Gilbert Thurston

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

Inside Today’s Experiences (Vacation Edition)

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  • Got to catch up with their campus pastor, Mike Albon.

I got to know Mike when I worked for Purpose Driven.  He is a great guy and doing
an awesome job leading the Harrisburg site.

  • Mapquest sent us to the wrong place to start with but once we were there, their worship time was very similar to ours.
  • Their worship leader was incredible…one of the best male voices I’ve ever heard.
  • Since they are a satellite campus, the teaching time is done via video.
  • To help make it seem like the speaker is actually there, a huge screen comes down and projects the speaker at life size.
  • This picture hopefully explains it better…IMAG0108
  • Interestingly enough, I still ended up watching the side screens with the tighter shot of the speaker most of the time.
  • Hoping we can add live video on our side screens soon.
  • In any case, LCBC Harrisburg had great music, a great convicting message and other creative elements that made the service…an Experience!
  • Afterward Lisa and I went to City Island and walked around for awhile before eventually heading to Red Robin.
  • Vacation was a blast, but I can’t wait to be back next weekend as we start the Unveil series.
  • If you or someone you know is trying to figure out God’s will, this will be the series for you.
  • Even if you have no big decisions to make right now, I will be sharing the process you need to go through any time you need to make decisions, so this series is for everyone!
  • So with that said…Invite, Invite, Invite…and then go out and invite some more!

Inside Today’s Experience (Vacation Edition)

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Francis Chan & Gilbert

  • Again heard through texts and seeing people in person at lunch that you guys had a good day today.
  • Hope you got a lot out of Francis Chan’s messgae…love that guy.
  • When I was in Orlando a few months back I got to meet him. (pictured above).
  • The best part of that day though was the hilarious intro he got.
  • As for us…today we visited King Street Church, right here in Chambersburg.
  • King Street is the area’s largest church but until today I had not had the opportunity to visit them.
  • Unfortuantely I didn’t read their web-site well enough and we ended up at their blended service instead of the contemporary one.
  • However, that was by far the best blended service I’ve ever seen.
  • Their 50+ member choir rocked it out.
  • I guess the thing I liked best about them wasn’t neccisarily their song selection or singing ability but the “attitude” in which they sang.
  • They were having fun and you could tell they really believed what they were singing.
  • They had a guest speaker so I wasn’t able to gauge that aspect of their services, although the guest speaker gave a good message on compassion.
  • One funny thing happened…the lady sitting next to me stole mu bulletin.  Don’t think she did it intentionally but I was partially sitting on it so you’d have thought she’d have at least asked.
  • One other cool thing was seeing that Ryan Payne was playing acoustic guitar, in the background, for King Street’s worship team.
  • Ryan’s band is really growing and has quite a following and I expect one day they will be signed by a major Christian label.  Neat to see hi humble himself to serve.
  • Reminds me of what Brian Houston, pastor of Hillsong Church, said about Darlene Zschech when she was becoming famous…”She has never forgotten that she’s to still serve in her home church”.
  • After the service was over I got to meet the Senior Pastor, John Beukema.  Seems like a nice guy and I’m proud that we get to partner with King Street and so many other great churches in our area to reach people for Christ.
  • I’ve said it before an I’ll say it again…It’s not about United or CFCOG, it’s about Jesus and the Church which He died for.  I’m glad we have other great churches in our area…we’re not in competition, but partners together. 
  • We meet with Lisa’s sister and her family for lunch at Red Robin.  The 4 of them plus Lisa and I all share birthday’s within about a 40 day period…4 of us within 11 days…so this turned out to be our birthday meal.
  • Funny thing was Lisa and Gayle were texting each other while we were there.  I look up and over in the corner were the whole Krull family having lunch.  In other words Lisa and Gayle were in the same restaurant texting each other and didn’t even know it.
  • Of course we had some fun sending her texts about things she was doing and wearing…finally she caught on and realized we were there.
  • Time for a nap and then our normal Sunday night crew will be getting together.
  • Vacation is almost done…enjoyed it and for the most part I’m refreshed…can’t wait to see everyone next week!

