The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
You Can’t Carry Everything into a New Year and Expect to Run
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Happy New Year! Let me be probably not the first, but one of the first to welcome you to the brand new year. And what are you doing listening to the podcast on your day off on the brand new first day of the brand new year? Come on, you're gonna listen to this tomorrow. So maybe shut this off and turn it back on. Maybe on Monday. I don't know, on your way to work, but regardless, I'm glad you're listening. And we've been doing a series on this new year, and today we're gonna talk about baggage. And better day than New Year's to talk about baggage. And no, I'm not talking about the vacation kind, or the kind you've kindly dragged into the new year. That's what I want to talk about and why it's time to let some of it go. We talked about this a little bit yesterday, but think about it. Have you ever tried running while carrying a backpack full of bricks? My daughter's fiance does I had never heard of it before, but I guess it's a thing where they call it rucking, where he was getting ready for a really long hike for a hunting trip that he was going to go on, and he practiced practiced, I don't know, he trained with this rucking exercise where it wasn't bricks, but I forget what he put in his backpack, but he would take twenty, thirty pounds of stuff, put it in his backpack, and go on a brisk hike. Doesn't sound like fun to me. Doesn't sound very fast, doesn't sound very sustainable, but it's what he did to get prepared for his trip. But anyway, that's how most of us step into a new ministry year. We just don't carry plans, we carry a lot of expectations and pressure and insecurity, and old wounds from last year and unresolved issues from last year, and probably a handful of resentments, responsibilities we were never meant to carry in the first place. And we wonder why we're exhausted before, maybe even before we make our way back into the office on January 6th. Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that we need to throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles so that we can run with perseverance the race that's marked out for us. Now, that verse isn't just about sin. It is about sin, but it's about more. It's about weight. Even good things that are no longer in your hands. Let me name a few heavy things you might be carrying into 2026. Maybe some roles that aren't yours anymore, but no one else has stepped up, so you just keep doing them. Maybe internal narratives that say you're not good enough or that you've got to earn your place. Maybe bitterness from unresolved hurt from your team or your board or your last church even. Maybe some expectations that others have confused with God's assignment. The pressure to do everything you could do instead of the things that you should do. Now, all of these things I just mentioned, these aren't just emotional weight. They're spiritual and strategic dead weight. And if you can't and you can't run the race ahead of you, if you're still dragging everything behind you. Honestly, church staff are notorious for carrying what nobody else sees. A lot of times you're the glue, right? You and your team are what run the church. They keep everything together, they keep everything running smoothly. The one people just know will get it done. But over time your soul becomes lost and found for everybody else's expectation. And the uncomfortable truth is this if you don't name and release what's weighing you down, you will lead from depletion, not from overflow. And that weight, it's not just going to show you slow you down. It's going to shape how you respond and how you plan and how you lead. This year is not the year to keep dragging what's been breaking you. And here's what I want to leave you with today. Here's the bottom line for today. You don't need a better plan this year. You need a lighter soul. The pace of ministry will always be limited by the weight of what you refuse to lay down. Let me repeat that again, because it's really important. The pace of your ministry this year will be limited by the weight of what you refuse to lay down. I've walked in ministry a lot of years, and some of those feeling pretty defeated, not because of the week the work ahead or the week ahead, but because of what I haven't dealt with that was behind me. The conversations I avoided, the responsibilities I should have never taken on, the bitterness that crept in as I'd processed all of that. And somewhere in there during certain times of my ministry, I know that I lost my joy. I got buried under all the weight that I carried. And the longer I carried it, the more ministry just felt like survival. But when I started finally to begin to release it, and owning what wasn't mine to hold, I found freedom that I didn't know was available. And you don't have to earn that, but you have to choose it. So here's your reflection question for today. What weight are you carrying into this new year? The guy never asked you to pick up. And then follow up. What would you change if you led from a lighter, freer pace? That's it for today, and I hope you have a great weekend. We'll pick up back again on next week. Happy New Year to you, and the next year we're going to start processing more about what we need to do to lead well in this brand new 2023 year. Have a great day.
