Bible Leadership Podcast [BLP]
Too often, Christian leaders adopt leadership principles the world applauds and import them straight into the church—without stopping to ask to what degree they align with Scripture. Over time, that disconnects leadership from the truth of God’s Word. The Bible Leadership Podcast exists to reverse that flow. We start with leadership principles drawn from the Bible and apply them to real life—church, work, and everything in between. Our mission is simple: connect your Bible to your leadership, and your leadership back to your Bible.
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Bible Leadership Podcast [BLP]
#65 The Discipline of Pausing, Part 1 | The Annual Eject
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
A great next year doesn’t happen by accident—it happens when you slow down with Jesus, learn the lessons, and choose priorities on purpose.
Mark and Erica talk about why a year-end review is a game-changer for leaders who feel like life is moving fast and the stakes are high. Mark shares how his “annual eject” grew out of ministry wipeouts—burnout, confusion, and missed opportunities—and why slowing down creates clarity, pruning, worship, and confidence. You’ll hear the heartbeat behind the process, plus a preview of the eight questions they’ll unpack in the episodes ahead.
📋 Key Takeaways
1. The stakes are real: without intentional review, you risk missed moments (family + ministry), confusion on the team, and “swim anxiety” from not knowing if you’re headed the right direction.
2. Remembering becomes worship: looking back isn’t just evaluation—it’s noticing how God carried you, corrected you, and provided for you.
3. The real gold is Jesus: the process isn’t just planning; it’s re-syncing with the Master and letting Him talk about your soul, not just your schedule.
💬 Quotes & Soundbites
“Confusion doesn’t just stay in the schedule—it gets in your bones.”
“Just because He’s with you doesn’t mean He’s anointing that.”
“A great year doesn’t happen by accident. Wise people ask the right questions with God.”
🕐 Timestamps
0:06–2:25 Why Mark does a yearly “eject” (origin story + why it matters)
3:27–6:09 The stakes: missed opportunities, confusion, and “swim anxiety”
7:00–12:35 Benefits: pruning, margin, worship, and the “paper map” big-picture view
12:47–13:35 The 8-question framework preview (looking back + looking forward)
13:44–22:48 Quick explanation of each question (what it means at a high level)
23:00–26:44 The deeper win: being on the same page with Jesus + closing Scripture
EIGHT QUESTIONS THAT SHAPE YOUR ENTIRE YEAR:
1. “What are the lessons from the calendar of last year?”
2. “What should you/we probably do less of? (Where do I have the least value-add?)”
3. “What do you pretend not to know?”
4. “What are the greatest opportunities for the coming year?”
5. “What is a MUST for next year?”
6. “If you could only take ground in one or two areas here, what would they be?”
7. “What would be neat/great but could come in third or less in importance?”
8. “What do the goals for this make possible?”
If you’ve been moving fast but quietly wondering, “Are we even going the right way?”—this episode is your off-ramp. Mark and Erica unpack why wise leaders do a year-end review with Jesus, so next year isn’t louder… it’s truer.
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Check out our website: Bibleleadership.com
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Erica Adkins (00:06):
Hey y'all. Welcome back to the Bible Leadership Podcast. I'm excited because it's December for us here and we're coming toward the end of the year and we're looking back and figuring what do I need to be thinking about? What do I need to be considering? What do I need to be concerned about from this last year? And into the next, we get to December and we start to think about our New Year's resolutions and what we're going to do and what we're going to change and how we're going to amend our year or do it better or what do we get rid of all those things. Mark, I know you just came off kind of a couple week eject so that you could actually assess this all well. Walk us through that. Why did you do it and what is beneficial for you?Mark Carter (00:45):
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I found it early. I'm one of these psychopaths that likes to just work a lot and especially in younger years I just had a ton of energy, like anything at all was exciting, let's do it. And that was really helpful because you get a lot done in those moments, but after a while you begin to ask the question, "am I doing the right things? Am I wasting any time doing some things too much and other things too little?" And there was probably also a season that wasn't too long into the church plant where, it was like, "I'm tired and I don't know. I don't know that the way I got to this tiredness is a smart way to go again. Is there a way to not end up where I'm right now?" And so as you mentioned, we've developed this yearly annual eject that's for about three weeks. It's right around Thanksgiving time where I get out and get away and go up north into the woods and sit with God and read a bunch and ask some specific questions that I feel like are very fruitful for me. I want to say I think it's really helpful. I think it's profitable. I think it gives us perspective. I don't think the way I do it needs to be the way everybody does it. I think it's more doing it anytime that you can and starting where you are probably is just going to start building that habit. And the more you do it, the more it gets helpful and probably the more you can nuance it to who you are.Erica Adkins (02:02):
That's good.Mark Carter (02:03):
I think it was born of wipe outs. I mean that's how it would start off. It was as a team, we'd have too many things going on at the same time. These two events would hit each other. We'd go too long and be totally burnt out and just sucking air and try to get through this really hard now this extra hard thing. We're entering into that thing tired.
