Gilbert Thurston

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

Why We’re Named ExponentialChurch.tv

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I just got an e-mail this morning saying that our domain name, www.ExponentialChurch.tv had automatically renewed as per my contract with the hosting company.  What this simply means is that it’s been 2 years to the day since I officially decided on what the church name was going to be.

It was in October of 2009 that God gave me the vision for Exponential.  The next few months consisted of making sure this was God’s will for our lives and not just a bad reaction to the pepperoni pizza I had eaten the night before.  A part of this process took Lisa and I out to San Diego for a week-long church planter’s assessment.  It was a grueling week of assessments, psychological testing, team exercises, quizzes, presentations and constantly having 25+ people evaluate your every move.

Although we had previously discussed names for the potential church, God didn’t confirm any until Lisa and I were back in our hotel room after yet another intense day of evaluation.  That was two years ago today and of course the name chosen was Exponential Church.

The reason for this was quite simple.  During my years working for Purpose Driven Ministries, part of the teaching I did for pastors was about Exponential Faith Thinking.  Essentially this means that you must have a vision, goals and dreams SO BIG that if God doesn’t show up and do something miraculous, those dreams and goals will never come true.

By thinking this big, it does two things for you.  First, it will drive you to your knees in prayer begging God to do something great on your behalf.  Since you know you can’t  do it without Him, this big vision will force you to be utterly and totally dependent on Him.  Second, when your dreams and goals are fulfilled, you won’t possibly be able to receive the credit for it…all the praise will go to how great God is, not how smart you are.

This whole line of thinking fit perfectly with the vision God had given me.  What I was experiencing in San Diego was only confirming that. It’s a huge vision that I’m not nearly smart enough to accomplish without God doing something great in and on my behalf.  The name Exponential also described the type of impact I know God is calling us to have.  Yes, we are starting in Harrisburg and that is our primary place God has called us to reach, but I truly believe that we’re going to do things that will make an eternal difference in our state, nation and world.

Now you might be saying, “That’s awesome but what about the .tv part?”  Glad you asked.  So 2 years ago today as God confirmed the name, I immediately decided to go ahead and buy the domain name.  One problem… .com, .org, .net, .info and many of the other common extensions are owned by others.  Immediately God reminded me of that a couple of churches that I greatly admire have the .tv extension…in fact some of them even made it a part of their name since it’s still uncommon here in the US.  A quick search and sure enough www.ExponentialChurch.tv was available.  A month later when we filled out all of our legal paperwork, I included the .tv in the name so people won’t have to guess how to find us on the web.

So now you know.  Two challenges for you:  First, are you thinking Exponentially in your own life and ministry?  Life is too short to waste it on small dreams.  Second, if you’re a part of ExponentialChurch.tv are you serving in some way?  The vision is too big and the stakes too high for you to simply sit on the sidelines as a spectator.  Discover what it is that God is calling you to do to help make this Exponential vision a reality!

