John Markum

Monday Morning Review

Welcome back to a regular work week! I hope you all had an AMAZING Thanksgiving day with friends and family. Last week for me, our family, and church broke down like this:

  • Spent the first part of the week recovering from my trip to Indiana where I got to speak to 80 teens at an All-Nighter.
  • Shopped, prepped, and cooked Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Pics and recipes coming soon, I swear!
  • Ate food, played with kids, and spent time with my wife. So grateful for all the good things God has blessed us with!
  • Stayed up way too late playing video games as my coupon clipping, sale-hunting, savings queen-of-the-universe wife (official title) left at 11:30 Thanksgiving night to spend the next 8 hours systematically hitting the best black-Friday sales available. She spent far less than most. God loves me…
  • Took wife and kids to the Festival of Trees Saturday morning. Ran into a friend from church who gave us a $10 punch card to play the games. I love our church family! We all had a great time together.
  • Got our worship on Saturday night with a good crowd. Saw more visitors, some from out of town visiting family. We worshiped like we loved Jesus, preached God’s Word, and people gave their lives to Christ. Jesus is awesome!
  • Came back Sunday morning to see more of our out-of-town college students. I love their generation! They are world-changers… you watch and see!
  • Came home, cleaned the house from a crazy week and watched Iron Chef America with the newest Iron Chef winning his first battle. I’m a food nerd…  I can’t help it.

I hope you have a great week getting back into your routines. May you experience God’s blessings and power in your life. I look forward to seeing many of you back this Saturday for our new series “Shine.” More on that later this week!

Blessings,

John

If I only get one thing right…

I have about a dozen BIG goals for my life (in no particular order):

  • Love my kids, and teach them to be good adult followers of Christ.
  • Pastor for 30+ years.
  • Train up another generation of church leaders.
  • Be a voice that calls my generation to it’s potential.
  • Be a part of a national/worldwide revival.
  • Start churches on every inhabited continent.
  • Lead without a paycheck one day…
  • Give more than half of my total life’s earnings away.

And I pray for these things daily. These are not just goals and wishful thoughts. I want to see each of these things happen one day. But I made a decision about 12 years ago that still guides me and is at the heart of everything I do. By now, someone is thinking up some great spiritual answer like, “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” Yeah, but that’s more of a mission statement than a goal.

If I fail at everything I set my heart and mind to do, Oh Lord, let me succeed at this one thing – to love 1 woman my whole life. Unconditional,ly passionately, unwavering, uncompromising. And earn her love in return.

I love the church. I love the calling that God has placed on my life, to serve in ministry. I love the people that I get to serve with, both here at Edgewood and around the world. I couldn’t picture doing anything else with my life (which is great, cause I’m not good at alot of other things). But every thing else pales in comparison to my undying love and commitment to my first calling: Tiffany Markum.

I love you, sweetheart. Besides Jesus, you’re the best thing God ever gave me.

Your husband

The phrase no pain, no gain has been a mantra for athletes and fitness junkies for years. And what they understand about physical pain needs to be broadened to a much more general use in all of our lives. Pain hurts. That's the whole problem. No one enjoys it, and if someone does, we rightfully

The Premium of Pain