Mike Edmisten

Sunday was unbelievable! I've been thinking lately that I might overhype stuff just a bit at times…but this is not one of those times! Sunday was nothing short of amazing!

Our kick-off for The Other Side series blew my mind. From the moment our services started, it was obvious that God was there and he was ready to do some incredible stuff!

From the day we began planning this series, we've been praying for one thing…that people would come to Christ because of this series. And…it's happening! On Sunday, people were broken in two by God's Word. They were powerfully moved by the different worship elements. One person was baptized into Christ. We've got more coming up. I've talked and emailed with a lot of people who were deeply stirred by what they experienced on Sunday. God has responded as only he can!

But God isn't the only one that has taken notice of this series. Satan has noticed as well…and he has done everything he could to stop it. Every one of our staff families was handed something unexpected…and distracting…last week.

Personally, I was very sick last week. Even going into Sunday, I felt lousy…an attempt to distract me. On Friday, I was questioning whether or not I'd be able to answer the bell on Sunday. But God is good! I didn't feel well, but I felt well enough. And God did the rest.

More distractions…the church's power went out before our services on Sunday. Not for long, but it was enough to remind us how much this series is being resisted by Satan. When the lights went out during worship practice, Brian immediately stopped everything and prayed over the day. We knew the spiritual battle was on! And you know what? We never lost power again!

Even something as small as a spider could have been a distraction on Sunday. I prayed as I opened up the message in the second service. When I opened my eyes, there was a sizable spider on my notes. I had three options. Leave it alone, and let it distract me. Or, flick it off my music stand and distract everyone else. Or, discreetly squash it with my fingers to eliminate the distraction. I chose the last option. It was kind of gross, but the distraction was eliminated. No one had a clue about the spider.

To use the old adage, Satan threw everything and the kitchen sink at us last week. He desperately wanted to stop this series.

Didn't work.

And the thing is…we're just getting warmed up!

I'm a people pleaser by nature. I like to be liked. I enjoy it when people are happy with me and the work I do. That sounds rather innocuous at first, but it can be lethal. If people pleasing becomes the driving force of my life and ministry, I'm Doomed with a capital "D."

Sometimes doing ministry right requires upsetting people…not pleasing them. It requires courage to confront. It takes guts to tell someone the truth. But that is the road of ministry.

Craig Groeschel recently listed four characteristics of the people pleasing pastor. I've seen all of these in my life before. I pray I never see them again.

Today, all over the world…

Don't you love Sundays?

With everyone absolutely freaking out over the state of the US financial markets, I thought I'd share some godly, down-to-earth wisdom from Dave Ramsey.

Check it out.
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Over the past month, we’ve witnessed the largest bankruptcy in history, the stock market dropping like a rock, and the talking heads on TV freaking out that the world is coming to an end. I’m here to tell you the truth—we’re going to make it. We’re going to be fine. Take a chill pill.

This month I’ve compiled some of the most-asked questions I’ve gotten recently from you:

Are we okay, Dave?

Definitely. Remember Enron and WorldCom in the recent years? We survived that. But much worse than all this was the financial crisis of the ‘80s – S&L collapse and 1,000 bank failures in 2 years. We’re nowhere near this type of thing; that was probably 50 to 100 times worse than all of this.

What does all of this come back to?

Greedy banks financing homes to broke people. It all seemed to work okay in their minds when the economy was booming, but when the economy slowed a little bit broke people quit paying on their subprime mortgages. DUH. No wonder they went out of business. Stupid decisions.

Is there anything we can do to fix this bailout mess?

YES! Here's a quick summary: Companies that had billions in subprime loans were feeling the effects of their stupid decision to make those loans in the first place, and practically gave them away for pennies on the dollar. But since no one wants these loans, and they've had to mark them down to market value, it has frozen the market. If we temporarily change the rule that forces companies to do that, that will free the market up.

This is an absolutely huge deal, and it involves everyone getting in touch with their congressperson before we spend hundreds of billions of dollars that we don't need to! Learn more here.

Will the collapse of businesses and banks affect me?

No, not unless you work there. Thousands of stock brokers on Wall Street have lost their jobs in the past few weeks, but that happens in other industries across the country in good and bad times. This time it just happened in NYC where all the national news media is so they made a big deal of it.

If I have 401(k) money in a Merrill Lynch or AIG trading account, should I move the money elsewhere?

No. Your money isn’t with them; your 401(k) money is in the stocks. These big companies are just managers (unless you directly own stock in their company). The only thing that may be an issue is if they crash later, you may have some customer service issues, but your money is still safe. This is a good reminder to not have all of your money in one stock—that’s stupid. Always spread out your money in various growth stock mutual funds.

With these acquisitions, will my 401(k) account and entire portfolio with Merrill Lynch be lost?

No. They just own the company Merrill Lynch. Look at it this way—if I owned 6 rental properties and hired a management company that eventually failed, I would still own the properties; I just wouldn’t have a manager. Your broker doesn’t have title to your stuff. Your 401(k) is not a company asset; that’s the beauty of it.

Should I sell my US stocks to buy gold and foreign stocks?

