Gilbert Thurston

• Wow things are busy!
• I love it though…can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in our Easter Experience.
• If you haven’t let go of the rails yet by inviting someone, let go and invite them you big chicken.
• Seriously, Jesus suffered on a cross so you could be forgiven but you won’t invite someone because it may hurt your feelings if they say no…what?  Re-read that again…are you kidding me?
• Sorry if that sounds like I’m being hard on you, but this is one of the 2 weekends per year where people are even more receptive than normal to attending, so I’d hate to miss this golden opportunity.
• Along those same lines, 5000 households are or have already this week received our big Easter mailer promoting all the activities we have going on this weekend.  Please pray that people will respond and that their lives will be forever changed by the good news of Jesus death, burial and ressurection.
• Because of having a special service tonight, the United worship team had to practice on Tuesday this week instead of our normal Thursday.  I’m so proud of all of them…even with a short week, they came in as prepared as they could be and we’re willing to stay late to make sure that what they do is done with excellence and in a way that glorifies God.  Make sure you thank them sometime for the countless hours they put in each week to make your Experience…well…an Experience.
• Today I’ll be getting the invite cards for our next series, “Take It to the Limit.”  In it we’ll be looking at how to build margin into our life in all areas so that you don’t get burnt out.
• I know I say this all the time, but I think it’s going to be a life changing series for many.
• Hey speaking of life-changing…I’ve had tons of people both in person and through e-mail this week share how touched they were by last week’s Experience on forgiveness.  Apparently many of you are/were dealing with this and God touched you in a major way…yeah God!

Did you know that this Easter will be the earliest any of us will ever celebrate it? It won’t be this early again for another 220 years…now obviously that’s not the real reason to come, but thought you’d enjoy that useless tidbit of info anyway…use your new knowledge wisely. :)

• As I expected, today was a very life changing Experience.
• For 6 people it was life changing in that they gave their lives to Christ!
• For so many others it was life-changing in that they got serious about letting go of unforgiveness.
• The morning started out smoothly but I just had a feeling things were not quite right.
• Most mornings I don’t even think about checking my mic battery, but today I did…unfortunately I didn’t actually check it.
• I think that’s why I knew immediately what happened when my mic gave up…luckily I knew we were getting ready to go the video so I didn’t sweat it.
• I’m really enjoying some of the new songs the team has been adding into the mix…today it was Break Free…Brian is doing great leading these!
• I could really tell  people were connecting with the message, then the video and then the song while communion was being distributed.  There were a ton of tears and communion could have and should have been a very impactful moment.
• Hannah and Gayle did an awesome job with “You Are My King.”  We’re very blessed to have so many talented people.
• I kept wondering why are the ushers standing up front.
• Then I thought…I wonder why if they’re standing there aren’t they taking it.
• Then I noticed Galen finally walk up and grab some stuff…I thought he was getting stuff for the rest of the guys.
• When I looked down then and saw them with plates full of the juice cups, I knew we were in trouble.
• Luckily I’m usually pretty good and thinking on my feet and we were able to handle it, but communion (at least in my opinion) lost some of the power that it could have had.
• I later found out that our head usher was so used to how they do it in the Sanctuary…which is one element at a time, that he forgot we distribute them all at once.
• Hey everybody messes up occasionally and he does an incredible job of leading the team, that I will…forgive him…just heard a message about that.
• During the time communion was being distributed I real quick ran down to the guest reception, grabbed Earl and asked him to go warn Dianna and the Children’s Ministry team that we were going to be really late.
• At that point I was so worried about getting everything done that I would have forgotten to take the offering had the guys not come back up.
• The part I rushed and shouldn’t have was the importance of next week…please, please, please make sure you invite people to come with you…this should be the best Experience we’ve ever had and you and your friends shouldn’t miss it.

• Thanks to all of you who were praying.
• As I was standing out in the hallway waiting to go into the room right before the service started, all of the sudden I felt very strongly the presence of God and a great sense of peace.
• As I look back on it now…it almost seems like an out of body experience…almost like someone else did the funeral.
• I hope this doesn’t sound proud or boastful, but I was proud of the job I did. 
• I guess you would have had to have been there…God gave me such a sense of peace and the words to say and composure that I quite frankly surprised myself.
• The one funeral director afterwards told me that it was one of the best eulogies he had witnessed in the 25 years he has been in the business.
• It still seems very surreal.
• It was tremendous to see Earl and the rest of our church staff, drive down to be of support to myself and the family. 
• Speaking of tremendous…my sister wrote a letter to my grandmother that she wanted me to read during the funeral.  The day before though she told me she wanted to try to read it, but that if she was too emotional I’d have to do it.
• When the time came she popped up and started, but quickly lost it…again in what I can only describe as a God moment…I went beside her, put my arm around her and whispered, “You can do it.”  Throughout the entire letter I kept whispering words of encouragement, “You’re doing great”, “Don’t stop”, “You’re almost done.” 
• Again I am so thankful to God for doing something in me that doesn’t always come naturally.
• There’s so much more I could share, but I won’t…thank you all from the bottom of my heart, for you love, prayer, and concern during this rough time for our family.
• I love you all!

Yesterday I went to the funeral of Mark Olson.  He was only 23 years old and died in a car accident on Friday.  His brothers and friends were in United on Sunday so I wanted to go show my support.  As I expected, the funeral was packed…I had to sit in a completely different room and just listen via the speakers in the main room to what was going on.  What an awesome show of love and support to his family during an incredibly difficult time.

Then last night was my grandmother’s viewing.  Being 84 years old and having had many of her friends pass away already, I expected maybe a few dozen people to show up during the 7pm-9pm time frame that had been set.  Uhhh…no.  We got there at 6:40pm and the people started coming…the line kept growing and growing…ringing the room…then down the hallway…then into the main lobby….then out the front door.  For 2 1/2 hours the line remained like that.  People were waiting 20-30 minutes to just make it through.  We didn’t get everyone done until about 9:40pm. 

Quite frankly I was shocked by how many people my grandmother had touched and how many friends my grandfather had who wanted to come out and support him.  Considering the fact that the hospital had just released him the night before, he said that all the friends and family that came out were helping in his physical and emotional recovery tremendously.

Now for the prayer request.  I’ll be preaching a part of the funeral this morning.  I’ve tackled a lot of enormous tasks in my life but this may be the hardest.  When my grandfather passed away 2 years ago we had a memorial service for him a month after his death and I led that, which was hard, but at least some time had passed…this is still pretty raw, so please, please, please, if you read this on Thursday morning, say a prayer for me at 11am as we get started.  Thanks!