Gilbert Thurston

• I hate snow and ice!
• I love Lost!
• I hated practice last night.  We’re doing songs that are really familiar to the team but yet it was if though we had never done them before.
• I love that when we have bad practices God usually shows up big time on Sundays.
• I hate the devil.
• I love the people we’re going to have lunch with today…old friends from the church I used to pastor at in MD.
•  I hate this idea I had to alternate between love and hate…so I’m not doing it anymore.
• Our house inspection it appears went well…we should know the final details by Monday at the latest.
• Everyone is pumped up about small groups and I can’t wait to get started the week of February 10th with them.
• It’s not too late to sign-up to participate.
• We’ve got a bunch of the leaders coming in both this weekend and next to get some training…it’s going to be awesome!
• Dan and Jodi are doing an awesome job getting this all coordinated!
• I’ve got a wedding this weekend for Jeff Graham and Ruth Baughman that have been attending United for a little over a year.  They’re an awesome couple…make sure you congratulate them when they get back.
• I can’t wait for Sunday to share with you how to become “Balcony People.”  It’s one of those things that simple but yet we often fail to do.  However, when we remember, it can literally change people’s lives.
• Don’t forget to invite someone!

Don’t normally do these until Friday but had a few things to get out there:

• Rumor has it that all small groups are completely full…this is not true…yet. 
• Groups are filling fast but there are still opportunities to sign-up tonight and this Sunday…as well as next Wednesday and Sunday. 
• If you can’t find a group that meets your needs, let Dan Krull or Jodi Zeis know.  We’ve added some more groups since Sunday and we’ll probably be adding some more as people step up and commit to leading. groups@mycfcog.org
• Had a couple of great meetings yesterday…I’m looking forward to the future direction God has us headed in.
• Last night I called around to speak with our first-third time guests who had filled out a Connection Card this past week.  God is bringing some really awesome people into our church!
• One man was there to support his young adult daughter who is seeking a church that is relevant to her age group.  He shared that his church is a very traditional, King James Only, style of church but that he enjoyed the Experience.  I told him that I thought it was very commendable of him to allow his daughter to not only explore other churches, but that he was there supporting her.  I think it’s a great lesson for all you parents out there to encourage your kids to grow in their faith but yet not neccisarily in the same ways that worked for you.  Well done sir!
• Late last night I stopped by my sister’s house to help her set-up her new laptop computer and wireless router.  All was well when I left, but this morning she calls…I see her name on the Caller ID and answer, “Technical support how may I help you?”
• Wind had knocked out her power a few times last night and things didn’t want to reset right.  It’s amazing how much harder it is to explain something over the phone than in person or just do it yourself.
• That’s a great lesson though for all of us in ministry work though.  Yes it’s easier to do yourself, but then no one else will ever get trained and thus the eternal impact is diminished.  Also, it teaches us that we need to show someone through on-the-job training how to do something rather than just give them a book or manual and expect that that will do the trick.
• Hey speaking of…Pam Brenize is doing a great job of getting Earl’s messages on-line now.  If you want to listen to what’s happening over in the sanctuary services, click here.
• Tonight the inspector’s come to do our house inspection.  If everything checks out OK…we’re pretty sure they will, but with an older house you never know, then our house will officially be sold.
• I’m looking forward to the new house in C’burg.  It’s only 1 1/2 years old but the owner moved 10 months ago so it’s like it’s even newer.  I’m not Mr. Handyman so this is right up my alley.
• The new men’s group study is pretty awesome…if you don’t have anything else to do tonight, come check it out…that is if you’re a guy.  Ladies, I’m sure the two ladies Bible studies are just as good so give it a try.

I came across an interesting part of the Google site where they list the top 10 searches in a variety of categories for 2007.  Both In the US and globally the iphone was #1.  The also have a list of what they call Top of the Mind questions.  It’s essentially how many times did someone ask a question in Google like , “Who is _______”, “What is ______”, “How to _______?”

Here’s the interesting part…”Who is God”, “Who is Jesus” and “Who is Satan” all made the top 10.  The reason that’s interesting is that experts estimate that there have now been over 100 billion people who have lived throughout human history.  There have also been over 300 million fictional characters in books, movies, plays, etc.  

So with hundreds of billions of possibilities to choose from, that people in 2007 searched for 3 figures in the Bible is quite impressive.  It shows that people are spiritually hungry; they want to know the truth…however, church attendance nation wide continues to dwindle.  Could it be that churches have become so self focused that they forget there is a lost and dying world who needs to hear the good news that Jesus loved us enough to die for our sins so we can be forgiven?  Are they possibly taking the world’s most exciting book (the Bible) and boring people to tears with it? 

The above is just a few of the reasons that I’m so excited and passionate about what we do in the United Worship Experience each week.  People want to hear and experience the things we’re saying and doing…they want to know about God and Jesus, they want to know how to escape the clutches of the enemy and I think we’re doing a good job of offering them the solutions.  That’s why I ask you every week to invite someone along with you…they want to know, but they don’t know where to turn.  You have a solution…are you offering it to people?

• Another great Experience!
• Heard lots of people fired up to make 2009 our best year yet.
• Thought the worship team did a great job and Hannah did awesome with the song Tears of the Saints…really drove home the point of the message.
• In fact I kept it on the today’s podcast if you want to hear it again.
• Heard a handful of the 9:15 crowd stuck around to hear the message again because they wanted to hear the 10:45 crowd get “yelled” at.
• Visually I thought it was cool with the 143 candles that represented every person who gave their life to Christ at CFCOG in 2008.
• Even though I came up with the rope idea, even I was shocked to visually see how far yet United, CFCOG and the churches in our area have to go yet.  91,000 lost people is a lot but I believe with God’s help will take a huge chunk out of that in 2009.
• Again it’s going to take a lot of people sacrificing though to make that happen…hope I can count you in that number who are going to be about the business that God has called us to be about…reaching people who are far from God!
• Glad today though is over…all week long I’ve been having nightmares that the candles toppled over and we had a fire during the Experience…luckily nothing like that happened!
• However even though we didn’t have any problems during the Experiences themselves, we are still having major computer problems.  This morning the computer would not boot up at all.  We finally tore it apart to look inside and suddenly it started working.  We didn’t want to disrupt it, so if you were wondering why a computer was all tore apart in the back, that’s the reason.
• Time for a quick nap and then off to visit with some friends…keep praying for me…I speak tomorrow night at an event for the youth of our church and then I’ve got to get everything ready for the next series.