Mike Edmisten

February 29. A once every four year occurrence.

What are you doing with your extra day this year? I’m spending my day recovering from a minor surgical procedure yesterday. Not exactly an auspicious use of the extra day. I do remember what I was doing four years ago today. I was a student minister in Indiana. On February 29, 2004 we hosted an evangelistic event for area Jr./Sr. High students at a Holiday Inn. Pretty cool way to spend the extra day.

But even though I’m spending this leap day in a vastly different way, I still see the extra day as an extra opportunity.

It’s an extra opportunity to…

speak kindly and lovingly to my wife.

show my boys how much I love them.

thank God for all my blessings.

etc.

etc.

etc.

What are you doing with your extra opportunities today?

So true.

(Illustration by Jessica Hagy.)

Schools in the Cincinnati area may have delayed or closed due to snow today, but the radio says that warmer days are coming soon. Baseball season is nearly here. I flipped on the radio today to catch some of the Reds’ first spring training game.

Man, I’m pumped that it’s baseball time again! Bring it on!

Temporarily, that is.

From 5:30-8:30 this evening, every Starbucks store will be closed. The reason? Intense training on barista basics. The goal is for baristas to learn how to pull the perfect shot again and steam milk to order, not just press a button on the automatic espresso machine. It’s the basic stuff that made Starbucks what it is today.

And they had better get it right, because competition is nipping at their heels. McDonalds is primed to launch an ambitious coffeehouse campaign across America. Dunkin Donuts is having a 99 cent coffee sale during Starbucks’ shutdown tonight. The competition for our coffee dollar is intense, but I still think Starbucks will win because of what is represented in this evening’s training: simplicity.

Howard Schultz recently took over as Starbucks’ CEO (again), and he’s preaching the gospel of simplicity. He has already laid the foundation to do away with warm breakfast sandwiches. They’re getting back to what they do best: coffee.

In the spring, Starbucks is going to offer free wi-fi. (I can already hear the angels rejoicing at this move!) They’ve always offered wi-fi, but it’s been a paid service. Now they’re getting back to basics. Great coffee, free wi-fi, etc.

The lesson is something that I seem to be running into constantly as of late: the importance of simplicity. Simplicity breeds success.

There are a plethora of churches who think that they have to do it all. They simply must have a men’s ministry, women’s ministry, single’s ministry, marriage ministry, divorce ministry, college ministry, addiction recovery ministry, etc., etc., etc. Don’t get me wrong…these are all valid ministries. I’m proud to say that we have some of them at ACC. But we don’t have most of those ministries I listed, along with about a million other ministries that we don’t have.

Wanna know why?

Because we don’t have the resources to do them well. We don’t have the time, volunteers, money, etc. to pull it off. So we don’t do it.

And that’s ok!

By simplifying our ministry, it allows us to do a few things really well. It allows us to pursue ministries that we see as vital to carrying out our church’s mission.

Starbucks has decided to “dance with the one that brought them.” In other words, to simplify things and pursue what they’re really all about.

We in the church need to be paying attention. Let’s get back to the basics!

(For a completely different take on Starbucks, see my brother’s blog.)

Can I get on my blog stump for a minute?

Can we, as God’s church, stop abusing our pastors? Specifically, our young pastors. This is not a pity party for myself, even though I am a young minister. This is a widespread trend in many churches.

You wouldn’t think this would be so, since we live in a culture that worships youth. Youth is the idol of the day. Why else would older people spend a fortune on products that promise to make them appear younger?

It’s ridiculous. Youth is not to be worshiped. But neither is growing older. In the church, we worship Jesus. Not a person, regardless of who they are…or how old they are.

There is a trend in a lot of churches to hire younger pastors (they’re plentiful; they work cheap; etc.), but then turn around and treat them like they don’t know anything. (Again, I’m not speaking directly to my situation. This is a general trend.) I’ve talked to so many guys who have been chewed up and spit out by churches. And what was their great sin? Their age. There are a lot of very talented, godly men who have been run out of the ministry by churches who couldn’t see past the date on their birth certificate.

While I’m not speaking of my situation, I’m also not immune to criticism about my age. I’m easily one of the youngest preaching ministers in our community. Everytime I get criticized about my age, I’m in a no win situation. I’m being criticized for something that I can do absolutely nothing about. I can’t make myself older.

Let me go to bat for all the young guys out there who are fighting the good fight of faith. Just because your pastor is young does not mean that he just sits around drooling into a cup all day. The whole reason he started in ministry is because he has a passionate love for Jesus and a burning desire to lead people into a deeper walk with him. So if you’ve been hard on him because he’s young, please stop. For him. For yourself. For your church. For the Kingdom. Please stop.

Do young ministers make mistakes? Heck yes. Are they perfect? Heck no. Young guys in ministry are wise to seek the counsel of older, seasoned believers. In fact, all young believers should look to someone who is older as a model for their faith. But if a young fella’s ministry is based solidly in the Word of God, then he has great authority to do the job. Churches need to treat them as such.

Now, I have seen young guys blaze into a church, brash and arrogant. They think they’re the greatest thing since Pentecost. Bro, if that’s you, get ready for slice of deep dish, steaming hot humble pie. God cannot work through someone who is arrogant. Arrogance pushes God out of the mix. Don’t expect him to bless your ministry if you retain your swelled head.

