Gilbert Thurston

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

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Archives for September 2009

Information vs. Transformation

September 9, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

Today Leadership Network hosted a great idea.  It was a 1-day event called, The Nines (in honor of today being 09/09/09).  The basic concept was starting at 9:09 this morning and continuing through this evening, over 70 pastors and church leaders delivered 9 minute talks on leadership.

I’ve had it running in the background most of the day, but I’ve got to be honest.  Even though it featured many great speakers, some whom I consider friends, others who are mentors from afar and others yet whom I had never heard of.  All gave great talks, but eventually I had to turn it off.  Why might you ask?  Well the answer is simple.

Too much information that wasn’t related.  Again every single bit was great, but as a whole, it was too much to take in when there were so many different topics being talked about.  In other words, I was getting tons of information, but my fear is that there will be no transformation in my life or leadership because I couldn’t possibly process it all.

And that’s my fear for our lives as well.  Between daily devotions, Sunday school classes, mid-week classes, small groups, sermons, podcasts, tv and radio preachers, etc, we consume an enormous amount of religious education every single week.  If the sign of spiritual maturity were simply are we getting more and more info, then we’d be the most spiritually people in the 2000 years of Christianity.  Yet were not, why is that?  Again simple.  God wants transformation in our lives, not just us being consumers of information, or as James put it, “Be doers of the word, not just hearers”.

So while info is great, make sure that you’re being intentional each day and week to taking one or two concepts and applying it to your life.  So how about it…are you just about information, or are you about being transformed day by day?

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: information, James (Book of), Leadership Network, spiritual maturity, The Nines, transformation

Inside Today’s Experiences

September 6, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • 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!

Filed Under: Inside Today's Experience's Tagged With: Andy Krull, Brian Miller, Gayle Krull, gilbert thurston, United Worship Experience, Unveil Series, Will of God

3 year anniversary!

September 1, 2009 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

3 years ago today I began a 4 month consulting agreement with the Chambersburg First Church of God.  Part of that time was also to determine whether CFCOG was where God was calling Lisa and I to next on a more permanent basis.  Now here we are 3 years later and the answer was obviously yes!

And what a 3 years it has been.  The church has tripled in size…United which I was asked to lead has exploded with growth…hundreds of people have come to Christ…stories of life change are everywhere.  It hasn’t all been fun and games though…I’ve experienced some really down times…but through it all God has been faithful and I’m a better follower of Christ and pastor as a result.

So happy anniversary…can’t wait to see what the next 3 years and beyond hold!

Filed Under: General Tagged With: anniversary, Chambersburg First Church of God, gilbert thurston, United Worship Experience

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