- Kicked off the new “God at the Box Office” series today.
- The day got off to a rough start when one of my contacts ripped on the way to the theater this morning.
- So I had to turn around and go back home…not a big deal but it did put me a bit behind.
- Set-up today went fairly smooth considering a new set needed to be assembled for the first time.
- Bill did an awesome job creating a film strip look that covered the entirety of the stage.
- Andy did a great job lighting it all up and creating some new effects we’ve never had before.
- I guess one of the limitations of being in a portable situation is the not being able to see if things will work until you actually get there.
- In my previous church when a series was finished, the set got torn down that Sunday afternoon and the framework of the new set was erected.
- That gave all week to work on getting it just right before Thursday night’s practice where the final bugs would be worked out in preparation for Sunday morning.
- Here there’s a lot more hoping and praying! :)
- All thing considered though the team does an awesome job with the limited amount of time we’ve got.
- Bill Hybels once said that “Excellence is doing the best you can with what you’ve got”.
- I think we’re doing that.
- Big thank to the Regal for donating popcorn for all 4 weeks of the series to us.
- Nothing like doing a movie series and being able to give away free movie popcorn!
- Attendance was way down today.
- I knew this going in because I had 12 of our adults who normally serve on a Sunday morning let me know they wouldn’t be there.
- Add in all their children and right there you’re missing 25-30 people even before you start.
- Most frustrating though was the lack of first time guests for the new series.
- We did heavy video promotion and provided everyone with a minimum of 5 invite cards.
- Hopefully it will pick up in future weeks.
- The band did a good job despite the lack of energy in the room.
- Here’s the video of their cover of “Iridescent” by Linkin Park which is the main song from the Transformers movie we talked about today.
- The video will also give you a chance to see what Bill created for the set.
- I was a bit windy today but it’s something every Christian should listen to and take seriously.
- Hoping people take the 5X5X5 challenge seriously.
- We recognized the 13 who got baptized last week with their custom made baptism certificates…everyone loved them and were telling me where they were going to put it.
- Hope the visual reminder impacts them for the rest of their lives.
- Love hanging out in the lobby afterward talking with people…we’ve got a great group of people that are building the foundation of what we’ll be for years to come.
- Got a really busy week including a conference that 8 of us from ECTV will be going to…hope we’re inspired to go to new levels for God personally and corporately.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Thank you all so much!
- We couldn’t have asked for a better send off.
- The Experiences, party, cards, gifts, plaque, poster, etc all meant so much to Lisa and I.
- We are emotionally exhausted but praising God for the 3 1/2 years we spent together and the awesome send-off you gave us.
- Thanks to Thom Lambert for driving me to church this morning.
- Thanks to Brian, Earl and Aaron for putting together a very moving Experience.
- Loved all the testimonies and the video’s.
- Thanks as well to visiting family members and denominational leaders who came in to be a part of the day!
- Thanks to Chris and Amanda for heading up the party…I’m stuffed!
- Wow, I’m so tired and my mind is swimming so I’m sure I’m forgetting tons of things and people to thank.
- In any case, thanks again for a great day and all the support we’ve received.
- Again we’d appreciate your prayer support. If you’re interested on being on our prayer team, please e-mail to prayerteam@exponentialchurch.tv
- Also other ways you can help us financially and thru short term missions trips can be found at the links.
- I’ll hopefully post some video’s and pics soon, but for now it’s time for a nap and then Lisa and I will be off for a vacation before we start the real work of getting the new church up and running.
- Thanks again and much love to you all!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Wow can’t believe that I just preached my final messages for United.
- I’m sitting in a hotel room up in Harrisburg typing this…I’m drained and could use a nap but we’ve got meetings tonight and tomorrow so I’m pushing on.
- What a hectic day.
- It started out earlier than normal because we wanted to practice the magic trick a few times.
- YES…after 3 1/2 years I finally did a magic trick on stage.
- Keeping with the theme of the day being Iron Man, we made him magically appear.
- In case you missed it, I could see a couple of people were using their phones to record, so hopefully they’ll post it on Facebook or Youtube and then I’ll link to it.
- Thanks for Thom and Brian for their hard work in helping me make this a reality.
- Essentially I took an idea that is usually done for making small things like rabbit’s appear and made it human size.
- Was lots of fun to perform and while I’ve heard some crazy theories on how it worked, no one has come even close.
- Of course the band did awesome as usual covering the Iron Man theme song.
- Also, this morning, our children’s check-in system went haywire and so I was running around checking on things and trying to get hold of our reps down in TX.
