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

Bengals Halloween

The Bengals are all going trick-or-treating tonight. They'll be easy to spot.

They'll be the ones with no sacks.

Shaw Farms

Took my family to Shaw Farms this past weekend. Earlier this month, we took Ryan to a pumpkin patch that turned out to be a bust. Unfortunately we also drug some of our good friends along with us. We've apologized to them multiple times since then. I doubt that they ever go anywhere with the Edmistens again.

We really felt like we owed Ryan a second chance at a pumpkin patch experience. Shaw Farms delivered big time! We all loved it. It gave us some unhurried, inexpensive, simple family time.

Hello new annual tradition.

Innovate

Perry Noble says that small church pastors are some of the most innovative people in the world. They have to be! It's one thing to be innovative with a monster budget and huge team of creative people to back you up. It's a whole new ballgame when you have a small budget and a small team.

I've known pastors in smaller churches who have used this as an excuse not to innovate. Creativity takes time. It takes effort and energy. And without all the "necessary" tools, a lot of guys just choose to do what they've always done. They know that they have the necessary people and budget to maintain the status quo, so that's what they do.

I don't buy that. Case in point…we recently completed a three week series at ACC called The Other Side. It was a three week focus on what happens to us after death. Now, we could have just sung a few songs. I could have preached three fairly standard messages. We could have gone that route and people would have thought that everything went fine.

But we chose to go big. We chose to innovate. And instead of doing what was "normal," we created three "wow" experiences.

Did it take work? You bet.

Did it take a lot of time? Heck yeah.

Did it take a lot of money? No! You know how much we spent to create these experiences? Nothing! Not one red cent. We had to be truly innovative. We created stage sets with stuff that we already had or stuff we could borrow from somebody else. And the sets turned out to be amazing! I think our church should be featured on Design on a Dime.

But here's the real point of all this. The point was not to make people say, "Wow!" (even though that word was said every week of the series). The point was to impact lives for Christ. And you know what happened? We had a baptism every week of this series.

It can be intimidating when you see what "the big boys" in the church world can pull off. Or, you can stop letting yourself be intimidated and instead allow yourself to be inspired.

I vote for the latter. Put in the time. Put in the work. Don't have the money? Put in even more time and figure out a way around it.

But whatever you do, don't use lack of manpower or resources as an excuse to be lazy. Do the very best you can with what you have…and then watch God work through it.

Remember This Guy?

He was "Old Man Marley" in the movie Home Alone. He was the alleged "shovel slayer" who appeared to salt the icy sidewalks, but in reality used the salt as a means to preserve his victims.

At least that's what the kids in the neighborhood thought.

Why am I bringing this up? Because I'm nearly positive that this dude had lunch at the Eastgate Chick-Fil-A today. If it's not him, then it's his long lost twin brother.

I would go up and talk to him…but what if he has a snow shovel in his car?

Kidding, kidding. He looks like a perfectly nice guy. But man, he is a dead ringer for the guy from the film.

Thoughts From a First-Timer

Not everyone reads the comments on a blog, but I wanted to be sure you didn't miss this one.

Rhonda left this as a comment on my blog. ACC, you need to hear these unfiltered thoughts of a first-time guest.

This was my first experience with Mike and the good people of ACC and I must say, “WOW”!!!!

So I just want to say, “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!
For your message of truth, for your warm welcome to your church on Sunday and for the opportunity to see it all in action.

Keep it up, ACC! We're in this to win the world. That's not a bumper sticker slogan, either. I'm dead serious. When I look at the firepower we have at ACC, there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to do it.

Ground Floor Starts on Sunday!

Not registered yet? There is still time. You can register on our website today!

What's Ground Floor? I'm so glad you asked. You can read all about it here.

You don't want to miss it!

Don't Settle

Don't settle for less than God's best. That's yesterday's sermon in a sentence.

Specifically, we focused on not settling for less in our sex lives. If I could choose one phrase to describe the sex lives of so many people, including a ton of Christians, this would be it…they are settling for far less than God's best.

God reveals his best in Hebrews 13. "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure…" (Hebrews 13:4, NIV)

That's God's best. As I said yesterday…hot, holy, monogamous, married sex is God's best because it is the only sex that comes with no painful strings attached. Anything outside of those God-given parameters will bring pain. But within God's framework, sex brings joy, pleasure, and satisfaction.

If you're married, work on your sex life. A poor sex life can be improved. A good sex life can be great. It takes work. It takes communication. It takes practice. (Yep, it takes practice. You have some enjoyable homework to follow up the message this week.)

If you're single or dating, you need to know what God's best is for you. It's not going to be found on a computer screen. It's not going to be found in the backseat of a Buick. I know it's tough when you're faced with intense temptation, but God's best is worth the wait.

You are a child of God. You are a prince or princess of the King. Princes and princesses don't settle for less than the very best the King has.

Don't settle for less than God's best.

(And if you were at ACC yesterday, here's a fun word for you…acreage. Yeah, it's an inside joke for my ACC peeps. You want to know what it's about? Check out the message online. It will be uploaded to our site in the next day or so.)

Your Sex Life Matters

Our It Matters teaching series continues on Sunday, and we're cranking up the heat. We're spending three weeks exploring the little New Testament book of Jude. Jude is going to tell us straight up that our sex lives really do matter.

Is it going to be honest? Yep.

Uncomfortable? At times.

Blunt? Definitely.

True? Absolutely.

We are not going to mess around on Sunday.

This message is not for kids. Your kids need to be rockin' out in KidZone this Sunday at 11:00 am. If you'll be at the 9:00 am service, we are offering limited children's programming during that service this Sunday only.

You need to be at ACC on Sunday. Doesn't matter if you're single, dating, married, or divorced. God's got a message for you on Sunday.

Nexus

Nexus is this Sunday night at 6:00 pm. If you're a Jr./Sr. Higher, you need to be there. If you're the parent of one of the aforementioned teens, you need to get them there.

I just saw the schedule for this upcoming Nexus. Crazy times are ahead.

Tense Moments

Definitely had a few of those in my message on Sunday. You can always tell when these moments occur, because the room goes from quiet to absolutely silent. You can tell that there is an "I can't believe he just said that" feeling in the air.

Sometimes you just need to lay out the truth. Sunday was one of those days. When the Bible talks about our words, it pulls no punches. So…I pulled no punches on Sunday.

Critical and manipulative words have no place in the life of a Christ-follower. No place at all.

And if you felt like I got in your kitchen on Sunday…maybe it was actually the Holy Spirit giving you the proverbial 2×4 between the eyes. Maybe he was pointing out some things that need to change in your life.

If you were convicted on Sunday, you have a couple of choices…

1. You can get mad at me. I can take it.

2. You can follow the promptings of God's Spirit and take some decisive action to change your words.

It's up to you.