(02:25)
And then even just being, I feel like the thing we thought was going to be a great idea, we had three of those that weren't a great idea and if we would've just had some time to step back and look at it, we might've made better decisions. So that's why, that's how we got here. And since I've been doing it, I feel like there's just way more margin in my heart. There's way more... It tends to go right before I'm going to need to rest, We start to rest, and so then you don't get totally burnt out. And I think ultimately for our church over the past several years, we've just made better decisions because what I do is I bring that plan home to y'all, to the staff, to the church and be like, "here's what I'm thinking. What do I not know? Let's build that in." So from a church perspective, that's really helpful. But then also just as a family, as my kids have grown at a different stages, making sure you do the right thing in the right stage or you don't miss something that is uniquely in this particular group of months. It takes ejection, it takes perspective, it takes looking at it before you get there and be like, oh crap, I missed that thing. So that's the big deal Why to do this.Erica Adkins (03:27):
That's fantastic. Okay, so much more perspective. Tell me what are the stakes in this? If we just didn't do this, what are some things that could really go wrong?Mark Carter (03:39):
I think number one, missed opportunities, whether it be family. So there's something... we've had years where it was just like, okay, there's a lot happening, but this sweet girl is graduating And We need to make that a big, we can't have that be a secondary deal. That has to be a major Deal. So having missed little things in the past makes that like, oh, we got to hit that. Whatever else we do this year, we got to hit that. But that probably comes from like, oh, I wasn't able to go to the thing because we had this thing going on.
(04:12)
So missed opportunities one, but that also includes church stuff. We've just had so many things going on at the exact same time in early years. It was like we didn't do any of these good or there was an awesome thing we could have done. If we just would've put it six months out, that would've been fantastic. So that's one of them.
(04:29)
I think confusion is another one. And I dunno if you remember this, but when we first started the church, there was all kinds of stuff. It was like, well we're doing this. Oh we're doing that. Oh my gosh,Erica Adkins (04:39):
Left hand, right hand.Mark Carter (04:39):
Yeah, I didn't even know we were doing that. And so either something has to be overridden or then we're trying to do all of it. And there's even things, "well, I can't be here and there at the same time." And so that confusion doesn't just stay in the schedule, it gets in your bones. You're just like, what are we doing? You know what I'm saying? And that's not healthy for teams.Erica Adkins (04:58):
No. And like you said, there becomes an internal tension and a mistrust kind of starts to even breed of like, "well, I don't know what they're going to do next. I can't plan on that. So for the team aspect, that's really good.Mark Carter (05:13):
Okay. I think one more that comes to mind is the visual I would give people is if you've ever been swimming with your head down, maybe you're in a swim meet or something like that, or you're just doing that for some reason and you begin to begins to, you wonder, am I going the right way?Erica Adkins (05:29):
Am I straight anymore? Yeah.Mark Carter (05:32):
And there might be a little bit of swim anxiety there, but it's slow stakes. You can just lift your head up. But when you're in a life-flow and you start to wonder, "wow, we are doing a lot and I'm not sure we're going the right way. And by the way, there's kind of big stakes for whether or not we're going the right way. And I don't have an eject off ramp to find out. I can just like, gosh, I hope so." It really is. And I share this often, it's not until you get out that you start to think a little bit differently and you're like, "wow, that was really fast. We were going really fast and I think we need to correct this and this just to start swimming straight again or to avoid swimming off to the right later on."
