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

A Lost Principle

I preached on the principle of honor this morning at ACC. In 13 years of preaching, I've never done that before. And let me tell you…it was WAY overdue.

I not only preached on honor…I preached hard. Honor is so important in the life of a Christ-follower. And yet it is a principle that is dangerously close to being lost. So I challenged ACC to step up and restore the principle of honor in their marriages, in their parenting, in the way they treat people of different generations, etc., etc., etc.

The Word of God struck a nerve today. Big time. You could hear the proverbial pin drop countless times during the message. That's what happens when God's Spirit convicts us. And that's a very, very good thing.

ACC, let's lead the way. Honor everyone you meet this week, whether you know them or not…whether they deserve it or not. We'll turn this community upside down for Jesus if we become people who live with honor.

If you missed the message, you need to block out 30 minutes and listen to it. Check it out here:

Q&A 2009 – Honor

Honor

Man, I am STOKED about the message God has given me this week! You've gotta be at ACC this Sunday!

Yeah, I know I say that all the time. But I'm not sure that I've ever meant it this much before. I've been preaching for 13 years, and I don't think I've ever preached a message on the principle of honor before. That changes this Sunday.

If you think that sounds like an old-school message, you're right. If you think that sounds like a boring message, then God is gonna rock your world this Sunday.

It's gonna be a hard, straight up, rock-and-fire kind of message. But I absolutely believe that this message from God's truth has the power to change your marriage, your family, your relationships, and your walk with Jesus.

DO NOT MISS THIS SUNDAY!

Unleash Conference Reflections 4

One more post reflecting on our Leadership Team's trip to the Unleash Conference at NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina.

These last reflections are intensely personal. I'm not going to reflect on a message that I heard. I'm going to tell you about a message that I felt.

At the end of the last main session, Perry Noble asked all the senior pastors to stand. Then, he asked everyone to gather around their senior pastor, lay hands on him, pray over him, and verbally encourage him.

Our team huddled around me. They started praying over me. And then, one-by-one, they started saying, "I've got your back, Mike. I support you. Whatever you need, you've got it. I'm here for you."

This prayer time went long…really long. I don't know how much time elapsed, but it was easily 10-15 minutes. And the longer it went, the more emotional I got. By the time our leadership huddle broke up, I was bawling like a baby. I couldn't stop crying. I definitely couldn't talk. All I could do was wipe my eyes and hug all the members of our team.

And these words of encouragement didn't stop during this prayer time. More members of our team caught me after the conference in the parking lot, in the van, back at the hotel…all of them saying, "I've got your back."

I never say this because it sounds self-serving or self-pitying. I can promise you that it's neither one of those things. Given our experience at Unleash, I feel like I can say it in this context.

What I do is incredibly hard. Being a senior pastor is tough. When I made the transition from youth ministry to senior ministry, I seriously underestimated how hard it would be.

No one in the church feels the pressure that the senior pastor feels. No one hurts like he does. Sometimes, it is the loneliest feeling you could possibly imagine. Sometimes the stress of it makes the senior pastor want to walk out the door and keep right on walking.

But when our elders/deacons/staff looked me in the eye and said, "I've got your back," something happened to me.

Along with hearing their voices, I heard the voice of God's Spirit whisper, "You can do this. Look at the people that I've surrounded you with. Don't waste that precious gift that I have given you. I love you. They support you. Go for it."

And that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

Unleash Conference Reflections 3

Here are some reflections from Perry Noble's message in the second main session at Unleash. He talked about four questions that every church leader must ask.

1. Who is with me?

Exodus 33 says, "Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me." (Exodus 33:12, NIV)

Moses had been called by God to lead, but he didn't yet know who would follow him. Nothing empowers a leader more than knowing that the people are with him 100%. Nothing discourages a leader more than wondering whether or not the people have his back.

When is the last time you told a leader in your church that you're with him? You've got his back. You support him. If it's been a while, you need to do it today.

2. Am I pleasing You?

The "You" in that sentence is God. It's very easy for a leader to begin to focus on pleasing people more than pleasing God. Perry drew a great distinction between church work and ministry.

Church Work = Pleasing People

Ministry = Pleasing God

Here's the line from Perry that I still haven't been able to get out of my head: "You're a prophet or you're a prostitute." Dang!

Our goal as leaders is not to please people. Our mission is to please God. If we start seeking the applause of men rather than God, we are prostituting ourselves.

3. Will we see You?

This was the question that Moses asked God in Exodus 33:14-18.

Every church leader must be absolutely desperate for God's presence. More than anything else, we pray that we will see God's glory in our church. We pray that we will see His power changing lives.

Perry asked us, "Do you want attendance or repentance?" Are you all about padding your numbers, or do you want to see God changing lives?

4. What's next?

The church is not a monument. It is a movement. And as such, we have to constantly ask God, "What's next? What do You want to do in our church now? What do we need to start doing? What do we need to stop doing? What's next?"

Too many churches are willing to celebrate their past but not forge boldly into their future. I'm all about celebrating past victories that God gave us, but the only reason to do that is to remind us of His faithfulness which encourages us to push ahead for greater and greater victories.

God does not want his church sitting in neutral. He wants us to shift into drive and then stomp down on the gas! And I've gotta tell you…I'm ready to stomp it! I'm done playing games. I'm done messing around.

