My New Song Wrapping Up 2025 - ep. 40

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to the Unison Church podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me start out by saying happy new year.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's coming up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's coming up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, in fact, like a day away, maybe two, depends on whether I give this out Tuesday or Wednesday.

[SPEAKER_00]: But happy new year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope you enjoyed your holidays.

[SPEAKER_00]: I enjoyed mine except that I got really sick.

[SPEAKER_00]: A couple weeks ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we're back at it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might hear it in my voice a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully I don't get like choke up or anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but yeah, that's, that's, but I do hope that you have enjoyed your holiday season.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've arrived at the episode where we kind of talk, where we've been this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: We look at some stats and, uh, we look forward to the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what, what's gonna happen in the 2026.

[SPEAKER_00]: So first of all, I got to just say, thank you guys so much for listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: It really has.

[SPEAKER_00]: been a pleasure, and I'm so glad that you are tuning in, that people are still listening, and yeah, I've gotten some positive feedback on some of the stuff this year, and I'm excited to share about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I actually want to start with a project that you may or may not be aware of, those of you who listen to this podcast, but I do have a bunch of different social media accounts and

[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes people miss things, I get that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the best work flow is.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still trying to figure that out myself and figure out how my business is kind of like connect to each other but then also remain distinct at the same time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's just the nature of being multi-vocational.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you didn't know, in addition to being a pastor, podcaster here, I am a musician.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's actually what I wanted to school for.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, if you don't follow me on Instagram really is a primary place, but I have an artist page on Facebook too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just my name, Michael Sean Carbaugh, I think on Instagram, just Michael Sean on Facebook, because I just go on Michael Sean when I perform and stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do make and release music there, and so I would love for you guys to check that out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every year, I have a project where I either write or cover a song that wraps up the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what I actually wanted to do is start by just listening to that because it's kind of what I want to talk about a little bit in addition to just, you know, like housekeeping end of your, looking to next to your podcast stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: This this song.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll do a little introduction and then you'll hear this on.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's up, and happy New Year?

[SPEAKER_00]: I am sitting down to record a live version of my song for the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you've been following me, you know, every year I either cover or I write a song that kind of sums up the year that I've had between New Year's and my birthday, I just like to kind of sing the year out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this one is about 2025, which I turned 28 in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I wrote this song, you know, calling it 28 is proof that I'm still in the millennial.

[SPEAKER_00]: And

[SPEAKER_00]: There's just like some things in the song that feel, if you grew up around the same time as me or even a little bit older than I am, I think you'll understand some of the sentiments of the song, but this year was difficult, especially at the beginning, but it was kind of a mixed bag.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, every year is a mixed bag, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But this one really was, and there was some difficulty, but there's also some such a look forward to, and me myself,

[SPEAKER_00]: I have these goals that I set for myself way back, like in college, like when I was like 18, 19, 20 in that region and I kind of was like, I want to, this is the stuff that I want to accomplish by the time I'm 30 and some of those are impossible, right, because you just don't know how life's going to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, some of them, I'm still I'm on the track to accomplish those things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, um, but I'm turning, you know, 29 January 4th and I'll have one year left and there's some, there's a lot of stuff that would have to happen to meet a couple of those goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I, but it feels like it's close, you know, like there's a lot of progress that has been made towards that and despite a lot of the difficulties that I've faced over the last few years, I, um, I've been making progress on some of those big like dreams that I've had and so that's what

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you enjoy it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got sick.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was hoping to perform at live, so we're kind of performing at live just with a couple of microphones, and I'm feeling just well enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully we have to get through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this is 28 is proof.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still in the Loneo.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need

[SPEAKER_01]: But still it feels just beyond But it's close Yeah it feels like a monocusp

[SPEAKER_01]: It's your fault, it's their fault, it's not my fault We all play the cards that we're dealt It's your mom, it's my dad, it's a government I guess it's falling too

[SPEAKER_01]: I see little fields just beyond But it's close And yet it feels like I'm on the castle

[SPEAKER_01]: I refuse to sit on my hands I don't care what they say, what you're saying I'll rip up the thorns from this

[SPEAKER_01]: It feels just beyond And I've been fighting And I've been bleeding But still it feels just beyond But it's close

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's my song for being 28.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you guys didn't even know what age I was if you listened to this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was in 2025, the bulk of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was 28.