(06:09)
So it's that anxiety that comes for I think every leader, when you just start to wonder, "I mean I think we're doing good stuff, but I'm not positive." If you're seeking to do stuff in alignment with God's heart, God will let you do a whole bunch of stuff that, "yeah, I mean I hope that was fun," but God was not necessarily asking you to do that thing. And I just, I'm old enough now, dude. I don't want to waste more years doing that stuff. Avoiding that anxiety I think is one of the stakes.Erica Adkins (06:36):
Okay. Alright. So we've got the stake of missed opportunities, some confusion, and then the living in an anxious world because you're just unsure of what's coming next.Mark Carter (06:47):
Right.Erica Adkins (06:48):
Okay. So that's why those are the risks and why it's so important to do it. Okay. What are the benefits? Why is this a great thing to do? Not just a good thing to do, but a great thing to do?Mark Carter (07:00):
Yeah. I think that's really important. Some that come to mind are one, I think we're tripping a little bit and we talked about this in the Breakneck Pace series,Erica Adkins (07:11):
Episode 60 to 62, go back and watch 'em.Mark Carter (07:13):
Look at that. We're tripping a little bit if we think we can just keep adding and never take away. Knowing what to take away is a lot harder than wanting to add stuff. And I think until we get away a little bit, get Jesus' perspective in stillness, maybe even fasting and be like, "what are you no longer anointing me to do that We need To get rid of?" I don't feel like in the fast pace of life you can necessarily hear that super well. So just that greater wisdom and pruning comes when you have perspective from the outside.Erica Adkins (07:45):
That's good.Mark Carter (07:46):
I think obviously margin of heart, there's just, when you slow down again, you're just thinking more clearly and calmly and you're considering all the things this might hit or at least more of them. And then I think it's a worshipful thing. I never really looked back a ton, on like all God had done in the past year or three years until I started this practice, because part of the practice is you're looking into the past and saying, "well, what do we do? What do we do wrong?" But in all that you're producing this like, "wow, God, you really showed up."
(08:20)
It brings me to Deuteronomy 8:2 where the Lord through Moses reminds the people. "Remember how the Lord your God led you in all the way in the wilderness, these 40 years to humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you keep his commandments." But as they would think about that, they remember the humbling, They Remember the discipline, but they also remember the great ways that God showed up here. Miracle, miracle, miracle for you. How about This?Mark Carter (08:44):
And it can be so easy to just, you're just going down the river so fast. You're not giving God the praise He's due and really you're not learning the lessons that he spent a little bit of time spanking you about. So just the worship that comes from that I think is huge.Erica Adkins (08:59):
I love that word, "Remember." it's used in the Bible over 1200 times and just the call of God to like, "okay, no, slow down. Do you remember how much I've brought you through and to?" And yes, the worship that is produced in that, "oh God, you are so much higher and greater Than Anything I could ever ask or imagine or think or conceive." And it is so beautiful. One of the things that I do, so I do an annual review as well. I'll actually go through my pictures because I forget things that happened and, "oh my goodness, remember when we had that event," or, "oh my gosh, when my kid did that," or "Oh actually I did get together with my girlfriends more than I thought I did." It slows me down to, "wow, there was a lot of beauty in this last year."Mark Carter (09:48):
I love that. And I Think our lifestyle, just this, our kids can go forever and never be bored. I was bored as a kid. They can be just, they're always, I got something to do. You know what I'm saying? But I think our lives can be like that in a sense that there's just not process time to look back and appreciate what God has done because there's more even pseud-fun distractions to Do That. We miss a lot of what God is saying through those remember words.Erica Adkins (10:16):
Yeah, there's a phrase the years are long but the days are short or vice versa. Maybe I said it inverse... anyway.Mark Carter (10:24):
Yeah, the years are short, days are long.Erica Adkins (10:25):
Yes. But as I think as we do this thing of remembering, as we do this thing of looking back, I think it actually it slows us down enough to see the days as beautiful and to see the years as beautiful and they don't race quite by quite as quickly.Mark Carter (10:42):
And that very thing can remind you just how good you have it. I mean, every one of us can feel sorry for ourselves, but when we look back and like, "Wow, God, I mean I'm whining here, but you did this, this, this, this and this". And so I think that's really huge.
