John Markum

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Baptism Crazy!

Posted on by johnmarkum

In case you missed it, Edgewood had an incredible Easter this year! We had 4 worship experiences, with 1,880 people in attendance. Many people gave their life to Christ and many others came back home. In staff meeting this week, we were discussing the wave of momentum that has been upon Edgewood, and as a result, we have baptisms scheduled every week for at least the first 3 weeks after Easter, and maybe as much as 5 weeks straight! And we’re not doing 1 per week to stretch it and make ourselves feel big and important; 2 weekends ago, we baptized 5! Last weekend we baptize another 7 to 9! Within 6 weeks after Easter, we will see a total of 20-30 people go public with their faith through baptism!

I’ve said many times before, but there is no place like Edgewood! It is amazing to experience God’s hand of blessing and power on our church and to see lives being impacted as a result of it all. It never gets old! To everyone in our church family: DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR GRANTED! Let us celebrate all that God is doing and be active in reaching more people for the Kingdom of God. When we see God change a life, it is nothing short of the miraculous, and we must never get to a place where we treat the extraordinary as mundane.

If we give God our praise for all that He is doing, and do our part in leading people to Him, then 20+ baptisms in 6 weeks is just the beginning!

Let’s turn these cities upside-down with the Gospel!

Blessings,

John

Unplanned Day Off

Posted on by johnmarkum

This week in the Quad Cities, almost everyone was graciously given a free day off of work, school, etc. courtesy of the snow. But for myself, many of our readers, and perhaps yourself, taking an extra day off just puts you behind. And some things must get done every week regardless of what the weather did, who got sick, or what kind of family crisis broke out. I couldn’t show up this Saturday for The Awakening and apologize for not having a message to preach since I couldn’t get into my office because of the snow. That’s just not good enough, and chances are that you have your own high demands that don’t take vacation days, sick days, or snow days. So to stay on target, you and I must have a plan for these unplanned days off. Most likely, your plan will consist of answering a few of the following questions:

  • What can I do from home? Obviously this depends on your resources since you’re not in your typical work place. You also have to manage distractions, and the fact that you should take some of the time to recuperate (especially if your unplanned day off is because you’re sick).
  • What can wait? Maybe some things can get postponed this week.
  • When can I make it up? Perhaps you go in early the next day. Or stay late. Or both.
  • Where can I cram? Maybe you take 2 hours preparing a certain report. This week you can get it done in 1 hour. Maybe not your most careful work, but it will pass this week.
  • What can I delegate? Your friend covers your shift this week and you get him back next time.
  • What can get skipped? Some things may be possible and necessary to skip altogether. If that’s the case though, you kind of have to ask, “Why do I do this any week?!?”

Hope you had a fun snow day and that no one got hurt out on the roads.

Blessings,

John

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