    • Inside Today’s Experiences

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  • Wow I’m loving this series!
  • Another great day!
  • Had tons of people say how powerful today’s Experiences were.
  • Really got people thinking about the role alcohol plays in their lives.
  • Tough message to preach though…no matter what some people weren’t going to be happy…and just in case someone was happy, you throw gluttony into the mix and everyone leaves challenged.
  • We set another attendance record today largely in part to the 9:15 setting thier own personal attendance record for the 3rd consecutive week.
  • Way to go everyone…keep inviting people…lives are truly being changed.
  • Can you believe our band?  They killed it today with their version of Carrie Underwood’s song “Last Name”. 
  • Gayle did a phenominal job not just singing but playing the part…and how about Aaron’s guitar solo and Brian on the banjo!
  • Pretty funny when you think about it…last week Brian was mixing at the turntable and this week he plays the banjo…incredible versatility!
  • Yes we’ve got something planned next week that your not going to want to miss…make sure you invite someone to come along.
  • Someone asked me after the 9:15 what is the point in which someone is considered biblically speaking drunk.
  • My thought is once it affects your motor skills you are drunk.  Which means that if you’re getting a buzz your close to the line if not already over it.
  • So please if your going to drink, do it responsibly…really no reason to have more than two drinks.
  • However, remember that all of us are taking the 30 day challenge…No alcohol at all for 30 days.
  • Again just to reiterate for those who may be reading this and you haven’t listened to the message.  I don’t drink…haven’t had anything in over 16 years so this message has nothing to do with me and everything to do with teaching what the Bible truly says about alcohol.
  • The live questions today were once again fun but still a bit nerve wracking.
  • Answering questions in front of hundreds of people when you have no idea what’s going to come in is full of pressure but I think has been worth it.
  • The questions today were…
    • 9:15- “Are ghosts real?”
    • 10:45- ” Can Christians get tattoo’s?”
  • You can listen to both of my answers at the end of the message podcast.
  • Also on the podcast is the band performing “Last Name”.
  • Someday’s when we finish I pinch myself because I can’t believe I get to be a part of something this special and do it with a bunch of awesome people.
  • Today was one of those days!
  • The only negative thing that happened today was totally my fault and is sort of funny.
  • They were using my laptop to run lights and at 9:15 my computer crashed during the Exerience becuase it was completely out of memory.
  • Seriously it was out…no more.
  • So Andy had to switch to another computer…which put me in the dark for a few minutes.
  • He told me after the 9:15 what had happened and that he was workign to clean off my hard drive.
  • Turns out I had over 30GB being used just in my temporary files…ooops.
  • Guess I’ll know better for next time.
  • Had lunch with Aaron…a Burn’in Love Burger from Red Robin.  Wow that’s spicy!
  • Time for a nap and then off to visit with friends…have a great week!

    • Inside Today’s Experiences

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  • Had a great day today!
  • 4 more people gave their lives to Christ!
  • I was really tired this morning…I had a call this morning at 1am saying I needed to come ot the hosptial because one of our members was about to die.
  • I went in and she did indeed pass away…please pray for the family of Belvia Chambers.
  • In any case, I was pumped for today and Brian and the team did a great job setting up the message with the song Undignified.
  • Sort of weird having two different Experiences in order to get everyone over to the baptism service.
  • 9:15 had another record crowd…great job 9:15 in inviting new people in.
  • 10:45 you guys better get busy inviting, or 9:15 is going to pass you by.
  • Awesome being able to baptism 14 people in front of such a huge crowd in the sanctuary.
  • Had to be a quick change artist today to keep chanigng clothes back and forth.
  • At 10:45 we had some friends in from out of town…all of them had heard of what we were doing but hadn’t yet experienced it for themselves…I think they liked it! :)
  • We all went out to eat at Red Robin…my 4th time there in the past week…Red Robin mmmmmm.
  • Time for a nap…have a great week!