- Turns out it was a nation-wide glitch so I wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure.
- Of course when it came time to preach, I was emotional but felt really pleased with my final message.
- I’ve had quite a few people say how much they needed to hear what I shared and would keep me posted in the future as they do whatever God asks them to do.
- I’m always amazed in the differences between the early and late Experience crowds. The early one loved my LOST finale joke. The 2nd Experience just sat there.
- Can’t believe how many parallels there are to Paul’s story as he left the church of Ephesus and my story leaving Chambersburg.
- I’m praying that some of the things like never seeing each other again, my having to undergo persecution and you guys facing spiritual attack do not come true.
- All in all it was a really good day, but I’m glad it’s behind me now.
- Looking forward to celebrating with you next week what each of our collective futures look like and looking back at the past 3 1/2 years. Don’t forget there is a meal immediately afterwards and there will be an opportunity to help support our new church financially.
- Have a great week…still got a couple of minutes that I can catch a quick nap before heading off to my meeting.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Wow I just woke up from my nap…what an exhausting day.
- But another great one!
- Two more people prayed to receive Christ today!
- Pretty smooth day.
- Great to add John Nozzi to the band today and welcome back Karl Hartman on bass for a special appearance.
- Things went well behind the scenes and from what I’m hearing the out front Experience was deeply meaningful.
- It was a lot of fun adding the Pittsburgh Penguins jersey into the What’s NOT Hot Now category.
- Thankfully we had a Pens fan willing to play along although Andy and Gayle had to drive to York yesterday to pick it up…thanks!
- After trying to figure out for so long what national headline to play off of today, I’m glad I settled on the oil spill and where God is at in the midst of tragedy.
- There were some things I said that I know I’ve said before but I had quite a few people today come up afterward and say how impacted they were.
- Guess that just goes to show how the Holy Spirit will speak to different people and different times in just the right way.
- I think the balloons will be an awesome reminder to people of God’s faithfulness for quite awhile.
- Speaking of balloons…I was disappointed that some people chose to snap and squeal them throughout especially the 2nd Experience. Quite distracting but I think the message still got through.
- Adam after the first Experience said to me, “I decided to go to the bathroom before having to go back on stage and when I came back everyone was crying…I was like…what in the world is going on”.
- If you weren’t there and want to know why, listen to the message for the full context or just watch this video. 99 balloons.
- For the full letter I referenced from Eliot’s dad from his blog last week, click here.
- Had some relatives in again today to check out United.
- I told Lisa that it feels like I’m dying and everyone is visiting for the last time.
- One of the relatives was my aunt, Lisa Thurston. Kind of weird having a wife and an aunt with the same name.
- Ask my Lisa sometime about the embarrassing Facebook mistake recently where the two were confused.
- Getting ready to head to friends for dinner…another busy week up-coming…my last sermon at United is now only a week away…hope to see you there.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Fun day!
- We used a live Twitter feed throughout on the middle screen and it was interesting.
- Thanks to all for you awesome comments and for keeping it all clean. :)
- As for me, I felt like a zombie all day…not sure why…had a great night’s sleep…but I couldn’t talk or think right to save my life.
- It got so bad that backstage I tried to tweet about it but sent it to the Mother’s Day tribute instead of the generic one. So when the Mother’s Day part came up in the 2nd Experience, there was one there from me that said, “I feel like a zombie today”.
- Bet a lot of people were wondering exactly what that had to do with Mother’s Day.
- Funniest moment of the day was during the child dedication when the little girl would not let me hug her or her doll…DENIED!
- I was really looking forward to today’s message...wish I could have delivered it better.
- Talked about an important subject that you don’t often hear about…followership.
- If you’re listening and want to see the video we showed at the beginning about the rise of social media, click here.
- We had another potential candidate in this weekend to interview as my potential replacement. Please pray for everyone involved that God’s will be done.
- Very thankful to the leadership of our church for supporting me and ExponentialChurch.tv.
- As Galen announced today, there will be two special Experiences on my final day (May 30th) with a meal then following. Would love to have you attend.
- As well they announced that an offering will be taken to help us get started. You can make a check out to either Chambersburg First Church of God or ExponentialChurch.tv , place it in the special Exponential envelopes then turn it in anytime over the next 3 weeks.
- If you’re interested in giving by credit card instead, click the link and follow the simple instructions.
- As I told the potential candidate this morning…”The best is yet to come for United and CFCOG”…so excited for you guys as well for us as we walk into the next part of this awesome journey He has us on called life.