It's almost Christmas! Hurray! I like Christmas. I love the one we celebrate the birthday of at Christmas. And I enjoy cookies, gifts, smiles, music, and movies of Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Today I edited a video of a drama and solo from this past weekend's worship at Friendship Community Church. Here it is for your enjoyment.
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It's Sunday morning and I woke up early and decided to come on into the church. The roads are a little icy but I'll see what the morning brings. I enjoy worship so much that I am saddened that some people won't come today because of the weather. I understand that people need to be safe, but I will still miss them. We are a family and it's great when the family gathers on the weekend. But just in case the weather was bad today and people couldn't make it, last night after the Saturday evening service I put the sermon online . So if you are iced in today or snowed in or whatever, take some time to listen to the sermon and even a song if you wish . Have a wonderful day and merry Christmas!
This weekend I preached at Friendship Community Church. Usually I lead worship but with Pastor Hall away I had the opportunity to speak this past weekend. It was quite an interesting feeling to preach after not doing it since last November. I was nervous but knew that God would see me through it. My topic was Everybody Needs A Second Chance and I was reminded of how much I need second chances myself. But now it is over. The sermon was preached three times to three differing audiences. Now it has been placed on the internet for others to hear. If you are interested, the audio is here. There is no video, just the church logo. The sermon lasts about 30 minutes here , I had to trim off a little to get it under the 30 minute limit of GodTube. Feel free to leave comments and stories of what having a second chance has meant to you.
Everybody Needs A Second Chance. Sounds true enough to me. All of us mess up at times and even though we can never wipe it out like it never happened, we can start over. Most people want second chances for themselves but have a hard time granting second chances to those who hurt them or hurt people they care about. In any case, this weekend at Friendship Community Church this will be my topic. I will look at two brothers, a prodigal and the stay-at-home son, and a prophet named Jonah. All of them needed second chances. Some of them didn't want certain others to have them.
Election Day plus one. We have a new President. I knew we would. It was inevitable. Two terms and done, that's the rule (unless it's just one term). President Obama and his family need our prayers. So do the McCain's. Life goes on. No annoying phone calls anymore...well, not about politics anyway. God is not surprised. God is in control. God still wants to deal with humanity one person at a time.
Election Day is finally here. I looked out my kitchen window at 7:03 a.m. this morning towards the Community Building nearby and saw a long line stretching out reasonably close to the road. Election day. People were lined up and the parking lot had a lot of cars. For the next half hour, before I headed to work, there were lots of cars in and out and the line remained almost as long of people waiting to vote. On the other side of the building is another voting area. Then here at work we are a polling place also. I heard it was a big line also when the polls opened. I got here about 7:45 a.m. and there has been a constant line of people to vote. I was told around 9:15 that as many people had already voted as had voted for the entire primary day. People are definitely interested in the election. We became a polling place a few years ago but this is our first presidential election. So we are a good host with lots of room in our lobby for people to vote in a well-lighted area. Six
One day to go before Election Day 2008. Usually I have these kinds of things all figured out but I have to say that this year I am one of those "undecided" voters that are said to be so important to the candidates. Our house has received so many mailings and automated phone calls from the candidates and their followers that we are certainly ready for all of this to be over so we can have our mail box and answering machine back. In years past I was often convinced that if a certain candidate won that it would be the end of civilized society as we knew it (well, not quite that bad but close). Now I have come to see that it is important who is elected from the state house to the white house but that the good of mankind doesn't rise or fall on an election. Of course I always knew that, but it just "felt" like an election was of utmost importance. This year I may be undecided on who to vote for, though I would even surprise myself if I didn't vote for one particu
Yesterday I took the day off and ended up watching two back to back movies in the morning. The first was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was fun to watch Indiana again and see him in a new "old" place with an old friend who betrays him and a new sidekick who ends up being his son. Good movie, fun to watch, and an interesting look at running into an old flame again after many years and discovering that the two of you had a child together that you knew nothing about. Ah, the surprises of life! This Indiana Jones had the 1950's communist menace as the foes as opposed to his earlier movies when he fought the Nazis. The second movie I watched had the Nazis as the foe. This movie was "Bonhoeffer, Agent of Grace." Quite a bit different kind of movie in many ways. Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany who early in the movie is in the United States in 1939 and has the opportunity to stay there. But he chooses to go back to Germany and be with
Every so often an idea strikes me (it seems seldom at times) and I am able to capture it in a song. This past week it happened again. The idea is that when we think "What have you done for me lately, God?" the answer is that "You were there with me...and You're here with me." God is with us through our doubts, troubles, and when things are going well. Here is a video look at this song.
OK, I confess...I have enjoyed watching the political conventions the past two weeks. Yes, I said "conventions," both of them. Somehow as I am aging I am able to look for hope and ideas and look for the best in people even in two different political parties. I have discovered several "news" channels and seen just how much they report based on the "leaning" of the channel politically. (Nice way of saying they are biased and report accordingly.) It is hard for all of us to look at an event, a speech, a conversation and not see it from our own biased viewpoint. Did I say hard for us? I mean it is impossible. Still isn't it OK to have enjoyed Hilary Clinton speaking one week and Sarah Palin the next? Am I off-base because I could enjoy Barak Obama one week and then Joe Lieberman the following week? I used to feel that if a certain candidate didn't win that the country would be in big trouble. Now I still care and will vote in the election, b
An interesting week of media. I finished up The Shack, I'm reading The Faith of Barack Obama, and I put together a second video of small group leaders describing their offerings for this fall. There are so many ways to grow as human beings. From reading to being part of a group of people who want to grow deeper in their spiritual lives to so many different things. The important thing is to take the time to be in relationship with God and with people. Here is the video I just put together. All kinds of groups described here from bible studies to men's and family and teen groups to fantasy sports leagues.
This week I read The Shack by William P. Young. What an excellent book. I like to read mysteries and action type of books and this had that...and so much more. In the book, a man named Mack is invited to the Shack to spend time with Papa. He has the opportunity to have one-on-one time with God, if only he will go for it. Or is it a hoax, or a trap, or a crazed joke? I enjoyed the book so much. I learned so much about God and spent time thinking about my relationships with people and with God. But if you think it is an over-your-head type of book don't worry, there is something for everyone. Yes, it requires some thinking but the plot and the characters draw you in. Will it stretch your thinking about who God is and what it means to be a Christian? Yep, it sure will but that's a good thing. Will you agree with every thought expressed? Maybe not but that can be OK too. It's a novel, not the final word. It gave me a lot to think about. What else can you hope fo
This past week I got to talk with some terrific people who have a heart for helping others grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus. In order to help that happen, they are going to lead Deeper Life small groups this fall. Rather than just put out a brochure of when the groups are meeting and what the topics will be, I met with these leaders and video taped each of them. Then I put together a video to encourage people to become a part of a small group. I even taped myself. Hope you enjoy watching this and are motivated to join a group and grow deeper in your life with Jesus.
Just this week I found out about a web site that lets me share the music I have written with others and lets me discover other new music that I can use as well. It's called www.ShapingWorship.com I have uploaded a couple of my worship songs so you can listen to them and/or download an mp3 of them. The lyrics/chords are also there for viewing and/or downloading. Just click on the "Search" button and type in "Rich Thornton" and you will see a list of my songs. While you are there check out some of the other songs on the site. There are some really good songs there. It's fun to use them here at Friendship Community Church and I look forward to sharing more of them as time goes by.
For the last couple of months I spent a lot of time with these guys in "The Music Man." From the left are John Marrs, Fred Stabley, myself, and Lee Howard. They are great guys and it was a pleasure to practice our barbershop quartet style songs together. Interesting how spending time together with others can help someone to reach out of themselves and learn so much.
This past weekend I was in The Music Man. I was one of the school board members who couldn't get along with each other (that would never happen in real life) until we were brought together by the joy of harmonizing as a Barbershop Quartet. Thus this picture of me. The show was an incredible experience. The director, musical director, choreographer, costumer, and cast were wonderful people and I miss them already. Fortunately, I have two of the cast members around...my daughters Rosie and Emily. We shared the whole experience and it will give us a lifetime of memories. It was a great summer vacation. Singing, acting, making new friends, driving with my daughters (Emily drove mostly since she is working on getting her driver's license soon...tomorrow actually), and learning so much about the theatre. I wouldn't have missed it. And I'm already hoping to be in another show someday.
Today I had the opportunity to talk with and video Linda Morningstar who coordinates the Angel Food Ministry at the church she attends, St. Paul UMC in Manchester, PA. Linda has a passion to serve God and it comes across when talking with her. Angel Food Ministries is designed to help everyone stretch their food dollars. Once a month, anyone, no pre-qualification necessary, can sign up and pay $30 for a box of food that they then can pick up two weeks later. For that $30, about $60 worth of food is obtained. It's not everyday that you can double your food money. Anyway, we are starting this ministry at Friendship Community Church in August and so have been trying to learn all we can about it. This weekend we will be showing this video to the congregation here to let them see how serving people serves God. Look for Angel Food Ministries in your own community and help someone, yourself included.
We use a lot of video resources at our church each weekend. Sometimes it gets really hard to find just the right clip to highlight and strengthen the weekly theme. Often I head to Sermonspice.com to look over the many videos from various sources. They have a good search set-up that lets me type in a topic and be brought to the many videos that might fit. I can watch them in full and choose what I need. But I would have to say that beyond the excellent videos and quick way of searching for them, what I appreciate a lot is the quick response I am given if I have trouble downloading a video. Most of the time the downloads go easily but on occasion I have trouble and e-mail the service team. It seems that within minutes I get a response saying they are sorry for my trouble (I always appreciate someone being sorry) and they give me enough new tries to download and specific help on downloading. Then I try what they say and I get the video. This is especially helpful near the weekend w
During this last month I have been in rehearsal for "The Music Man." It's a fun musical first written in the 1950's and performed and then put out as a movie in the early 1960's. You probably have heard about it even if you haven't seen it. It's about an Iowa town where a traveling salesman goes to start a boy's band. No, not the Backstreet Boys, this band was in 1912. But he is a con artist who just sells people band uniforms and instruments and then heads out of town without there really being a band. But this Professor Harold Hill didn't count on falling for Marion, the librarian. Life changes and so do motives when one falls in love. Our lives change when we fall in love, when we care for someone besides ourselves... But anyway, I got into this musical because I enjoy the creative community and I hoped to be in it with my two talented daughters. Fortunately, we all got through the auditions and now are spending a lot of time rehearsing t
It is with great anticipation that I look forward to Friendship Community Church becoming a distribution center in August for Angel Food Ministries. On August 8th and 9th people will be able to come to Friendship and order and pay for approximately $60 worth of groceries...but only have to pay $30 to do so. Then on Saturday morning, August 23rd, people will be able to come and pick up the groceries and take them home. With the cost of food and gas going up lots of us are struggling with just paying the bills. Whether you have a regular job with a decent income or infrequent jobs at minimum wage, you often wonder how you are going to keep putting food on the table. Angel Food Ministries offers the opportunity to all, with no income restrictions, to save money on their groceries. Of course lots of volunteers are needed to get the food from the refrigerated truck at a different location and bring it to Friendship. Then others will be needed to distribute the food to those coming i
A couple of weekends from now the church here at Friendship Community is going to show a drive-in movie on our ballfield on Friday and Saturday nights, June 20 & 21. For months we have been talking among the staff about what would be a good movie to show. Something that all ages could watch and that would be a fun family experience. After discussing some movies that have been out recently, we finally decided to show "ET"(not Entertainment Tonight but ET the Extra Terrestrial). Yeah, it's an old one from 1982 but it's a great story and I am looking forward to seeing it on the gigantic screen that the Hershey Drive-In will be bringing for our event. The screen is higher than our church building. It will be a free event and if we have nice weather we may have 600 or more people as we did last summer when we had a couple of drive-in weekends. The thing that makes "ET" special is that it is a real family (well as real as movies can do) with family diffic
What an afternoon yesterday was around the Thornton house! Our oldest daughter, Rosie, was doing her final packing for her mission trip to Haiti and we were preparing to get in the car to drive to Baltimore for her to join her mission team. Meanwhile my wife was online looking for information from an airline and searching for some Creole phrases, the language in Haiti, that Rosie could know for simple conversation. In the process, my wife came across news of a Travel Warning issued April 30, 2008, that had been issued by the United States Department of State. It advised Americans to defer non-essential travel to Haiti until further notice because the conditions that led to civil unrest a month ago had not been entirely resolved. She showed me the information online and I read it all several times. Fourteen kidnappings of Americans so far this year marked by deaths, brutal physical and sexual assault, and shooting of Americans. It read that there is a limited capability of local law en
This past weekend Spirit Force , a drama ministry from Messiah College, shared a musical drama at all three of our worship services at Friendship Community Church. It was something to not only watch it but to see and hear the responses of people who were in the audience. The drama was all about grace. Of course grace only means something if you have lived without it, as the husband/father/alcoholic did. The stresses he put on his family were so real that the rawness of it was felt by many, and had been experienced by at least some present. To say the least, the presentation was a grabber that reached in and pulled out emotion from the viewer even if you hadn't experienced all that family trauma yourself. I'm thinking that's because all of us have experienced some distance from God and difficulties with people at some time in our lives, or at least known others who would admit to that. At each of the performaces I put visual images from the computer onto the screen and
This week I had the opportunity to see someone that I have been mentoring for five years achieve quite an accomplishment. Tracey Utermahlen--busy wife, mom, grandmother, full-time employee, volunteer...and now ordained Pastor (and really so much busier than even all of this). What a joy to see her stand in front of the hundreds attending the ordination service and receive her ordination certificate and her new Bible, her authority for ministry. For five years she has taken classes through Winebrenner Seminary and served faithfully as a volunteer at Friendship Community Church. Just last year she became a licensed Pastor and came on board the church staff officially. Tracey is quite the fun person and is so gifted and caring. Congratulations Tracey! And to all the rest of us, let's join Tracey in serving God and sharing Jesus in exceptional and ordinary ways. The picture is of Tracey and her husband Greg on their wedding day a little over four years ago. Blessings on you both
Showing God's love to people in ways that will change lives is what I'm about. I try to do this in the way that I plan and lead worship on the weekends at Friendship Community Church and in the ways I connect with people daily. I have been interested in reaching people through starting new churches for quite awhile now. Two churches that have started in the past 3-4 years are the Liberty Community Church in Manassas, Virginia, and Higher Hope Church in Horseheads, New York. I have had the opportunity to get to know Thom Redmond at Liberty Community Church and some people from the church here at Friendship initially went down to help on some of the opening Sundays. I haven't had the opportunity to get to know Mike Schooley of the Higher Hope Church but it has been my pleasure to get to know him and his church by the hours of looking at video footage and editing it for this video presentation. These churches are unique yet each looking to touch people for Jesus in their o
What a weekend this will be! First of all, let me just say, as my family and close friends know, that I am not a painter/construction person/or handy person in any way. Friday night at 6 PM and Saturday morning at 8 AM we are having Painting Parties here at Friendship Community Church. Parties I understand, but painting is not my thing. But I want to support what is happening and all the people who will come and do know how to paint, so I will be here for the Parties. I will move stuff and make coffee and do little things ... but no painting. (Maybe I'll surprise myself...but I doubt it.) I will be reminded of how important it is to help and support others. I do look forward to the burgundy walls that will be adding color in the lobby. I am so glad for the hallways to be brightened with a fresh coat of paint (5 1/2 years since we moved into this building is a long time in "paint" years). And the front of the worship center will no longer be white...it will be a bet
It's primary election day here in Pennsylvania today. I voted about 8 this morning. My duty is done, my choice made. While driving I heard someone call in to a radio station with who they supported. She called one candidate "delusional" because they thought they could change the world. I laughed for a moment, and then thought how important it is to want to change the world. In the movie "Ark Almighty" the main character's campaign was about changing the world. All of us can change the world, one act of kindness at a time. I probably won't propose any sweeping changes to the health care situation or the tax structure or environmental problems but I can look for someone to help today...and then tomorrow and the next day. Jesus is glad for politicians and everyone else who will reach out to others in His name.
I've been reading an interesting book called "Summer of Light" by W. Dale Cramer. One great quote from it (page 153) comes after the main character, Mick, asks The Man With No Hands (an interesting character description of a former addict) about his having "Got religion." He replies: "Religion is what regular people get in order to stay out of hell. People who have already been to hell don't want religion, they just want to know God."
The last couple of weeks my life has slowed down because of the cold/cough I have had and still have. Maybe that's what took me back to finish this video project of pictures of my early days in the 1950's up into the mid 1980's or so. "This Life" is one I want to keep living with my family and friends and for God.
This is the time of year when the weather seems to be constantly changing. Cold and rainy to warmer and balmy (well, not much of that around Pennsylvania). In any case just as the weather changes so does the political climate. Hillary and Obama keep trading places at the front of the pack and whoever is second almost implies that behind is a good place to be right now...yeah, right...like either of them wouldn't want to be ahead and have this thing locked up. Meanwhile, John McCain is the only Republican for President left standing as Mike Huckabee bows out and the others have either dropped out, suspended their campaigns, or are spinning their way to another year. Politics is good for the economy, right? The more they spend the more some people make selling, producing, and making the ads, etc. Now if only the payoff would be a person who would lead this country ahead. And isn't that what we really want? Anyway, I hope this political season finds you anticipating the iss
Happy Valentine's Day once again. (In case you read my post from earlier today, and I hope you did or will.) Since I posted the pictures of couples from Friendship Community Church in the video earlier today, I thought I would post this video from my wedding to my bride, my sweetheart, my wonderful wife Diane.
It's Valentine's Day and a young man's thoughts turn to love...and so does an old man's thoughts (and those of us who are somewhere in between those two groups). Though I know it is often another holiday that doesn't measure up to all the hype, there is something good about taking some time to celebrate our love for someone else. So today I will give Valentines to my wife and two daughters. I will let them know how much I love them and am so glad they are in my life. Tomorrow night is Date Night at Friendship Community Church. I will be running the tech area, as well as enjoying the good food, and I have put together a video of wedding photos of some of the people who will be attending. These pictures represent marriages that go back just a few years and some that go way back, one to 1946. So enjoy the pictures, think of those who made a difference in your life through their marriage, reflect on how you can grow in all circumstances, and enjoy Valentine's D
I just read Don Record's blog from Action Church . He talks about how starting a church is more like pushing an old time plane off a cliff to get it started than like initiating a space journey. It reminds me of the movie, Apollo 13. "Houston, we have a problem" has been spoken and the team in Houston is trying to figure out what to do. "Forget the flight plan. From this moment on we are improvising a new mission." Then the leader turns on the overhead projector (remember those?) and it doesn't work. He pushes it away and says, "How do we get our people home?" Then they kick around an idea to use the LEM, which was to get them onto the surface of the moon, to bring them home. A designer of the LEM says, "We can't make any guarantees. We designed the LEM to land on the moon." The leader of the team responds "I don't care what anything was designed to do. I care what it can do." So design away Don and actionchurch t
Technology is amazing. YouTube and GodTube and other video places online are great ways to be able to learn and be touched. Yesterday I saw other people's videos which moved me and created a song and video of my own. I posted it here and you will still find it below (along with the lyrics to this song). Today I created a new video of the song with pictures instead of me just sitting there singing. So many ways to reach the world, or at least part of it.
The creative and "new thing" part of me has really been enjoying the collaboration at Friendship Community Church with Action Church Friendship Community Church began 17 years ago with a dream to reach people for Jesus who didn't feel like they fit in more traditional churches. Now we enjoy a unique relationship with Don Record and Action Church who are so committed to reaching people that they are meeting at Fat Daddy's, a nightclub on the east side of York, PA. God brought Dennis Hall and I together with Don while at a church conference in downtown Washington, D.C. It was definitely a God thing. Now we are growing as we are stretched to be part of this new "church" in a bar that will reach people that we can't. Meanwhile we have lots more people to reach in Dover, PA. There are people all around the world who need to come "home" to a loving Father. So I wrote this song that you'll hear on this You Tube clip. Pretty boring in terms
Things are getting exciting for actionchurch , a new church getting ready for its grand opening in the city of York, PA. The grand opening is Feb. 10, 11 a.m., at Fat Daddy's in York. Check this video out and pray for, volunteer, and/or attend this new expression of God's love to the world. Taking it to the streets to serve and gathering together to worship weekly...a new beginning to reach people for Jesus. http://