Gilbert Thurston

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

God’s Plans Are Not Our Own

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The last few months have been crazy as I knew I was leaving a great church in Chambersburg to begin ExponentialChurch.tv in Harrisburg.  I was determined to finish well in Chambersburg before I left at the end of May despite the million and one things I had to do for the new church like find a meeting location, hire staff, raise funds, etc.  One way I was helping at Chambersburg was by trying to find my replacement.  I wasn’t in the decision making process but I was able to spend time with each candidate that came in and offer my opinion.

One such candidate was a pastor from Ohio named Chad Chute.  I met privately with he and his wife Tammie for about an hour and then throughout the weekend we had other chances to talk as he was evaluating United and the church was evaluating him.  I was really hoping he’d be my replacement, but for a number of legitimate reasons on both ends, it didn’t work out.

When I discovered this, I asked Earl if it was alright for me to approach him about coming on staff with me.  Earl said yes and thus began a month long process of hours of phone calls, capped by spending a week together with he and Tammie in Harrisburg doing testing, assessments, interviewing, team meetings, all along with attending a 3 day church planter’s boot camp.  What I’m trying to say is we grilled and tested them pretty hard.  The result…

Chad, Tammie, Christopher, Michael and Caitlyn are packing up and moving to PA to be a part of the exciting things that God has planned for ExponentialChurch.tv.  Chad will be heading up our Community Outreach and Life Skills portion of the vision.  He has awesome experience in these things and it’s a huge relief to me to have a partner in ministry that is strong in the areas where I am weak.  Please pray for Chad and his family as they transition into the area over the next few weeks and for the work he will be doing.

The lesson for us all out of this story is that God will sometimes take us to places that aren’t really the final destination He has for us in order to introduce us to people that will help us get to where He really wants us to be.  So don’t be discouraged when you hear no, you may have needed to hear that no in order to get the yes He has for you.

Lot’s of Questions

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I’m sure after my big announcement on Sunday the 28th, many of you have plenty of questions for me.  This week I want to take some time to answer some of them.

  1. Why would you want to leave? The answer is I don’t.  From a very selfish standpoint, I’ve got it good at United.  I love the people I work with on a weekly basis and the people I get to minister to.  In addition Lisa and I love our house and I get paid quite nicely to do something I’m extremely passionate about.  However, Jesus has asked all of us to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me”.  The last I checked, cross-bearing means sacrifice.  Jesus before going to the cross prayed and asked God if there was any other way but the cross to fulfill his mission to please do that, yet He said, “not my will be done, let your will be done”.

Ever since God dropped the vision on me for starting a church in Harrisburg back in October, I’ve prayed God if there is another way, please make that clear.  Instead though God has just opened one incredible door after another to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is His will for us.  To move is going to require sacrifice on Lisa and I’s behalf.  Not only will we be moving, but I’ll be taking a dramatic decrease in pay.  More than likely this will mean Lisa will need to find a job.  In addition we’ll be starting all over from scratch what has taken us years to build at United.  Will it be easy?  No.  Will it be fun?  Sometimes.  Will it be hard work?  Yes.  Are we confident this is what God wants from us?  Yes, yes, 100%, yes.  As I said in the announcement, it would be hypocritical of me to have preached for 3+ years that you need to be 100% devoted to God and always be obedient to Him, but yet then backed down when God asked me to do something that required sacrifice.

2.  But why Harrisburg, why not somewhere closer like Greencastle or Hagerstown? There are a number of reasons.  The primary one is because that’s where God told me to go.  As I’ve joked with a few people during this process that have asked me this question…”Jonah didn’t go to the city God told him to go and that didn’t work out to well for him.  So since God clearly told me Harrisburg…I’m going to Harrisburg”.

