Mike Edmisten

10. White Castle.
9. Telephones of any kind. Cell, landline, doesn’t matter.
8. Dentists. I’m afraid of dentists. There will be no fear in heaven. I’m going to heaven. So that means no dentists. Simple.
7. Email forwards.
6. The speakers at the fast-food drive thru.
5. Gold Star Chili. Sorry, but heaven serves Skyline.
4. Barney the Dinosaur.
3. Any weather warmer than 85 degrees.
2. The St. Louis Cardinals.
1. Laundry. No washing, no drying, and especially no folding.

I’m sitting in Starbucks right now working on my message for Sunday. Directly in front of me, there is a Starbucks employee on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor and the bases of all the tables. Her name is Erica. I talked with her about what she’s doing right now. She told me that she does a “deep clean” once a week.

Here’s the thing…I see Erica in here a lot, but she’s usually behind the counter. She has made an untold number of lattes, mochas, and frappucinos for me. She’s quite good at it. But right now, she’s scrubbing the floor.

What if she refused to do that? What if she said, “I’ll make coffee, but I’m NOT scrubbing the floor. I’m such a great barista that I will not lower myself to floor scrubbing.” Well, she’d probably be fired. After all, Starbucks is a corporate entity and employees must toe the line and do what they’re told. And that is the grand difference between a corporate employee and a church volunteer.

In the church, it’s all-too-easy to say, “I’m not doing that. I’ll do this, but I won’t do that. It’s beneath me.”

The last time I checked, Jesus called us to servanthood. What that means is that the mundane, menial tasks in the church (aka, scrubbing floors) should be the first things that I volunteer to do.

A recent U.S. survey of adults who don’t attend church, not even on holidays, found that 72% thought the church ‘is full of hypocrites,’ but that 78% would ‘be willing to listen’ to someone who wanted to share their beliefs about Christianity. At the same time, 72% of respondents also said they believe God exists.

The survey results were published last week by LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. The organization surveyed 1,402 ‘unchurched’ adults last spring and summer. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.

Just some food for thought. Thanks to Monday Morning Insight for the survey info.

As we inch closer to the Super Bowl this weekend, thought I’d pass along a great piece in the Boston Herald about Patriots’ tight end Ben Watson.

Ben has wanted to be a football player and a missionary since he was four years old. As this article demonstrates, both dreams have come true.

My favorite quote from the article is from Ben’s father, Ken. “If you are pointing your finger to the sky and praising the Lord after you score a touchdown, then you get off the field and you’re a bum, well, who is going to believe in you?”

The article is definitely worth your time. Check it out.

I worked on my sermon at our local library for a while today. As I was leaving, I heard a library employee telling a lady about a fine that she owed. This lady’s library fine was a whopping $220! I’m not joking!

Considering that library fines usually accrue at around a nickel a day…wow! What a fine!

Disclaimer: I’ll keep this post as non-graphic as possible.

Today I had a consultation for an upcoming minor surgical procedure. Let’s just say that it involves more than a little embarrassment for me, but the result is that Nicki and I won’t be having any more kids. Get the picture?

Anyway, about the consultation today…the title of this post says it all. It was weird.

It started in the waiting room. I had to be the youngest person in there by at least 30 years! It was old men, old women, and me. I actually stopped to read the name on the office door again to be sure I was in the right place. My wife was very comforting when I told her that I was easily the youngest person there. Her response was, “That probably means that every person in that room knew why you were there.” Nice.

Once I was finally called back to the office, I had to watch a video that was definitely weird. The first image I saw on the video was a man wearing tight bicycle shorts from the early ’80s. And that was just the beginning. It got better. (Insert sarcasm here.)

After that came the actual consultation with the doctor. As I said, I’ll keep this non-graphic, so there’s not much more to be said here.

To sum up the experience, here’s something that you’ll never, ever hear. “I had a great time at the urologist’s office.”

Now it’s on to scheduling the actual procedure…if I don’t run away first.

Patriots - 28
Giants - 10

Definitely not what I want to happen…but definitely what I think will happen.

Agree? Disagree?

Man, things were bumping at ACC this weekend! It was great to see so many people engaged in worship. The energy was definitely up. And it’s always a great feeling when you just know that the message connected. We talked about The Collision of Unanswered Prayer, and it hit home with a ton of people.

I did have one fella ask me how much TV I watch. I used illustrations from the Country Music Awards, 24, George Lopez, & Jerry Springer. Please hear me right now…I do NOT watch Springer! And contrary to how it may appear, I do more in life than simply watch TV!

Then last night, our student ministry launched its new flagship program called Nexus. It was awesome! I was blown away by the attendance and the excitement of our students. Everything was done with a high standard of excellence. It was a ton of fun! Big props to Brian Morrissey and everyone in Luminous Student Ministries for a great launch. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Man, we are brimming over with exciting stuff at ACC! Here are a few things that you absolutely need to check out.

My buddy Wade Allen preaches at Central Christian Church in Huntingburg, Indiana.
I’ve turned over the reigns of my blog to him today. He’s got some great leadership thoughts to share.

-Mike
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“I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”

- Babe Ruth

I am tired of leading tentatively. It is not my desire to intentionally upset anyone, but I am tired of asking myself whether or not someone will get upset if I do something new or different.

The question I should ask is whether or not the Lord is pleased with what I am doing.

Jesus insisted that mountains can be moved if we just have a little faith. How many “mountains” have been moved lately because of my faith?

I recently read a blog that gave indicators of whether or not you were actually leading.

You know you are not leading when…

It’s time to swing for the fences.