Gilbert Thurston

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

Church Planting Retreat

by Leave a Comment

Wow the last 24 hours were intense.  My good friend, Chuck Frank was recently hired by our region of the denomination to oversee church planting and he invited me to a retreat to brainstorm how our region can do a better job getting new churches started.

Glenn Smith, Executive Director for New Church Initiatives out of Houston, Texas was our facilitator.  Glenn is a great guy and many new ideas were brainstormed and pondered.  Please pray for Chuck and the Commission on church Planting that God would continue to lead them in how to plant at least 20 churches by the year 2020.  By the way, if you or someone you know is interested in starting or helping with a church plant, please let me know and I’ll put you in contact with Chuck.

As for the time away, here were a couple of personal highlights:

  • Always nice to get up to the Doubling Gap Retreat Center which our denomination owns…it was beautiful weather.
  • Nice to meet some other pastors from our denomination.
  • Monday night we wrapped up our meetings at about 9:30 and then Chuck, Glenn, Matt (pastor at Mercersburg COG) and myself went to the game room to watch MNF, play ping pong, air hockey and shoot some baskets.
  • Didn’t hurt that the staff put out some great snacks for us.
  • Glenn and Matt beat Chuck and I at table tennis…but we let them…at least that’s our story.   :)
  • Chuck and I stayed up until 1:30am talking and brainstorming.
  • Uhhh…7:30 had to be up to get breakfast and then start our 2nd day of meetings.
  • At one point we were asked to take 20 minutes to get alone with God to think about some of the stuff we had been talking about.
  • I took that opportunity to climb about 1/2 way up the mountain.
  • I love being in the woods alone like that…although I was walking at a pretty brisk pace and really got my heart pumping…I thought…”mmmm, I didn’t tell anyone I was coming up here…hope nothing bad happens…they won’t find me for days.”
  • The morning sessions were very interactive so I didn’t have problems staying awake.
  • After a big lunch, Glenn did his one and only powerpoint presentation for the 2 days.
  • While it was great info, I’m sitting there telling myself…”Concentrate…keep your eyes open.”
  • Wasn’t long after that that things got interesting as the 7 pastors present were carrying each other, rolling on the floor, doing the crabwalk, hopping on 1 foot, etc.
  • Don’t ask it’s a long story, but illustrated a wonderful point…just glad Chuck had put his camera away.
  • All in all a productive trip…got to make some new friends and catch up with some old ones…again would appreciate your prayers as Chuck as his team proceed forward.

Other Weekend Thoughts

by Leave a Comment

  • Feeling much better today!
  • Getting ready to meet briefly with Aaron to plan some things for the rest of the year, then I’m leaving for a 2 day brainstorming conference to help our denomination figure out how to plant more churches.
  • Now that my head is clearer, I actually remember some more sutff from the weekend.
  • Friday is normally my day off but I was so far behind that I worked a good portion of the day and rested up on Saturday instead.
  • Saturday Lisa wanted to get out of the house for awhile so we went shopping.
  • We now have 4 people from United that work at Curcuit City…ha, ha, ha…it’s my sinster plot to take over the technology of the world!
  • Then saw another couple of families in Target.
  • Saw some great t-shirts at Kohl’s but I just wasn’t in the buying mood.
  • Came back home and decided to take a walk…the walk lead us to CR Bucks.  I ordered the a medium size cone of chocolate cupcake ice cream.
  • Some one remind me next time that a small will do just fine…it was huge…and since it was so sweet it was almost sickening.
  • Good thing we were walking…needed to work that off.
  • Great to have my mom, dad, sister and niece in attendance with us yesterday.
  • Great to see so many new guests as well.
  • Got an e-mail today from a guy who became a Christ follower at United in the last few months and now wants to take the next steps to grow in his relationship with Jesus.
  • I love stories like that…it makes what we all do worth it…knowing that together we are making a difference in the hearts and lives of people in real and practical ways.
  • Funniest story from yesterday invovled Aaron’s daughter Chloe.
  • Earl was introducing the Schwindt family in the sanctuary and asked 7 year old Chloe what she thought so far of the church.
  • She grabbed the mic and introduced herself, said that she liked the church and that everyone had very nice to her so far.
  • She then proceeds to say, “Now let’s hear what you think about us?”
  • Aaron said he couldn’t grab the mic away any faster.
  • Ate at Red Robin for lunch…and then crashed for the rest of the day with various sporting events on in the background.

