Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Quick Hit

Dude, this is a busy day around my house. Lots of chores are getting done, outside and inside.

I did want to take a second to give a little quick hit for the new sermon series starting tomorrow. I absolutely believe that God is going to rock our socks off in the Church 101 series.

Beautiful things happen when you cut through all our preconceived ideas and get back to the very basic teachings of Scripture. We're using 1 Timothy to get us back to the basics of church.

Can't wait!

What Can I Get You, Sweetie?

I was sitting in a restaurant waiting to meet my friend, Jason, for lunch a few days ago. I arrived early, so the waitress gets my drink, brings me something small to munch on, etc. She calls me "sweetie" a couple of times, which is nice. She thinks I'm sweet. I like that.

Then she calls me "babe" and "love." Wow. I'm beginning to think that maybe I need to flash my wedding ring in her field of vision.

This girl is obviously enamored with me. I realize that I'm a pretty attractive piece of man candy, but I'm also a very happily married man. I really need to let this girl know that I'm just here for a lunch meeting. That's all I'm interested in.

Then, before I can tell her that I just want to be friends, I observe her serving other patrons. She called everybody "sweetie," "babe," or "love." Man, woman, old, young, etc. Every one of her customers had some special name.

I not only had lunch, but I had a big slice of humble pie for dessert. :o)

Paid in Pennies

True story from the Reds clubhouse.

Ken Griffey, Jr. owed one of his teammates, Josh Fogg, $1,500. However, paying by check would never do. Griffey filled Fogg's locker with 150,000 pennies—60 boxes, each weighing 16 pounds and containing $25 worth of pennies.

Junior smiled as he told reporters, “Basically, it’s like having 60 bowling balls in your locker, only with no holes to pick them up with."

Fogg said, “I’m going to take them out to the bullpen and count them. I’ve got a lot of time on my hands out there.”

When Your Heart Condemns You

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:19-20, NIV)

I taught through these verses in my class on Sunday. They're still resonating with me today.

Aren't there times when you feel like the biggest loser Christian to ever live on this planet? Times where you just feel like you are such a miserable failure that you shouldn't even wear the name "Christian" anymore?

If you have seasons like that…you're normal. Every believer does.

But, look at where these verses say that this discouragement comes from. John didn't say that it comes from Satan. He said that our own hearts are condemning us.

Yes, there are times when Satan comes in to try to tear us down. But then there are other times when we do his job for him. We beat ourselves up so much in our own hearts that we enable Satan to focus his attention elsewhere.

Let the Word of God speak into your life. The Apostle John challenges us to put our hearts at rest in God's presence. Why? Because "God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

God is greater than your doubts. He is greater than your failures. He is greater than your feelings of insecurity and worthlessness.

He knows everything. He knows how much you want to please him, even though you fail. He knows how much you love him. He knows how much you hate your own sinfulness.

I need to remind myself that God knows me…the real me…and he loves me anyway. My heart tries to condemn me. This past weekend is a good example. On Sunday morning, I kept reminding myself of how much I had screwed up the previous week. I felt completely unworthy to get onstage to preach God's Word. In all honesty, I felt like telling the leaders that they needed to find someone else to preach the Word because I'm such a loser.

But then, I read these verses. And everything changed. My perspective. My attitude. Everything. I got up to preach with a new sense of confidence and boldness.

I hope these verses stick with you like glue this week.

SEAP Recap

Man, I'm tired! I started judging Senior Exit Action Projects at Amelia High School at noon. I judged two rounds, which took me past 5:00 pm. My brain has turned to oatmeal (which isn't good since I've got to teach another Ground Floor session in an hour!).

I'm more convinced than ever that kids today are getting a bum rap. Everybody seems to think that teens are lazy good-for-nothings who just don't care about anything. That's not what I saw today.

Admittedly, I had a couple of students who could've done a lot more on their project. But the rest of them were great. A few of them were absolutely stellar. With only a couple of exceptions, they all worked very hard and logged a ton of hours for this project.

I learned a lot today myself. My students' range of topics included architectural engineering, child abuse, tattoo art, Native American artifacts, power lifting, aviation, and book publishing. It's cool to not only play the role of judge, but also to assume the role of student. It's a great opportunity to learn from these teens who have spent the entire year researching the topic.

I love being a part of the SEAP program. Can't wait to do it again next year!

SEAPs

This afternoon, Brian and I will be judging some of the Senior Exit Action Projects at Amelia High School. These are projects that the seniors have been working on all year. It's a requirement for graduation.

Not only do they have to work on their project throughout the year, but then it culminates with a presentation before a panel of judges. That's where we come in.

I served as a judge last year and loved the experience. I immediately knew that I wanted to do it again.

I love seeing the results when someone is stretched.

I love the art of public speaking.

I love having the opportunity to influence students.

It's gonna be a fun afternoon!

The Perfect Card

I rarely find just the right card for any occasion. But this year, I found the perfect Mother's Day card for my wife. It said…

My Wife…

Happy Mother's Day

Hallmark created that card for my wife.

Enjoying the Encouragement

There are some weeks in ministry when it seems like all you do is field criticism. It's easy to come away from those weeks feeling like you can do nothing right, thinking that everyone is against you, and wondering if you should see if the local McDonald's needs another burger flipper or chicken nugget fryer. (No offense intended toward burger flippers or nugget fryers.)

Then, there are other weeks. Weeks where you get absolutely love bombed. Weeks where the encouragement flows.

I'm happy to say that I'm having one of those weeks. I've got encouragement coming at me from all sides. (It's doubly nice because I had a burger fryer week not too long ago.)

I can't begin to put into words what it means to me when the people of our church encourage me as their pastor. I'm not looking for a pity party, but ministry is a tough gig.

It got even tougher when I accepted a Senior Minister role. I was in different ministry roles for the first 10 years of my career. I didn't realize how much the Senior Minister, Lead Pastor, Preaching Minister, or whatever you want to call him, has to deal with. It's tough…therefore the encouragement I've been receiving is a blessing that I can't begin to measure.

To anyone who has spoken an encouraging word, written an uplifting email, or done anything to bolster me emotionally and spiritually…

THANK YOU!

Abraham Piper

His father is one of the most well-known pastors in the world. He was raised in a loving, Christian home. He was even named after one of the greatest heroes in the Bible.

But, in spite of all of that, Abraham Piper walked away from the faith.

This past Sunday at ACC, we talked about wayward children. How do you react when a child who was raised right goes wrong?

As a follow-up to that message, I wanted to point you to a great piece written by Abraham Piper. Thankfully, he was returned to his walk with God. And he has a strong message for any parent of a wayward child.

And don't miss the short, but powerful, paragraph from Abraham's dad at the end of the post.

Prodigal Children – Pointing Them to Christ

Mother's Day Recap

I promised a Mother's Day message unlike any of you've ever heard before. I'm pretty sure we delivered on that promise today at ACC.

During the message, Jackie Jump, a loyal ACCer, shared the story of her wayward daughter. It was powerful stuff. If you missed it, we'll have the sermon audio on our website soon.

We had some frank talk about how we respond when children walk away from God as they get older. I see so many moms and dads agonizing over their child's rejection of the faith, and yet the church is largely silent about it. I decided that ACC would not be silent about it. It's too important. Too many people are hurting over it.

It was a tough, emotional morning. But ultimately, God's Spirit showed up to comfort and minister to those who are hurting.

And I've gotta give a very special thanks to Jackie. Sharing her story took some serious guts. Thanks for your transparency, Jackie! God used you in a big way this morning.