(10:55)
I think one more thing, an illustration might be in the old times in the 1900 we used and even a little bit in the two thousands, we used paper maps and what I liked about that a little bit more, I still love my GPS and I like that it just tells me what to do. But you were more inclined to look at the big picture because you had to know exactly how you're getting from here to here. You had to follow all the right roads and make sure that you get there. And this for me feels like that. I feel like I'm panning out. "Lemme see the whole thing. I don't want to just know the terms." I want to know exactly what it is I'm trying to do and find out early that doesn't go there. "I need to get a different route to go there. That's the wrong way." So that paper map visual is what I'm doing in this annual Review.Erica Adkins (11:42):
It's that, let's pan out, let's scope out, let's see all of it at once. Yes.Mark Carter (11:48):
I Just tell myself I've told some of this story, but we all want to hear it again. I remember, dude, in my early days of, I traveled to go to seminars at the seminary that I was attending at the time, and I didn't have a phone that could do GPS. I don't think there was even On phones yet.Erica Adkins (12:05):
Nope.Mark Carter (12:07):
And I remember I had my plan and I'm driving and it's probably a five hour drive, dude, and I take one wrong turn and I drive an hour before I'm realizing, "oh dang it, I got to go all the way. There's not even a way from here. I got to go all the way back." So that added two hours, just because I didn't have the right plan to get to that place. And so I just think that happens in ministry all the time when we're not thinking about it too sharply.Erica Adkins (12:35):
Yeah. Okay, we're going to dive in. We're going to do just kind of quick. I'm going to say all eight questions. We're going to come back to them. We're going to, what does this question mean and why it's so important. So here's the eight questions:
(12:47)
Number one, what are the lessons from the calendar of this last year? So these first few are kind of looking back, what are the lessons from the calendar of the last year?
(12:56)
What should you or we probably do less of? What was the least value add?
(13:01)
Number three, what do you pretend not to know?
(13:05)
Number four, what are the greatest opportunities for this coming year? Now we're looking forward. N
(13:11)
umber five, what is a must for next year?
(13:15)
Number six, if you could only take ground in one or two areas, what would they be?
(13:19)
Number seven, what would be neat or great, but what would come in third or less of importance?
(13:27)
And number eight, what are the goals for this make possible? So what could come of this?
(13:35)
So alright, Mark, let's go back in. I want you to explain the what and the why behind each one. Number one, what are the lessons from the calendar of this last year?Mark Carter (13:44):
Right? Yeah, let's walk through 'em. And just to clarify for everyone listening, we're going to just walk through what they are right now and then in future episodes we're going to tease 'em all out.Erica Adkins (13:52):
Deep dive in each one. Yep.Mark Carter (13:54):
Exactly what they are. So number one, what are the lessons of the last calendar year? What this is about is just saying as you look back at the calendar that you and God did and you and the family did, are there just things you can intuit of "that was the wrong move, we shouldn't have done that there." Or "that was brilliant man, we never did it that way before and we did it this way. Let's definitely do that again." So that's really just what that's about. And it can apply in anything. Family events, ministry stuff, whatever your side hustle is. Just what is some easy wisdom that just looking at this makes me realize.Erica Adkins (14:28):
Yeah, okay. And why is that so important?Mark Carter (14:33):
That's so important So you don't have to repeat a bunch of stupid lessons. So in other words, if you don't think about it on autopilot, you just do it again and then you look at it much later and you're like, I've done this three years in a row and it was dumb every time, but it was dumbest on two and three because I could have learned it the first year.Erica Adkins (14:50):
Yes. Making the same mistake again and again. Okay. Alright. Number two. Question number two, "What should you or we probably do less of where do I have the least value add?"Mark Carter (15:01):
Yeah, this I think has a lot to do with calling and maybe life stage. So as we grow with the Lord, hopefully we're getting narrower on the very things that he's called only us to do. And so sometimes that can be revealed in prayer. It can be revealed on just what has worked in the past year or past few years. It can work through just his prophetic voice, but it's at least time to set aside and listen, what are you asking me uniquely to do? And then again, what are we saying? You did great with that for a while. You needed to do that for a while. Now it's time to, maybe not everything you want to lay down, but there's a few things That Needs to go away. If you want to keep accelerating in this direction over here, might even like it a little bit, but you got to let it go.Erica Adkins (15:43):
Yep. It's not producing the most fruit. Okay, number three. "What do you pretend not to know?"Mark Carter (15:50):
Yeah, this one is, I think it may be, well it's the hardest to understand a little bit, but it is the, "what do you really know subconsciously or just on the edge of your consciousness, This is a thing that is happening." You're trying not to think about it. You don't even want that to be the answer, but this is really happening. Often it's not until I get slow and I even just ask the Lord directly, "what am I pretending isn't real? What am I pretending that I don't know? What am I pretending isn't a problem? What am I pretending Is Not going to fix itself?" So it could be everything from like, "dude, that sin pattern that's still here and that's getting worse and you need to own that."Mark Carter (16:31):