[SPEAKER_00]: And my birthday is right at the beginning of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe by the time I'm listening to this, I'm already 29.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to write a song that kind of like captured a lot of things, like, you know, the chorus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is an opportunity to go a little deeper into it as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: talks about like being on the cusp of a lot of stuff and and it that's actually like I do feel like I'm on the cusp of a lot of it in a lot of different senses and so when i wrote the song i i reference being a millennial partly because i'm on the cusp between uh... millennial and jenzy and i felt um... you know if you're if you two are like around my age you may identify one way or

[SPEAKER_00]: Or the other we're kind of in this like middle category.

[SPEAKER_00]: I usually say that I'm millennial because I grew up with people that were older than me I went into school early.

[SPEAKER_00]: I graduated college a year early.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I Feel like I spent a lot of time people that were a little older than me and I also just feel like I was encouraged to kind of

[SPEAKER_00]: become an adult like as soon as possible like I feel like I was really pushed into like a lot of, you know, I like I worked right away, um, I did college early, uh, you know, I was like living on my own like immediately after I graduated college.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, so it's you know stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, um,

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so I usually say that I sort of identify as a millennial and relate to some of the concerns that like Millennials have have had and spoken and so I think the song kind of speaks to that You know one of the things that I feel like every every generation really has this idea that

[SPEAKER_00]: It's someone else's fault, like your, you know, you're like your financial situations and stuff are often are often a result of the previous generations use and misuse of the economy, which is something that everybody says and then, you know, the older generation roles arise at the newer one and then a newer one gets jaded at the older one and all that stuff and I don't want to get caught up too much, you know, and even in the song, I'm like, I guess it's just falling to me anyway, you know, it's up to me to do what I need to do, but like,

[SPEAKER_00]: But like for me like one of the things that I had as a goal by the time was 30 was to like own a home.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at this point, I don't think that's gonna happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, unless some miracle happens and my business is explode and I have a bunch of experimental income, but I don't know the housing market in the U.S. and in particular in New England is just like a trotisly bad and so

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's one of those goals that like I really I did have for myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't really look like that's going to happen and so one of the things I want to Talk about in this episode is just setting goals what about when you don't reach those goals what about when life circumstances come in and you just have a change of direction All of that kind of stuff so but I'm not I don't really have like a scripted like we're just free flowing today and so try to keep up try to keep up

[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing that I felt like I'm on the cusp of obviously is this is my last year in my 20s and a lot of people are like surprised that to find that I'm in my 20s because I Just do a lot of stuff and then on top of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't like look.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of look older than I am as well Somebody made a joke actually just last night.

[SPEAKER_00]: They made a joke that I look like I'm 45.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's press and overstatement, but

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this year, one of the things that's been happening has been losing my hair, and so I made the decision in 2025 to just shave it all off.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm bald now, and that is, I think no shave November was the last time I have had hair.

[SPEAKER_00]: It might be the last time I will have hair on top of my head for a long time, and, uh,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's the intro, that's been an interesting thing like getting a little older.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, again, those guys are like older than me are going to really rise at that sentiment.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, but it is, I mean, that's a sign of like getting a little older and that my jeans are not awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: His way of losing your hair just got a, it is what it is, you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, just kind of getting to that point where, okay, this is my last year in my 20s, like I'm going to be 30.

[SPEAKER_00]: you know, I remember like as a teenager, thinking 30 was really old, you know, and and uh, it's obviously not the case.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope I have many more, many more years in me, you know, but um, I don't know, maybe some of y'all can sympathize with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get a lot of friends that are in their 30s and for a lot of people turning 30s at kind of a big deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, as I mentioned in the intro to the song,

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a lot of goals that I set for myself when I was 30.

