Church culture is defined by how your team experiences leadership every day, not just through perks or events, and toxic leadership environments can slowly push away great staff members despite their calling.

• Constant urgency where everything feels like an emergency
• Avoiding necessary hard conversations
• Celebrating success while ignoring burnout
• Critique consistently outweighing encouragement
• Staff never feeling caught up with their workload

• Staff silently question if they can speak up without punishment
• They wonder if anyone cares about their wellbeing
• They question if their ideas matter or if they're just "doers"
• They worry about growth opportunities versus endless grinding

• Normalize check-ins that go beyond project status updates
• Celebrate both results and people equally
• Own mistakes and model humility at all levels
• Build margin—not everything needs to be urgent
• Build trust through clarity, consistency, and care
• Remember that healthy cultures aren't about perfection but intentionality

Get your copy of "Silent Alarm" about church staffing at chemistrystafffing.com/silentalarm and share your thoughts at [email protected]

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

When great candidates disappear from your church's hiring process, it's rarely about salary or location. Top-tier ministry candidates evaluate your church's communication, vision clarity, and culture before deciding whether to continue pursuing a role.

• Churches lose candidates through long gaps in communication
• Vague or inconsistent messaging about the role or hiring process raises red flags
• Overly rigid interviews that feel like interrogations drive people away
• Not involving real staff members in the process isolates candidates
• Top candidates often won't explain why they're walking away—they simply vanish
• Communicate often, even if just to say you haven't forgotten about them
• Show candidates your real culture by introducing them to future teammates
• Be honest about both challenges and opportunities at your church
• Clarify timelines and ensure candidates feel guided through the process
• Remember that your best candidates have options and are looking for a place they can trust

Respond to me with feedback at [email protected]. Check out my new book "Silent Alarm" about today's church staffing climate at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

Todd Rhodes concludes the Silent Alarm series with a crucial message about the danger of trying to rebuild church staff pipelines alone. The most resilient churches recognize that rebuilding ministry is too important and complex to be carried solely on one leader's shoulders.

• Too many church leaders are recruiting, interviewing, evaluating, onboarding, and fixing culture alone, which is crushing them
• Isolation feels like control but almost always leads to collapse
• Four essentials for rebuilding: wise counsel, collaborative process, outside perspective, and spiritual dependence
• Rebuilding ministry isn't just about strategy but about obedience and spiritual leadership
• The Silent Alarm book dives deeper than the podcast series, available in physical, digital, and audio formats

Get your copy of Silent Alarm at chemistrystafffing.com/silentalarm and join us next week as we begin exploring new topics for church staff members.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

The interim period between church staff members isn't just dead space to endure—it's a strategic inflection point that shapes your church's future. Todd Rhodes explains how this critical time either heals what's broken or hides it deeper, with no neutral middle ground.

• Churches often treat staff transitions like a pause button while redistributing roles and waiting for a new hire
• The interim isn't about holding down the fort—it's a formative period that will make or break your next hire
• New staff don't walk into a blank slate but inherit whatever environment the interim created
• Name and process the grief associated with departures, regardless of whether they ended well
• Clarify roles during the transition with realistic expectations to prevent resentment
• Reassess your organizational needs—don't just reuse old job descriptions
• Consider bringing in outside perspectives during this transitional period
• Identify and address ministry areas that are fragile, toxic, or underdeveloped
• Invest in the health of remaining staff who carry extra burdens during the interim
• View the interim as a stewardship opportunity to rethink direction and clarify culture

Grab your copy of "Silent Alarm: The Quiet Collapse of the Church Staff Pipeline and How to Rebuild it Before it's Too Late" at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm. If you need help navigating your church's interim period, reach out to [email protected].

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

The church of 1997 isn't coming back, and that's actually good news for ministry leaders willing to adapt their staffing approach. Many churches are still hiring for positions that made sense decades ago, using outdated strategies, and wondering why they're struggling to gain traction in today's rapidly changing ministry landscape.

• Culture shifts that once took generations now happen almost daily
• Economic realities have changed dramatically, with living costs making 1990s salaries unsustainable
• Today's leaders want purpose and flexibility, not just defined roles to fill
• Technological shifts have created entirely new ministry needs and positions
• Generational changes bring different assumptions, boundaries and expectations

• Update your job descriptions to speak to today's leaders and clarify outcomes
• Rethink your organizational chart for today's ministry needs
• Redefine success metrics to align with your mission, not nostalgia
• Embrace innovation with new roles and staffing arrangements
• Let go of outdated assumptions while holding firm to the gospel

Get your copy of the Silent Alarm book at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm and reach out with feedback or questions at [email protected].

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

We're exploring why promising ministry leaders are quietly leaving church jobs without returning to ministry elsewhere, examining this growing trend that's draining the church leadership pipeline. This "invisible exodus" includes gifted mid-career leaders who still love Jesus but find ministry unsustainable for various reasons.