It Could be, the truth is, "dude, you're just not spending enough time with that team member or with that kid. And if you want that to be any different, you need to change that now," and you're hoping it'll get better, but there's no reason it will until you own this. It could be David pretends that he doesn't know he's killed Uriah, the Hittite and impregnated Bathsheba, and yet it took the prophet to come tell him. I would've much rather the prophet of the Holy Spirit come tell me, "Hey Dude, look, you got to turn from this now. Or judgment is coming later on for that." So all kinds of stuff like that. It could be I need to spend less time with so-and-so just because it's a real thing. It may be that there's someone you're too close to, there's the brink of an emotional affair and you're pretending that's okay dude, and you need to back off now.Speaker 3 (17:21):
That it's fire.Mark Carter (17:22):
Find a way around that thing so you don't have to be messing with it. That's what we mean by what's really there and you just need to be quiet enough and listen.Erica Adkins (17:31):
Yeah. I wonder if some of the why behind why this is such a great question is it helps you, It answers the where are my blind spots?Mark Carter (17:39):
Yes.Erica Adkins (17:39):
Maybe a little bit. Yep. Okay, Awesome.Mark Carter (17:40):
And it can also be a version of, people have even told me this and I've only half heard them, but I need to really pay attention to that because I think that might be real.Erica Adkins (17:49):
Yeah. Okay. That's good. Alright, number four, "What are the greatest opportunities for this coming year?"Mark Carter (17:55):
Yeah, so this has to do with every year is going to be different. As we grow old, life changes, different things are happening. Sometimes you're in the life of your family and there's things that can only happen in the next few years. So you want to make sure, okay, all the other years of my life I can't do that. So I want to make sure that that thing happens. But it might also be like you're just in a unique, you're in a momentum swing up and you need to make sure, "okay, catalyze that moment man," or you're in a swing down and if you don't make this decision between these three months, If You don't do something different, this thing is going to continue to dip and maybe be unrecoverable. It's just saying there might be, not everything has super high stakes, but there's some things that might have high stakes And So make sure you leverage those.Erica Adkins (18:39):
You don't want to miss it. Okay. Number five, "what is a must for next year?"Mark Carter (18:44):
Yeah, this is where we get real clear on there's the things that I like and the things that I want, but there's only a few things that "this must happen."Speaker 3 (18:55):
This is have to, yes.Mark Carter (18:56):
As an example, I've got a brother that has been asking me to come visit him for many years, And it was just never an option. And as we looked at the calendar this past, so a year ago from right now, we said if we don't do this in this year, I just don't know when we will do it. Our kids are the right age, we're the right age, we have the right margin, but that's rare that we have the right margin. So it sounds silly, but I love my brother and I want to see him. And so we said, "we must do this." Now, it wasn't life or death, but it was still for us for the sake of loving this brother, I don't know that we're going to pass this way again if we don't rock this right now.Erica Adkins (19:36):
SoMark Carter (19:36):
That's an example of a must.Erica Adkins (19:37):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Again, crystallizing priorities. Number six. "If you could only take ground in one or two areas here, what would they be?"Mark Carter (19:49):
In a similar way, this is saying, "I've got a lot of opportunities." You're going to invest your time in specific places this coming year. And there's some that would be like, "that's fun, but that does not necessarily get your ball really into the end zone the way that these two do."
(20:04)
So Find out what are the end zone plays, what are the things if you do this, a lot changes and you don't even have to do it, but you should know that that's what those are. So you don't pick a bunch of just like, these are third tier goals that are like, "bro, that's cool and that's a little helpful." That's a 2% improvement in whatever you're trying to do. This other one is a 40% improvement. Just knowing that, because sometimes you know this, when you're a leader, things swirl around, I got to do that and I got to do that and I go to that. But you don't necessarily have perspective of which ones of those is actually important and sometimes the one that is weightiest feeling on you is actually the least important thing for you to do and you just need margin in place to find that out.Erica Adkins (20:50):
The tyranny of the urgent versus the actual important,Mark Carter (20:53):
Right.Erica Adkins (20:53):
Yes. Okay, that's good. Number seven, "What would be neat or great but would come in third or less an importance."Mark Carter (21:01):
Yeah. This is kind of like maybe the inverse or adjacent, I dunno how you'd say it, but it's the other side of that previous coin.Erica Adkins (21:07):
That last question, yeah.Mark Carter (21:08):
