Gilbert, Author at Gilbert Thurston

Inside Today’s Experiences

June 21, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Great to be back after two weeks away.
Nice to be able to ease back into things thanks to our One Prayer series.
It’s amazing that modern technology allows us to participate with thousands of other churches in a joint series.
Great to hear everyone laughing and participating as Steven Furtick preached the message.
Everything ran pretty smoothly today which is also a nice way to get back into things.
9:15 was pretty full, while 10:45 was down again…I hate summer.
Thought the band did a great job today.
Loved Furtick’s message…it really gave good perspective on how big God is and how small our problems are.
Again I really enjoy this series…hope you are as much as I am.
To all the dad’s out there…Happy Father’s Day!

What If You Stopped Believing In God?

June 20, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Imagine that today or tomorrow you just suddenly decided that you no longer believe in God. It would come as a shock to those around you and maybe even possibly yourself. However, here’s the key question to seriously wrestle with…

“How much different would my life look if I stopped believing in God”?

Seriously take a few minutes and wrestle with that question. Unfortunately I think for most of us the answer would be “not much”. What that indicates is lives being lived in our own power instead of “by faith”.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God“. -Hebrews 11:6

What Does the Enemy Look Like?

June 16, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Yesterday as I got back into the swing of things after two weeks of vacation, one of my break time activities was to catch up on some of my favorite bloggers whom I usually read on a daily basis. Imagine then my shock and surprise when one of the guys announced he was stepping down as Senior Pastor because he had had an affair with his secretary.

Man this hit hard. I first got to know this guy back in the early part of the decade through an online forum that Purpose Driven had at the time and then when I went on staff with them I got to talk with him a few times and was impressed by his passion and vision. His church in the past few years grew to almost two thousand and from all appearances everything was great.

This morning as I was doing my devotions I was reading the story of Adam and Eve being deceived by the serpant. The problem was the enemy was right before them and they didn’t recognize him. If he came to us today in that form we’d recognize him and crush him…but he’s smart and wily and knows better. Paul at one point in scripture says, “He roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour”. Again though if he came in the form of a lion we’d be prepared.

So as I was praying I asked God, “Well then what does the enemy look like”? His repsonse was quite clear…”He looks like the thing you want most that I’ve told you you can’t have”. For my pastor friend, satan came to him in the form of a woman. Now realize not literally, but he desired her and despite God I’m sure many times warning him not to sleep with her or lust after her, he did it anyway.

For him satan looked like the thing he wanted most but God told him he couldn’t have. So what does the enemy look like for you? What thing or person are you seeking to have/get/acquire that you know God doesn’t want you to have? For you that’s satan…Don’t be deceived!

Inside Today’s Experience (Vacation Edition)

June 14, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Again heard through texts and seeing people in person at lunch that you guys had a good day today.

Hope you got a lot out of Francis Chan’s messgae…love that guy.

When I was in Orlando a few months back I got to meet him. (pictured above).

The best part of that day though was the hilarious intro he got.

As for us…today we visited King Street Church, right here in Chambersburg.

King Street is the area’s largest church but until today I had not had the opportunity to visit them.

Unfortuantely I didn’t read their web-site well enough and we ended up at their blended service instead of the contemporary one.

However, that was by far the best blended service I’ve ever seen.

Their 50+ member choir rocked it out.

I guess the thing I liked best about them wasn’t neccisarily their song selection or singing ability but the “attitude” in which they sang.

They were having fun and you could tell they really believed what they were singing.

They had a guest speaker so I wasn’t able to gauge that aspect of their services, although the guest speaker gave a good message on compassion.

One funny thing happened…the lady sitting next to me stole mu bulletin. Don’t think she did it intentionally but I was partially sitting on it so you’d have thought she’d have at least asked.

One other cool thing was seeing that Ryan Payne was playing acoustic guitar, in the background, for King Street’s worship team.

Ryan’s band is really growing and has quite a following and I expect one day they will be signed by a major Christian label. Neat to see hi humble himself to serve.

Reminds me of what Brian Houston, pastor of Hillsong Church, said about Darlene Zschech when she was becoming famous…”She has never forgotten that she’s to still serve in her home church”.