I'm gonna stomp it!

Unleash Conference Reflections 2

Perry Noble is the senior pastor at NewSpring Church. I heard him speak three times at Unleash. Two main sessions, and one breakout session specifically for senior pastors.

Perry rocked my world. Kicked me in the teeth. Punched me in the gut. Knocked me in the head. Feel free to insert any other descriptive phrase you want.

In the first session, Perry listed three questions that every church must wrestle with.

1. Are we willing to embrace change?

Perry talked about the rapid-fire change that the church had to undergo in the book of Acts. It's incredible to think about the changes the church had to make. The church started with 120 people. But before long, the church numbered in the thousands. And that kind of explosive growth required them to change constantly.

Any church that does not embrace change is not going to grow. It really is that simple. The message of the church never changes. We preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23) and that will never, ever, ever change.

But while the message doesn't change, our methods must change. And that means that you and I won't always like what the church is doing. But the question isn't, "Do I like this?" The question is, "Is this accomplishing God's mission for our church?"

2. Are we willing to work?

Accomplishing God's mission for our church requires work. We don't have room for spectators. We don't have room for people who are willing to sit back and let others do the work. The only way the church functions correctly is when everyone is working.

Perry said, "Don't use prayer as an excuse for inactivity." I've seen that happen! There are some things you don't have to pray about. You don't have to pray and ask God if he wants you to love your neighbor. You don't have to ask him if you should serve in your church. You don't have to seek whether or not he wants you sacrificially support your church with your money.

He has already given you a "yes" to all of those things in the Bible! It's time to stop praying and start working!

3. Are we serious about reaching the world?

I don't know a church that doesn't claim to believe in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). But Perry forced us to really think this through. Are we serious about that mission? Are we dead serious about reaching the world? Or is it all talk?

If we're serious about reaching the world, then we're willing to set aside our personal preferences to accommodate a non-believer.

We're willing to give up our seat, give up our parking space, give up our musical preference, give up our (fill in the blank) to allow that person to see Jesus.

Perry reminded us of this verse. "Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." (2 Kings 7:9a, NIV)

Don't ever let that verse be true of you. Don't ever let it be true of our church. This is a day of good news and we want the world to hear it. Seriously.

Unleash Conference Reflections 1

Last week was exhausting…but amazing. Ten members of our church's Leadership Team traveled to Anderson, South Carolina for the Unleash Conference at NewSpring Church. That's close to an eight hour drive one way.

Why would we spend two nights away from home? Why would we spend 16 hours in a van together? One word sums it up best. It's a word that Yance Pyle, one of our elders, used in our worship service on Sunday.

Passion.

Our team is passionate about our church. We are passionate about God's vision for our church.

Passion drove our leaders to be away from their families, drive for hours, and sleep on the world's worst hotel pillows. (I've seen thicker pancakes.)

And passion is what is going to take us to the next level.

I'll be posting some more specific reflections on the conference this week. I hope I can give you a tiny glimpse of what our leaders experienced.

New ACC Blog

I want to put a new blog on your radar. Brian Morrissey, ACC's youth and worship pastor, just launched a new blog.

He's already blogging on our student site, ameliastudents.com. Chances are if you're not a student or a parent of a teen, you don't frequent that site.

But now Brian is foraying into new territory: a blog from the perspective of a worship pastor. This bad boy is a must-read for everybody.

Check it out today. And be sure to subscribe to the blog in a reader or check back often.

accworshippastor.blogspot.com

Son of God

I can't wait for this Sunday at ACC! We're getting back to the most basic Biblical teachings about our salvation. Not to steal any of my own thunder for Sunday, but you can sum up our salvation in one word…Jesus.

We'll be singing a song that is new to our church called Son of God. If you don't know the song, give it a listen. You'll be more prepared to worship with this song if you've heard it a few times.

It's really an amazing worship song that proclaims the core truth about our salvation…our freedom, our forgiveness, our salvation is found only in the blood of Christ.

Q&A Starts Sunday!

Our Q&A series kicks off this weekend at ACC. Over the last several weeks, we've been collecting questions from you. And we've got some great ones!

This week, the questions I'll be answering are all about salvation. How do you become a Christian? How do you know that you're saved? Once you're saved, are you always saved?

Ever wondered about that stuff? Then you do NOT want to miss this Sunday at ACC!

An Unleash Non-Update

I had mentioned that I would try to post a blog update about the Unleash Conference today. No way that's going to happen tonight. At least not an update with a lot of specificity.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened today. The conference was AMAZING! But something bigger than a conference is happening with our Leadership Team. What is happening to our team right now is nothing short of a move of God.

I wish I could help you grasp what it is…but I'm still trying to figure it out myself. All I know is this…God is doing something HUGE in our team. And that means that he is setting us up for something HUGE in our church.

I know this is vague. Part of it may be because it's 11:15 pm and it's been a very long day. But part of it is that we're talking about a move of God. That can be hard, if not impossible, to explain.

I'll post more specifics about the conference next week. I'll do my best to give you a small taste of what our leaders experienced today.

Our team is heading back to Cincinnati tomorrow morning. And I think it's safe to say that we're returning home as changed people. Changed by the power and grace of God. Changed so we can transform our church and win our world.