Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

The Blog is Back!

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When I started this blog back in 2007, I posted nearly every day for a couple of years.  About 2 years ago I got burnt out on it and began dramatically decreasing the number of posts with last year seeing only 4 new posts in total.

Well it’s time to fire it back up!  I’ve been thinking over the past few months about how to do it and what it would look like and here is what I’ve come up with.  Each day will have a different theme that will be spread out amongst many topics…

Ministry Monday’s-  Here I will talk about church related stuff.  This could be specifically about ExponentialChurch.tv where I pastor or it could be just something random that could help all churches in general.

Topical Tuesday’s- On this day I will comment on something that is currently in the news.

Whatever Wednesday’s-  On this day I’ll talk about whatever I want.  If there’s something I need or want to get out there but it doesn’t fit on any of the other days, here is where it will go.

Theological Thursday’s-  On this day I will answer questions about the bible, God, Christianity, etc.  I’m always getting asked interesting questions, so here is a chance for others to hear the answer(s) as well.  If you’ve got a question you’d like me to consider answering, you can email me here.  I will not use your name so feel free to ask anything!

Funny Friday’s- One of my personal values is to laugh everyday.  So on Friday’s I will share a story, clip or link of something that has made me laugh over the previous week.

So there you have it…a little bit of something different everyday.  I won’t feel obligated to post everyday so if I miss some here and there, don’t freak out.

With all that said, today is Whatever Wednesday so I’ll keep this one nice and short…

If you didn’t like the outcomes of 2013 and are hoping for better ones in 2014, it will involve you making better decisions.  Better decisions only come when you have better thinking.  To me, better thinking comes from reading God’s Word. So if you have never read the bible, make 2014, the year that you do so.  Now keep in mind that it isn’t 1 book, but rather a collection of 66 books, so I recommend you DON’T just start from the beginning and go to the end.  Rather start with the New Testament book of Matthew and proceed throughout the entire New Testament.  Then you can go back and read the Old Testament.

Have a Happy New Year everyone…hope you enjoy the new format to the blog!

FAQ’s about Chad’s departure from our staff

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Today I announced that Chad will be leaving staff at ExponentialChurch.tv at the end of January.  If you’d like to hear my announcement of this news in today’s message, fast forward to the 26:20 mark.  For Chad’s response fast forward to the 38:34 mark.  Here are a couple of FAQ’s to help you process through the news of this…

Q.  Where is he going?
A.  Ironically enough to the same church that I left to come to Harrisburg.  The Chambersburg First Church of God is continuing to see God move in amazing ways and as a result of that growth they have created a new position which Chad will be fulfilling.

Q.  What will he be doing there?
A.  Chad’s role will be to oversee all the Discipleship ministries of the church including, Sunday School, Wednesday night programs and Life Groups.  There will be other roles in that area that he will also be covering so pray for him that he can handle it all.

Q.  Why is he leaving?
A.  Ultimately because it’s God’s will.  Chad let me know last month that they had asked him if he would be willing to interview for the position.  With my blessing, prayer and support, Chad did the interview and not surprisingly they offered him the position.  From  there it was a matter of he, Tammie and the kids praying and discussing what God might want from and for them.  In the end, the decision was to accept the position.

Q.  If he was willing to leave does that mean you wanted him to or that there is something going on between the two of you that caused him to want to leave?
A.  No.  My job as his boss and spiritual leader during a time like this is to pray with and for him and give my input.  In our discussions I shared with him what I thought was a balanced slate of reasons to stay and reasons to go.  We talked about what was best for Exponential, Chambersburg First, him personally, and his family.  We also discussed the negatives to all those. The biggest issue though is what is best for the Kingdom of God overall?  At the end of the day the answer was to move on to a new season of life.

As for our personal relationship, I can honestly say that I couldn’t have asked for a better pastoral partner these past 3 years.  Getting Exponential up and running has been harder than either one of us thought.  There have been times where we’ve wanted to quit but together we’ve kept each other sane.  Oh sure, like in any relationship there have been days where we’d get frustrated with something the other did, but those issues would resolve in a day or 2 and honestly were few and far between.  Chad and I became friends through all this, will remain friends and will continue working on projects together to advance the Kingdom in any way we can.

Q.  Who at Exponential will handle Chad’s responsibilities?
A.  Great question and one I’m still processing through.  The initial answer is that this will be a great opportunity for many of you to step up and begin serving in new ways.  No one person may be able to do all that Chad was doing but if everyone pitches in, we can do it together.  Also, this transition is a natural time to re-evaluate how we’re doing all of our ministries.  As a result over the coming month(s), I’ll be getting together with many of our key leaders to see what types of shifts we need to make at this time.  I value your input, so please email me at gilbert@exponentialchurch.tv with thoughts or suggestions.  If you’d prefer to speak in person, we can arrange that as well.

