Gilbert Thurston

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

Did You Know?

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On this St. Patrick’s Day I thought I’d throw out something perhaps you didn’t know.  Patrick who was born in Ireland eventually found himself living in England.  However, he felt a burden to return back to his native land and preach the good news of Christ.  What he found though when he returned was shocking.  The country was about as pagan as it could be.

Patrick decided that he was going to become a missionary his own country.  Slowly but surely he made a difference.  In fact, he founded more than 300 churches and baptized more than 120,000 people. His ministry made such an impact that he came to be known as the one who “found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.”

So what about you?  What will you be known for when you die?  Will you leave an eternal legacy like St. Patrick, or are you consumed with getting stuff in this world that will eventually, rust, rot or fade away?

People of United…there are still 70,000 people in Franklin County that don’t know Jesus.  People of Exponential…there are over 425,000 people that don’t yet know Christ in Harrisburg.  I’m sure when St. Patrick arrived in Ireland, the task at hand seemed large and overwhelming, but he started with one and grew from there.  So who’s your one.  Easter is only a few weeks away…who is the one person that you’re investing in to make an eternal difference?

If You Hate Technology So Much, Then Try This…

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Have seen and read a few things today that made me want to post this…

Often times people complain about the increased use of technology in life (texting, facebook, twitter, etc.) and in the church (lights, projection, etc.)

It’s on days like this (very hot and very humid) that I want to tell people that don’t like technological advances to turn off their air conditioners.  I’m mean at one point AC was the latest and greatest but now is pretty common place.  The key to technology in my eyes is this…Is it a tool or a toy?

To me texting is easier than sending a letter(tool).  Facebook allows me to keep up on the latest and greatest in the people’s lives that I’m called to (lead).  Lighting, projection and a lot of the other things we use at United help us to present the Gospel message in a way that reaches people that other churches aren’t reaching (tool).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go downstairs to microwave (tool) my lunch, in my nice air conditioned home (tool) and watch my big screen TV (Toy…definite toy!).

Dress Code: Please Do

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Note:  The Chambersburg Public Opinion is doing an article on how people dress for church.  They are interviewing Earl this morning and he asked me to write up something with some of my thoughts.  Don’t know if any of this will get used or not, but thought I’d pass along for you to get my 2 cents on the subject.


I always tell people that how they dress is greatly dependent on their primary view of Jesus.  If your primary view is that of ruler, King, authority figure, etc., then when you go to his house, you will probably get all dressed up.  If however your primary view of Jesus is that of being your best friend, then you’ll probably dress more casual.

For me personally there are two aspects to it…one is personal and the other is professional.  From a personal standpoint, if I were to visit with our governor or President I would get dressed up.  The reason for that is to be respectful, but mostly I’m doing it for them because that’s what they would expect and possibly require and in some ways I’d be doing it trying to impress.  On the other hand, if I go to my best friend Andy or Bill’s house in a suit, they are going to laugh at me.  To them it’s not about what I look like, but rather what’s going on inside of me that counts.  So for me personally, I don’t get dressed up for church because I choose to see Jesus as my best friend.  It was Jesus Himself in Matthew 23 who condemned the “religious leaders” of His day for looking good on the outside, but on the inside being dead.  I guess my point is Jesus couldn’t care less what you look like on the outside, it’s what’s going on inside you that He’s most concerned about.

Now from a professional stand point, we have a little joke in United that our dress code is, “Please Do”.  One objection that un-churched people often have is, “I don’t have anything to wear so I can’t come to church”.  I’ve had quite a few stories from people who said they were able to share, “Well our pastor usually wears jeans and a t-shirt to preach in so as long as you have something like that, you’ll fit right in”.  In the same way I’ve had new people tell me how comfortable it made them feel and how much more relatable I was because of the casual environment.  The apostle Paul said, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some”.  So for me if dressing casually will help remove barriers that might be keeping people from coming into a relationship with Jesus then I’m all for it.

Tag Team Effort

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I grew up in the midst of the WWF’s (now WWE) heyday.  Guys like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, the Iron Shiek and Rowdy Roddy Piper were bigger than life both literally and figuratively.  But it was the tag-team events that I truly loved…the British Bulldogs were my favorites.

The reason I bring this up is the way we do United is much the same…the tag-team part that is, not all the other stuff.  I mean it’s pretty obvious that the words steroids and Gilbert Thurston have never been used in the same sentence until now. 

You see when you walk through the doors you are in essence tagging me, the worship team and our creative team saying…”You do your part to make sure me and my friends have an Experience with God today”.  And then when you leave we tag you saying, “Go out into the community and be bold enough to invite someone to come back with you again next week”.

We have an amazing partnership in this way and I just want to encourage you to do your part.  This weekend’s message about alcohol is an easy one to invite people to…and as you saw last weekend, we’ll do our part to create an Experience that people will never forgot, but more importantly will be life-changing.

We’re working hard right now to make sure Sunday is memorable…are you doing your part?

“Mystery Shopper” Visits United

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Late last night I was searching for any new health information on the status of Gilbert Arenas who plays for the Wizards…yes I’m a Wizards fan…let’s move on.

In any case, searchng for stuff for him made me think, “It’s been awhile since I googled, ‘Gilbert Thurston’ so I should do so to see what the latest and greatest (in some cases gripes) about me are on the internet”.  Apparently it’s been at least 1 year since I last did it because I found out that a mystery guest from “Church Visit” had paid us a visit in February of 2008 during our 3 Wise Monkeys series. 

I had heard of these guys before…they hire a person in various communities to “mystery shop” churches and then write up a review so guests can get a glimpse into what they might experience in a church before actually attending.

With a sense of nervousness I began reading our review.  Wow you couldn’t have asked for much better.  And it’s not like this guy is afraid to speak the truth either.  He has now reviewed about a dozen churches in the Chambersburg area and he is sometimes even more brutally honest than I am.  You can read the others in the blog archive on the right hand side of his site.

Way to go United and everyone else in CFCOG!  As I said this past week it takes all of us doing our part to make United truly an Experience.  Keep up the great work!