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

Happy Memorial Day

I grew up in a family steeped in military pride and tradition. My grandfather served in the Army during World War II. My uncle was in the Air Force. My brother was in the Marine Corps. My father's service as a Marine in Vietnam earned him the Silver Star.

Thanks to all our servicemen and women who are fighting so that we can enjoy peaceful picnics and barbecues today. Take a minute and pray for them and their families who miss them so much.

God Uses The Broken

My friend, Aron, recently posted this on his blog. It messed me up, and I immediately new that I wanted to give this post a little more internet mileage.  Here the is the post, in its entirety.

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I suppose if I were God and had almighty cosmic powers, I might want a bit of a challenge. Perhaps this is why God uses broken people to accomplish his will. Perhaps it would be too easy for him to use the good or the perfect. But God doesn't just use the broken, it seems he favors them:

Abraham and his broken marriage,
Jacob and his broken hip,
Moses and his broken tablets,
Gideon and his broken pots,
Samson and his broken pride,
David and his broken heart,
Peter and his broken loyalty,
Jesus and his broken will.

Sometimes in life we make choices that we think we can never recover from. Sometimes uncontrollable circumstances wreck our lives beyond recognition.

And yet, we have hope that cannot be wrecked, because God uses the broken.

Reflections from The Orchard

I just got back from an incredible weekend. Nicki and I got to hang out all weekend with Scott Hodge, his wife Amanda, and a lot of the crew at The Orchard Community.  The Orchard is a church with an incredible story.  They have transitioned from a church on the brink of extinction to a vibrant community of believers who are committed to leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

My head is absolutely swimming right now, so I'm going to use this post to help me process what I learned and experienced over the weekend…in a rapid-fire, highly unorganized fashion.

• Transition in the church is hard. I already knew that, but I was reminded of it as I listened to these guys relive their toughest days. This stuff isn't for wimps.
• Atmosphere matters. The atmosphere in The Orchard's building is so warm and welcoming. We've got some work to do on that front.
• I am not just called to a church. I am called to a city. Or, maybe more accurately in our case, a county. I love ACC with all my heart. Do I love Amelia and Clermont County just as much? I'm wrestling through that right now.
• We have some things that must be changed. God revealed some things to me over the weekend that need to be addressed at ACC.
• We are also doing a ton of things right. It was so comforting and encouraging to see that The Orchard traveled a very similar path as ACC, doing many of the same things.
• Chicago food is amazing. I actually couldn't believe how much I loved it.  I had never tried Chicago-style pizza before. Giordano's blew me away. I had also never had a Chicago hot dog before.  Portillo's changed that. Cincinnati is still the greatest food town that I've ever seen…but Chicago takes the silver medal hands down.
• The Orchard is filled with people who are the real deal. Scott, Larry, Ted, etc. were amazing. And their wives were equally amazing. The beauty of this is that ACC is also filled with leaders of the same caliber. That means that we haven't even scratched the surface of where we're going as a church.
• It takes time. My biggest takeaway from this weekend is actually very simple…keep going. We've got to keep doing what we're doing. If we are faithful to continuing on the path of transition that God has placed us on, He will reward us. Don't get me wrong…we have already been rewarded. But greater rewards lie ahead of us if we are willing to stay the course and remain faithful to the calling.

Chicago Bound

I'm heading to Chicago tomorrow to meet with the fellas in my coaching community. I haven't said too much about it on my blog, but I'm currently in a coaching community that has proven to be one of the single best things I've ever done in my ministry.

The community is led by Scott Hodge, lead pastor of The Orchard.  We meet online once a month, and correspond via message board throughout the month.  But this weekend is the first time we've ever met face-to-face.

Can't wait!

You Are Loved

You can stop.

You can stop all the huffing and puffing.

You can stop trying to earn divine brownie points.

You can stop running in a frenzied attempt to make God love you.

God does love you. You can't do anything to make God love you more. You can't do anything to make God love you less.