Q.  When will Chad officially be leaving?
A.  The last Sunday of January which is the 26th.  In the meantime, make sure you get together with he and his family to let them know how much we appreciate all that they’ve done these past 3 years.  And of course plan on being with us on the 26th as we corporately celebrate their life and ministry!

Thanks for being such an awesome group of people!  I hope this blog post has answered some of your questions.  If you have any others, please let me know.  Remember the best is still yet to come!

Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2013 edition)

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For those of you who read my blog…yeah I know not a lot of new content the past year….thinking of starting up again though…in any case,you know that each year I do a list of things that I’m thankful for from over the past year.  This is the 7th year I’ve done this list…READY…SET…GO

1.  This one never changes…Jesus.  2013, marked 20 years since I became a follower of Jesus.  This means now 1/2 of my life has been lived for Him and the other 1/2 for myself/Satan.  I can tell you now from equal experience that this 1/2 has been far better than the first 1/2.  I’m so thankful that He forgave a real screw-up like me.

2.  Another obvious one here…my wife, Lisa.  I truly can’t understand people who complain about their spouses.  We have for 18 years of marriage now applied what God’s Word says about marriage and every year it just keeps getting better and better.  We love and serve one another unconditionally and I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years bring!

3.  Family.  The love and support of my family has always been tremendous…well my mom did always ask, “When are you going to get a real job” when I was doing magic professionally, but even then she was still supportive.  I love them all deeply and I’m so thankful for who they are, who they are becoming and all that they do!

4.  Friends.  Huge thanks to Andy & Gayle, Bill & Nicole, Mike & Theresa, Steve T., Country, Erin, Claude, Steve H, Bratz, Ken and Vince for making this a fun and memorable year!

5.  ExponentialChurch.tv.  Big thanks to everyone especially to Chad and Bill who I get to work with closely to try to depopulate hell!  To all that attend or have attended in the past, thanks for going along on this adventure called church planting.  I know it hasn’t been easy and sometimes I can be a pain in the butt, but know that I love you all and just want to see Harrisburg, our nation and the world changed by the love and forgiveness of Jesus in the same way I and many of you have.

6.  My Fitness Pal.  Last year around this time I realized I was about 20 pounds heavier than I wished to be.  I downloaded this app for my phone and immediately started losing the weight and have maintained my goal weight.  As I told others about it, they too began using it and just amongst my friends I know combined we’ve lost over 250 pounds.

7.  Not a Fan.  This was the best book I read this past year…in fact we ended up doing an entire sermon series based off it.  Highly recommended.

8.  Workxpress.  So thankful we met Treff and that he and Lisa were able to work out an agreement for her to assist with the growth of the company.  Big things happened in 2013 that are just scratching the surface…can’t wait to see what’s next.

9.  Lots of other stuff but my sister just called…we got disconnected…but I’m sure it was going to be, “When are you getting here, I’m hungry”!  So Happy Thanksgiving to all!

My 20th Spiritual Birthday

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The picture above was taken a few weeks ago in front of Coral Ridge Church, in Ft. Lauderdale. FL.  I had Lisa snap it to commemorate my 20th spiritual birthday, which is today.

In 1962 the pastor of this church began a program that helped his congregation share their faith with others.  It quickly caught on an spread to other churches throughout the world.  On July 27, 1993, two men (Keith Skidmore and Marvin Bower) who were involved in this program at their local church in Maryland showed up on my doorstep on a hot summer night.

For the first time in my life, someone explained to me what Jesus, Christianity and the Bible were really all about in a way that made sense.  Up until then I thought it was about following a bunch of rules but they explained how I could never be good enough to keep all those rules and that what Jesus really wanted was a relationship with me.  So right there on the front porch I asked for His forgiveness and leadership and prayed that we could have the kind of friendship that these two men said we could have.

Here we are 20 years later and Jesus has never let me down.  He not only became my friend, but my best friend.  He’s helped me to become more than I could ever possibly hope or imagine.  He’s constantly challenging me to grow in my  relationship with Him and others.  Most importantly He continues to forgive even when I do stupid sinful stuff that isn’t in my or His best interests.

Having just physically turned 40 last month, I’m now basically at the point where I’ve lived half my life following the devil’s plan for happiness and success and half my life following God’s plans and purposes.  Let me say unequivocally that this half has been far better.  Yes sin has pleasure for a short time, if it didn’t we wouldn’t do it  ;)   But if we can take a long term approach and be disciplined to following God’s plan, the joy and the peace of mind that comes with it far surpasses and pleasures that Satan or the world may offer us.

So what about you?  If God could take a sinner like me and give me a new life, He can do it for you as well!  Want to talk about it?  Let me know and I can share what was shared with me 20 years ago today…trust me…you want to here it…it’s both life and eternity changing!