When it comes to age in the church, there is a complete flip side to this issue…there are churches who abuse pastors because they’re too old. They will run him out on a rail when he bypasses that magical pastoral age, whatever that age is. There are a lot of guys with a wealth of experience and a passion for Christ that stands undiminished, and yet their church has deemed them too old.

Can we please just move past the age issue? Pretty please, with sugar on top? Wouldn’t the church be better off? Wouldn’t God’s Kingdom have an even better opportunity to advance? Most importantly, wouldn’t God be glorified if we worked together to accomplish his purposes, regardless of the age of our co-workers?

I do want to thank my church for their acceptance of me. ACC took a gamble when they hired me. I had applied at dozens upon dozens of other churches who recognized my talent, liked my drive and my passion, but wouldn’t hire me because I was too young. Then, along came ACC. They were able to look past my youth to see that I actually had something to offer.

I’m forever grateful for that.

Had a great time tonight at Nexus (our Jr./Sr. High ministry). I’ve been volunteering to run sound/media stuff for Nexus, which is a cool change of pace for me. I get to work totally behind the scenes. I’m never upfront. I never get to do that on Sunday mornings!

For what it’s worth, this kind of stuff is nowhere in my job description. You can read it all day long…you ain’t gonna find it! But that doesn’t matter. In my view, this is a way for me to serve. I always strive to be the lead servant at ACC. That’s why I do things that aren’t part of my job. If I preach serving, then I’d better be a servant. Otherwise, I need to just shut up. I never, ever, ever, ever want to preach to our people about something that I’m not willing to do myself.

Got a great start to our new series, Just Walk Across the Room, this morning. The message will be posted on our website tomorrow.

Gotta admit…I’m dragging tail today. My entire family has been sick and I’ve been the only one to dodge the bullet. But today I’m wondering if the bullet was simply delayed, not dodged. We’ll see.

Anyway, it’s never a good feeling getting on stage knowing that I don’t have my “A game” with me. I was in such a fog this morning that I couldn’t have brought more than my C- game.

And yet, the message still worked. The truth still connected. Comments were still flowing at the door.

Thanks God! You get all the credit. I take absolutely none of it, especially on a day like today.

How about a rare Friday post to warm you up on this icy, snowy Cincinnati morning? (If you’re reading this in a warm, southern climate, please don’t tell us about it and tempt us into the sin of envy.)

I shoveled our driveway first thing this morning. Normally I don’t mind shoveling snow. Actually, I kind of enjoy it. I actually like winter and I enjoy snow. Most people think I’m weird, but I do like this time of year.

However, I do not like ice. The only place I want to see ice is in my drink. The snow we got last night would have been fine, except for the 1/2″ of ice that fell on top of it, making it a crunchy, heavy, useless mess. Shoveling was not enjoyable today. It was too much like work to be enjoyable. By the time I was done, I was sweating bullets even though it was 25 degrees outside.

I did my fair share of mental complaining this morning. I didn’t verbalize my complaints (didn’t want my neighbors to see me talking to myself and think I was losing it), but the complaining was still going on in my mind.

Then, about halfway through the shoveling chore, a couple Bible verses popped into my head.

Do everything without complaining… (Philippians 2:14, NIV)

…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV)

Do everything without complaining. Give thanks in all circumstances. These two verses immediately convicted me. I was doing a lot of complaining and absolutely no thanking. So I committed to finish the job in the exact opposite way that I started it. With lots of thanking and no complaining. With this change of mindset came some fresh insights of just how much I have to be thankful for.

I’m thankful that I have a driveway to shovel.

I’m thankful that I’m healthy enough to do physical labor.

I’m thankful that my driveway is fairly short.

I’m thankful that I have a home that kept us warm and dry last night.

I’m thankful for the beauty of a winter snowfall…even when it is topped with ice.

I’m thankful that my wife had a snow day today.

I’m thankful for the road crews who worked all night so I could drive in safety this morning.

I’m thankful that the worst part of my day has been shoveling some snow/ice.

It’s really incredible what a simple shift of focus can do. And do you know how it happened? The Spirit of God reminded me of a couple of Bible verses. And after that, I make a conscious, intentional decision to change my attitude.

It really was as simple as that.

Gotta love winter.

There is a new church plant coming to Greater Cincinnati. Horizon Christian Church will launch this fall on the campus of Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, KY.

I’m always excited when a new church launches because it means that God’s Kingdom has yet another opportunity to advance. However, I’m even more excited about this particular church plant because I’ve been asked to be on the Oversight Team for the church.

This does not mean that I’m leaving ACC! Just need to get this out of the way upfront so nobody misunderstands. This volunteer ministry opportunity will be in addition to my primary ministry at Amelia.

The Oversight Team will help guide the church in its early days, until they have enough homegrown people who are qualified for church leadership. Once that happens, the Oversight Team will cease to exist.

It’s really exciting for me to have a hand in expanding God’s Kingdom through this church plant. I’m humbled that they thought enough of my leadership ability to ask me. I believe very strongly in the church’s mission, in Joel Young who will be the Lead Pastor, and in the potential for HCC to reach out to Campbell County and beyond with the gospel.

Please pray for HCC and for all the preliminary work that must be done before the official launch. I’ll keep you posted as things unfold.