[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of wanted to share maybe some of those.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, you guys are cool with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of my goals for my 30s were drastically changed and I have, I think I've posted on this podcast before, maybe some of my early episodes, tell my story a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like I had a I had goals by the time I was 30 to have like at least one probably two children because it's leaving college I got married and that that marriage ended up not working out you know my my spouse at the time chose to to leave file for divorce for a variety of reasons that I'm not really going to get into.

[SPEAKER_00]: right right now um but it was kind of a non-consensual thing and um you know we fought for it for a while but now for the last I don't know five-ish five is it really been like five years geez yeah four or five years I have been single and have like no you know I don't really have like a huge aspiration to like get married again like that's

[SPEAKER_00]: But needless to say, the goal of trying to have kids by the time you're 30, certainly is not something that I'm going to reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's something that I had to come to terms with and say, you know, this is, first of all, this was something that was done to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not said I was like, blameless in the process.

[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, there was plenty of blame to go around for the way that things ended.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, like, it was not a decision that I made.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes you have to let go, like we can only control so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not God, we are human beings, we don't have much control over anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really, the only thing that we really have control over is the way that we live and respond, whether we forgive or not, whether we move on or not, you know, whether we

[SPEAKER_00]: lean into the image of God that we're created with or whether we lean away from it and become more beast-like is kind of like the the grain of scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: Either lean into your image of God or you and more embrace some of your more animalistic traits where everything just all about you and servicing yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I think, I think that's something that I wanted to talk about is this idea of goals like you can set goals, but it doesn't always go the way you want it to, you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a proverb about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the proverb of 169, and I'll read from the NLC, we can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a complicated, you know,

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, pre-determinism versus free will, argument to be made surrounding that verse and here's now and is not really the time to get into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what is true about that verse is that we can plan, we can absolutely plan, but we don't actually have full control over everything, it is involved in that plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: The only one who's truly sovereign who really can step into a situation and make whatever they want out of it is God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, whether you believe in predeterminism or not, it is true that God is sovereign.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like every, you know, model has that God is sovereign.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can do what he wants to do, whether he does or not, is the argument of predeterminism right.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's the only one that really has the ability to make every one of his plans come to fruition.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's something that we can have hope in, with reference to like prophecy and things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: me I don't have that power and sometimes I make goals that become impossible to reach not because I failed to reach them but because circumstances that were outside of my control changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if there's a pitfall that you can fall into to say that nothing is in your control, that is not correct.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's not a ton that's in your control, but there are some things like your own attitudes, your own aptitude to get work done, your own ability and drive to push towards your goals, that is inside of your control.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so while I have that goal that really did not, has become impossible, really.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have other goals that

[SPEAKER_00]: I've tried to push towards and I'm really, I feel like I'm very close to meeting those, those goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let me just, I mean, I've probably shared this on the podcast before, maybe I've talked about like the Unison umbrella or things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: from the time I graduated school, I really had this sort of three-fold vision of what my career would be, and it all kind of happens under the header of unison.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I had this idea that I wanted to do music, I went to school for music, and I wanted to open this place that would help independent musicians, and

[SPEAKER_00]: And the shape of that has changed a bunch over the years, but it still remains the same, that I have this business called the Innocent Studios.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm in it right now, recording.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really cool that this year, really 2025, it was a multi-here process to get this place open, but it has been open.

[SPEAKER_00]: for a lot of 2025, about half of 2025, and that has been really cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: People have used the studio.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have people that are teaching private lessons for the first time out of the studio, which is like exactly what I wanted to aim for.

