Gen Z isn't rejecting ministry but redefining what it means to say yes to a church vocation. They're asking different questions than previous generations that reflect their commitment to both spiritual calling and personal wellbeing.

• Mental health is non-negotiable for this generation that grew up amid social media, pandemics, and societal challenges
• Churches with cultures built on burnout, guilt, or martyrdom will fail to attract or retain Gen Z staff
• Financial transparency is essential – they want clear compensation details upfront, not spiritualized vagueness
• Purpose must be demonstrably lived out, not just preached, as Gen Z is skeptical of performative religion
• They crave mentorship and collaborative leadership rather than rigid hierarchy or micromanagement
• Adapting to Gen Z requires changing your posture and approach, not your theology

If you'd like to discuss navigating generational differences on your church staff or need guidance on hiring Gen Z team members, reach out to schedule a 30-minute Zoom call 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.

Church plants, despite their vibrant vision and promise of fresh starts, often recreate the same dysfunctional patterns they aimed to escape. This honest look at church planting reveals why passionate vision without healthy structure leads many new churches to repeat old mistakes.

• Church plants frequently begin as reactions rather than strategies, defining themselves by what they're not
• Lack of accountability systems creates vulnerability when guardrails are needed most
• Culture is assumed rather than intentionally built, leading to drift when challenges arise
• When the founding pastor becomes the brand, the church becomes dangerously dependent on one personality
• Burnout happens faster than expected due to performance pressure, financial stress, and emotional weight
• Sustainability requires balancing passion with accountability from the beginning
• Church planters and revitalization pastors face some of the most difficult roles in ministry

If you'd like to discuss this topic further, reach out anytime 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.

Many churches fail to plan for pastoral succession until it's too late, creating a leadership crisis when retirement arrives. When churches center everything around a single leader and don't develop a leadership bench, they make healthy transition nearly impossible.

• Succession planning should be a 5-10 year process, not a 6-month sprint
• The myth of the indispensable pastor creates vulnerability in churches
• Reactive succession leads to leadership vacuums, power struggles, and congregational decline
• Proactive churches invest in emerging leaders and normalize team teaching
• Start building your bench today whether retirement is 6 months or 20 years away
• Succession is spiritual formation—preparing people to lead after you're gone

If you need help moving from reactive to proactive succession planning, reach out to us 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.

The phrase "high-capacity leader" might be one of the most spiritually misleading labels in modern church culture, masking burnout, ego, and imbalance while sounding like a compliment. Kingdom leadership was never meant to be about capacity but character—Jesus invited ordinary fishermen and tax collectors, not the high-capacity elite.

• Corporate culture birthed the phrase "high-capacity leader" which the church adopted without questioning
• The term often excuses spiritual immaturity or poor collaboration if someone produces results
• High-capacity language creates unsustainable cultures where staff must prove their worth through output
• This mindset excludes gifted, godly people who don't fit the "high-capacity" mold
• Without careful attention, churches risk becoming factories instead of families
• Better alternatives include: faithful presence, healthy influencer, spirit-formed leader, someone who multiplies others
• The key questions should be: Do they live like Jesus? Do they lead from overflow? Do they draw others closer to Christ?
• Christ-likeness matters more than capacity

If there's any way I can help you or your church, reach out to me at [email protected]. I try to reply to everyone as soon as I can.

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.

Churches with staff teams clustered in a single age group face a "succession time bomb" that threatens future leadership stability and ministry effectiveness. Healthy church teams intentionally balance generational diversity to benefit from both the wisdom of experience and the energy of youth.

• Age-homogeneous teams create significant blind spots and vulnerabilities
• Churches with exclusively older staff face a generational cliff with no succession plan
• Young staff teams lack institutional memory and crisis-tested leadership
• Generational diversity reflects the body of Christ and strengthens team resilience
• Most churches hire based on comfort or cultural fit rather than strategic planning
• Audit your current staff by age group to identify gaps in representation
• Create intentional mentorship structures both top-down and peer-based
• Think 5-10 years ahead about who's preparing to lead and who's preparing to leave
• Your next hire should address age-related gaps in your leadership pipeline

If this made you think differently about your staff makeup, reach out anytime at [email protected]. We'd love to partner with your church as you work toward building a healthier, more generationally balanced staff team.

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.

Church staff cultures often preach authenticity but practice a harmful form of toxic positivity where only positive, polished vulnerability is acceptable. This creates environments where staff learn to mask real issues with "I'm fine" responses, critique becomes spiritualized rather than addressed, and genuine struggles remain hidden behind forced smiles.

