The Healthy Church Staff Podcast

Hosted by Todd Rhoades

Careers Religion Spirituality Christianity

Website RSS feed

Episodes

634

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 16, 2026Episode 6376 min

The Faithful Few: Why Smaller Groups Create Deeper Disciples

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, host Todd Rhoades discusses the positive potential of smaller group sizes in church settings, especially during the summer months. He challenges the common perception that larger groups equate to better discipleship and instead highlights how intimacy in smaller groups can foster deeper connections and spiritual growth. • Common misconception: Bigger groups mean better discipleship. • Jesus modeled intimate discipleship rather than crowd discipleship. • Smaller groups create psychological safety and space for personal sharing. • Stop apologizing for small numbers; leverage them for deeper connections. • Summer is not a time for panic; it's an opportunity for transformation. • Encourage your team to see small groups as strategic, not shameful. • Focus on celebrating deep conversations rather than numbers. • Intimate groups can lead to leadership development and confident discipleship.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 15, 2026Episode 6364 min

The Faithful Few: Stop Apologizing for Summer Ministry

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff podcast, Todd Rhoades discusses how church leaders often apologize for lower summer attendance, viewing it as a negative rather than seeing the committed attendees as valuable. He suggests shifting the focus from those who are absent to those who are present, emphasizing the importance of investing in and celebrating these key members. This perspective change can foster a greater sense of community and opportunity within the church. Rhoades challenges listeners to revise their summer communications to reflect abundance and appreciation, rather than scarcity and apology. • Stop apologizing for low summer attendance. • View committed attendees as valuable and not as 'leftovers'. • Focus on who's present rather than who's missing. • Summer is an opportunity for quality community interaction. • Shift communication from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. • Encourage staff to celebrate faithfulness over numbers. • Challenge to rewrite summer communications positively.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 12, 2026Episode 6355 min

When Your Staff Member Becomes the Church Influencer

This episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast addresses the challenges and dynamics that arise when a church staff member gains significant influence or a personal platform, particularly through social media. Host Todd Rhoades explores the implications of such developments on the church's mission, internal staff dynamics, and how to manage and steward this newfound influence effectively. • A staff member's increase in influence can shift church dynamics. • Influence should be managed to align with church values. • Setting boundaries between church roles and personal brand is crucial. • Influence on social media should serve the church's mission, not compete with it. • The key challenge lies in balancing loyalty to personal success versus team success. • Open, direct conversations about influence are essential for healthy staff dynamics.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 11, 2026Episode 6344 min

When Your Church Staff Becomes a Refugee Camp

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, Todd Rhoades discusses how churches often become centers for healing trauma rather than fulfilling their mission. He emphasizes the importance of hiring individuals who have processed their pain rather than those still entrenched in it, encouraging a mission-first approach in staffing. Rhoades explains the risks of creating a staff culture focused on shared trauma and offers strategies for transitioning to a mission-driven environment. • Staff meetings can sometimes become therapy sessions due to church trauma. • Churches often become sanctuaries for recovering personnel, inadvertently prioritizing healing over mission. • Hiring is frequently based on personal pain rather than potential. • Shared trauma can dominate team culture, hindering future planning. • It's vital to hire individuals who have healed from past experiences. • A mission-driven approach ensures a forward-looking staff environment.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 10, 2026Episode 6335 min

The Innovation Graveyard: Why Your Great Ideas Keep Dying at the Same Spot

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, Todd Rhoades discusses the systemic barriers in churches that stifle innovation and offers strategies to overcome them. • Churches often have an invisible system that stifles innovation, not due to intention but inherently within their structure. • Three main barriers to innovation: The Permission Maze, the Black Hole Resource, and the Comfort Zone Guardian. • Innovation is often choked by systems prioritizing safety over new ideas. • Strategies to foster innovation include mapping the permission maze, creating innovative pathways, setting a budget for projects, and encouraging experimentation. • The need for leaders to acknowledge and remove these barriers to prevent creating a 'staff cemetery'. • Challenge: Audit the 'innovation graveyard' by identifying unexplored ideas and reasons they were never implemented.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 9, 2026Episode 6326 min

Why Your Church Staff Needs a Failure Resume

This episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, hosted by Todd Rhoades, discusses the importance of embracing failure to foster innovation and growth within church staff cultures. By normalizing failure, teams can learn effectively and create a psychologically safe environment that encourages taking risks and learning from mistakes. Drawing inspiration from leaders like Tina Fey and organizations like Google, the episode advocates for sharing past failures to model learning and authenticity, thus building a stronger, more innovative team. • Church staff may develop a culture of silence where failure feels career-threatening. • Mistakes are often buried instead of used as learning opportunities. • Failure should be seen as part of the learning process, promoting innovation. • Major companies promote discussing failures to enhance learning and reduce mistakes. • Biblical examples show that God uses imperfect people for great purposes. • Healthy teams are those that 'fail forward' and embrace risk for growth. • Encourage sharing past failures within the team to foster a culture of learning.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 8, 2026Episode 6316 min

The Monday Morning Dread: When the Weekend Ministry Success Doesn't Feel Great on Monday Morning

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, co-host Todd Rhoades addresses the 'success trap' ministers often face: the disconnection between ministry success and personal job fulfillment. He discusses the emotional discrepancy from the high of a successful Sunday to the low of a Monday filled with routine work tasks, highlighting that job satisfaction is separate from ministry impact. Todd encourages listeners to identify job aspects that energize or drain them and to consider whether the dissatisfaction stems from role misfit, cultural environment, or a poor fit overall. He emphasizes that feeling drained on Monday is not a spiritual failure but an important data point that may signify the need for change or coaching. • Discrepancy between ministry success and personal job satisfaction. • Monday feelings of emptiness despite a successful Sunday. • Importance of separating job satisfaction from ministry success. • Impact of work environment and team dynamics on job satisfaction. • Encouragement to list job aspects that energize and drain. • Monday feelings as valuable data points, not spiritual deficiencies. • Potential need for coaching or changes in role or environment.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 5, 2026Episode 6306 min

When Your Elder Board Micromanages Your Ministry Staff

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, host Todd Rhoades discusses the challenges of micromanagement by church boards and provides strategies for establishing healthy boundaries between church staff and boards. He emphasizes the importance of boards governing rather than managing and offers practical advice for improving communication and decision-making within church organizations. • Church boards often unintentionally micromanage staff due to past negative experiences. • Micromanagement stifles initiative, creativity, and slows decision-making, leading to staff dissatisfaction. • Boards should focus on governance rather than management, setting boundaries but not controlling daily operations. • Strategies for improvement include clear delegation boundaries, distinguishing operational decisions from governance, and providing regular updates instead of constant approval requests. • Effective communication and quick, private addressing of oversteps can mitigate tensions. • Church staff needs autonomy to lead, while boards require peace of mind through adequate communication.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 4, 2026Episode 6295 min

Why Your Worship Pastor and Senior Pastor Keep Clashing

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, Todd Rhoades discusses the common issue of communication gaps between creative and strategic church staff members. He emphasizes the importance of understanding different brain types—creative versus strategic—and how they each contribute uniquely to church leadership. The episode outlines approaches to bridging these gaps, such as establishing a collaborative rhythm where creativity and strategy inform each other, fostering conversations about the 'why' before the 'what' in ministry planning, and embracing healthy tension to enhance teamwork and church health. • Common miscommunications between creative and strategic staff in church settings. • Understanding different brain types: creative vs. strategic. • Importance of discussing the 'why' before the 'what' in decision-making. • Fostering a collaborative environment where creativity and strategy complement each other. • Encouragement of healthy tension for better teamwork and church outcomes.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.

June 3, 2026Episode 6287 min

When Your Church Staff Becomes a Revolving Door

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff podcast, Todd Rhoades discusses the issue of high staff turnover in churches and how it is not just a matter of bad luck. He explores the hidden costs of turnover and provides actionable strategies to build stability and reduce the revolving door phenomenon within church staffing. • High turnover in church staff leads to loss of skills, relationships, institutional memory, and momentum. • Common mistakes include hiring for roles without understanding why past hires failed and not conducting exit interviews. • Effective strategies involve conducting postmortems, improving onboarding processes, hiring strategically, and setting clear success metrics. • