Mike Edmisten

Our house’s transformation is almost complete. It is transforming into a Christmas wonderland. Ok, that’s a stretch. Let’s just say that our Christmas decorating is almost finished. Not bad, considering that we started this decorating venture on Sunday night and it is now Tuesday afternoon.

I’m really looking forward to this Christmas. It promises to be a fun time with our two-year-old son, Ryan. It will also be fun to be in our own house this holiday season. For the last several Christmases we have stayed with family here in Ohio since we lived in Indiana. Now that we’re closer to home, we can stay in our house and still be with our families during the holidays. This will allow us to create some of our own family traditions without missing out on anything with our extended families. That’s probably what I’m more excited about than anything else: creating traditions that Ryan will always remember.

I’m not normally a really sappy kind of guy, but that changes at Christmas. Our house isn’t the only thing that transforms during the holidays. I do, too. I focus more on giving, and laughing, and slowing, and cherishing, and pondering, and loving. I really like the kind of guy that I am at Christmas. I’d like to see that guy more often the rest of the year.

Tomorrow we’ll be leaving Tennesee and heading back north to the old Ohio homestead. It’s been a great trip, full of fun and relaxing times. It has also reminded me of a few things, which I feel compelled to share with you. You would do well to remember these lessons, as they may just come in handy someday.

1. It is possible for a hot tub to be too hot. Our first day here, Nicki and I decided to hop into the jacuzzi located so conveniently on the deck of our chalet. However, apparently the guests before us had used the hot tub to boil lobsters. After about 3 minutes in the tub, I couldn’t stand it anymore. And after I got out, I looked like one of the aforementioned lobsters. It wasn’t until day 2 that my brother, Jeff, found the thermostat on the hot tub.

2. Cornmeal grits are amazing. I have always loved grits, but the ones at breakfast this morning were the best I’ve ever had. Props to The Old Mill Restaurant.

3. People are willing to throw their money at anything. There are lots of cool things to do in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. There are also a lot of goofy and corny attractions, and these are the ones that are always packed with people.

4. I love the mountains. I would visit the mountains over the beach any day. My wife hates that about me.

5. I stink at pool. Our chalet’s pool table has done nothing but reinforce that truth.

6. My family is a huge blessing in my life.

7. You can’t judge a book by its cover. That’s quite cliche. It’s also quite true. Last night, Nicki and I went to dinner and there was a large guy wearing a Bengals jersey who was also dining there. (I know this is off subject, but I’ve seen more Bengals apparel than any other team here in TN. The Titans apparently get no love down here.) He had a long goatee and many piercings, including a large nose ring. If you have already stereotyped this fellow, then you’ve made my point for me. He was sitting there with his family, which included his wife, his young daughter (probably about 3 years old), and twin infants. He was interacting with his children, singing songs from the Wiggles (which I immediately recognized, of course), and just being a great dad. I wonder how many people would write him off just because of the outer package?

There you go. A few important, and a few not-so-important lessons from my vacation. Excuse me now while I return to our deck for some more sweet mountain air.

Right now I am sitting in a Smokey Mountain chalet. We are spending the Thanksgiving holiday in the Smokies with my family. Our chalet isn’t just up in the mountains. It is WAY up in the mountains. Driving up to the cabin is an interesting trip. The roads are narrow and crooked. It’s a steep drop off the side of the road and there are no guardrails. So it doesn’t take a genius to know that you’d better take it slow.

That’s been the theme for me the last couple of days. Maybe it’s the mountain air, maybe it’s just getting away from home and work, but the pace of my life has ground to a screeching halt. And through that slowness comes perspective. I have a ton to be thankful for. However, I often miss most of it in the busyness of my life.

In busyness, I forget my true business. The business of a believer is to honor God, and I can’t do that when I don’t stop to thank Him. I don’t thank God often enough for my family. For my church. For my home. For my food. For my stuff. For my health. For His Son.

This past Sunday I taught from Psalm 100. The crux of this Psalm is found in verse 3. It’s all about this concept of “The More You Know.” Yeah, God came up with that idea well before NBC did. The bottom line message of Psalm 100 is this: the more you know God, the more thanksgiving becomes your natural language. The people who don’t thank God consistently are the people who don’t know God intimately.

More than anything, I want to know God. And I can’t let the pace of my life or anything else keep me from that goal.

God, thanks for these slow times. Thanks for all the blessings that you have given me. Too often I’m an ingrate who doesn’t deserve them. Thanks for not giving me what I deserve!

One more day until vacation!!! We’ll be joining my family in Gatlinburg for the Thanksgiving holiday. The last vacation I had was back in early July, but it wasn’t much of a vacation considering that we moved into our new house that week. So it’s actually been almost a year since I had a week off. I’m not complaining because it’s been a good year in our ministry at ACC. Nevertheless, I’m still tired and I still need a break. You probably do, too.