Absolutely not! Why would you think foreign stocks are any better than US stocks? Again, diversify your money in good growth stock mutual funds instead.

What practical lessons should small business owners learn from these bank difficulties?

When you have no cash, you freakin’ go broke. You must keep some cash on hand, no matter what kind of business you have. Give yourself some wiggle room where you can take a hit and still be standing.

Remain calm, America. We’re in a slow time, but just pay your bills and you’re going to be fine.

Some random goals I have in my life…

Just a handful of life goals I have. Next week, I'll get into some more serious spiritual goals I have in my life.

I don't do this often, but my wife told me it's time to enlist some prayer warriors to pray on my behalf. The way I currently feel, I agree.

I'm sick once again. Really sick. Can-barely-hold-my-head-up, coughing-up-a-lung, can-hardly-breathe sick.

And I don't think it's a coincidence at all. Sunday begins what could be the biggest series of the year. I am absolutely convinced that people are going to come to Christ through this series. So the devil has good reason to be nervous, which explains why my family (and our other staff families) have been attacked.

Honestly, if today were Sunday, I probably couldn't have preached. So please pray for God to speed some of his healing power my way. I can't stand the thought that my illness could hamper this incredible series we've got planned. Pray for God to step in as only he can.

Actually, I would appreciate prayers for the rest of my family, too. Our son, Ryan, has strep throat. Our other boy, Brock, seems to finally be feeling better. And Nicki is kind of in the middle of the road…not feeling great…not feeling terrible.

I know that God is bigger than this. I know he's got big things planned for The Other Side series. Please pray that I can bring my A-game on Sunday!

I'm currently serving on the Oversight Team for a new church plant in Northern Kentucky. I'm excited that Horizon Christian Church officially launched this past Sunday. Kind of a surreal experience working with a church that technically doesn't exist yet. But that's over. Horizon is up and running.

I wasn't able to attend HCC's launch Sunday (kind of busy with my own preaching gig), but it sounds like God showed up in a big way! I'm praying for many NKU students and other Northern Ky. residents to come to Christ through HCC.

You can check out Joel's (HCC lead minister) thoughts on the launch here.

The Other Side series is going to kick off in a BIG way this Sunday! The next three services at ACC are going to be unforgettable. Brian and I hammered out the final service details last week, and we both got almost giddy over the possibilities! God is going to move in ways that we can't even imagine.

Have you invited someone to be a part of this series? Everyday we rub shoulders with people who need Jesus. They are very curious about what the other side is like. There may never be a better time to invite them to church.

Will they accept your invitation? I don't know…and neither do you, until you try.

Click over to our mini-site and send an evite today. It takes a few seconds…and it could change someone's eternity.

www.theothersideseries.com

It was not a good weekend for 2/3 of our church staff. I think Melanie remained unscathed. Hope that continues!

As for Brian and myself…it's been a little rough.

I'm just dealing with a lot of little annoyances at one time. Nothing earth-shaking. Just a car that I'm not sure can be fixed. A baby who has been sick (again), and thus has kept us awake for nights on end. Stuff like that. The cumulative effect has been draining.

But I really have nothing to complain about considering that Brian's house could have burned down on Sunday night. Nope…I'm not kidding. There was an electrical fire where the wiring enters his house…his BRAND NEW house.

It happened while a bunch of teens from church were in their home for a Bible study. One of his neighbors knocked on the door and said, "Did you know that your house is on fire?" So instead of a Bible study, the kids spent their evening talking to firefighters.

God was definitely looking out for them. No one was hurt. There was no structural damage to their house. Just some melted siding and damaged electrical components.

As Brian and I were comparing notes from our lousy weekend on Monday, he made this comment…

"Something big is coming."

We've got a huge series beginning this Sunday. The Other Side series is is going to blow our church up! God is going to rock our socks off! We absolutely believe that people are going to come to Christ because of this series.

And that has the devil sufficiently worried…for good reason. So he's trying to distract us by putting obstacles in our way.

Ain't gonna work.

We took our little boy, Ryan, to the Brown County Fair last night. Took in the parade, walked through some of the barns, ate some awesome food (ribeye sandwich…nuff said), and just had a blast.

One thing that was easy to notice at the fair…this is a big election year. How do I know this? Because I saw hundreds and hundreds of people wearing political t-shirts. Everything from presidential candidates to the local sheriff.

In the parade, the biggest two groupings were the Republican and Democrat parties. They outnumbered church groups and scout troops by a mile.

People get really passionate about their candidate. They wear t-shirts, hand out flyers, make phone calls, etc. All to get a flawed person with innumerable shortcomings elected to office. Doesn't matter who your candidate is…they're not perfect. At some point, they'll let you down.

As the political season kicks into overdrive, it's good to remember that Barack Obama is not the messiah. John McCain is not the savior of the world. Of the two, I know who I'm voting for. No doubt about it. But he's not perfect. He's going to let me down…because he's human.

Anytime you place your hope in a person, you will wind up feeling disillusioned. When you place a person on a pedestal, it's not fair to them and it will be disappointing for you.

There's only One who is perfect, and is therefore worthy of our faith and hope. Go ahead…put Him on a pedestal. He's the one Candidate capable of living up to the hype.