Inside Today’s Experience

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  • Had another great day!
  • First it never hurts when you get an extra hour of sleep…although as I type this at 5pm it’s already pretty dark outside so I’d rather have stayed on daylight savings time.
  • Is it spring yet?
  • Actually the weather today wasn’t bad.
  • We started a new series today called, Just Walk Across the Room”…which meant the morning started with getting a new stage set up and running.
  • Bill did a tremendous job and put tons of time into creating the 2 huge signs you see in this post.
  • It’s hard to tell from the pics but the letters light up and then of course we can light the boards any color we want.
  • The letters are also raised so it creates a cool drop shadow effect.
  • Again the pics don’t do this justice…really cool all the effects that can be created.
  • Next week we’ll be using the boards for something special that will make them very personal to every single person in attendance.
  • So it’s about to get a lot cooler.
  • Despite figuring out how to set up the new set, set-up itself went smoothly…in fact the band had enough time after the warm-up and run through to work on some stuff for next week since they will be out performing this Thursday night and won’t be able to do their normal rehearsal.
  • I always love getting to briefly talk with the entire serving team at 9:20 and then having everyone pray for each other and for the day.
  • It was great to see another big crowd today.
  • It’s been weird over this past year to have really wild swings in attendance from week to week.
  • So a pretty steady day was a welcome sight…especially since both days were some of the highest ever.
  • Today as the kick-off to the series, I shared the vision of ExponentialChurch.tv.
  • IMPORTANT:  If you’re a regular attender of Exponential and didn’t hear today’s message, it’s very important that you take the time to listen either online or download it for an MP3 player.
  • In the message you’ll learn how to make sure you are “in the right business” and I give a very impactful iillustration to demonstrate how much work we have left to do to reach the 425000 people in the metro area that don’t yet know Jesus.
  • God has allowed us to do some pretty awesome things this past year but much more is still expected…Jesus said that when much has been given, much will be required.
  • Again it’s important that you listen so you know how together we can partner to make an eternal difference.
  • One way as I mentioned is to “Automate the Important”.
  • Vision doesn’t come cheap and to be honest the church is really struggling financially right now to survive.
  • I don’t for one minute think that it’s God’s will for us to fail.
  • So if you are a regular attender of Exponential then I encourage you to begin tithing online and set it up so that your tithe automatically gets debited either monthly, bi-monthly (that’s what I do) or weekly.
  • If you’re someone from outside our church yet you believe in what we’re doing I encourage you to give as well whether it be a one-time gift or some sort of ongoing automated contribution.
  • Again to be honest, I’m tired of talking about money but the mission and vision are too important.
  • I honestly believe that the best is yet to come and as I prayed at the end…I’m not so sure God wasn’t laughing at me today because I dream too small.
  • God is a great God, He has given us a great mission and with Him all things are possible…let’s keep thinking exponentially and trust Him to “do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine”.
  • After the message and during the announcement time, I was surprised to see Larry Evans and Lorraine Weaver make their way down to the stage and interrupt.
  • I normally hate any surprises like that but in this case I’ll forgive them since they wanted to honor myself and the rest of the staff with a gift in honor of Pastor Appreciation Month.
  • Thanks to all for the cards and gifts.
  • As I said…we’re all a team and while God has given me a unique role to play, I/we can’t do it without you…We are the church and again the best is yet to come!

Inside Today’s Experience

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  • Another great day!
  • 3 more first time professions of faith!
  • One of our highest attendance days ever!
  • Some cool stories of how people are applying this series to their lives and getting margin!
  • Got to meet the 3 interns we’ll be working with this summer!
  • Mike Smith was in the house!
  • Lisa, my parents and myself were unexpectedly treated to a free lunch when a great couple from ECTV spotted us and had one of our “You Matter” cards delivered to the table!  Problem was the waitress  didn’t speak English very well (Japanese restaurant) so we didn’t fully understand what was happening until we went to pay and a waiter finally explained they had picked-up our bill!
  • We convinced the theater to turn the AC on which made for a lot cooler Experience!
  • Ok I think I’m out of statements that end with an exclamation point.  Seriously!
  • Ok seriously this time…it was a good day.
  • Nothing too out of the ordinary except we again have equipment starting to feel the effects of the wear and tear of getting set-up and torn down each week.
  • It was weird…last week I was looking forward to the message but didn’t feel good about it.  Today was the opposite…I wasn’t feeling good about it going in but felt really good about it at the end,
  • Guess you’ll have to listen for yourself.
  • Essentially the message was about the practical steps to achieving financial margin.  I think what I liked though were two specific illustrations that I used that when it finally dawned on people where I was going with them, I could audibly hear the “ah-ha” moments coming out of people’s mouths in a variety of ways.
  • At the end I was able to share some of the awesome things we’ve been able to do in just 7 short months.
  • Things like now 86 first time professions, over $20000 given in a variety of ways to help the community, incredible stories of lives being changed and transformed, etc.
  • However, as I said, there are many other things that God has called us to do that we simply can’t yet because of finances.
  • We’re not in trouble in any way, but I know God has so much more He wants us to do.
  • So if you’d like to contribute financially, we’d greatly appreciate your support.
  • I continue to be blown away by the incredible team God has assembled in such a short time and the things He’s allowed us to experience together as a church in only 7 short months…however…listen to me and listen carefully…
  • The Best is Yet to Come!

Questions Answered Part 5

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Today I’m wrapping up the most common questions I’ve been getting since announcing that I’ll be leaving United to start a church in Harrisburg.

