Inside Today's Experience's Archives - Page 8 of 13

Inside Today’s Experiences (Vacation Edition)

August 30, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Gotten a couple of reports and it sounds like you guys had a decent day.
Lisa and I visited Lancaster County Bible Church’s Harrisburg campus.

Got to catch up with their campus pastor, Mike Albon.

I got to know Mike when I worked for Purpose Driven. He is a great guy and doing
an awesome job leading the Harrisburg site.

Mapquest sent us to the wrong place to start with but once we were there, their worship time was very similar to ours.
Their worship leader was incredible…one of the best male voices I’ve ever heard.
Since they are a satellite campus, the teaching time is done via video.
To help make it seem like the speaker is actually there, a huge screen comes down and projects the speaker at life size.
This picture hopefully explains it better…
Interestingly enough, I still ended up watching the side screens with the tighter shot of the speaker most of the time.
Hoping we can add live video on our side screens soon.
In any case, LCBC Harrisburg had great music, a great convicting message and other creative elements that made the service…an Experience!
Afterward Lisa and I went to City Island and walked around for awhile before eventually heading to Red Robin.
Vacation was a blast, but I can’t wait to be back next weekend as we start the Unveil series.
If you or someone you know is trying to figure out God’s will, this will be the series for you.
Even if you have no big decisions to make right now, I will be sharing the process you need to go through any time you need to make decisions, so this series is for everyone!
So with that said…Invite, Invite, Invite…and then go out and invite some more!

Inside Today’s Experiences

August 23, 2009 by Gilbert 1 Comment

From the outside looking in, today looked pretty good, but behind the scenes, it was a rough day.
Pretty fitting though considering that I was preaching about how to go through tough times and grow from it. :)
Despite a lot of technical difficulties, it was still a fun day.
I’m sort of sad that we’re done with the medley’s…they were all a lot of fun!
Don’t know how many people picked up on the Milli Vanilli lip synching gag…oh well at least we amused ourselves.
Brian and Adam’s dancing was about as good as mine….haha!
I thought then that the whole team really pulled it together for Loser.
Brian did a great job of remembering an incredibly confusing song, Adam played the slide on the guitar to perfection and Andy gave Brian some neat effects for the rapping portions.
At the 9:45 I was really flustered by everything that had happened in the morning and then my mic was causing some weird feedback which never happens.
I was disappointed, but I’ve had quite a few people tell me that the message really spoke to them.
At 11:15 then I was able to bring it with a bit more passion.
I was sharing with a few people that if we ever do a series like this again, I’m scheduling it for the winter…
All these wigs and costumes I’ve been wearing are very hot…nothing like wearing flannel today when it’s hot and humid out.
Had some guests tell me that a greeter at the door asked them if they wanted the “smokey and wild” service or the normal one.
Interestingly enough with a description like that, they still chose to come to United.
I forgot to mention at the 11:15 that if you’re interested in helping with set-up or tear-down, we could really use your help. Either put it on a Connection Card or e-mail Tony at thediehls@comcast.net
I’m excited about this up-coming week for two reasons…
- First, Lisa and I will be on vacation in Florida!
- Second, Josh Schlotterbeck is going to finish out the Rewind series by looking at the song Criminal.
Josh is an awesome young man of God and I promise you’ll not want to miss out on what God wants to speak to you through him.
This is going to be big-time salvation message, so if you have friends, neighbors, co-workers or relatives that don’t yet have a relationship with Christ, do whatever it takes to make sure they show up next week.
The following week then I’ll be back with the start to a new series called, Unveil: Revealing God’s Will For My Life.
That’s a question everyone wants to know so I’m excited to share with you how to discover God’s will.
Again there are plenty of invite cards in the back, so invite, invite, invite!
Since I’ll be on vacation, I probably won’t post much, but check back periodically for vacation up-dates.

Inside Today’s Experiences

August 16, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Another great day!
What a lot of fun this series has been and today was no exception.
From a behind the scenes perspective, we couldn’t have asked for a smoother day.
I really love the new song the team did today called, “Arms Open Wide”…a good mix of slow worshipful reflection and driving rock.
Brian is doing an awesome job with the stage sets and this particular one has made his lighting go to another level.
So cool to have Dustin Swartz as our guest guitarist for “Don’t Stop Believing”…only 14 years old…wow!
For those that missed the story, he played it as his audition song for Aaron just a matter of minutes after the creative team meeting in which we decided to use it as a part of this series.
There’s coincidence and then there is God…we definitely thought this was a God thing and so we used him.
Awesome job Dustin…keep using your gift to glorify God!
Even after the wild outfits the last few weeks, today’s made me feel incredibly self conscious.
Maybe because some people still dress like that today and I was embarrassed to be seen like that.
I had a lot of fun with today’s message…talking about video games and the Gospel…does it get any better?
Had 8 more first time professions of faith…that will never get old!
Can’t wait for the Next Steps ministry to start in September.
Speaking of new ministries…in case you missed it, last week we started the “You Matter” ministry and the first task was to provide a week’s worth of food for the Boys and Girls Club of Chambersburg.
Not only did we do that, but we far exceeded it. We gave…
- Enough drinks to last them through November…
- Enough food to last through the winter…
- Enough cash and gift cards to get them to next summer!
This week’s task is to fill backpacks for needy kids and already about a dozen have been filled and turned in…wow! Keep it up.
I met some great new people today and all of them just couldn’t get over how different United was than what they expected from a church.
If I haven’t mentioned it for awhile, let me remind you that I love getting to be your pastor. You guys rock!
I’m really excited about next week…not only will there be a 1990’s medley but I’ll be preaching based on the Beck’s song, Loser.
I’m really, really looking forward to this message…make sure you invite a lot of people.

