Gilbert Thurston

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

Questions Answered Part 4

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Today I’m continuing answering questions about my leaving United and starting a church in Harrisburg.  Here’s the most common questions I’ve been getting in person this week that I haven’t already addressed.

6.  When will you be leaving? Probably at the end of May or by the end of June at the latest.  I want to do everything I can to help United and CFCOG in the transition so we’re all leaving the timetable somewhat open.

7.  Will you be moving to Harrisburg or commuting? We will be moving as soon as our house gets sold.  If that means I have to commute back and forth to Chambersburg for a few months then I’m cool with that.  We want to get up there ASAP to start making connections in the community so the faster we sell our house the better.  If you know of someone who may be interested, here is the link for our house.

8.  What’s the real story? Certainly something else must be going on for you to just all of the sudden want to leave. Again I don’t want to leave, but I’m just being obedient to what I know God has clearly asked me to do.  As for any other story, there is none.  Like in any church/job, you occasionally have frustrating moments with people, co-workers, bosses, the job itself, but I didn’t have anything nearly major enough that I was even remotely thinking about leaving.  I was just as surprised that God asked me to leave as you were to hear I was leaving.

9.  Do you have a location in Harrisburg for your new church? Yes and no.  We are looking at a couple of facilities right at the junction of I-81 and I-83.  Please be praying about that for us that God will open the right place for the right price.  One facility we are excited about the possibilities but it will definitely have to be a God thing.

10.  So what is this big vision? Ah yeah that…you’ll have to come back tomorrow to get the details…

Questions Answered Part 3

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This week I’m answering questions that I’ve gotten since my announcement on Sunday that I’ll be leaving this summer to start a church in Harrisburg.

5.  Is United going to change much? There’s a couple of aspects to this question.  First, does the leadership want to keep the style as an energetic, relevant, come as you are place for people who don’t like church or have given up on church?  YES!!!!   So the heart of why we do United will not change.  However, will some of the methods change in how to accomplish that?  Undoubtedly yes.  But that’s not a bad thing.  Even in the 3 years that I’ve been around, what United looks like in 2010 and what it looked like in 2006 is vastly different.  If we always just do things because “well that’s the way we’ve always done it”, then that is the same traditionalism that so many of us rejected as kids as boring and irrelevant to our lives.

Second, no matter how much the leadership wants things to basically stay the same, your next pastor will thankfully for him not be a Gilbert clone.  Your new pastor will bring in new ideas and a vision for how to accomplish the overall tasks he will be called to do.  Some things you’ll like better, some things you’ll hate (because none of us like change) however the key will be to give this new person 100% support.  I guarantee you that things will change, but what hasn’t changed is God.  He is still in control and with His leading, your new pastor’s leadership and your continuing support of United and CFCOG, I have no doubt that even greater things are in store for you.


Questions Answered Part 2

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Today I’m continuing to answer questions after my big announcement this past Sunday.  Today we’ll look at two questions.  One has to do with my plant and the other the future of United.

3.  Can I just come up to Harrisburg each week to your new church? The simplest answer is, “Well it’s a free country we can’t stop you from doing that but…” and here’s where I want to give you some things to consider.  First,  traveling that distance each week will quickly get old.  Second, you know that I’m big on you inviting people to come with you each week.  Do you really think your unsaved neighbors, friends, co-workers and relatives are really going to want to drive an hour each week to get to church?  No, so that’s why you being plugged into a local church is so important.  Also, it’s hard to serve at a church when you live so far away.  So for everybody’s sake it’s better if you remain at United/CFCOG and help the next guy take things to the next level.

Now with that being said, there will be opportunities for you to come up and serve in some short-term missions types of projects.  Some of these will be during the week, others will be on the weekend.  I guess what I’m saying is I’d love to see you help once, at the most twice, per year if you feel led to, but again for everyone’s sake….especially yours, it’s best for you to stay plugged in to the exciting things that are happening right here in Chambersburg.

Now I know for some of you this was not the answer you wanted to hear.  So here is your option.  Pray about actually moving to Harrisburg with us.  Earl, the Elders and myself all feel that if someone is serious enough to make the move then none of us should stop it because it will need to be a God thing working in your life.  What I mean by that is unless you really are a glutton for punishment then no one in their right mind would want to move, find new jobs, choose new schools, make new friends, etc, unless God was calling them to be a part of supporting me and the vision that God has given me to fulfill.  If your seriously interested, I’d love to talk (gilbert@exponentialchurch.tv), but please make sure you’re motivation is to follow God not just follow Gilbert.

4.  Who will be taking your place at United? Again the honest answer is I don’t know.  Today an ad will be placed with the largest church staffing organization in the USA.  Also, I and others have plenty of friends nationally that are a part of relevant ministries and so we are contacting them so they can think through their network of contacts for a possible right fit.  Also we’ll be getting the word out through our denominational publications.  I love what Galen said on Sunday, “Obviously if God is leading Gilbert to Harrisburg, it means He is leading someone else here”.  I do truly believe that and what you can be doing is praying for the hiring team to make the right choice.  That team is made up of people from all demographics of the church but primarily people who call United home.  They will do their best to find someone to take United to levels I never even dreamed of.  Also be praying for whoever that is that their heart would be open to God’s leading as they read an ad or hear about the opportunity.

