Inside Today's Experience - Gilbert Thurston

Wow…blown away by today!
First and most importantly, 9 more people prayed to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins and be the leader of their lives!
That’s now 17 people that have crossed the line of faith in just 2 weeks that we’ve been in existence.
To put that in perspective, the average church in America has 1 conversion every 2 years…God is definitely moving in our midst!
Most church plants see a decrease in attendance of 50% on week 2 because all the people that were there week 1 to wish you well are not there any longer.
Today we only had a 30% decrease and most exciting was we only had a handful of well wishers this week which means most who were there are seriously checking us out to see if they want to be a part of what God is doing in and through ExponentialChurch.tv.
So awesome to see and hear of people walking into the Experience very skeptical and walking out excited to be a part of a church for people who don’t like church.
Not sure I’ve seen so many tears of excitement and joy as I’ve seen these past two weeks as people are experiencing God in new and fresh ways.
From the logistical side of things we’re starting to get a routine for set-up but still have a long way to go.
One thing we haven’t yet been able to do is a full run through with the band and all the tech in their place and running the various elements that make an Experience happen.
As a result we’re making a lot of errors that we need to correct ASAP.
However, all things considered, we’re still night and day ahead of where I’ve ever been before after only two weeks, so I just need to be patient and I’m sure we’ll be at the level of excellence that God wants from us sooner rather than later.
One of my favorite parts of the two Previews and now 2 weeks of being up and running is the entire team meeting we have at 9am. It’s so neat to have everyone together, give some vision and direction, then pray together that God use us to make a difference.
Today was especially meaningful because we laid hands on Dan and Jan Krull who left as soon as the Experience was over to head to Buffalo to be with Dan’s mom whom has just days to live. Thankfully she knows Jesus and soon her pain will be over. Please pray for the Krull’s as they travel and spend time with family.
It was great having some new volunteers with us today who just last week came for the first time, but yet felt called already to be a part of helping.
We started the Experience with Papa Roach’s song, “Kick in the Teeth”. It was meant to be a performance song but Bill accidentally had everyone stand so that was a bit awkward but it did give me a chance to explain why we use secular music as a part of the Experience.
The band then kicked into a great worship set, capped off by Gayle’s always awesome version of “How He Loves“.
I then preached about another spiritual Urban Legend, “You Shouldn’t Judge Other People”.
The beginning was a lot of fun talking about the ridiculous looks that people had in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Good thing we all look normal today! :)
I felt good about the message but if I’m being honest I hadn’t planned on asking people to make a decision for Jesus afterward…that was a total God thing in the moment and feeling like I needed to…glad I did…again 9 more people stepped across the line of faith!
After seeing over 300 people do that very thing at my last church, you’d think it would get old but it doesn’t! Every single person is someone God loves and heaven celebrated when that which was lost was now found. Congratulations to the 9 today…looking forward to helping you grow now in that new relationship!
If anybody is interested, let me know and I’ll email you the document we get into the hands of every person who prays to become a follower of Jesus. It’s called, “First Steps” and literally helps them know what’s their next step now that they know Jesus.
All in all a very good day. Can’t wait to do it all over again next week. In the meantime we’ve got a busy week planned including the band playing at a dinner celebrating not only our plant but the 3 others going on in our region as well.
Time for a nap and then who knows what this evening holds…hopefully not a whole lot.
Have a great week…don’t forget to invite someone to hear next week’s Urban Legend…”Everything Happens for a Reason”.

Leave a Reply