Even if you’re not taking an entire week off, I do hope that this week’s holiday will provide you with at least a little downtime. A time to allow God to refresh you, to reconnect with your family and friends, etc. For some of us, our schedule has become the god to be served in our lives. If that’s the case, then this week will provide us with a great opportunity to slow down and reprioritize a few things. The demands of your schedule will always be louder than the call of God. It is through slowing that we connect with Him. It is in times of stillness that He moves in our lives.

So kick back, enjoy some turkey and all the fixin’s, soak up some time with your family, and most of all, take a moment and quiet your heart in God’s presence, thanking Him for all the blessings in your life.

One of our cars is currently in the shop. And I am currently waiting to get that dreaded call from the mechanic so I can learn exactly what it’s going to cost to fix our car. I know the problem. The problem is that the brakes are noisy. When I say that they’re noisy, I don’t mean there’s a little annoying squeak. I mean that I when I slow down in a parking lot, people run away from my car because they don’t think I’ll be able to stop. I can’t really describe the sound. It’s kind of a grind mixed with a squeal, a squeak, and the sound a cat makes when you step on its tail. And did I mention that the sound is loud?

My car’s movement is not a problem. It runs great. It’ll go wherever I want it to go. The problem isn’t going. The problem is stopping. But if I never fixed the stopping issues, I would eventually crash my car. And if I crashed my car, I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.

Sometimes the church has trouble moving, but at other times it has trouble stopping. Nearly every church has ministries and programs that are working great. They’re moving right along. But many churches also have ministries and programs that have moved past their usefulness. They used to work wonderfully, but it’s just not happening anymore. The problem is that some people don’t want to admit that these things aren’t working anymore. Hence, there’s a stopping problem.

But it is just that: a problem. Most churches I know are facing budget constraints and a shortage of volunteers. When the church grows numerically, it almost always takes longer for the giving and volunteer staff to catch up with that growth. Truth be told, if the growth pattern continues indefinitely, giving and volunteer staff may never catch up. So when we’re faced with this issue, we have to be choosy about how we allocate our limited resources. If we spend money and man hours on ministries that aren’t effective, isn’t that bad stewardship? We need to do some prayerful examination of what we’re doing and what we want to accomplish. If what we’re doing doesn’t line up with the vision and goals of the church, then our ministries need to be realigned…and some need to be cut. That’s difficult if these ministries are well-established, longstanding efforts in the church. But even though it’s difficult, we have to develop a culture of stopping.

Earlier this year, we started a new ministry at ACC. APEX is an emergent, exeperiential worship event where we explore new and creative ways to worship and connect with God. God is pouring out incredible blessing on this new ministry, but that still doesn’t mean that we will always have our APEX ministry. When we started this new venture, we made it clear that it probably won’t last forever. As long as APEX is working, we’ll continue to pursue it. If it ever ceases to be useful, we’ll cut it. That would be painful for me because I am personally invested in this ministry. But we have to make hard decisions in a culture of stopping.

If our resources were unlimited, we wouldn’t have to worry about stopping. We could do anything and everything under the sun. We wouldn’t have to examine what is and isn’t working because we could do everything. But unlike the federal government, we can’t afford to fund and staff programs that aren’t useful anymore.

Stopping isn’t always pleasant. Sometimes it’s downright hard. But for our churches to be healthy and effective, it is necessary. We need to keep our brakes in good repair so that when we need to stop, they still work…hopefully without too much noise.

I don’t have it all together. I don’t have it all figured out. I don’t always do the right thing. Sometimes I actually make a conscious choice to do the wrong thing. I struggle with temptation. I lack self-control in certain areas of my life.

This was a big part of my message on Sunday. We talked about self-control and I decided to come clean before our church family. The plain, simple, ugly truth is that I don’t always excercise self-control. And I wanted our people to understand that.

It wasn’t that many years ago that Bible Colleges would teach preaching students not to be too transparent in their preaching. The thinking was that you don’t want to undermine your credibility by showing yourself to be too flawed or imperfect. But there’s a problem in that thinking. I am flawed and imperfect. And I am also honest. So if I combine all of those things, then I have to be honest about my flaws and imperfections.

Interestingly, what I have discovered in my ministry career is that people appreciate authenticity. Instead of undermining my credibility, it actually enhances it. That was on full display from my message on Sunday. I received a lot of comments and emails thanking me for being so open and honest about my struggles. Let me share a short snippet from one email I received.

“I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the fact that you use yourself as an example in your messages! You are the ONLY preacher I’ve ever known that admits to being human. You’re not just telling us that humans can make mistakes, you share how your mistakes affect your life.”

