I have started a podcast in 2019 entitled The 2nd Mile.
While our church has a podcast that archives weekly sermons, I wanted a platform to equip others in their pursuit of Christ. I have grown so much from listening to podcasts, and I want to take advantage of this platform and opportunity to speak some specific truth into willing ears.
You can listen to the introductory episode below or read what it is about, or go ahead and subscribe to get the content delivered to you weekly in your favorite app:
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What Is the Podcast About?
The people who make the greatest impact are never those who do the bare minimum. So why is it that we are often inclined to do “just enough” and not give our absolute best? What would our lives be like if we tried to go the 2nd mile in every worthwhile endeavor? That’s what this podcast is about.
I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ. That commitment changes everything about me. It changes the way I love my wife. It alters the way I raise my children. It redirects the way I pastor a church. It infiltrates what I think about priorities and possessions, commitments and connections, habits and hobbies. Jesus makes it His business to change lives.
If Jesus truly has changed my life, it would make sense that He is still truly changing my life.
While Jesus was on Earth, He lived in a complex area during a complex time. He lived in Jewish territory, but it was occupied by the Romans. As the Roman Empire’s power and influence spread, the Roman soldiers were stationed throughout the invaded countries to keep control among the people consistent. As they developed roads throughout these areas, they installed markers along the way to alert travelers regarding their progress throughout the region.
If a Roman soldier came across a local citizen on the road, the law allowed him to demand a one-mile commitment from the passerby. He could command a complete stranger to carry his heavy equipment for the next mile of his journey. The passerby would have to stop everything he was doing and commit to what the law demanded of him.
Everyone hated this law. Well, everyone except the Roman soldiers. But the Jewish people who lived under Roman rule despised it. One day as Jesus was preaching to a bunch of these citizens, He taught them a surprising paradigm shift:
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles [Matt. 5:41].
Can you imagine the shocking nature of this statement? If the law requires you to go one mile, go ahead and journey the 2nd mile. Jesus was gathering a group of disciples who were going to change the world. And He knew that you don’t change the world by doing simply what the law requires. The bare minimum. The forced behavior. He was assembling a group of world-changers who would follow Him not because they had to but because they got to. What He was about to do would create a heart change inside of them that would refuse a mediocre mentality that did just enough.
Instead of doing what the Law required, they were going to do what grace enabled.
They were going to travel the 2nd mile in every situation so a difference would be seen in them. Christ-followers don’t do the bare minimum to get through, they commit to a God-honoring lifestyle that goes over and beyond so that Jesus is recognized as the sole motivator.
And now, over 2,000 years since Jesus first said those words, they still ring true in the children of the burning heart. Those disciples whose hearts come alive when the Word speaks to them. These 2nd-milers epitomize what 1 John 5:3 says that God’s commands are no longer burdensome. We refuse to do just enough in following Christ – it encompasses everything we are.
As a pastor, I get to preach and teach weekly on following Jesus. But as I preach through books of the Bible, there are areas I often want to unpack in faith and family, disciplines and dangers, productivity and passions, finances and friendships. So, that’s why I am calling this the 2nd Mile Podcast. I want to weekly provide wisdom for how to go the 2nd mile in numerous areas.
I pray I can help you treasure the Word of God rather than just guilting yourself into marking it off your checklist when you find time to read. I want to help fight against the tendency to settle into a type of family commitment that thinks you are OK because you are simply better than those around you. I hope I can help open your eyes to the opportunities around you rather than viewing them as circumstances which you have to endure.
Jesus taught that if someone asks you to go one mile, go the 2nd mile as well. In the 2nd Mile Podcast, I want to equip you to do more than the bare minimum in the areas of faith and family. Don’t settle for an average life.
The episodes begin in January 2019. Hope I see you on the 2nd mile.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.