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
Staffing for the Valley, Not the Mountaintop
Church staffing often prioritizes Sunday celebrations over everyday discipleship moments. We need to rethink how we build ministry teams that can thrive not just during mountaintop experiences but also in the valleys where real ministry happens.
• Most churches unintentionally hire for big moments like Easter and Christmas but struggle with everyday ministry
• Jesus did most of his work not on mountaintops but in margins—homes, back alleys, and ordinary places
• The valleys—hospital rooms, counseling sessions, grief support—are where transformative ministry happens
• Churches need emotionally intelligent staff who are built for presence, not just performance
• Hiring the wrong staff for your season can result in disengagement, burnout, and shallow discipleship
• Staff accordingly for valley ministry: prioritize shepherds over performers
Reach out to Todd to discuss your church staffing needs at podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
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Church is often hired for the high points of the year Easter and Christmas, maybe the launch of a new building or a new campus but ministry, a lot of times, is lived in the valleys. And today, on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, we're going to explore why staff decisions should reflect the Monday to Saturday grind, not just the Sunday celebrations. If your church feels over-prepared for the stage but under-resourced for discipleship, for example, this conversation is for you. Today we're going to unpack what it looks like to build a healthy church staff culture that's sustainable, that's soul aware and deeply rooted in presence, not just performance. And yeah, we're going to talk about burnout and hidden needs and all of that kind of thing too. So you're not going to want to miss this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We're here every day. My name is Todd Rhodes, I'm your host. We're also one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom. Every day we talk about things that are hopefully of interest to you as a church staff member. All in usually sometimes seven, eight minutes. Sometimes it goes nine or 10, according to how talkative and yappy I am during the day. But today we are going to tackle this topic of staffing, one of my favorite topics, since I'm one of the co-founders over at Chemistry Staffing, a staffing company for your church.
Speaker 1:So let's start here. What if I told you that your church is perfectly staffed for Easter but also woefully under-equipped for the other 364 days that actually shape the souls of the people in your church? Now stay with me, because in just the next few minutes we're going to rethink. I love to peel back the layers of the onion and kind of look at things from maybe a little bit different perspective. And today we're going to rethink a little bit about how we hire and lead and build church teams that thrive not just on the mountaintops, not just on the Sunday mornings of Easter where we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, but also a church staff that can thrive on the regular days and even in the valleys, okay.
Speaker 1:So first let's talk about what I like to call the Easter illusion. Okay, talk about what I like to call the Easter illusion. Okay, if we're really honest with ourselves, most churches unintentionally hire for the big moments the Easter, the Christmas, the fall, launch and, yeah, you need people that can pull all of those off with excellence. Don't hear me saying you don't. But it's a big, but what happens when the lights dim and the crowds fade and you're left with that real-life, really, really difficult ministry that happens during the week, so not just on Easter Sunday, but maybe on Tuesday night in August when everything falls apart. The illusion is that if we're staffed for the mountaintop, we're going to be just fine in the valleys, we're covered, right. But if you remember, jesus didn't do most of his work on the mountaintop, he did it in the margins, in homes, in back alleys, by wells, and a lot of times churches chase the churches that do chase. These kind of event staffing scenarios end up with teams that are built for sprints but not for marathons.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's the truth. The valleys non-Easters, the Tuesday nights, when something horrible happens the valley is where people actually live, the real stuff of ministry. It doesn't happen during your 930 on Easter Sunday. It happens in the hospital waiting rooms. It happens in the counseling sessions. It happens in week three of grief after a family suffers a tragic loss. It happens sometimes just in the long, boring middle of discipleship. And yet we know this right, this isn't rocket surgery, as I like to say. We know this. But still we often hire people who are great on stage, great for the mountaintop, but uncomfortable in a living room or a hospital room.
Speaker 1:So I want you to ask yourself who on your team, who on your team is really built for the valley? Who knows how to show up when nobody's clapping? Most pastors I talk to say they're drowning, not because they don't have staff, but sometimes because they have the wrong staff for the season that they're in. So what does this staffing for the Valley actually look like? It's hiring for presence, not performance. It's building margin into roles so that people can respond to real needs. And it's developing spiritual formation muscles in your team, not just production skills. And again, don't hear me that production skills and Sunday morning and excellence is not important. It absolutely is, but so are these key items.
Speaker 1:And many of the times, churches that come to us wanting to hire someone which happens all the time we're a staffing company are looking at this through a Sunday morning performance type point of view. They're looking for the mountaintop hire, not for the valley hire. So what you'll need to know to get you through the valley, these are the type of staff members you need, right? You need an emotionally intelligent children's director, right? You need an admin who prays over the weekly email list. You need a youth pastor who knows when to stop teaching and just sit with a kid. You don't need more performers, you need more shepherds. A lot of times, and churches, many times again, are just hiring for the performer, not for the shepherd. That might sound really harsh. I don't mean it to, but it's the reality at a lot of churches.
Speaker 1:Okay, this comes at a cost. There is a hidden cost of staff misalignment. Every time you hire somebody for the wrong season, your congregation will pay for it in unseen ways. It could be disengagement, it could be burnout, it could be shallow discipleship, it could be staff drama, but there will be a price. Most tragically, though, you're going to miss some moments when the valley comes, and it always does. The valley always shows up. Sometimes, when things are going really well, all of a sudden, man, boom, there's the valley. When the valley does come, you realize you build a team for applause and not for presence.
Speaker 1:So here's the bottom line, here's the takeaway for today. The best ministry doesn't happen on the mountaintop. I want you to remember that for the next time that you hire. Okay, it happens in the shadows, it's in the valley, it's in the mess. You higher. Okay, it happens in the shadows, it's in the valley, it's in the mess. So staff accordingly.
Speaker 1:Maybe this challenged you today and you're like thinking when you think about staff and you're like Todd. You really got me thinking and I'm not quite sure where to go with this. I'd love to have a conversation with you and I'm always open to meeting new people and having conversations, especially appreciate talking to people that have listened to the podcast and want to reach out. Reach out to me podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. Love to have a conversation with you and talk about what this means and how maybe your next hire might look a little different as you hire through a little bit of a different lens. I hope that's been helpful for you today.
Speaker 1:We are here every Monday through Friday. If you're listening on the day that this is released, it's Friday. So I hope you go and have a great weekend. I can't believe that summer summer is almost my daughter's a teacher and she already had to go back for some training and it's crazy. It's crazy Looking forward to talking with you next week, but I hope you just take some time, have a great weekend and I will be praying for your services this Sunday.