Inside Today’s Experiences

by Leave a Comment

  • Today kicked my butt.
  • Started out the morning without energy, went through the afternoon without energy and still feel like I’ve been hit with a 2X4 upside the head.
  • I had mic problems all-day. 
  • During the 9:15 it actually started to fall off and I had to catch it and try to adjst it while speaking.
  • During the 10:45 it was shifting all around and I could tell it sounded bad.
  • But hey other than that we had a good day.
  • 1 more person asked Jesus for His  forgiveness and leadership.
  • That puts us over 90 first time desicions this year.
  • Do you realize that the average church in America only has 74 people in attendance and we’ve had more people than that accept Christ just this year!
  • Please never take that for granted.
  • Don’t get complacant though either…keep praying, keep sharing, keep inviting.
  • Thought the worship team did a great job today…especially with the special.
  • Ok…my head hurts too much to keep trying to think of stuff.
  • Have a great week!

    • Random Thoughts on a Thursday

    by Leave a Comment

  • Been an interesting week.
  • Aaron is great to have around but being new to the office, there is alot of stuff he, Earl and I have been coordinating on, plus I’ve been showing Aaron where things are, how to use things, etc…so I’m a bit behind.
  • Don’t get me wrong…I’m pumped up that he’s here and long-term the entire church will be much better off because of his incredible gifts he brings to the table.
  • Last night as I was driving to the church, Earl called to let me know his mother-in-law probably wasn’t going to live through the night and asked if I could teach his class.
  • That meant I had about 30 minutes to come up with a 30-40 lesson/sermon.
  • I had a blast…as I told them…none of this caught God by surprise…He knew that morning that I’d be speaking even if I didn’t. 
  • So I told them the scripture we were going to look at and that I was fully trusting that God wuld give me the words to speak.
  • Basically gave a vision type message.  I was pumped up…like let’s take on hell with a water gun pumped…like if God be for me who can be against me pumped.
  • What’s interesting is that class is made up primarily of some of our senior saints.
  • I always consider it a victory if everyone is still awake by the time I’m done.
  • Oh you laugh but it happens.
  • Last night though they were wide awake and ready to kick the devil right in the mouth.
  • Being able to give that talk was a great cap to a few days of deep soul searching.
  • Let me just say this…if you’re not in a small group you’re foolish.
  • It was my small group that helped me start down the path of searching, helped talked me through part of it and will help me carry it out.
  • Starting the week of October 5th we’re asking everyone to try a group for 4 weeks anyway, so make sure you sign-up this week.
  • Speaking of this week…the lie we’ll discover satan tells us is…”I’m Not Good Enough.”
  • Everybody deals with this one, so make sure you invite someone along.
  • And don’t forget…we are running out of room at the 10:45 Experience so if you can come to the 9:15 Experience that would be great.

    • Other Weekend Thoughts…And Beyond

    by Leave a Comment

  • Late last night during the 4th quarter of the football game I had a long blog post all ready to go…the computer froze and I lost it all. 
  • So here we go again.
  • Friday night we had a great time with my cousin and his wife and introduced them to the wonders of the Wii.
  • Saturday was a nice relaxing day. • Warning: Too Much Information Alert. Do not read the next few bullet points if you get easily queasy with your visuals.
  • Ok, one nice thing about not having kids is that I can walk around the house in just my boxers.
  • Hey don’t say I didn’t warn you.
  • Haven’t yet convinced Lisa that her walking around all the time in her underwear is a good idea. ;)
  • Again…you were warned.
  • In any case, Saturday night I had just started running through my message for a final time when I heard kids in our front yard.
  • I peeked out the window and realized it was kids from our youth group at church.
  • My first thought was, “Oh no, we’re getting egged.” • I’m frantically putting on clothes as they are ringing the doorbell and shouting we know you’re in there.
  • Now fully dressed I go outside to find Gene and about 10 members of the youth group doing their egg and beg fundraiser.
  • The general idea is that for a donation and an egg, they will do whatever you want with the egg.
  • My idea was for Gene to stand about 30 yards away from me and I’d throw the egg high in the air to see if he could catch it without breaking it…if he did, there would be an additional donation.
  • First egg…splat all over his hands.
  • Second egg…splat…all over the ground.
  • Third egg Gene asked if it was ok for the kids to try to catch it as a group…even better.
  • Splat all over a couple of girls.
  • Sunday was a great day and CAYA had a nice kick-off to their fall ministry season.
  • The fact both Maryland and the Redskins won their games this weekend helped brighten my weekend.
  • Never had a smores made out of a Peanut Butter cup until Sunday night…wow I was really missing out.
  • Monday…guess were beyond weekend thoughts…was filled with sermon stuff in the morning and helping Aaron get acclimated during the afternoon.
  • Today has been strategic meetings with Aaron and then Earl took the staff out for lunch at Rosalie’s to celebrate Aaron’s arrival.
  • We certainly do all enjoy being with one another and joking around…Aaron fits right in…he was giving it and taking just as much as anyone.
  • Small group tonight…and a busy rest of the week still yet to go.