Inside Today’s Experiences

August 9, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Had a good day today!
Ok any day where 6 people come into a relationship with Christ qualifies as not just a good day, but a great day!
What a fun series as we look back at the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
Again the band did a fantastic job of putting a medley together.
That I got to help by rapping, Parent’s Just Don’t Understand was not only fun, but nerve-wracking.
I didn’t have in-ear monitors, so I had to go off the sound from the house,
but you guys were cheering so loud that I couldn’t hear the beat…got off a
few times, but all in all it was fun to participate.
I’m thinking Andrea was born to do covers of other bands…she again
killed her parts!
Had two new people on the team today and for the first time out, we
threw a lot of stuff at them and they came through…thanks Dan and
Cressa!
I again think that the medley wound people up and by the worship set
you guys were raring to go.
I loved that during the 9:45, there was one point where all our vocalists
dropped out and for about 1 minute it was nothing but the sound of your
voices…and LOUD!
I thought Brian did an awesome job with the song, Everybody Hurts. What a great intro into the message.
I know today’s message wasn’t all touchy-feely, but it was something we all need to be reminded of from time to time.
If Jesus brand was “love” and “compassion”, what makes us think ours should be anything different?
I’m really excited about the new You Matter ministry.
If you want to practically apply today’s message by getting involved helping the hurting in our community, You Matter is definitely the ministry for you to get involved with.
Big props to Scott McCurley for dressing in his best 1980’s costume…wow that was impressive. Don’t forget you can dress the part each week as well.
Next week we’ll again look at the 80’s, this time with the song, Don’t Stop Believing.
Almost hard to believe, but today marks the 1-year anniversary since we expanded to 2 Experiences.
What’s amazing is that one year ago we were blown away by the attendance. In fact we set a record that day.
Today even though we had higher attendance than 1 year ago, it felt like a let down because people are still in full vacation mode.
I’m excited about this series, but can’t wait for the next one when everyone is back and in inviting mode and we see dozens come to Christ each week, not just 1/2 dozen.
You say. “Gilbert can’t you just be content with what we’ve got”?
And the answer is a big fat NO. As long as there are people in our community that don’t yet know Jesus, our mission is not complete.
Join me in making a difference…you won’t regret it!
- Invite someone to church with you next week.
- Help “You Matter” to feed children in the Boys and Girls Club this week.
- Wear your “You Matter” wristband all week and use it to share the good news with others.
YOU MATTER and you can make a difference!

Inside Today’s Experiences

August 2, 2009 by Gilbert 1 Comment

What a great day!
I promised an unforgettable opener to the Experience and I don’t think the team disappointed.
The 9:45 crowd was about to explode our of their seats…the energy was incredible.
If you missed it, you definitely missed something special.
One of our core values is that…”Excellence honors God and inspires people”.
Even the midst of the band covering 70’s music, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up as I saw the team giving their all to God in the hopes that something like that would prepare hearts for what was yet to come.
The band worked incredibly hard and the video plus medley was the perfect start to the series.
Great job by Brian in coming up with the arrangement and I thought Andrea knocked her parts out of the park.
Brian and the stage team did an awesome job creating a new set…definitely one of my favorites.

I think the new times periods worked out great.
I felt so goofy in my 70’s garb and wig, but I was pleased that the fu-manchu grew in.
Gayle as well did a great job in covering “Imagine”…such a beautiful song, too bad as we saw in the message that the lyrics are so unrealistic.
Thankfully though Jesus has a better way…”Love your enemies and pray for those the persecute you”.
I’m also still amazed at how seriously Jesus takes the whole forgiveness thing…in essence…if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.
The energy at 11:15 was completely different…however still a good day!
Right before the first Experience I was in my office and the phone rang. I answered and it was a man (not from the church) asking if he could meet with me ASAP.
- I told him I could meet at 12:30 and he said that was fine.
- When I met with him you could tell he was broken and struggling.
- To make a long story short, after a few hours and many tears, he prayed to ask Jesus for His forgiveness and to be the leader of his life.
- I’m not going to mention the man’s name or his struggles, but if you could generically pray for him and his family this week, God knows who it is you’re praying for.
I told you this story because again there is nothing else in life like helping people discover Jesus.
Yes we had 2 great Experiences and yes I got to be up front doing my thing…but sitting with someone in my office and leading them into a relationship with Christ was by far the highlight of my day!
So who are you inviting next week…again we’ll be doing something special as we look at the 1980’s and I’ll be preaching a message based off the song, “Everybody Hurts”.