Gilbert Thurston

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

Inside Today’s Experiences

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  • Wow what a day!
  • For the first time 2 Experiences and everything went off without a hitch.
  • I couldn’t have asked for things to have gone any better this morning. 
  • Everything from set-up to the execution of both Experiences went about as well as we’ve ever had them.
  • The worst thing that happened was the popcorn machine was slower than we expected and not quite as good as we wanted.
  • I had expected about 60-70 at the 9:15 and we ended up with 96.  Most importantly one of those became a follower of Christ!
  • The Welcome to the Movies song adaptation that Gayle sang was awesome.  I think it took people awhile to realize she was singing from out in the crowd.
  • In fact, during the 9:15 she sat down next to a guy and she said he didn’t even flinch…like she wasn’t even there.
  • It was great having my brother-in-law and sister-in-law at 9:15 up from NC.
  • My parents, sister, a great uncle, my cousin and his wife and a family friend were at 10:45….my mom was none to pleased with the story I shared.
  • 10:45 was another huge crowd…265.  Again the ushers were setting chairs up all the way to the rear of the room.
  • That makes a total of 361 in United which is our new record!
  • Again most importantly yet another person came to faith in Christ at the 10:45 Experience!
  • At both Experiences I couldn’t believe how many people were still calling me on my phone even after the contest was over…seriously it was starting to get distracting.
  • I met so many new people who were excited about United…the most common response was…wow that was so different, I can’t wait to come back.
  • Sounds like both of our new 10:45am Sunday School classes went well!
  • Again if you’re not involved with a current class we encourage you to switch over to the 9:15 Experience and then join one of these new classes.
  • I’d like to see more people switch over so that we consistently run 100+ and it starts to take on a life of it’s own…so make the switch if you can.
  • Also everyone keep inviting…let’s make it a goal to break through the 400 barrier by the end of this series.
  • It was great to see so many people volunteering today…many of them for the first time…thanks…you made a difference!
  • Afterwards we went out with my family to Red Robin.  It was as if though the whole church decided to go there…I know I stopped at at least 5 tables to say hi to people and then talked to two other groups on my way out the door.
  • My great uncle suggested to my cousin that they do something like United at there church.  He said though that with there budget it would be burning corn cobs for the haze and people waving flashlights.  He’s almost 90 and hilarious.
  • Speaking of waving lights it was so cool to see everyone waving their cell phones in the air during the 10:45 Experience.
  • Now were back at church…Lisa is zonked out on my couch getting ready for CAYA this evening and I’ll be sticking around to help with VBS.
  • Hmmm…200+ kids…maybe I’d better get a nap as well.

    • Less Than 24 Hours

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    The time is getting closer and closer to the launch of our new Experience times and the kick-off to the God at the Box Office series.

    This is going to be an exciting day…come in prayed up and with an expectancy that God wants to do big things in you and through you.

    See you tomorrow…not to late to invite someone.

    Friday Free-for-All

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  • I can tell a big weekend is coming up…I keep getting up earlier and earlier.
  • This morning it was 4:45am.
  • Might also have something to do with eating at Red Robin after 10Pm last night.
  • At dinner Andy asked me if I’m excited about this weekend or nervous. 
  • I think it’s a combination of both excitement for what God wants to do, but also nervous energy.
  •  I was reminded this morning though that the greatest failure isn’t to try something and fail, but rather to never take a chance and succeed at that.  Matthew 25:14-30
  • Lisa’s brother and his wife are coming in from NC this weekend as well.
  • Things went pretty smoothly this week in prep for the new series and times.
  • Someone once said, work like it all depends on you and have faith that it all depends on God…I think we’ve done that…lots of hard work…now the exciting part is seeing what God is up to.
  • As a reminder be in your seats early this week…we’ve got all kinds of special things planned and you won’t want to miss any of it.
  • For those of you going to the 9:15 Experience, there are 2 new classes that will be offered at 10:45 if you’re interested. 
  • One is called “Men are Like Waffles and Women are Like Spaghetti”.  It’s a marriage class based off this book.
  • The other class will take whatever is being taught in United that week and expand on it further and allow people to interact, discuss, apply and hold each other accountable to what is heard on Sundays.
  • Today is my day off, so I’m looking forward to hanging out with Lisa…after a week of vacation where we were constantly together and now a busy first week back…I miss her.
  • Looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend and meeting the people you’ve brought along!

    • Random Thoughts on a Wednesday

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    Group Photo.jpg
    • As you can see from the photo, a small group of people from CAYA went to Hershey Park yesterday and had a lot of fun!
    • I’ll post on my Facebook account later this week, other pictures of the weird and the wild.
    • Monday night Andy and I were able to track down the problems we had last week that caused the projection problems…ok…he tracked it down and I assisted in any way I could.
    • We’ll be back up and running on Sunday with no problems!
    • Getting ready to go into the church Monday night, I changed into some old shorts and t-shirt knowing that we’d be crawling around in the attic and other hot, dirty places.  
    • AHHHHH…seriously I got flashbacks to last spring and summer when we spent almost every night at the building doing that while we were still under construction.
    • Looking back now a year later we often laugh about it and say what a great experience it was…actually doing it again though reminded us that it actually stunk.
    • Today I have an important meeting at lunch time…and then after that I’ll be able to devote all my attention to this weekend’s 2 Experiences.
    • I’m really excited…trust me…be in your seats in plenty of time for the start…you won’t want to miss the opening minutes.
    • I slept like a rock last night and got up early.  Hard to believe I’ve already been working for 3 hours today and it’s not even 9:00am yet.
    • There used to be a day and time when I didn’t even wake-up until 9am.
    • Keep praying for the hiring team that has been commissioned to find our Pastor of Creative Arts.  They are coming down the home stretch in making decisions and it looks like sometime in mid to late fall we should have someone in place!
    • Right now…pick up the phone or send an E-viteto someone for the God at the Box Office series…someones eternal destiny could hang in the balance.

    Going Down a New Road

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    Saturday Lisa and I drove home from our vacation in New Bern, NC.  There is about 2 hours worth of driving on back-roads just to get back to I-95.  Dummy me had forgotten to print out the return directions so we just reversed the directions of how we got there.  Problem was though it wasn’t exactly the same…even though we turned onto the routes and roads we were supposed to…none of it looked familiar…I’m like really good with directions and landmarks, etc…so I knew we were passing things that we hadn’t on the way down…it made me a tad bit uncomfortable…however the road names said we were going the right way so I trusted everything would turn out alright.

    This Sunday we’ll be going to 2 Experiences and quit frankly it makes me a tad bit uncomfortable because it’s a road we haven’t been down before.  Yes, some things will look familiar along the way, but for the most part we’re in uncharted territory for us.  However, I know that God has clearly given us the directions so He’ll get us where He wants us to be.  Will we get back to “familiar roads” in a week, a month, a year?  I don’t know…but I do know we’ll just keep listening to His GPS turn by turn directions and we’ll enjoy the journey as we go!