Is just saying this is where you get really shrewd and you just say, "I know they want to do that project and I know that I really want to do these project. The truth is though, that's a number three and that's a number three." I've got to disappoint both of us And Tell each of us, "I'm sorry, that's really cool. You can't do that until we do this because this is the thing."Erica Adkins (21:31):
Yep. I think that's so good to level in those things. I want to talk about it, but we're going to do that in a different podcast. And finally our question number eight, "What do the goals for this make possible?"Mark Carter (21:44):
Yeah, I like this question. I think it's one of the hardest because it requires really thinking through, "if X then Y," even if you accomplish, say you've got five goals and they'd all do really good. It's not until we think, "but if I do goals three and four, They Open up a door to do goals seven and eight and those would be awesome." So we're not even close to seven and eight, but if I did three and four, that would just make some things possible that getting these other goals, those would be good, but they don't open up new doors the way that these other Ones do.Mark Carter (22:20):
So that's where you just got to think through, "what are the results of this that I could then do this?" So an example, if you decide, "okay, I can go back to school this year or I can just focus on these other set of priorities that I've got," and it might be there's a lot of years that going to school is not right, but you might get to the year that it's like, "if I do this now, this and this happened in The future..."Erica Adkins (22:41):
that catapults youMark Carter (22:44):
and I Need those things to happen by then. So that means I've got to go back to School Now.Erica Adkins (22:48):
Yeah, yeah. That's so good. Mark, cast vision for us, we already talked about some of the benefits, but where have you seen this make a huge difference in your life?Mark Carter (23:00):
I think one of the most enjoyable things for me is just the feeling like me and Jesus are on the same page a lot more of the time. In my early years I was like, "man, Jesus, we're we're going man. We're taking every hill." And I just learned over time, just because he's with you doesn't mean he's anointing that or you guys are really building together. He's building and then he's allowing you to piddle around with these sandcastles over here. There's a thrill to just knowing, "okay, I'm sure I'm wrong about something, but as far as I understand, I'm re-synced with the master; I'm doing what he wants me to do." and that means I've had to cut. That means I've had to sacrifice or I've had to embrace stuff that maybe my flesh didn't want to, but what are we doing this for? I'm doing this for him to begin with. So just having to regularity to come back to that and be like, "God approves of the plan Or What I know about it." That's a glorious, just relational fellowship thing to be happening.Erica Adkins (24:00):
Yeah. The word "commissioning" comes to mind as you're doing this. You feel like, "okay, I feel like the Lord is in this decision too," and there's a greater purpose in like, "okay, we can do this. We've got this next."Mark Carter (24:15):
And that confidence because there was time to plan it with the Lord certain he didn't speak about everything but some things you got a direct word from God who was like, "this is important." So when you get to that point in the year, you're like, and there's friction or there's devil opposition, you're like, "nah, dude, I know God's talked about this? We need to do this." You just feel so much better aboutErica Adkins (24:36):
It. I think when you brought up school, my husband went back to school this past year to just finish his bachelor's. Were 40 and just getting there. But I think because we had done some of this year-end review and decided this is the year to do that so that X, Y, and Z happened next in the middle of the days where it feels really dreary and daunting, remembering, "okay, no, we sat down and decided this and the Lord brought us to this decision."
(25:06)
Come on girl.
(25:06)
It gives a greater confidence and a more stalwart spirit of like, I can keep going. We've got this. So that's fantastic.Mark Carter (25:14):
This Wasn't a guess.Erica Adkins (25:14):
Yeah, yeah. Alright, last nugget. Mark. What do you want us to really, what point do you want to drive home? Why?Mark Carter (25:22):
I would embrace that Jesus is in the process. So as we walk through these things, This isn't just a planning retreat, I think the world has a version of like, "oh, let's just have a planning retreat." There's something wrong with that, but Jesus will meet us. There's personal developmental, it's not just that he talks about your schedule or your year, he talks about you, he talks about your soul. He talks about, I've had God cast vision for, "God, Who do we want to be together? Who am I being with Jesus and what's my integrity stuff that you want to change." oil changes, not relational enough to say, but there's stuff that he's doing in your spirit, that he's the lover of your soul and this is a canvas to paint on with him. But even the outcomes are not really the gold in it. Like the sweet, special, marshmallow middle is Jesus himself. As you guys, you just hug and you just talk and you get back in the zone, baby.Erica Adkins (26:19):
Yep. Alright, so we're going to land with Proverbs 14:8. Again, "giving careful thought to our ways," considering this great years just don't happen by accident. They happen because wise people ask the right questions with God. So we're going to come back to these. We're going to have episodes on each of these questions. So next time join us back and we're going to dive deeper into what are the lessons from the calendar of the last year and get deep into it.Mark Carter (26:44):
Thanks. See you guys next time.
(26:48)
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