12 Days of Christmas Devotional Guide
This devotional goes along with our video series running from December 24th- January 4th. Videos may be watched on the ExponentialChurch.tv Facebook page or Youtube Channel.
FAQ’s about Chad’s departure from our staff
Today I announced that Chad will be leaving staff at ExponentialChurch.tv at the end of January. If you’d like to hear my announcement of this news in today’s message, fast forward to the 26:20 mark. For Chad’s response fast forward to the 38:34 mark. Here are a couple of FAQ’s to help you process through the news of this…
Q. Where is he going?
A. Ironically enough to the same church that I left to come to Harrisburg. The Chambersburg First Church of God is continuing to see God move in amazing ways and as a result of that growth they have created a new position which Chad will be fulfilling.
Q. What will he be doing there?
A. Chad’s role will be to oversee all the Discipleship ministries of the church including, Sunday School, Wednesday night programs and Life Groups. There will be other roles in that area that he will also be covering so pray for him that he can handle it all.
Q. Why is he leaving?
A. Ultimately because it’s God’s will. Chad let me know last month that they had asked him if he would be willing to interview for the position. With my blessing, prayer and support, Chad did the interview and not surprisingly they offered him the position. From there it was a matter of he, Tammie and the kids praying and discussing what God might want from and for them. In the end, the decision was to accept the position.
Q. If he was willing to leave does that mean you wanted him to or that there is something going on between the two of you that caused him to want to leave?
A. No. My job as his boss and spiritual leader during a time like this is to pray with and for him and give my input. In our discussions I shared with him what I thought was a balanced slate of reasons to stay and reasons to go. We talked about what was best for Exponential, Chambersburg First, him personally, and his family. We also discussed the negatives to all those. The biggest issue though is what is best for the Kingdom of God overall? At the end of the day the answer was to move on to a new season of life.
As for our personal relationship, I can honestly say that I couldn’t have asked for a better pastoral partner these past 3 years. Getting Exponential up and running has been harder than either one of us thought. There have been times where we’ve wanted to quit but together we’ve kept each other sane. Oh sure, like in any relationship there have been days where we’d get frustrated with something the other did, but those issues would resolve in a day or 2 and honestly were few and far between. Chad and I became friends through all this, will remain friends and will continue working on projects together to advance the Kingdom in any way we can.
Q. Who at Exponential will handle Chad’s responsibilities?
A. Great question and one I’m still processing through. The initial answer is that this will be a great opportunity for many of you to step up and begin serving in new ways. No one person may be able to do all that Chad was doing but if everyone pitches in, we can do it together. Also, this transition is a natural time to re-evaluate how we’re doing all of our ministries. As a result over the coming month(s), I’ll be getting together with many of our key leaders to see what types of shifts we need to make at this time. I value your input, so please email me at gilbert@exponentialchurch.tv with thoughts or suggestions. If you’d prefer to speak in person, we can arrange that as well.
Q. When will Chad officially be leaving?
A. The last Sunday of January which is the 26th. In the meantime, make sure you get together with he and his family to let them know how much we appreciate all that they’ve done these past 3 years. And of course plan on being with us on the 26th as we corporately celebrate their life and ministry!
Thanks for being such an awesome group of people! I hope this blog post has answered some of your questions. If you have any others, please let me know. Remember the best is still yet to come!
Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2013 edition)
For those of you who read my blog…yeah I know not a lot of new content the past year….thinking of starting up again though…in any case,you know that each year I do a list of things that I’m thankful for from over the past year. This is the 7th year I’ve done this list…READY…SET…GO
1. This one never changes…Jesus. 2013, marked 20 years since I became a follower of Jesus. This means now 1/2 of my life has been lived for Him and the other 1/2 for myself/Satan. I can tell you now from equal experience that this 1/2 has been far better than the first 1/2. I’m so thankful that He forgave a real screw-up like me.
2. Another obvious one here…my wife, Lisa. I truly can’t understand people who complain about their spouses. We have for 18 years of marriage now applied what God’s Word says about marriage and every year it just keeps getting better and better. We love and serve one another unconditionally and I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years bring!