[SPEAKER_00]: I myself have been teaching a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's been really cool and right like almost right away I'm I'm already kind of like paying the expenses of the place with the business's own own income which is not normal.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's like it takes a long time to get to that point for a lot of businesses and I'm just

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm blessed and have been just privileged to have had some opportunities and some ability to keep expenses very low for the business that it's already doing very well and so I'm really thankful for that You know, it doesn't like make me a lot of money, but it does kind of sustain itself, which is really the first step that you're trying to get to And like I said for many businesses it takes years to get to that point and so

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited that that's been happening hasn't been without its difficulties, but here we are.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm excited for the growth and I'm excited to see some continued growth in the business as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, that's that unison church is more than just a podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a desire to plant a new church and that new church is going to be focused on bringing

[SPEAKER_00]: in order to praise the Lord with one voice, to worship God with one voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is a vision for, you know, like, there's a lot tied up in that, like, like multi-ethnicity is a really big, a really big factor in that.

[SPEAKER_00]: The ability to celebrate difference and not just have it there, you know, is something that I think is important.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bringing people to truly live a life that is worshipful to God, like making that a central part of people's life, would be like a main tenant of that church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I love the church that I'm a part of right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I, again, feel very blessed to have this position.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've worked there for almost 10 years now, which is, which is crazy to think about.

[SPEAKER_00]: This will be 2026 will be nine, nine years, working full time, and I interned two years before that as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, so it really is a blessing that I've been able to work at Pont Hill,

[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, I would like to plant unison church.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have me more than just the podcast, but also a physical church as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is, again, something that I feel like is very close, like it's within my reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there's still things that I'd love to do at Pond Hill, so I'm not quite ready to make that step.

[SPEAKER_00]: Commandant College is the most unexpected side of my career was that I really fell in love with trading card games.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I started this business called The Unison Games and that has been probably the primary focus

[SPEAKER_00]: for the last five years, really, we've been open for five years now in a brick and mortar sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that has been where a lot of my attention has gone and it's thriving and doing very well.

[SPEAKER_00]: What hasn't happened yet is that all three of those things, the vision is to have one space where all three of those things can exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that has not happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have three distinct locations.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a brick and mortar for all three.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have a, you know, a Pond Hill has a, as a street address.

[SPEAKER_00]: Utison Studios has a street address and then Unison Games Cafe has a street address as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of them is even in a different town.

[SPEAKER_00]: All close together, but like,

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's been really cool what I've been able to do, but my vision by the time I was 30 was that I would have this one location where all three of those things would coexist and I would be I would yeah that is something again that I feel like is within reach at this point but it's just not quite there yet and so that has always been

[SPEAKER_00]: the vision and I'm hoping that maybe in 2026 we can make that happen and so when it comes to like theology like I'm talking about this is kind of like a life update on like me but I didn't want to say a word about the theology of like setting goals I think that

[SPEAKER_00]: that many like church people that I've interacted with have just been to like timid.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really do, I really do think that when we get into our stats and stuff, I'm going to reference an episode that I did on the theology of work.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did a two-part sermon series on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was not, it was actually not in 2025, it was in 2024, I believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I went back to Genesis, and I reminded us that, and I reminded myself too, that when God says to be fruitful and multiply and to have dominion over the earth, that doesn't just mean like making more humans to exist in the world, although that certainly wrapped up in that command, it also means to make something of the resources that God has given us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I believe firmly that it is a central part of who we are, our purpose for existing, to make something of ourselves for the purpose of brain glory to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's formatted very important the way that I said that because for many people, you know, and I live in America and in America, you know, there's the American dream, which is to make something of yourself, like to make it in general.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the thing that the American dream is, is missing is something bigger than just what you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because for a lot of people it's like, I want to make something of myself, period and of story, and it's like, okay, but like many people when they've found success find themselves feeling empty after it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even though they've achieved all these goals, they made all this money, they have a family, they have, you know, everything that they could have imagined,

