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
True North (Part 3)
This episode continues our True North series, a modern-day epistle for church leaders that captures key insights from 360 episodes of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
• Endurance isn't the absence of fatigue but the decision to keep going when excuses say stop
• Seasons without visible growth aren't wasted—they're holy moments forming trustworthy leaders
• Rest isn't weakness but a reminder you aren't the Savior
• If your soul is shrinking while your platform grows, stop immediately
• Build relationships with people who notice when you're not okay before you need them
• Lead with confession, not image management—the church needs your presence, not your performance
• Legacy is built through daily faithfulness when no one is watching
• Pruning isn't punishment but preparation for fruit you cannot yet see
Download your free copy of the complete True North epistle at chemistrystafffing.com/truenorth and share it with your team, colleagues, and friends who need encouragement in ministry.
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
Be sure to subscribe to The Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you regularly listen to podcasts.
- - - - -
Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.
Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.
Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm with the Profounding School of Chemistry, staffingcom, and I'm your host right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Today we're going to continue on with our series called True North, and this is a modern day epistle for church leaders. Go back and listen to two episodes ago on Monday to get a little bit more of a scoop on how this project started, and stay tuned. At the end of the podcast today I'll give you a link to where you can go and download this full True North modern day epistle for church staff leaders. So this is going to be a little bit different. I'm going to read today. Each day this week we're taking a different chapter, so today I'm going to read chapter two. It's going to be a little different since I'm reading it, but hopefully this will kind of speak to you. There's a lot in here, so let's go ahead and get going with chapter two of True North.
Speaker 1:Endurance is not the absence of fatigue. It's the decision to keep going when every excuse says to stop. In the early days you may run with adrenaline and excitement, but later days will require something deeper conviction, rhythm and the refusal to quit quietly. There will be seasons where nothing seems to grow no fruit, no feedback, no fanfare. These seasons are not wasted. They are holy. They are forming you into the kind of leader who can be trusted with both growth and silence. You will not always feel inspired. Some of your most important leadership moments will happen when inspiration is gone, but faithfulness remains.
Speaker 1:Do not make mistake discouragement for disqualification. You are not a machine and you were never meant to be. The work is sacred, but so is your humanity. Take breaks without apology. Step back without shame. Even Jesus withdrew. Rest is not weakness. It's a reminder that you are not the Savior, and sometimes what looks like stepping away is actually stepping into renewal.
Speaker 1:Leaders who endure well are not those who push the hardest, but they're those who know when to pause and when to grieve and when to reset. What matters most is not the speed of your leadership, but the direction. If your soul is shrinking while your platform grows, stop. The cost is too high and you were not built for that kind of imbalance. Surround yourself with people who notice when you're not okay and have permission to ask you why. Build those relationships now, before you need them.
Speaker 1:There will be pressure to appear strong, to keep the smile on, to perform your way through the burnout, but resist it. The church does not need your image. It needs your presence. The church does not need your image. It needs your presence. Confess before collapse. Let someone in before everything falls apart.
Speaker 1:Hidden exhaustion is one of the enemy's most effective footholds. You cannot lead people into health while refusing to walk that path yourself. And yet the great temptation is to keep producing while your soul quietly perishes. So lead with confession, not image management. You're not the hero of this story. Even the best leaders hit a wall. It's not a sign of failure. It's a moment of invitation, an invitation to return, to remember, to renew.
Speaker 1:Don't fear the valley. Some of the deepest work of God happens far from the crowds. Obscurity is not the enemy of fruitfulness. Sometimes it's the soil. Keep tending what no one sees. That's where integrity is born.
Speaker 1:Legacy is not built with conferences or campaigns. Not built with conferences or campaigns. It's built in the daily decision to remain faithful when no one is watching. And remember faithfulness is not flashy. It's often quiet, repetitive and unnoticed by the world, but not by the one who called you. God is not in a hurry. He works through seasons. He's not interested in momentary success, but in eternal significance. If you're in a pruning season, don't panic. Pruning is not punishment. It is preparation for the fruit that you cannot yet see. Endurance is not glamorous, but it is how spiritual giants are made. Spiritual giants are made Guard the flame. When the wind picks up, don't fear it. Shield the light and, when the time comes, pass it on.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's chapter two in what I'm calling True North, a modern day epistle, a lot of different thoughts and ideas. Just really quickly go back and listen to that first episode this week where I give a little bit more insight as to how this was created. But essentially, I took all of 360 episodes of what we, you and I have talked about here on the Healthy Church Staff podcast and this is a summary of a lot of the things and a lot of the things that we've learned together through the past two years. So if you'd like a copy of this, a free've learned together through the past two years, so if you'd like a copy of this, a free download of this PDF, I think you would really enjoy it. I think it would be an encouragement to you. Pass it on absolutely to your team, to your staff, to your colleagues, to your friends, anybody that you think needs to hear these words. I think they can be really powerful, both when ministry is going well, but especially when ministry is really hard, and I know for a lot of us it's really hard and life is really hard right now.
Speaker 1:So you can download a free copy. Just go to chemistrystaffingcom slash true north. Chemistrystaffingcom slash true north and you can download a free copy there. You can also email me anytime with any kind of comments that you have, either on this or any questions you've got. If there's any way I can help your church, let me know. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom is the email address to reach out to me. All right, we will be back tomorrow with True North. We're going to read chapter three and then the following day, on Friday, we're going to read chapter four. Hope you'll join us and hope you'll download the app again. Chemistrystaffingcom slash true north. All right, thanks so much. Hope you have a great day. We will talk to you again tomorrow.