After the service was over I got to meet the Senior Pastor, John Beukema. Seems like a nice guy and I’m proud that we get to partner with King Street and so many other great churches in our area to reach people for Christ.

I’ve said it before an I’ll say it again…It’s not about United or CFCOG, it’s about Jesus and the Church which He died for. I’m glad we have other great churches in our area…we’re not in competition, but partners together.

We meet with Lisa’s sister and her family for lunch at Red Robin. The 4 of them plus Lisa and I all share birthday’s within about a 40 day period…4 of us within 11 days…so this turned out to be our birthday meal.

Funny thing was Lisa and Gayle were texting each other while we were there. I look up and over in the corner were the whole Krull family having lunch. In other words Lisa and Gayle were in the same restaurant texting each other and didn’t even know it.

Of course we had some fun sending her texts about things she was doing and wearing…finally she caught on and realized we were there.

Time for a nap and then our normal Sunday night crew will be getting together.

Vacation is almost done…enjoyed it and for the most part I’m refreshed…can’t wait to see everyone next week!

Inside Today’s Experience (Vacation Edition)

June 7, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Talked with Brian earlier and heard you guys had great Experiences today.

Sounds like everyone reallly enjoyed Craig’s message.

Lisa and I on our way from Atlantic City to the Pocono’s attended Bethany Baptist Church.

They are the 40th fastest growing church in the US and are lead by Bishop David Evans.

His service is seen on TBN from 10-10:30 on Sunday mornings.

No you can’t skip United to watch some week…that’s what they made DVR’s for.

This is a predominately African-American church and one thing I was afraid of was that we wouldn’t be dressy enough.

Sure enough as we pull in, everyone is dressed to the hilt…except for a few people…so we ventured in.

One of the first things we noticed was that all of the ushers were dressed in white tuxedo’s with white gloves.

Wish I could say they were friendly but they weren’t.

You sat where they told you…no exceptions.

Even people that came in late…and by the way…this was a 2 hour and 15 minute service, were squeezed into a pew with others.

You absolutely were not allowed into a closed off section until every pew was full.

I went and checked out their video production studio and met the lady who was running the production for the day.

She and the rest of the TV crew are all paid outsiders.

The service started with the MC leading 5 minutes of clappping….seriously that’s all there was.

Something I found interesting was that there were ZERO songs in which the congregation was asked to sing.

In other words…you sat and watched the entire time.

Now don’t get me wrong…the congregation, which was typical of an African American congregation talked back to the people on the platofrm ALL the TIME.

I like that…wish you guys responded more during the music and message.

After a few songs there was a presentation of kids who are going off to college.

Something I liked was they have a full-time staff person who does nothing but work with kids in the church to help direct them to college.

After another song or two…came the video announcements.

I love video announcements…you can say so much more with them and in a shorter amount of time.

Problem was they had about 7 minutes worth AND THEN…came another 10 minutes of verbal announcements.

This was followed by a skit which was pretty funny except that the sound crew really botched the mircophones.

There were at least 7-10 actors and they had no clue who was on what mic.

Makes me so glad for two things at United…Number 1 that I’m such a sticklier for excellence and number two that we have a team that has caught that vision and week in and week out fulfills one of our core values…”Excellence Honors God and Inspires People”.

Another song and then…

The message.

I enjoyed David’s message on how our assignment is to leave a legacy for the next generation.

A few of my favorite lines:

“You had no trouble asking people to follow you when you weren’t a Christian but now that you are, you’re ashamed and are afraid to talk about Jesus”.
“Don’t try to have the biggest and best house YOU can…make sure that you’re children’s HOUSES are bigger and better than your own”.
“You should work because it’s what God created you to do, not because you need the money”.

The end of the message featured another thing typical in an African American church…the organ player playing a little diddy after every phrase that is spoken.

This of course got the crowd into a frenzy and about a dozen people gave their lives to Jesus at the end.

Hmmmm….what else…oh yeah…they took 3 offerings. Missions…Building…and the normal tithes and offerings.

All in all it was an interesting experience.