This doesn't mean that we don't serve. It doesn't mean that we don't approach our mission with intensity. But it does represent a fundamental shift in our motivation.

I don't serve to make God love me. I serve because God loves me.

That is not just semantics. That alters everything about my relationship with God.

Take the time to breathe this in today…you are intensely, passionately, and unreservedly loved by your Heavenly Father.

Registration Rolls On

Are your kids registered for ACC's Sports Camp yet?

No???

Well…what the heck are you waiting for?!?!?!

It is going to be an amazing week. And it's totally free.

Your child will get quality instruction in the sport of their choice. And it's free.

Your child doesn't have to be a star athlete. They just need to be ready to have fun. And yes, it's free.

God is going to do incredible things through this week. And did I mention that it's free?

If you deprive your kids of this week, then you're just a jerkface.

KIDDING!

But seriously, get them registered already!!!

Sports Camp Registration – Amelia KidZone

Zac Smith

A couple of months ago, I posted a video telling the story of Zac Smith. Yesterday, Zac was finally and fully healed when he went home to be with Jesus.

I never met Zac, but his faith is something that I won't soon forget. Pray for his wife and kids. And pray that you can have half the faith that Zac did.

If you missed it, here is his story.

An Acts 8 Awakening

I'm reading through the book of Acts right now.  Never noticed this until today.

In Acts 8, the Bible says, "On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria." (Acts 8:1b, NIV)

Everyone except the apostles were scattered. That's significant when you skip ahead to verse 4.

"Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." (Acts 8:4, NIV)

The apostles were the "church staff." They didn't leave Jerusalem when the persecution broke out, but the people of the church did.

Here's what jumped out at me when I read these verses.  It was the people who were doing the ministry. The members of the church were the ones preaching the gospel wherever they went.

It was the people.  Not the leaders. Not the staff.  The people of the church were empowered to do ministry. They were the ones sharing the gospel. They were the ones winning people to Christ.

We need an Acts 8 awakening in the church. The trend today is to look to the church staff as "professional Christians." We get paid to do ministry for you.

Wrong.

We get paid to empower you to do ministry yourself. That's what happened in Acts.  The people had been empowered by the apostles do take the gospel to people who had never heard it before.

Something else to think about…the people in Acts 8 hadn't been in the church for decades because the church hadn't been around for decades.  They hadn't spent their lives in Sunday School because Sunday School didn't exist.  They didn't have Bible College degrees because there was no such thing.

You know what they did have?  A passionate love for Jesus. And that's really all you need.

When these believers ran into someone who needed Jesus, they didn't say, "I really don't know enough. I'm still a baby Christian. We should really call one of the apostles. He'll help you."

They loved Jesus. They had been changed by Jesus. And they were willing to tell people that story.

And in doing so, they changed the world.

SEAPs

This afternoon, Brian and I will be judging some of the Senior Exit Action Projects at Amelia High School. If you're unfamiliar with the SEAPs, these are projects that high school seniors have been working on all year. This project is a requirement for graduation.

The project culminates with the student giving a presentation before a panel of judges. I have served as a judge for the past three years and I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I love it.

I love seeing the fruit of a person's hard work.

I love it when a person stretches himself/herself.

I love the art of public speaking.

I love meeting prominent people in our community who serve on the judging panels.

I love interacting with students.

It's gonna be a great day!

Slactivism

Kem Meyer blew me away with this post.

Last week, I ran into UDF to get a Diet Coke.  There was a dude outside who asked me to give him a donation to support his ministry to recovering alcoholics.  I didn't know if he was credible or not.  The fact that he was collecting his money in an empty Blow Pop box didn't help matters.  I didn't give him anything, but I still felt guilty about it.

Can you relate?

Read this post.  It just might help give you a little bit of perspective on this new phenomenon that some people are calling "slactivisim."

Helping Humanity is In Style & Easier Than Ever – Kem Meyer