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

Why I Love Our City

Yesterday I talked about my conviction that a pastor must love his city. Here are some reasons why I really do love our area and our city, in no particular order.

• I love that I can drive to a farm and to a mall in the same amount of time.  The mix of rural and suburban in our area is awesome.
• Our city has beautiful cultural opportunities. This summer, Nicki and I attended a free lawn concert with the Cincinnati Pops. Incredible evening. I need to take greater advantage of the cultural opportunities in our town.  Maybe you do, too.
• Skyline Chili. LaRosa's Pizza. Graeter's Ice Cream. I'm still looking forward to the day when I can visit all three places in the same day.
• Our city has a zoo that ranks among the best in the world. My family has had a membership for the past two years and it's been fantastic.
• Our city also has one of the premier children's hospitals in the world.  That may seem like a strange item to add to this list, but my family has been very grateful for Cincinnati Children's Hospital. They have been a huge help to us on more than one occasion.
• I love the traditions in our town. Every town has its annual traditions.  I just really love ours. I especially love the traditions of the fall and the holidays. It won't be long until my family is heading to the pumpkin patch at Shaw Farms. The holiday display at Sharon Woods. The Christmas trains downtown.  Love it.
• I love the opportunities that my boys will have here. Some people might think those opportunities are limited, but that's not how I see it.  I grew up in a small town where opportunities really were rather limited. From my perspective, the sky is the limit for our boys.
• The Reds. Or should I say…the FIRST PLACE Reds. One of the best things about Cincinnati.

This list is far from exhaustive.  These are just a few of the reasons why I love this area.  I guess the most important reason is that it's home. Honestly, there's nowhere else that I would rather live.  And as a pastor, that's critically important.

I Love Our City

One thing that I've learned over the past year is that a pastor has to love his city.

I've always known that a pastor has to love his people. And I do. Our people at ACC are the best you'll ever find.  They amaze me on a weekly basis.  I always tell people that the biggest strength of our church is not what happens onstage every week.  Our biggest asset, aside from the power of God, is our people.  I absolutely love our people.

But I've also been convicted that a pastor has to love the city where his church is planted. If I don't love our city, then I'm not going to do all I can to reach the people of our city. If I don't love our city, then I'll spend a lot of time wishing I was somewhere else rather than giving my ministry everything I've got.

Over the last few months, I've really done some soul searching.  Do I love our city? Do I really, truly love it?

And actually…I do.  I really do.

I love Amelia.  I love Clermont County.  I love Cincinnati.  I really do.

Tomorrow I'll blog about a few reasons why.

Excuse #4 – This makes me uncomfortable.

This is the last in my excuses series. Let the rejoicing commence.

This last excuse leaves me lost for words.  Well, almost. If I was completely lost for words, this would be a pretty lame post.

A lot of people seem to think that God never wants to make them uncomfortable. God would never ask them to do something out of their comfort zone.  God would never call them to make a change that is difficult. God would never command them to step out in faith when the end result is not guaranteed.

Hmmm…

Then why did Jesus say things like, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23)

Jesus doesn't call us to coddle ourselves.  He tells us to deny ourselves.

He doesn't call us to take up our couch.  He commands that we take up our cross. That's not comfortable. In fact, I can't find anything in the Bible that says that Jesus died to make us comfortable.

For far too long, the mission of the American church has been self-centered and self-indulgent. The goal is a nice, comfy building to meet in…songs that are comfortably familiar…a preacher who preaches against all the sins that I don't personally struggle with…warm, comfy traditions…and turning a blind eye to a world that needs the church to be the church now more than ever.

I'm not indicting every church.  Not at all.  And I don't hate the church.  See the first post in this series if you doubt that. I love the church with everything I've got.

But God has not called His church to stand still or remain stagnant.  And He certainly hasn't called His church to value our comfort more than His Kingdom.

If you feel like God is calling you to play it safe and remain where you are comfortable…the odds are good that it's not the voice of God that you're hearing. It could be a very different voice.  One who wants the church to stagnate and Christians to pursue their comfort over God's Kingdom.  One who wins every time that happens.

Excuse #3 – I want to go deeper.

At first, that doesn't sound like an excuse.  It sounds completely valid and good. And, in certain cases, it is.  We are not called to remain infants in our faith.  God expects us to go deeper and to mature in Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14).

But the unfortunate reality is that a lot of Christians use this as an excuse to sit on their rear instead of a catalyst to bring actual growth.

Sometimes "I want to go deeper" actually means "I want to sit around and study the Bible…but not do what it says."

The last thing most Christians need is another Bible study. As Mark Batterson likes to say, "We are educated far beyond our level of obedience."

True Bible study means that the person is not just hungry for information.  They are hungry for transformation. They want to be transformed by the will and the Word of God.

It really doesn't matter if you know who the father of Mehujael was or how old Methuselah was.  That might matter in a game of Biblical trivial pursuit, but if all you have is that information…then it really is trivial.

Are you applying what you are learning from the Bible? Are you just sitting around and debating the finer points of theology or are you doing what the Bible says (James 1:22)?

I can't remember who said this, but it is spot on.  If you want to really study the Bible, start reading until it tells you to do something. Then go out and do it. Do not start reading again until you have obeyed that command.

That would would take us deeper than we ever dreamed possible.

Excuse #2 – I don't have time.

I'll let Charles Spurgeon, popular preacher in the late 19th century, answer this excuse.

"If you have not the time, God gave it to you, and you must have misspent it."

We all have the same amount of time.  We all have 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and seven days in a week.  All of us. No one gets eight days a week (I'll wait while you sing the old Beatles' tune in your head).  God gives us all the exact same amount of time.

What makes us all different is our choices.  We all get the same amount of time, but we choose to fill it differently. And if you haven't left time in your schedule for the most important things, your schedule needs to change.

"I don't have time to read my Bible." Do you have time to read the latest book in the Twilight series? Or the latest work from John Grisham or Clive Cussler?  Nothing wrong with reading other books…so long as you make time first and foremost for God's book. If not, then time isn't your problem.  Your priorities are your problem.

"I don't have time to serve." How many TV shows do you watch in a given week? How many movies? Nothing wrong with taking time to decompress and relax, but if you are not serving, you are missing the whole point of following Jesus. Again, your problem isn't with time.  It is misappropriated priorities.

"I don't have time to __________________." This list could go on endlessly.  Go ahead and fill in the blank with your excuse.

The bottom line is that relationships take time.  A friendship takes time.  A parenting relationship takes time.  A marriage takes time. A relationship with Jesus takes time. If you are not willing to give your time to a relationship, then you simply don't have a relationship at all.

Now, I've seen a ton of churches that abuse peoples' time. If you look at their church calendar, it is crammed full. Front to back. Stem to stern. It is jam packed.

We don't do that at ACC.  We understand how busy and crazy life can be.  And we don't want to simply add busyness. Busyness does not equate to effectiveness.  We want to strategically plan our calendar to have maximum impact.  In many ways, less is more.

But that doesn't mean that we don't ask for your time.  We most certainly do. We ask for your time every Sunday.  We ask for your time to be in a small group.  We ask for your time to serve and do ministry.

We don't just plan events for the sake of having events. If you're like me, you get very, very frustrated when you feel like your precious time has been wasted.

Everything we do has purpose.  When we ask for your time, you can be certain that it is worth your time.

Just don't say that you don't have time.