Ideally within the next few weeks the team will have enough resumes that they can begin narrowing the stack down and actually begin the interviews.  Again ideally we’d like to see someone in place during May so that there can be a brief overlap between their starting and my leaving.  However, I know the hiring team and Council will not rush the process and just bring someone in for the sake of having someone on staff.  Earl and the Elders are committed to having United be carried on as well if not even better than it currently is so if that takes longer, then it takes longer.  In the short-term they may cause some temporary discomfort but in the long-term it will be very beneficial.  If you have any questions about any of this, I know Earl would love to hear from you.  earl@mycfcog.org

Lot’s of Questions

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I’m sure after my big announcement on Sunday the 28th, many of you have plenty of questions for me.  This week I want to take some time to answer some of them.

  1. Why would you want to leave? The answer is I don’t.  From a very selfish standpoint, I’ve got it good at United.  I love the people I work with on a weekly basis and the people I get to minister to.  In addition Lisa and I love our house and I get paid quite nicely to do something I’m extremely passionate about.  However, Jesus has asked all of us to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me”.  The last I checked, cross-bearing means sacrifice.  Jesus before going to the cross prayed and asked God if there was any other way but the cross to fulfill his mission to please do that, yet He said, “not my will be done, let your will be done”.

Ever since God dropped the vision on me for starting a church in Harrisburg back in October, I’ve prayed God if there is another way, please make that clear.  Instead though God has just opened one incredible door after another to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is His will for us.  To move is going to require sacrifice on Lisa and I’s behalf.  Not only will we be moving, but I’ll be taking a dramatic decrease in pay.  More than likely this will mean Lisa will need to find a job.  In addition we’ll be starting all over from scratch what has taken us years to build at United.  Will it be easy?  No.  Will it be fun?  Sometimes.  Will it be hard work?  Yes.  Are we confident this is what God wants from us?  Yes, yes, 100%, yes.  As I said in the announcement, it would be hypocritical of me to have preached for 3+ years that you need to be 100% devoted to God and always be obedient to Him, but yet then backed down when God asked me to do something that required sacrifice.

2.  But why Harrisburg, why not somewhere closer like Greencastle or Hagerstown? There are a number of reasons.  The primary one is because that’s where God told me to go.  As I’ve joked with a few people during this process that have asked me this question…”Jonah didn’t go to the city God told him to go and that didn’t work out to well for him.  So since God clearly told me Harrisburg…I’m going to Harrisburg”.

Also I believe He chose Harrisburg because the vision He gave me is so big and potentially nation/world changing, that it’s going to require a larger city to pull off.  In the coming days I’ll outline more of what He’s calling us to do, but the vision is not to just reach a city, but to help re-ignite our denomination and to ultimately become a training center for churches all over the US to send others for training.  Now obviously there are a lot of other large cities that God could have called us to, but I think He chose Harrisburg because it is the birthplace of our denomination, and there are a lot of strategic alliances/resources already in place in that area that will make the vision much more likely to succeed.

Lastly, my desire is to do nothing that will in any way hurt the United Worship Experience or Chambersburg First Church of God.  Being too close might have done such a thing so I believe God called me to a place that was not so close to be a hindrance but also not so far away that United and CFCOG can’t help me as well as me help you.

That’s enough for today…keep checking back and I’ll answer more questions throughout the week.  If you have one you’d like for me to answer, let me know so that we can make the transition as smooth as possible for all involved.

Inside Today’s Experiences

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  • I’ve been dreading this day for about a month now, but looking back, it turned out great.
  • The biggest reason it was great was that 2 people came into a relationship with Jesus at the 2nd Experience!
  • All in all from the Experience standpoint it was a great day.
  • Had some minor technical issues in the first Experience, but overall things went well in both.
  • I really enjoyed this series on relationships.
  • Glad I bought the props, I think they added a very visual and helpful component.
  • I think my nerves for making the announcement, helped me have bigger than normal energy at the first Experience.
  • The relief of having got the announcement done made the 2nd Experience not quite as lively….sorry guys.
  • As for the announcement itself, a couple of thoughts:
    • First for those that weren’t there, I announced that I will be leaving United in a few  months to start a brand new church in Harrisburg, PA.
    • You can listen to it here.
    • I was nervous but things came out in much the way I had hoped.
    • I was a blubbery mess on Thursday night when I told the worship team so I was concerned about holding it together today and for the most part I did…thank you Jesus for the strength.
    • It was so cool to look out and not only see every chair full but also 4-5 rows deep of people standing all around.
    • My prayer is that one day each Experience would look like that.
    • Your words and support afterwards was greatly appreciated.
  • I’ll be posting more thoughts about United’s future and my future in the coming days and weeks…please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.  Our prayer is that the transition from me to the next guy will be smooth and if I can do anything to help you in that please let me know.
  • Again my love to you all…thanks for being so awesome!