3. Family. The love and support of my family has always been tremendous…well my mom did always ask, “When are you going to get a real job” when I was doing magic professionally, but even then she was still supportive. I love them all deeply and I’m so thankful for who they are, who they are becoming and all that they do!
4. Friends. Huge thanks to Andy & Gayle, Bill & Nicole, Mike & Theresa, Steve T., Country, Erin, Claude, Steve H, Bratz, Ken and Vince for making this a fun and memorable year!
5. ExponentialChurch.tv. Big thanks to everyone especially to Chad and Bill who I get to work with closely to try to depopulate hell! To all that attend or have attended in the past, thanks for going along on this adventure called church planting. I know it hasn’t been easy and sometimes I can be a pain in the butt, but know that I love you all and just want to see Harrisburg, our nation and the world changed by the love and forgiveness of Jesus in the same way I and many of you have.
6. My Fitness Pal. Last year around this time I realized I was about 20 pounds heavier than I wished to be. I downloaded this app for my phone and immediately started losing the weight and have maintained my goal weight. As I told others about it, they too began using it and just amongst my friends I know combined we’ve lost over 250 pounds.
7. Not a Fan. This was the best book I read this past year…in fact we ended up doing an entire sermon series based off it. Highly recommended.
8. Workxpress. So thankful we met Treff and that he and Lisa were able to work out an agreement for her to assist with the growth of the company. Big things happened in 2013 that are just scratching the surface…can’t wait to see what’s next.
9. Lots of other stuff but my sister just called…we got disconnected…but I’m sure it was going to be, “When are you getting here, I’m hungry”! So Happy Thanksgiving to all!
My 20th Spiritual Birthday
The picture above was taken a few weeks ago in front of Coral Ridge Church, in Ft. Lauderdale. FL. I had Lisa snap it to commemorate my 20th spiritual birthday, which is today.
In 1962 the pastor of this church began a program that helped his congregation share their faith with others. It quickly caught on an spread to other churches throughout the world. On July 27, 1993, two men (Keith Skidmore and Marvin Bower) who were involved in this program at their local church in Maryland showed up on my doorstep on a hot summer night.
For the first time in my life, someone explained to me what Jesus, Christianity and the Bible were really all about in a way that made sense. Up until then I thought it was about following a bunch of rules but they explained how I could never be good enough to keep all those rules and that what Jesus really wanted was a relationship with me. So right there on the front porch I asked for His forgiveness and leadership and prayed that we could have the kind of friendship that these two men said we could have.
Here we are 20 years later and Jesus has never let me down. He not only became my friend, but my best friend. He’s helped me to become more than I could ever possibly hope or imagine. He’s constantly challenging me to grow in my relationship with Him and others. Most importantly He continues to forgive even when I do stupid sinful stuff that isn’t in my or His best interests.
Having just physically turned 40 last month, I’m now basically at the point where I’ve lived half my life following the devil’s plan for happiness and success and half my life following God’s plans and purposes. Let me say unequivocally that this half has been far better. Yes sin has pleasure for a short time, if it didn’t we wouldn’t do it ;) But if we can take a long term approach and be disciplined to following God’s plan, the joy and the peace of mind that comes with it far surpasses and pleasures that Satan or the world may offer us.
So what about you? If God could take a sinner like me and give me a new life, He can do it for you as well! Want to talk about it? Let me know and I can share what was shared with me 20 years ago today…trust me…you want to here it…it’s both life and eternity changing!
6th Annual Things I’m Thankful For List
Here’s my annual Thanksgiving post. If you’re interested, previous years are here… ( 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
- Jesus. I know what you’re thinking, “He was number 1 last year, and the year before that and the year before that, etc”. Yep and He’ll be number 1 every year. Without my relationship with Him I am absolutely nothing. I don’t deserve anything from Him, but yet each year He keeps helping me and blessing my life more than I could ever hope.