Also I believe He chose Harrisburg because the vision He gave me is so big and potentially nation/world changing, that it’s going to require a larger city to pull off.  In the coming days I’ll outline more of what He’s calling us to do, but the vision is not to just reach a city, but to help re-ignite our denomination and to ultimately become a training center for churches all over the US to send others for training.  Now obviously there are a lot of other large cities that God could have called us to, but I think He chose Harrisburg because it is the birthplace of our denomination, and there are a lot of strategic alliances/resources already in place in that area that will make the vision much more likely to succeed.

Lastly, my desire is to do nothing that will in any way hurt the United Worship Experience or Chambersburg First Church of God.  Being too close might have done such a thing so I believe God called me to a place that was not so close to be a hindrance but also not so far away that United and CFCOG can’t help me as well as me help you.

That’s enough for today…keep checking back and I’ll answer more questions throughout the week.  If you have one you’d like for me to answer, let me know so that we can make the transition as smooth as possible for all involved.

Inside Today’s Experiences

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  • Mixed emotions about today.
  • It was a fun and impactful weekend, but with the holiday, attendance was way down.
  • Pretty hard to get pumped up, especially during the second Experience.
  • However, still got to keep the perspective of even on our “off” weeks, God is still doing something amazing amongst us so we an never take that for granted.
  • After being away last week, it was nice to be back preaching again.
  • I’m so excited about what God is going to do in people’s lives…can’t wait for next week!
  • Love the stage set Brian designed for the series…very clever!
  • I just realized that for the first time in weeks, I didn’t have to wear a costume to church!
  • While REWIND was fun, glad to be back to “normal”.
  • Although I have been having some difficulty with my mic (thanks Brian :) and Andy between Experiences decided to tape it to my head…I’m sure pictures of that will show up eventually online.
  • I bit the inside of my lip pretty hard between Experiences as well…ouch that hurt.
  • I liked the new song the team introduced today…and the way they introduced it, with Brian teaching you guys what to do.
  • We came up with the idea this morning during warm-ups.  Wish you could have seen that.  Brian and Gayle were like Abbott and Costello doing “Who’s on First”…hilarious.
  • The special music song “Unveil” was weird…at the end of it at the first Experience the crowd roared…at the second they sat there in complete silence.
  • In any case, it’s a great theme song for the series and we’ll give you chances to sing along in future weeks.
  • I felt good about the message…think if we’ll all apply the tips I’ll be sharing, we’ll all hear clearly from God about what His will for our lives is.
  • Can you tell I’m writing this after a long nap…I’m all over the place.
  • Time to go…dinner with friends!

Psalm 119:1-32

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I challenged everyone in the Textually Active message to read through Psalm 119 this week so here are some of my thoughts on each 8 verse section and then an application point for myself for the day.  Feel free to read along and share your thoughts as well.

Psalm 119:1-8: Verse 2 really jumps out at me, “Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart“.   I don’t obey Jesus because I have to, I’m to obey Jesus because I want to…I’m seeking after His will and not mine and I delight in obeying.

Psalm 119:9-16: Verse 11 is one of my favorites in the entire Bible…”I have hidden your Word in my heart that I may not sin against you“.   Scripture memory is one of the most important things we can do as a follower of Christ because the Word of God is the only offensive weapon we have to defeat the devil.  Think about what Jesus did everytime He was tempted…He quoted scripture.  So what makes us think we are any better than Him?  So are you going into the battle each day without your weapon?  If so, the solution is to memorize God’s Word.  Which by the way I’ll be teaching how to do in the “How to Connect with God” class on 7/25.  To sign-up for it, e-mail me… gilbert@unitedworshipexperience.org.

Psalm 119:17-24: Verse 18 is a wonderful prayer to pray everytime you sit down to read God’s Word…”Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law”.

Psalm 119:25-32: The beginning of verse 30 says, “I have chosen the way of truth”. In other words, following God daily is a choice.  You will not accidentally wake-up one day and be spiritually mature…that only comes through daily seeking and obeying God with all your heart.

My Application: Today as I write sermons and attend Council Meeting tonight, I will consciously remember that God’s Word is far more important than my opinion.