• Toxic positivity manifests when complaints are labeled divisive instead of diagnostic
• Staff learn unspoken rules: don't bring negativity or uncomfortable questions
• Many staff members perform rather than expressing genuine feelings
• Biblical precedent supports honest expression - "If David could write Psalm 88, your staff should be able to say 'I'm struggling'"
• Leaders must model authenticity by admitting when they're tired, sad or uncertain
• Starting meetings with what's real rather than just what's good builds trust
• Celebrating courage in truth-telling creates psychological safety
• A healthy church culture isn't afraid of addressing hard truths, even when they're not positive

Reach out if you need help addressing toxic positivity in your church staff culture 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.

Ministry leaders know how to show up for others in grief but often struggle processing their own losses from broken relationships, failed dreams, and ministry disappointments.

• Recognizing "shadow losses" in ministry—those painful experiences without public acknowledgment or closure
• Unprocessed grief can calcify into cynicism, causing leaders to stop trusting and become emotionally numb
• Buried grief doesn't disappear but eventually surfaces in unhealthy ways
• Practical steps for healing: name your losses by writing them down
• Invite Jesus in as a comforter, not just a fixer
• Talk to someone who understands—a coach, counselor, or trusted friend
• Create space to properly mourn through crying, journaling, or symbolic rituals
• Ministry contains many unseen losses, but you don't have to carry them in silence

If you need someone to talk to about processing your ministry grief, reach out to me at [email protected]. We're all about helping your church find great staff people and building healthy staff teams.

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.

Church leaders often struggle with releasing staff members who are kind and beloved but ineffective in their roles. This common dilemma creates "the nice trap" where emotional attachment overrides objective evaluation and ultimately harms your church's mission.

• Nice gets confused with necessary in church environments
• Kindness without competence leads to organizational dysfunction
• Warning signs include frequent apologies, confused volunteers, and lack of results
• The "fruit test" helps evaluate if someone is producing ministry results
• Releasing someone from the wrong role is actually "freeing their future"
• Approach difficult conversations with compassion plus clarity equals courage
• Before releasing someone, have honest conversations, offer coaching, document issues, and seek outside counsel
• Don't let niceness become an idol that blocks your church's mission

If you're working through a difficult staffing situation and would like help, reach out directly to me 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.

Have you ever considered the surprising parallels between National Park Rangers and church leaders? Both protect sacred spaces, guide those who wander, and remain vigilant against threats that could destroy what they're entrusted to preserve. 

As Todd Rhodes unpacks in this thought-provoking episode, church leaders aren't just called to preach or manage staff—they're called to be rangers in the wild. First, they must protect the sacred culture of community, holding firm to theological integrity while making the church a safe haven for the vulnerable. When people walk in with wounds wondering "will you treat me well?" leaders must recognize they're safeguarding holy ground.

Second, effective church leaders guide the wandering, recognizing that congregants travel different spiritual paths. Some are skeptical, others new to faith, many exhausted, and some deeply seasoned in their journey. True discipleship isn't just pointing the way from the stage—it's walking alongside people with compassion and companionship between Sundays, helping them interpret the map of faith wherever they find themselves.

Finally, just as rangers watch for wildfires, attentive church leaders spot conflicts early. They recognize that problems usually smolder beneath the surface before erupting into full-blown crises. One unchecked ego or whispered manipulation can devastate a ministry team, which is why proactive prevention matters more than charismatic leadership.

Ready to put on your ranger hat? Listen in to discover how this fresh perspective might transform your approach to ministry leadership. And if you're facing staff challenges, succession planning, or other leadership hurdles, reach out to Todd at [email protected] to explore how Chemistry Staffing might partner with your church.

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.

You know exactly who they are—that staff member, volunteer, or board member everyone tiptoes around. Though their title doesn't suggest it, they wield extraordinary influence, derailing meetings, intimidating co-workers, and quietly holding your ministry hostage. Nobody knows quite how to confront this person or even name what's happening. Sound familiar?

This hidden power dynamic creates a culture dominated by fear rather than trust. People stop sharing honest feedback, good staff members eventually leave, while the problematic person remains, further entrenching their unofficial authority. Whether it's a long-time administrative assistant "who knows where all the bodies are buried," a worship leader with emotional sway, or an associate pastor who's mastered passive-aggressive sabotage, the longer this dynamic continues unchecked, the more your entire team walks on eggshells.

The solution starts with courage—naming the reality that an unhealthy power imbalance exists. From there, clarify roles and decision-making authority, build a culture that supports honest communication without fear of retaliation, address the issue directly with the individual, and support your team through the transition. Remember, one toxic power source can silently drain your entire organization's health, but addressing it prevents a more dramatic implosion. If you're struggling with this dynamic, reach out to us at [email protected]. We're ready to hear your story and explore how we might help you develop a healthier church staff culture where leadership actually leads.

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.