[SPEAKER_00]: Many of them are still left feeling empty, and I think it's because they're missing a key part of that is to make something of yourself for the purpose of bringing glory to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like to to orient oneself in worship towards God is important because God is the only one that brings fulfillment.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, the command of God, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: God's desire for us is not only that we would exist, but that we would thrive and be productive, that we would beat back sort of this idea of chaos, you find a lot in the Tenak where things are just kind of wild.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, even like the planet, when God steps down to create, he sees the world and the world is formless and void, is the King James.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's idea of like it's wild, it's untamed, and then God steps in and he brings order out of chaos, and that's the story of creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he desires for us to follow his example and bring order out of chaos.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we've sort of given resources, but also in this place, especially pose fall.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's also like a lot of resistance to us working and we're made to fight back to beat back that resistance and to make something productive out of the resources that we've been giving it's written into our DNA like it is part of what it means to be human it's not an understatement to say that we were created to work.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's really important.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when I think of like goals, obviously those need to be made prayerfully, obviously it need to be made open handedly understanding that God is the only one that's in control, like we've already talked about.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the process of making goals, I think is really important because I think it's right in line with the way that God has created us to be productive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I actually believe that like God

[SPEAKER_00]: is upset when we don't do those things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can kind of look at the parable of the talents with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where God gives like an amount of money to four different servants.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they go and they do different things with that money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Three of them bring back some sort of increase.

[SPEAKER_00]: The fourth one is afraid and he buries it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't do anything with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He comes back and he gives back what he's given.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't lose it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He gives exactly what he was given back to, you know, his master.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the master's upset, he calls him wicked and slothful in the King James, and he takes what he had and gives it to somebody else.

[SPEAKER_00]: He said, you could have at least put it in the bank and got an interest on it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, you just hit it and you did nothing with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think God looks at that and says, that's wasteful.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's wasteful.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not what you were made to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're made to take what I've given you and make something of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that says,

[SPEAKER_00]: It's sobering, but it's important.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's kind of my attitude towards setting goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I have a lot of like ambitious goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: I work a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that there's a way to view that that is right in line with the way that we were made.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, so I have, I got a lot of goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: prayerfully optimistic that I'm on the cusp of achieving some of those things and I'm excited to do so and I'm also thankful for what's already been done and I think that's part of goal setting is to

[SPEAKER_00]: especially when you accomplish a goal to be grateful not only for what you did but also for God and for the way that he was involved in that and the least at the least he made you and gave you the the faculties to do what you're doing right and that doesn't mean that we don't take credit for hard work we should we should say thank you when people compliment us on things not just like oh it was just God like that's a cop out right that's not

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the right attitude, but we should be grateful to the Lord for giving us the opportunity at least to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's also ways that sometimes God's steps in it does even above what's normal in the situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we should be thankful for that as well as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that's part of orienting our lives in worship to God and I hope I hope that I can continue to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's some ways I can get better at that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to share some some additional goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's wise to look forward and and make some goals and these are like really rough drafty goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like there's a lot you should really be thinking and like define what success looks like when you're making goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so I'm not gonna do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just gonna give you like some rough draft stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the goals that I didn't do great with this year was I told myself I was gonna read a lot more this year and I kind of didn't.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did, I did read more than I read last year, so I'm thankful for that, but I need to do better.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I, um, yeah, I need to be reading because I think it's important to

[SPEAKER_00]: And I also think because I'm a creative as well, like I'm making music and writing music and crafting sermons, doing podcasts, like all those things creative energy, I really think things like fiction or poetry are things that I should be engaging in as well because

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it helps to flow, the flow of creative juices to interact with other things that are creative.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then of course with nonfiction, I feel like theology is something that I really would like to continue to read up on a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm hoping to do better reading in the next year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you guys will read some of those benefits because I often will do a book reviews of things that I've read.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I hope that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that I'll be able to bring some of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know there's at least one book right at the beginning of the year that I'll be showing down and bringing you a review for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing that I would love to get better at is I just have, I seem not to be amazing at keeping a steady rhythm of time of the Lord, especially when it comes to prayer, and I think that that is to my shame, I really think that I need to get better at that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to be legalistic, I think a lot of people are a little legalistic when it comes to, you know, you need to do this and this every single day.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I also think there's a lot to be gained there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like why would we, when we claimed to be in a like a loving relationship with the Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really shameful if you're in a relationship you understand this, if what if you just didn't talk to, you know, your significant other for like,

[SPEAKER_00]: a couple days.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you didn't say anything to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, that's terrible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that would be horrible for your relationship, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I do feel like Jesus is sometimes on like with, obviously, I know that he's with me, but I just feel like sometimes my mind is so captured by other stuff that's easy to go through like a whole day.

