Gilbert Thurston

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

Random friday Thoughts

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  • We had a great time yesterday down in VA at the Whiteboard Sessions Conference.
  • As you can see from the picture, our seats were on the front row.
  • The guy in the picture is Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church.  Perry will be one of United’s guest speakers this summer for the One Prayer series.
  • One of the impressive things about Perry is that even though his church is running 8000+, he was sitting a few seats over from me taking notes just like everyone else.  Just goes to show that leaders are learners and that when you stop learning, you stop leading.
  • There were probably close to 1000 people at this conference but it was by far the one with the fewest females in attendance that I’ve ever seen.
  • A woman stopped Lisa during one of the breaks and asked her is she was offended that none of the speakers was a woman.  Lisa’s response…”No.” Guess you had to be there.
  • The format of the conference was unusual.  Each of the 8 speakers was given 30 minutes to speak on whatever topic they wanted.  It was an interesting to see what each choose.
  • Here is one quote from each speaker that jumped out at me…not only for me, but for you to consider as well.
    • Mark Batterson:  Your best thought on your best day is 13 billion light years short of God’s.
    • Vince Antonucci:  When was the last time you had a non-Christian over to your home for dinner?
    • Tim Stevens:  Most churches in America aren’t making an impact…in fact, they are actually hindering the furthering of the Kingdom.
    • Darrin Patrick:  Darrin was the only one of the speakers that I either didn’t know or was at least familiar with.  His talk though to me was one of the best.  Here’s his quote…   The motivation behind every sin is either the need for power, comfort, approval or control.
    • Mark Dever:  Mark is by far the person on the panel that would be most opposite of me (lucky for him).  He is living proof that church is not so much about a particular method, but knowing who you can reach best in your local community and then offering an Experience that is done with excellence…OK that was all just code to say they are very traditional but yet they do their ministry with excellence and they are growing like crazy.  Here’s Mark’s quote… God could have chosen anything, but he chose to put Himself on display through the local church.
    • John Burke:  God, and nothing or no one else, must be enough in your life.
    • Perry Noble:  Stop walking in fear and start walking in the authority that Jesus has given you.   BONUS QUOTE:  God is not green but Kermit the Frog is.  If we save the planet but people die and go to hell, what have we really accomplished?
    • Ed Stetzer:  Many people are willing to believe but few are willing to follow.
  • We ate lunch with Vince Antonucci and 6 other guys.  Didn’t get to talk with Vince much but I did get to talk with his Executive Pastor Dan throughout the lunch.  They have a great church and our conversation just further cemented our decision to visit them while on vacation this summer.
  • During lunch I order 2 huge soft taco’s…it also came with a fruit cup.  The waiter asked if I wanted extra cheese and sour cream to which I replied yes.  When it came out the tacos were on one plate.  The fruit cup was in a bowl by itself, then there was a cup of sour cream and then an extra plate which was piled up with the extra cheese and sour cream.  I grabbed some extra cheese and then spooned out from the cup of sour cream a nice size blob to give my tacos a little better flavor.  As I’m about to take my first bite, Lisa says, “Why did you put the fruit dip on your taco?”  Yep dummy me thought it was sour cream…wasn’t bad though…at least that’s what I’m saying.
  • We rushed back afterwards so I could catch the end of our worship teams practice.  I know they have something special planned for this week and I wanted to see how it was coming.
  • Let’s just say you need to make sure you’re in your seat right on time this weekend.
  • Speaking of the weekend…don’t forget to come our tonight to Heavenly Grounds Coffeehouse in downtown Chambersburg for the event we are sponsoring there.  It starts at 8PM.
  • Also…we’re working out some last minute details, but keep checking back today and tomorrow for the 3rd big announcement of the week.

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