Gilbert Thurston

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Inside Today’s Experience

August 21, 2011 by Gilbert 1 Comment

  • Hit a major milestone today…100 first time professions of faith in Christ!
  • Considering the average church in North America sees 1 profession every 2 years, I think we’re off to a good start!  :)
  • Each person is important…each person is a story.
  • 100 down, 424,900 more to go!
  • Yep that’s approximately how many people in the Harrisburg metro don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus.
  • That makes me sad, but I’m thankful that ExponentialChurch.tv and other great churches in this area are all doing our part to make hell a little less crowded.
  • Other than that it was a fairly typical day with 2 exceptions.
  • First being the last week before school, attendance was slightly down, but I think morale even more so…just no energy today from the crowd at all…here I always thought parents were happy when their kids went back to school.
  • Or at least mine were…not because of me mind you…it was my sister.  :)
  • 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….ring, ring…yep that’s how long it took my sister to call after reading this.
  • Haha…love you T.
  • The other difference today was that I did magic in the lobby before the Experience and then again as an illustration during my message.
  • Thus the picture in this post of me with Harry Blackstone Jr (forgot to have some take a pic today).
  • I did this because today was week 3 of our “God at the Box Office” series and today we looked at the spiritual lessons that can be learned from the last of the Harry Potter films.
  • After having performed professionally for 11 years of my life, it was almost like riding a bike when I did about 15 minutes of stuff in the lobby, despite the fact I haven’t done that long in a long, long, time.
  • While it was fun to do it, I’m so thankful that God spoke to me many years ago to not just make a temporary difference with my life but to do something that will last for all of eternity.
  • Literally I’ve entertained 10’s of thousands of people through the years but the man today and the 99 before him and the 300+ in Chambersburg and the 100’s before that in other churches and ministries that I’ve had the privilege to lead across the line of faith, is so much better than simply entertaining people.
  • The band did a new song today that is growing on me called, “Beautiful Exchange”.
  • I always walk up to the front during the last song of the set and it’s cool watching Bill lead from up close.
  • Appreciate his passion and authenticity even when the crowd is dead.
  • As for today’s message…I talked about spiritual warfare and the unseen battle that is constantly going on between good and evil.
  • Not a topic I hit a lot but one that watching the Harry Potter movie was so obvious that I couldn’t ignore it.
  • The tricky part as I said at the beginning is finding the balance between people who “see” demons everywhere and then people who don’t believe in anything supernatural.
  • Chad afterward said he thought it was balanced so hopefully he was right and not just looking for a raise.  :)
  • Even though the crowd was not energetic today, there were two moments that I heard gasps.
  • The first was when I said that Satan wants to R.A.P.E you.  Ahh got your attention didn’t I…you’ll have to listen to find out what I mean.
  • The second was when I said that the dead don’t come back to haunt us nor become our guardian angel.
  • It’s amazing how many people think that grandma is watching over them or in general that people become angels.
  • Ummm sorry, but as I said, “Don’t be sad, because angels are real and they’re way more powerful than what grandma ever was”.
  • Next week we’ll wrap-up the series with the lessons from “Final Destination 5”.
  • Can’t wait to share with you why focusing on eternal things is way more important than just merely the 50-100 years you have here on the earth.
  • Thanks to all who brought in backpacks and for the money contributions that came in today as well to buy more.
  • As I shared, Office Max is matching us dollar for dollar so it’s not too late to help the still 500+ kids that don’t have the needed supplies that live in Harrisburg.
  • Ok, time to go…2 friends are coming in tonight from out of town for dinner and to hang out…have a great week everyone!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bill Butler, Chad Chute, ExponentialChurch.tv, gilbert thurston, God at the Box Office series, Harry Blackstone Jr., Harry Potter, salvation, spiritual warfare, Tara Simmons

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