I just got a new book that I’m dying to rip into. Craig Groeschel’s new book, Confessions of a Pastor, is all about this issue of pastoral authenticity. The back cover poses this question: “Is the REAL you getting lost because the FAKE you is just so annoyingly impressive?”

That’s not just a good question for pastors. That’s a pretty darn good question for every single one of us.

Some of you that are subscribed via RSS might notice some odd things happening with the blog feed. I’m switching over to WordPress from Blogger, and I have a new address (www.mikeedmisten.com), but the feed address will remain the same (feeds.feedburner.com/mikesblog_acc).

You won’t need to change anything unless you were subscribed to something different than the Feedburner feed.

We’re putting the finishing touches on the new look, and things should be rolling again in full force soon!

I’m somewhat of a closet country music fan. I especially like to listen to country songs from the 80’s and early 90’s, but some of today’s stuff isn’t too bad, either. I got home late from a meeting this week and I turned on what was left of the County Music Association awards. I turned it on just in time to see Carrie Underwood win Female Vocalist of the Year. But the most interesting reaction to the award was not Carrie Underwood’s. It was Faith Hill’s.

There were cameras on each of the five women who were up for the award. When Carrie Underwood’s name was announced, Faith Hill shouted, “What?” with a look of total disgust on her face. Then she stormed off.

After all of this happened, Faith Hill released a statement. “The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me. For this to become a focus of attention, given the talent gathered, is utterly ridiculous. Carrie is a talented and deserving female vocalist of the year.”

Gary Borman, Hill’s longtime manager, added that Faith’s reaction was meant as a joke.

I’m sorry, but I’m just not buying it. I saw it happen on live TV. I’ve seen it replayed on the internet. Nothing about her reaction was in jest. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it on youtube and decide for yourself.

I can understand being upset about not winning an award. I can even understand losing your cool. It happens. People aren’t perfect. But why continue this line about it being “a joke.” Wouldn’t it better if she just said, “You know what? I messed up. I was mad and I lost my cool. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did and I am sorry.” That would be better than this John Kerry style explanation of, “It was just a bad joke.” That explanation didn’t work for him, and I seriously doubt that it will work for her.

What is it about apologizing that is so difficult? Every single one of us are flawed. We are the picture of imperfection. So why is it so hard for one screw-up to tell a bunch of other screw-ups the he or she screwed up? I guess it’s because we don’t want all the other screw-ups to know that we’re actually one of them! Well, the bad news is that the jig is up. You’re imperfect. I am too. So can we at least be authentic about that? I hope so, because I’m just no good at these games. Apparently Faith Hill isn’t either.

My family threw a surprise 80th birthday party for my grandma this past Friday. It was great seeing family and friends come from all over the country to show their love and support for her. It was a nice evening all the way around, which is what my grandma deserves. After all, 80 is a milestone birthday.

At least that’s the way the Hallmark people see it. When I went to buy a birthday card for my grandma, I noticed that the store had a section for “milestone birthday cards.” I wasn’t surprised that there were cards to mark an 80th birthday in that section. However, I was a little surprised to see cards marking a 30th birthday in that section as well.

Hmm… I’m going to be 30 next year. According to Hallmark, that’s a “milestone birthday.” I really don’t have any desire to have a milestone birthday. Maybe I’ll be ready for that when I’m 80, but not when I’m 30!

But it really got me thinking about this idea of milestones. I don’t think we should necessarily see milestones in our years, but rather in our days. Everyday has the potential to be a milestone. When I was playing in the fallen leaves yesterday with my son, that was a milestone. Our “family hug” this morning was a milestone.

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating milestone birthdays (especially if they’re not mine). In fact, it’s a great thing to celebrate the lives of the people that we love. But let’s not just wait for those “special”days when we can make everyday a special one. Remember, it is our days that make up our years, so make the most of the day!

I’m excited about APEX this Saturday at 6:00 pm. If you haven’t yet been to APEX, it is a high-energy worship experience. APEX allows us to experiment with new and different ways to offer worship to God. It’s way beyond singing. It’s way beyond listening to a message. It is a worship experience.

We’re continuing our “Who is Jesus?” series this Saturday as we talk about “Jesus: The Warrior.” That’s not normally the way we think about Jesus, so it will be exciting as many of us break new ground in our view of Jesus and our relationship with him.

If you’re not a Christian but you want to check out this God thing, we’d love to have you at APEX. You can come as you are (jeans, t-shirts, whatever) and just take it all in.

If you are a Christian, I think this APEX will be especially encouraging to you…especially if you are struggling through something in your life right now. Let’s all come and meet with Jesus: The Warrior!