11.  What’s the name of your new church? ExponentialChurch.tv

12.  Why the .tv on the end? The domain name was already taken for things like .com, .org, .net, etc.  Since .tv is not as common we just tacked it onto the name.  This is actually pretty common.  In fact did you know that Life Church  which has been the organizer of the One Prayer series we’ve done the last two years is actually named LifeChurch.tv?

13.  What’s your vision for the new church? I won’t go into a lot of detail here because I’ll be doing that in the future.  If you’re really interested ask me and I’ll give you a full 20 page document until I post more here.   For now though let me share the following 4-prong aspect to the vision:

  • Weekend Experiences: Pretty much what we’re doing  in United now.  There are over 425,000 people in the Harrisburg area that don’t yet have a relationship with Christ.  So in the same way we’re currently doing church for those that don’t like church, we’ll do it up there but in a much bigger way.
  • Community Outreach: This will in some ways be similar to our current You Matter Ministry.  Monday-Saturday opportunities will be given to go out into the community serving the needs of the people in practical way.
  • Life Skills Center: People will be able to come to the church to get trained in various skills that can then be translated into jobs in the community or service to organizations.  One of those organizations will be ExponentialChurch.tv.  Essentially what we’ll be doing is offering our building to various people in the community who want to teach skills such as voice, instruments, video editing, computer programming, database, carpentry, sewing, etc.  The people they give lessons to will then be offered an opportunity to hone those skills as a volunteer at Exponential.
  • Church Multiplication Center: One of the aspects I miss about working for Purpose Driven is that I got to help tens of thousands of churches all across North America in being more effective in reaching their local communities.  The final phase of Exponential will be in helping churches and new churches to get started.  We will do this by offering 1 year residency programs where potential church planters can come in to get trained in how to not only start a church, but grow a thriving church that is making a huge impact in whatever community they happen to be a part of.  Also, our goal is to plant other churches around the Harrisburg area to make sure that all 425,000 people without Christ get to hear the good news of what Jesus has done for all of us.

That’s a very brief glimpse of what we’ll be doing.  What has been amazing is watching God open door after door confirming this was what He wants us to do.  There is still a lot of work that needs to be done yet, but God has been faithful and I know will provide all the resources and strength that we need.

14.  Couldn’t you have stayed in Chambersburg and done this same thing? Trust me…Earl and I talked about if it were possible.  However, we both quickly realized that a vision like this will require a much larger city than Chambersburg to pull off.  And besides, God made it clear that we were to go to Harrisburg.  So if someone else wants to try this in Chambersburg they can, but as for us, we are called to leave.  As I’ve said all week long…not because we necessarily want to, but because we know that being faithful to God’s voice and His direction often requires discomfort and sacrifice.

That’s it for now, please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any more questions.

Questions Answered Part 4

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Today I’m continuing answering questions about my leaving United and starting a church in Harrisburg.  Here’s the most common questions I’ve been getting in person this week that I haven’t already addressed.

6.  When will you be leaving? Probably at the end of May or by the end of June at the latest.  I want to do everything I can to help United and CFCOG in the transition so we’re all leaving the timetable somewhat open.

7.  Will you be moving to Harrisburg or commuting? We will be moving as soon as our house gets sold.  If that means I have to commute back and forth to Chambersburg for a few months then I’m cool with that.  We want to get up there ASAP to start making connections in the community so the faster we sell our house the better.  If you know of someone who may be interested, here is the link for our house.

8.  What’s the real story? Certainly something else must be going on for you to just all of the sudden want to leave. Again I don’t want to leave, but I’m just being obedient to what I know God has clearly asked me to do.  As for any other story, there is none.  Like in any church/job, you occasionally have frustrating moments with people, co-workers, bosses, the job itself, but I didn’t have anything nearly major enough that I was even remotely thinking about leaving.  I was just as surprised that God asked me to leave as you were to hear I was leaving.

9.  Do you have a location in Harrisburg for your new church? Yes and no.  We are looking at a couple of facilities right at the junction of I-81 and I-83.  Please be praying about that for us that God will open the right place for the right price.  One facility we are excited about the possibilities but it will definitely have to be a God thing.

10.  So what is this big vision? Ah yeah that…you’ll have to come back tomorrow to get the details…