[SPEAKER_00]: with no prayer or attention or scripture reading like a whole day like I feel like how dare I let a whole day go by

[SPEAKER_00]: without acknowledging the Lord's presence with me, and having a conversation with him with some kind.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's just always something that I need to get better at, and I'll be exploring different ways to do so, because I think it's important to stop and spend time with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I look at some people that are in other religions and they,

[SPEAKER_00]: stop for prayer like several times a day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, how dare I?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I claim to be with the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I claim to serve a God that is so much more loving than any other God that people serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, I'm not taking advantage of that all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's really something that I need to work on in the New Year is just getting better at that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And not in a legalistic sense, but at the same time, just out of love that I want to spend time with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: So.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's something that I need to be improving on.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's something that is definitely on my radar as far as goals for the new year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I hope that that's there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing too is I would love to continue my education in some way.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have half of a seminary degree because I was paying for it out of pocket.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I ran on money, and then my seminary went out during COVID.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was one of the many universities that went out of business during COVID.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that has created a little bit of a snag as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but I would love to continue my education.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm open to doing that in like different ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it doesn't necessarily have to be exactly like I'm taking seminary classes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, there's a lot of resources now that help people and maybe it's even just like forcing myself through.

[SPEAKER_00]: some some curriculum or some books that are designed to bring you up to speed, but I really would like to get better.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I'd love to get better at is reading the original languages.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I know a little bit of, of, of, of Vibli Hebrew.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know hardly any biblical Greek.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I would love to get better at those things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, um, I, another thing, as it was scholarship wise that I'd like to get better at is learning about like the history of theology.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like the, like the, the church fathers and what they.

[SPEAKER_00]: what they thought church mothers and what they thought and I just I just haven't really done that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've definitely been more of like a like a biblical scholar and I think that's fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's probably not going to change but the beauty of like theology as it is when as opposed to biblical studies is that you get to learn what other people thought and how other people process things and I think there's a lot of value in that that I just haven't haven't tapped into and so

[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, so those are the three things that I can think of right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I want to read more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to continue my scholarship, and I want to get better about having a daily rhythm with the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that that is maybe some of you guys can even share some of those goals.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe those are things that you're looking for as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if it is, I will be sending prayers your way and I covet your prayers for me as well,

[SPEAKER_00]: that you know I would be able to stick to some of those things and then of course you know the classic like eating better exercising stuff like that I did actually implement some some exercise into my weekly routine and so hoping to stick with some of that I was sick in that One of the things that I noticed when I was sick was that I actually like wanted to work out and stuff and I just couldn't so

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm hoping to get fallback, you know, get back into that routine that I already sort of set up as as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so those are kind of like my goals going into that.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I want to do, we're kind of like reaching the wrap up point of this up.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's going to be a little shorter than normal is I want to share how the podcast did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about like the podcast a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we don't get to peek under the hood very often.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I went on to my stats and you always got to give the disclaimer with podcast stats.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually kind of complicated to capture.

[SPEAKER_00]: accurate pictures of who's listening to your podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: The platforms don't really do a great job reporting that stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's some privacy things that prevent us from really like knowing that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so this is kind of like a rough estimate from my podcast host as well as Apple and Spotify.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I figured I would just.

[SPEAKER_00]: share some of that and we could celebrate it together.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it looks like there were a little over 700 downloads in 2025 which is not bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think the biggest strength of this podcast has been its consistency.

