Gilbert Thurston

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Inside Today’s Experiences

April 4, 2010 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Just now getting home after a full day of church and family activities.
  • Amazed by today’s Experiences…so awesome.
  • Won’t have the final count until tomorrow but we know of at least 12 people who made decisions to follow Jesus today!
  • Makes all the hard work and spiritual warfare I mentioned earlier this week worth it!
  • Big props to the entire team for working nearly around the clock to make all the elements today so successful.
  • Special thanks to Brian and Thom for the two huge 20 foot truss crosses.
  • Leave it to United…if we’re going to have crosses they will be big and they will have all kinds of cool things they do.
  • Basically loved everything about today…
    • Brian had an idea to do a live countdown with video and light show and it definitely had the crowd pumped more so than the normal countdowns.
    • Thought the roof was going to blow off the place during the first two songs at the 9:45 Experience.  Man you guys were loud and rowdy…just the way we like it.  :)
    • Good laugh playing the Here Comes Peter Cottontail song during the fill out connection card time…hilarious.
    • Loved the Desperate People song…it started the whole tear down the walls theme if you were listening to the lyrics carefully.
    • The Slam Poet definitely kicked things into another gear.  Jesse Fisher is the guy who did it and he is amazing.  I included it on the beginning of the message recording if you’re interested in hearing him do his thing.
    • About 6 weeks ago as the guys pitched me the idea of doing a series called Absolution, all I could think of was someone going into a confessional booth and the wall that separates them.  This led to me having the idea to make Easter all about walls.
    • A few weeks back as I was ready to write the message, the idea then came to put a wall on stage that I could put graffiti on represent my sin.  Then last week I had the idea to tear down the wall and then Thursday night as we were practicing it,  God spoke to me that we needed a cross to be the only thing left standing.
    • Brian had the idea to do the song Tear Down the Walls a few weeks back and the rest as they say is history…from what I’ve heard it was one of the most memorable and touching moments we’ve ever created.
    • I know it was for me.  Seeing my sins written on that wall and then getting to tear it down was very emotional.  At the first Experience I couldn’t help but break down and cry.  At the 2nd Experience I got more physical with the wall and took out my frustration on the wall like it was Satan himself.
    • Long story short…between both Experiences, kicking, punching and tearing down a wall, has left me hands and arms scraped and cut up.
    • But I don’t regret a moment up it…in the moment I didn’t feel a thing.
    • As I reflected on that this afternoon, it made me think of Jesus.  It was because of His great love for us that He endured the pain of the cross.
    • Certainly a few cuts on my arms pale in comparison to what He endured so I’m not going to complain.
    • Ok funny story.  Thursday night we did a full walk through of Sunday morning like we normally do.  When it came time to tear down the wall, Andrea said, “This isn’t going to be dangerous is it”?  I assured her no, but then as I began to destroy it, the prototype that had been built completely feel apart, framework and all.  It went toppling towards Andrea…she dodged out of the way…and it barely missed crashing into the keyboard.  The guys then set out to build the mother of all walls…which they did…that frame today wasn’t going anywhere!
    • Also funny is that in the first Experience as I was tearing the wall apart, I wasn’t thinking about how forceful I throwing pieces of drywall.  Imagine my surprise when I turn around and there are pieces lying at the feet of people in the front rows.  Oops.
    • So much to say about today and so many people to thank…what an incredible day.
  • Overall we had 1211 people in attendance today at all services and Experiences…so awesome to see everyone invite like crazy to make sure as many people as possible could hear the good news about  Jesus.
  • Hopefully later this week I can post some other stuff about today, but for now I’m whupped and ready for some sleep.  Thanks again for celebrating Easter with us…have a great week!

Filed Under: Inside Today's Experience's Tagged With: Andrea Miller, Brian Miller, Easter, forgiveness, gilbert thurston, Jesse Fisher, Jesus, salvation, Thom Lambert, United Worship Experience

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