- Lisa. No surprise here either. While God sort of has to love me, Lisa chooses to love me and that love grows every year. She is such an awesome wife! I’m also so proud of her accomplishments. Her business continues to grow and her heart for helping and mentoring others is making a major impact on people’s lives and organizations.
- Stories of life-change at ExponentialChurch.tv. Yes it’s cool that we’ve had over 200 first time professions of faith at ECTV in our 2 year existence, but we’re not called to just make converts, we’re called to make disciples. So when we moved here and started, “A Church For People Who Don’t Like Church”, we wanted to not just give them a cool Worship Experience but a place they could come and connect with God in a real and personal way. Here’s an example from an email I just got this week…
Gilbert,I just want to take this time to thank you. On & off for many years I’ve tried to connect on a deeper level. I would pray for understanding and guidance, would visit different churches, I even joined a church, got baptized & married in the Church. I’ve always been a Christian but not a practicing one if that makes sense. From the first day at exponential I felt a connection. When I listen to you I ‘get it’. It feels as though your sermons are customized just for me. It’s weird. Can’t explain it. Thank you for turning me on to Jesus in a different way. In a way that no one else has. I crave God’s word daily now. I’m not afraid of it. I welcome it, accept it, & try my best to obey it. I feel a greater sense of peace, happiness and confidence. I’m a very quiet person. Not outgoing & not one that likes to be the center of attention. Therefore you would probably never know or hear things about me. But I couldn’t let this go without telling you the effect you’ve had on me over the last year and a half. You have a special gift and I hope & pray that all your dreams and prayers for exponential church are answered. - Family. Lisa and I are very fortunate in that not only do we get along with each others families, but we’re all also very supportive of one another. No matter what it’s nice to know that there’s a group of people who have got your back. Thanks to the Thurston, Simmons, Bish and Gayman families for who you are and all that you do!
- Old Friends. Haha…Andy, Gayle, Bill and Nicole will love being called old! There’s an old saying that says, “You become the people who are closest to you”. With this principle in mind it’s very important that you only allow people into your life who you want to be like…not people that will drag you down. I love these 4 because of their passion for Jesus and to make a difference for Him. I also love that 3 of them are self-employed. I love that Bill set a weight loss goal this past year and lost over 70 pounds. I love that they all model serving and are generous givers of their time and resources. They make me better because of who they are…thank you!
- New Friends. Over the past year guys like, Vince, Claude, Steve, Bratz and Steve have all become new friends. I look forward each week to seeing you guys and hope our friendship continues growing in the years to come.
- My Staff. For years I said that “Church planting is for stupid people” and that I’d never do it. When God did call me to do it, I said there was no way I’d do it without a team. I’m glad I made that decision. This has been one of the toughest and at times frustrating things I’ve ever done. Chad, Bill, Brenda and Chelsea have all been there to help ease the burden and for that I’m so grateful.
- House Sale. Just a few weeks ago we finally closed on our old house in Chambersburg. 2 1/2 years, 2 tenants, $5000 in repair bills, 6 total months of it being vacant and having to pay 2 mortgages later we are now free of it. While we loved that house, the stress of owning another piece of property over an hour away that you’re never sure what’s happening in it was not worth it. Glad to have that chapter of life over.
- Orioles Made the Play-offs. I’m a huge sports fan and having grown up in MD, I love the Orioles, Redskins, Caps, Wizards and both Maryland football and basketball. If you know anything about sports you know that over the past 2 decades that list has not included many winners. So imagine my surprise when the O’s started well and then continued that throughout the summer and into the play-offs…made summer a different type of enjoyable I had forgotten about.
- Audible.com. I am a huge believer that a self-education is far superior to a formal education. I’ve been saying for years that you need to make your vehicle a University on Wheels. A few years back I invested in myself by getting a subscription to Audible.com. For only $14.95 per month I get 1 audio book per month on the subject of my choice. If you want more than that you can buy more at prices that are usually less than the printed version. Basically any book you can get in print, you can listen to it as well. I’ve made the choice to not waste my driving time but to instead use it in a productive way…I hope you do the same!