[SPEAKER_00]: This podcast has actually been out for like three years now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because of that, it's showing up on a lot of lists of podcasts.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's really something to celebrate.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've gotten a lot of emails this year about the innocent church podcast showing up on these lists that

[SPEAKER_00]: Really, it's like podcast advertisers are making the list and they're trying to make money off of you Really, which is why they're emailing me directly, but it is still true that like people are noticing like the podcast professionals are noticing that the podcast exists because of its consistency and it's being advertised to some kind of group of people and so So I think many of the people listening are maybe not people that I'm connected to on like a personal level and so they could guys so much for tuning in

[SPEAKER_00]: It really is an honor to speak to people about these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been a pleasure.

[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you for listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to see some growth in the listeners in 2026.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I think we can do better than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm excited that those were there.

[SPEAKER_00]: My favorite podcast stat that I am able to access is the top five most listen to episodes.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's really cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're talking top five, most listen to episodes in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll go five to one.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the fifth, most listen to episode was, these are really cool too, because a lot of them are interviews, which is, which I did, I expected that that would be the case.

[SPEAKER_00]: So number five is an interview.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the church broken but good.

[SPEAKER_00]: With Tom Scowsky, good friend of mine, that we had a really great conversation about just his church journey and some church her and how to kind of overcome that, how to find new churches, stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was episode 35, the church broken but good with Tom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number four was the upside down kingdom Bible review episode 25 this is this is pretty close to the beginning of the year and I'm excited about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a good time with the Jonah series which wrapped up in the beginning of the year This was one of the wrap-up episodes of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We looked at the notes in Jonah after having studied it and sort of become More of an expert on Jonah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would say it's one of the books of the Bible that I know the most about

[SPEAKER_00]: from behind the hood and I'm still learning and even after that huge series, there's still much more to be tapped in the book of Jonah that I didn't get to and so I'm excited for whenever I go back to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we took a look at the upside down kingdom Bible, which is a study Bible whose general editor is Preston Sprinkle, and we went and just read the notes for it, and saw what was there, and it was a good opportunity to sort of review that for him, because I often am part of his launch teams, and so I was for that Bible, and so it was a good time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a great resource, I would definitely recommend it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, number three was talking youth ministry with hero episode 37 and that was a kind of recent episode I had a good time with that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it was really cool to talk youth ministry and They're still at least one more interview.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to do as sort of part of that series, though.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of been a sporadic series I have really enjoyed talking to other people who work with teenagers

[SPEAKER_00]: That is one of the hats that I wear at my church, and so it's been fun to kind of talk shop with those guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: The number two performing episode is the theology of Superman Lois with Christian, and that was episode 33.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was like one of my favorite episodes, because I'm like a huge comic nerd.

[SPEAKER_00]: my friend Christian, who is my roommate in college for two of the years that I was there, he is also a huge comic nerd.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we got together and talked about Superman Loast because the CW show Superman and Loast ended by talking about the meaning of life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, if you're going to go there,

[SPEAKER_00]: that's an opportunity for me to talk superheroes on this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I took advantage of that and it seems like people liked it because it was not only the second most listened to podcast in 2025, but the first most listened to podcast in 2025 wasn't actually recorded in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: which means that the theology of Superman in lowest episode 33 was the most listened to podcast from 2025 in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: So congratulations to Christian for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said of attacks when I realized that.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was pretty exciting.

[SPEAKER_00]: The number one most listened to episode though is actually an older episode.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's episode 13 and it is the theology of work, which is really interesting.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only is something I'm personally passionate about, but it's one of those like soapbox issues that comes up a lot in my ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you're a pastor and you speak often in front of people, what happens is there's like certain topics that you find yourself just you keep coming back to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you become kind of like the voice, especially where there's more than one leader as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: there's there are certain issues that like I feel like people just default to me because they know like that's one of those things that you've studied that you've talked a lot about and the theology of work is definitely something that I have thought a lot about and in particular Genesis the the purpose of man and and just kind of walking through the

[SPEAKER_00]: There are the books of the Bible that just have the most influence on my theology.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's part of why this has become a big concern of mine is working.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I also think that just in America, I think we just have such a messed up view of what it is to work.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like the dominant cultural narrative of work, I think, is one that's very unhealthy and harmful.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it's become something that I'm very passionate about talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do feel like I'm fairly like, well, well, red and versed in the topic.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm excited that you guys respond to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And listen to this old episode, a lot in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: It really was, it was by far the most listened to episode in 2025.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's pretty cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's pretty cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most people, this is an interesting thing, actually.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most people that listen to this podcast are listening through Apple podcasts.

