The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Your Work is Some of the Most Fulfilling Work in the World
Have you ever felt your passion for ministry flicker or found yourself stuck in the repetitive cycle of daily tasks? Join me, Todd Rhoades of Chemistry Staffing, as we unearth the treasures within Cal Newport's "Deep Work," all while tailoring its wisdom to the unique challenges faced by church staff members. This week's episodes have taken us on a journey from understanding the essence of deep work to confronting the moments when our vocations seem to lose their luster. I delve into ways to rediscover the profound joy and fulfillment that comes from serving others and how to transform the 'ho-hum' into a vibrant call to action.
Each discussion has been a step towards reigniting the spark that initially drew us to ministry, with practical advice on how to make a tangible difference in someone's life today. Whether it's by sharing a meal, offering support to a struggling colleague, or simply lending an empathetic ear, we've explored how these deep, focused acts of service not only propel our ministries forward but also revitalize our sense of purpose. Embrace this episode as your personal invitation to step back into the light of your divine calling with renewed vigor and a heart eager to make every interaction count.
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My name is Todd Rhodes. You're listening to the Healthy Church Staff podcast. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm one of the co-founders over at Chemistry Staffing. Hey, if you haven't checked us out at Chemistry Staffing, we're over at chemistrystaffingcom and we serve church staff members, just like you, every day with a lot of different things. So go check us out, if you could.
Speaker 1:Hey, this week we've been talking about the book written by Cal Newport called Deep Work, and we started on Monday with talking a little bit about the differences between deep work and shallow work, and then so far this week we've talked about how your work, specifically as a church staff member, is some of the most difficult work in the world. Yesterday we talked about and if you haven't listened to these, go back and listen to them wherever you listen to podcasts. Yesterday, we talked about how your work as a church staff member is some of the most important work in the world today, and I'm excited about this because this is where it gets really practical and really soul-stirring, at least for me your work as a church staff member. I don't care what role you're in, whether you're a senior pastor or an associate pastor. Whatever your ministry role is at the church, your work is some of the most fulfilling work in the world, and church work. We said yesterday that there are easier places to work, there are more stable places to work. You can make a lot more money working someplace, chances are, than where you are in your church. But church work can still be some of the most fulfilling work in the world. But other times, can we be honest, it's just you and me here talking.
Speaker 1:Sometimes church work can seem, it should seem fulfilling, but it seems maybe a little boring, a little mundane, right Sometimes, and when there's momentum, when you're seeing results, it's thrilling. But when you're in a grind, you know, when everything's just ho-hum-ho-hum, it's hard to feel motivated or to feel fulfilled. We've got a lot of things to distract us. We've got conflict, we've got church politics. Every church has hard people. Every church has people that are going through really hard situations, difficult situations. They need our counseling, they need our advice. They're constantly coming at us to have some of our time, and all of these situations over time wear on us and a lot of these situations cause us not to dig in, not to. We've talked about either kind of zoning out or leaning in A lot of these things because they're heavy at times, cause us to zone out rather than lean in, and shallow work is the result of zoning out. It keeps us busy, but it doesn't bring any progress.
Speaker 1:So this week we've been talking about how to implement, how to put some really deep work into your life, into your ministry, into your work day and work week, and part of it is just really, how do you get back on task if you feel like things are just ho hum? I've talked to people that have been ho hum in their role and they haven't been excited about their role in their church for years. That's really sad. So how do you get on task? How do you dig yourself out of this hole? Here's some questions I would love for you to answer today if you're feeling like this, because I want you to recapture that feeling that maybe you had when you first started administering that man, I can't believe that they pay me to do this. I can't believe I get to do this. This is incredible, and now the luster is. The shine has just gone a little bit. Here's some questions to maybe help you get yourself out of the hole.
Speaker 1:What could I do today to make a difference in one person's life? That's a pretty simple question. What could you do today, what can I do today, to make a difference in one person's life? Maybe it's taking somebody out to dinner or lunch, maybe it's meeting somebody for coffee, maybe it's building into a staff member another staff member that you might be having a hard time. They're really having a hard time. What can you do today to make a difference in one person's life? And then, what deep work could I do? And again, we've talked about deep work being that uninterrupted, concentrated, really digging in deep work. What deep work could I do that could have an effect on maybe not just one person's life, but maybe a handful of people's lives? Maybe your staff, maybe? What could you do today? What kind of deep work could you do today that could have a real, meaningful effect on your staff or your board, or your small group or a group of volunteers? Is there some kind of deep work that you could schedule, that you could do today, or this week, today or tomorrow, that could have a meaningful, measurable effect on a handful full of people's lives? And then what? What could you do if you really put your mind to it? What could you do that could change my church? What are some outside of the walls thinking that could literally change my community? This kind of, these kind of questions don't get answered when you're doing shallow work. These kind of questions get answered. The dial gets moved when you really lean in and do hard, hard, deep work.
Speaker 1:Now, some of you are not visionaries, and I get that and that's okay. But all of you every person that's listening got into this whole working in a church thing to change lives. You don't have to have vision to make a difference in somebody's lives. You don't have to be the most dynamic leader. You don't have to be the charge to the hill guy or gal all the time to change people's lives. But that's really what we got into it for the calling of God to spread the gospel message and to change lives.
Speaker 1:So let's get to it. Let's get to it. And you're not going to have a great effect if you're only doing shallow work. So put your mind to it. Let's get to some deep work. You'll never, ever get to the important things if you're always doing the urgent things. You need to take time to make time and challenge yourself to think about the big picture.
Speaker 1:Maybe today is a great day, particularly if, like I said, you're one of those that just feels like things are just blah, things are mundane, there's no momentum. What am I doing here? Think about the big picture. Could be a great time to revisit your calling. What could you try that you haven't? And again that question what could I try that I haven't tried? That's a deep thinking, deep work question that you just don't get if you don't take the time to actually go there.
Speaker 1:Alright, so here's the call to action again for today. I want you to try and schedule I don't know what time you're listening to this. Try and schedule an hour today. Yep, today, plan it out. What is one thing to question for you? What's one thing I could do to change the life of one person? And then, what is one thing that I could start doing today that could change the lives of a few? That's your deep work challenge for today. Tomorrow, I hope you'll join us as we end this series and end the week. We're going to be talking about taming your use of social media and how that may help you to be able to do the important and the valuable work that you do as a church staff member every day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.
