Gilbert Thurston

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

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!

Happy 19th Birthday to Me!

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Sorry I haven’t blogged in awhile…sort of got burnt out on it but I couldn’t resist today.  Why?  Because today I turn 19!  “Ummm Gilbert good try but you are a lot older than 19”.  Yes physically I am but today marks 19 years since I became a follower of Jesus!  This also means that I’ve now spent 19 years serving the devil and 19 years serving Jesus.  Now don’t get me wrong…I had some good times during those first 19 years (many times too good of times) but I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that these last 19 have been far better.

If you’re interested in hearing more of how and why it happened and some of the results since then, I’ve written about them before on spiritual birthdays:

How it Happened

Why It Happened (if you don’t read any of the others at least read this one)

How It’s Changed Me

Inside Today’s Experience (1 Year Birthday Edition)

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  • Hard to believe but today is our 1 year birthday as a church.
  • What a year it’s been…to see for yourself here’s a recap music video we put together.
  • The morning seemed earlier than normal since Chad and I spent the beginning of the week at a church conference out in Vegas and my body hasn’t adjusted back to Eastern Time…so 6:20am felt more like 3:20am…ughhh.
  • The adrenaline though of a big day helped to make it better.
  • Set-up went well but we had a few things happen that made for a longer than normal pre-Experience time.
  • First the band had to practice an additional 4 songs that they were doing for their mini-concert and I had to create 30+ slides quickly for the comedy bit Bill was doing during the welcome time.
  • We had tried it during the warm-up without slides but it fell a bit flat…but during the Experience it went well with the addition of the slides…and oh yeah the noise makers certainly helped!
  • Today we had balloons and a huge birthday cake (pictured in this post) in the lobby in addition to party music.
  • It was really a great atmosphere and something we’ll need to replicate in some way each week.
  • One problem we’ve had is getting people from the lobby/cafe area into the Experience on time.  This week at the conference I heard an idea and came home and made it happen.
  • Essentially I wrote a song that encourages people to get out of the lobby and into the Experience.
  • Big thanks to Matt Cassidy for helping me put the music to it and for recording it.
  • Best thing is I’m told it actually worked.
  • Lisa said at first people were laughing but then realized, “Oh I actually need to get moving” and they did!
  • While the lobby was buzzing with energy the band was doing their mini-concert which was really cool.
  • We then launched into the Experience with a cover of “Lies of the Beautiful People”.
  • It was perhaps the best cover they’ve done…not an easy song yet they killed it!
  • Bill followed with his 1 Year Birthday Quiz which went over well…again especially with people blowing noisemakers.
  • The band then did a few of their and the crowds favorite worship songs from our first year.
  • As always they did a great job…special shout-out to Gayle for coming in and playing/singing despite the fact she’s been really ill all week long.
  • As I got up to speak it was great to look out to a big crowd…in fact we had our largest crowd ever!
  • I knew I was in trouble though because we were already 10 minutes behind by the time I started speaking…but it all worked out.
  • Today we started a new series called, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them”.  Today’s first message was about how all of us should come with an “As Is” tag.  You can listen to it here.
  • The balloons from the lobby were brought in and placed on either side of the stage…113 in all…1 for every person that made a decision to become a follower of Jesus in our first year.
  • One of them though got loose and went all the way to the ceiling of the theater…so when I referred to it during the Experience I said about the 112 here and the 1 up there.
  • I didn’t think about it in the moment but afterwards the step-mom of JT Fox said it made perfect sense to her.  Why?  Because shortly after becoming a follower of Jesus at Exponential, JT passed away.  Wow…only God!
  • After the Experience everyone enjoyed the cupcakes provided by Cindy’s Sweets and Treats.  Thanks Cindy…awesome as always!
  • Afterwards it as great to talk with everyone…especially those who came in from out-of-town (some hours away) just to be with us on this special day.
  • Thanks to all our leaders and apprentice leaders who serve so hard and well each week…it’s been a pleasure serving with you this past year…the best is yet to come!
  • Next week we’ll continue the series by looking at Jesus plan for people to escape loneliness.
  • Also as I mentioned, the greatest struggle we have right now is financially.
  • If you believe in the vision of what we’re doing then please support us.
  • If you attend Exponential that means a tithe…for others whatever you can give is certainly appreciated.
  • In year 2 we want to live up to the Exponential name and see God do exponentially more than what we saw in year 1…thanks in advance for supporting us in that.