Gilbert Thurston

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

I Can’t Believe I’m Posting About…

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…Women’s college basketball.  Ok so most of you know I’m a huge sports fan and will watch just about anything.  However, I’ve never been a fan of women’s basketball.  I think in this sport you most see the difference’s in athleticism between men and women and to me a fast break that doesn’t end with a dunk is just a bit boring.   However, I’m not posting this to get into a conversation about that, instead I want to talk about…

The University of Connecticut team that last night won their 70th game in a row.  This is the second time they’ve done this, but what stood out to me in the article I just read about it was that every victory in this streak has been by at least 10 points or more.  In other words, they’re very good at what they do and they don’t let the outcome in doubt.

To me that’s what churches should be all about.  Work together as a team to do the very best you can and each week make sure the devil knows that he’s not just beat, but stomped on big time.  I believe we need to run up the score on him.  Never should a Sunday pass us by that we just barely got through.  Never should we go into an Experience/Service without a game plan to severely humiliate our opponent.  God is the Harlem Globetrotters, the devil is the Washington Generals.  We should make him look foolish and our record should be unblemished.

Here’s the bad news.  The church in America is on the decline.  While the population has increased…and surprisingly people’s interest in God has increased over the past decade, statistics tell us actual attendance is on the decline.   In fact the amount of unchurched in our nation has doubled since 1994.  Is the problem with God?  No, He hasn’t changed.  Do we need to give up on church and do something different?  No the church was Jesus idea and He said the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against it.  Do we need to change our strategy in how we do church?  Yes!

The same game plans that won basketball games back in the 1950’s no longer works today.  Same goes for football.  The best teams and coaches keep up with what’s winning now, not what won 50 years ago, 20 years ago or even 5 years ago for that matter.  Our culture in America is always changing and either we keep up and redeem it or our culture looks at us like we’re in the stone-age and thinks of us a boring and antiquated.  That’s not a reflection on God, that’s a reflection on us and our methods.

I had no idea where I was going with this post when I first started writing, but it’s become pretty clear that this was meant for pastors and church leaders to examine your methods.  Remember, the message never changes, but our methods must.  Are you just barely surviving and sometimes that devil wins a game or two, or are you like the UConn women’s team?  Each week executing your game plan and running up the score?  Geno Auriemma the UConn coach gave the predictable, “We just take it one game at a time” quote when asked about their success.  But there’s truth there.  Just concentrate on creating the best worship experience you can this week.  After that’s done, repeat it again the next week and then the week after that.  Before long you’ll have put together a nice streak and the devil will have been put on notice that he’s in for a losing battle.  So be strong!  Be courageous!  Do not fear for God is with you and will give you victory!

Super Bowl Thoughts

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Here are a couple of thoughts on the game and a few spiritual insights gleaned as well:

  • What a great game…maybe one of the best ever.
  • I was surprised the Cardinals did as well as they did.
  • In fact they really dominated the game in many aspects and deserved to win just as much as the Steelers did.
  • However, the final score said Steelers 27- Cardinals 23 and that’s what matters most, so congratulations to them and all you Steelers fans.
  • Which brings me to my first point…it’s all about the final score.  No matter the methods you use or how much the other team may have seemed to dominate it’s what shows up on the scoreboard in the end that matters most.  It’s the same with churches…in the end it won’t be about how we did it, or how much more “spiritual” others may seem to have been, but rather how many people did we help come into a true, life transforming relationship with Jesus.
  • Second lesson learned is that it’s all or nothing…because time is going to run out.  At the end of the first half James Harrison picked off a pass from Kurt Warner and started rumbling towards the end zone.  Time expired and so if he got tackled the half was over.  Instead he determinedly kept going, breaking tackles, giving it his all until he finally just barely fell into the end zone for a touchdown…which as it turned out was greatly needed.  Our lives are the same way…time is running out…we need to give it our all if we want to “score” or as the bible says “produce fruit” with our lives.
  • Last lesson is that the games outcome was determined by a matter of inches.  Both Harrison’s touchdown and Santonio Holmes touchdown with less than a minute to go in the game had to be verified by instant replay because they were that were so close to being ruled the other way.  In both cases instant replay confirmed that they had just barely scored.  In other words, the difference between winning the Super Bowl and losing it was literally a combined 2 or 3 inches.  Two months of training camp, 16 regular season games and 4 play-off games later…a champion was crowned because of…inches.  Life is the same way…all of our hard work will come down to just the little things that we do or don’t do…the difference between ordinary and extraordinary someone once said is that little word “extra”.  So how about it for you?  What’s the little extra you need to do to go from a runner-up whom history will forget, to being a champion?