• Five key reasons for quiet quitting: chronic disappointment with ministry realities, unsustainable family costs, disillusionment with church leadership, inadequate compensation, and uncertainty about calling
• Most leaders don't leave because they've lost faith—they leave because ministry stopped believing in them
• Churches can respond by reaching out to former ministry leaders in their communities, honoring their pain without trying to recruit them
• Creating "soft landings" for those who may want to return to ministry after a break
• The pandemic didn't cause these issues but accelerated existing problems
• Leaders who've quietly quit aren't failures—they may simply need their calling redefined

Get a copy of Todd's book "Silent Alarm: The Quiet Collapse of the Church Staff Pipeline and How to Rebuild Before It's Too Late" at chemistrystafffing.com/silentalarm.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

Your staffing problem isn't really about hiring—it's about discipleship. Most churches have shifted from raising up leaders internally to importing candidates, creating a leadership development vacuum that threatens the future of ministry.

• Churches have forgotten that disciple-making is leadership development
• The pipeline for ministry leaders is drying up as fewer young adults consider ministry careers
• Too many churches wait passively for fully-formed candidates rather than developing their own
• When churches stop discipling people into leadership, ministry becomes professionalized and transactional
• Building your pipeline starts with identifying three people under 30 with spiritual leadership potential
• Create visible opportunities for emerging leaders to teach, shepherd, and disciple others
• Churches need to normalize the idea of full-time ministry and actively call people to consider it
• Model sending: If no one has left your church to serve elsewhere in years, that's a warning sign

Grab a copy of my book "Silent Alarm: The Quiet Collapse of the Church Staff Pipeline and How to Rebuild Before It's Too Late" at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

Even healthy churches with solid theology and stable leadership are struggling to fill open staff positions due to fundamental shifts in the ministry landscape. The talent pool of potential church staff has shrunk dramatically, creating intense competition for fewer candidates who are more selective than ever before.

• Church health is no longer a sufficient magnet for attracting staff—it's just the baseline
• The candidate pool is smaller, especially at mid-career levels, creating higher competition
• Today's ministry candidates are highly selective and interviewing churches as much as being interviewed
• Geographic limitations are more significant, with many candidates unwilling to relocate
• Candidates fear cultural mismatches and are wary of unknown situations after difficult pandemic experiences
• Churches must actively demonstrate their health, not just assume candidates recognize it
• Creating an exceptional candidate experience from first contact is critical
• Reframe job offers as invitations to join a movement where candidates can thrive
• Be competitive with compensation and clear about expectations
• Start searches earlier as hiring timelines have lengthened significantly

Grab a copy of my new book "Silent Alarm: The Quiet Collapse of the Church Staff Pipeline and How to Rebuild it Before it's Too Late" at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

We tackle a harmful church hiring myth: the fantasy of finding the "unicorn" or perfect candidate with impossible qualifications at a modest salary. While churches wait for this mythical person, positions remain open, current staff get overloaded, volunteer morale drops, and the congregation suffers.

• Churches waste months or years holding out for candidates with conflicting qualifications (seminary trained but relatable, visionary but administrative)
• The perfect candidate is not coming, but great staff members might be right in front of you
• Phrases like "we're waiting for the right person" often mask unclear hiring priorities
• Prolonged vacancies hurt your team culture, volunteers, and congregational health
• Clarify your non-negotiables and distinguish between ideal and essential qualifications
• Hire for trajectory not perfection - the best leaders become great, they don't arrive that way
• Consider internal candidates, marketplace leaders, and people who don't fit your traditional mold
• Ask if you're looking for someone to lead a role or rescue your church - the latter is unrealistic

For more on this topic, get my new book "Silent Alarm: The Quiet Collapse of the Church Staff Pipeline and How to Rebuild it Before it's Too Late" at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm or on Amazon.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.

Ministry staff are carrying unprecedented emotional weight from difficult experiences, and hiring churches must learn to address the pain behind every resume to build healthy teams.

• The last five to six years have been incredibly difficult for ministry staff
• Many candidates have experienced being ghosted, micromanaged, caught in power struggles, or laid off without warning
• Unprocessed pain turns into baggage that will show up in a candidate's next role
• Instead of just reviewing credentials, ask about how candidates have processed difficult experiences
• Important interview questions include asking about the hardest part of their last ministry season
• Look for awareness rather than perfection when evaluating candidates' responses
• Honest acknowledgment of pain that's been worked through indicates depth in leadership

Get your copy of "Silent Alarm: The Quiet Collapse of the Church Staff Pipeline" at chemistrystaffing.com/silentalarm to help your leadership team understand these critical hiring issues.

Have questions or comments? Send to [email protected]

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.