[SPEAKER_00]: It hardly anyone is listening on Spotify, which is really interesting because from my other podcasts is the opposite.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, so that's very interesting to me.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're listening on Apple, there's a couple of things that you can do that nobody's done.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there's only, there's one rating on Apple.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is a five-star rating, so I appreciate that whoever made that rating, thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if you're listening on Apple, the only two things that you can do to interact with the podcast are Leave a review which I would love for you to do that really helps other people see the podcast when you leave a review So please do that and then you can also follow the show which you probably already knew about because I know many people follow the show on Apple But yeah, those are the two things you can do it hit follow and leave a five star review I really really appreciate that if you've been touched by the podcast Please do that

[SPEAKER_00]: And then if, you know, you're one of the few listening on Spotify, jump in there, we have, ironically, even though not very many people are listening on Spotify, I have two reviews on Spotify in their both five stars.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I really, I really appreciate the three of you guys that left reviews.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're listening to Spotify, guess you haven't already left your review, please do that on Spotify.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can also comment.

[SPEAKER_00]: uh, on the podcast too, which is another way to have Spotify, push it more, that has engagement, they're more likely to share it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if you haven't done those things, especially the review, please do, uh, leave that.

[SPEAKER_00]: The last thing I want to talk about is obviously most of my listeners are in the United States, like I am, but I do have a pretty, a pretty solid group of people listening in the UK, and I'm trying to think like, I know I have a couple of missionary friends from the UK,

[SPEAKER_00]: I think maybe you guys are listening and that'd be awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much But there's definitely more than just you listening and so I I appreciate you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you from my brothers and sisters across the pond.

[SPEAKER_00]: I I appreciate your listenership and Keep keep keep doing what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I hope I can keep coming out with content that you all like and That you find helpful.

[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you guys so much for listening seriously.

[SPEAKER_00]: It really is a pleasure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really do enjoy

[SPEAKER_00]: I enjoy the podcast side of what I'm doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been cool to kind of go a little deeper than I get to.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, oftentimes I don't get to go super deep in like a sermon.

[SPEAKER_00]: Although I try, I definitely try, but you know, in sermons, it's like you're trying to, you're speaking to a lot of different people and you're trying to keep it.

[SPEAKER_00]: like applicable right and then you're also trying to keep it to like 30 minutes and so it's been cool to have the opportunity sometimes to sit down Let's sit down for like an hour talk about one topic get really deep with it and that's something that I just really enjoy because I'm really into

[SPEAKER_00]: Theology and biblical scholarship, so it's been really cool to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I've been getting some really good responses from some of those going deep.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another thing that we've been able to do is do really targeted conversations that are for specific groups of people, like for instance, we've been doing this youth work or series, and it's like we can talk about teenagers and kind of draw attention to some of the stuff that teenagers in your churches might be.

[SPEAKER_00]: might be dealing with in some tips for how to talk to them and things like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's been really cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love doing that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love being able to give voice to maybe a group of people that are underrepresented and the podcast is a great opportunity to do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's been really cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you guys so much for listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been a great ride.

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, don't go anywhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not going anywhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to keep doing what we're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, um, let's, uh, let's keep, let's keep growing this thing, but also, uh, let's keep orienting ourselves in worship towards the Lord because I really do think that's where our, our fulfillment comes from is this idea of bringing worship to our creator.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, thank you guys so much for listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll talk to you guys really soon and until then, God bless.

[SPEAKER_00]: And happy new year.