested in knowing more about our children’s ministry is this Friday night at 7pm.  It’s a FREE dinner so come on out and check it out.  You can register here.
  • Also don’t forget that dinners with me will be held February 8, 9, 15, 16, 18, 22 and 23.  Online registration will begin soon, but if you want to get on the calendar before a particular date fills, then email me and we’ll get you registered.
  • Have a great week…I know mine is going to be really busy…so if you don’t mind saying a quick prayer for me, I’d appreciate it!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Chelsea Miller, ExponentialChurch.tv, Gil Thurston, gilbert thurston, Vince Antonucci

Inside Today’s Experience

January 9, 2011 by Gilbert 1 Comment

  • Pretty good day.
  • Started out in the dark with all the wind and cold getting our big signs out.  We have 3 of them that are called Wind Master signs.
  • Ummm…today they were mastered…2 of the 3 actually sheared off it was so windy.
  • Set up went pretty smoothly and we had another batch of new people serving so that’s always exciting.
  • Last week my preaching bible never made it home so I spent quite a bit of time looking for it.  Finally found it in the lost and found at the theater.
  • Was glad to find it but it made me again realize how fortunate we are as Americans.  Many people around the world would do anything for a Bible.  Here, not only do I have a bible, but actually multiple ones, one of which only gets used for sermon delivery.
  • Maybe we’ll do a bible collection this year as a part of our You Matter Ministry this year.
  • Really proud of our entire team…from set-up to actual execution of everything that needs to be done on a Sunday, things are going great.
  • That includes the band who had another great day.
  • It’s weird…even though I’m not a parent, I looked forward to today’s message about raising up the next generation more so than I have any in a long time.
  • I’m praying that people, especially parents, will take seriously the new goal I gave them for raising up a generation of world-changers.
  • Perhaps I was also excited because I knew my little buddy, Chase Bricker was going to being helping me in the sermon.
  • If you want to hear the story of how at age 3 (he’s now 6) he became a Mighty Man of God, fast forward to about the 14 minute mark in the message.
  • His parent’s Galen and Jill said that he’s been so excited since he found out a couple of weeks ago that he was going to get to help with the message.
  • They said this morning he was up earlier than normal and even was volunteering to have his hair done, teeth brushed, etc because he couldn’t wait to make the drive up.
  • He also told his mom that she wasn’t allowed to have her morning cup of coffee because he didn’t want to be late and on the hour long drive up from Chambersburg, he kept telling his dad to pass cars so they could make sure they got there.
  • The entire Bricker family were short-term missionaries with us for the first 3 months to help get us launched and Chase multiple times said that he wanted to be our drummer.  I knew that would be the perfect way to end his time on stage with me…and again who knows what that may spark in him.
  • Big thanks to Steve Kurtz (our drummer) for spending some time answering Chase’s questions this morning and for also giving him his very own set of drum sticks.
  • Chase was told that they best way to practice was on a pillow which I’m sure Galen and Jill will appreciate.
  • Chase wanted his own drum set though and thought his sister’s room would be the perfect place to set it up.
  • Anyway I was pleased with the message even if I did run longer than normal.
  • I hope everyone saw that investing in the lives of kids doesn’t take a seminary education or great bible knowledge.
  • It’s just taking the time to speak words of encouragement and being there for them.
  • So please consider doing a first serve in the ECTV Kids Ministry.  Again as I said…”It’s not a baby-sitting job, but rather a chance to invest in the next generation”.
  • If you’re interested in trying it for one week, email our Director of Children’s Ministry, Chelsea Miller    chelsea@ExponentialChurch.tv
  • Also as I mentioned one of the best ways to make sure your kids have some other people speaking into their lives is by joining a Life Group.  For more info on that email our Pastor of Community and Connection, Chad Chute   chad@ExponentialChurch.tv
  • If you’re interested in the Parent’s Dinner we’re having, click here for more info and to register online. This is an event you’re not going to want to miss.
  • The New Year is off to a great start…so many things are going on that excite me about our future.
  • Check back here and on our Facebook page for other info about events you’ll want to be a part of.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Chad Chute, Chase Bricker, Chelsea Miller, ExponentialChurch.tv, Galen Bricker, gilbert thurston, Haley Bricker, Jill Bricker, Parent's Dinner, Steve Kurtz, You Matter

Inside Today’s Experience

January 2, 2011 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Good day.
  • Decent attendance considering that the first Sunday of the New Year was so close to the actual new year.
  • Technically things went well today…
  • Well ok, the movie music starting during my sermon was not cool, but that wasn’t our fault.
  • Turns out when I edited it out of the message it was only about 50 seconds, but wow that seemed like a long time.
  • Bill did a great job creating the new set for the “I Believe” in You series.
  • He said that any future lettering he does though on his jig-saw will not be in a serif font.  🙂
  • We also needed to use a borrowed projector since ours is still in repair after the Christmas Eve accident.
  • Didn’t really appreciate how good our projector is until seeing another one on the screen today.
  • Great to have Mike Walker visiting.   Mike is the pastor of the Bowmansdale Church of God and no kidding is one of the smartest people I know.
  • I got to know Mike because for 20+ years he was the guy who headed up the Commission which determines who becomes a Church of God pastor and who doesn’t in our region.
  • Let’s just say I’m glad that’s over with and that Mike and I are now friends who both have an affinity for Duke’s Restaurant and don’t hesitate to eat there whenever we can.
  • Man I was pumped up about today’s message.  Really talked about vision and having people in your corner and being an influence in others lives.
  • Great to have Dan Krull come up and share his story of influence.
  • Again as Dan’s story illustrated, you never know who it is that you’re influencing so don’t give up.
  • Hoping everyone will make their goal for 2011 to be able to say like Paul at the end of the year, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ”.
  • Had 1 more person today pray to receive Jesus offer of forgiveness and leadership.
  • Mike and I went to get the signs afterward…wow what a nice day out…and when we got back there was a cop setting next to our trailer.
  • Turned out it was Aaron Hoke’s brother-in-law checking to make sure our trailer is secure.
  • It is and thanks to the theater allowing us to do most of our storage inside, we don’t have to worry about the trailer storing any valuables.
  • Got home to find out our furnace is not working…time to bundle up and snuggle tight with the hottie I mentioned in today’s message.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aaron Hoke, Bill Butler, Dan Krull, ExponentialChurch.tv, gilbert thurston, Mike Sellers, Mike Walker

Top 10 Posts of 2010

January 1, 2011 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Here are the top 10 posts I did in 2010 based on the number of hits they received.

1.       ExponentialChurch.tv Staff Together for the First Time

2.      Review of Preview Experience on 9/12/10

3.      Inside Today’s Experience (Launch Edition)

4.      Sacrifice

5.      25 Years Ago Today…

6.      God Provides!

7.      As Honest As I Can Be

8.      God’s Plans Are Not Our Own

9.      Questions Answered Part 5

10.  A Graphic Sermon

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog stats, top 10

Recent Posts

  • Things I’m Thankful For (2018 Edition)
  • Things I’m Thankful For (2017 edition)
  • Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2016 Edition)
  • The Power of Mini Habits
  • Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2015 Edition)

Archives

  • November 2018
  • November 2017
  • November 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • November 2014
  • August 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • July 2013
  • November 2012
  • July 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • About

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2022 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in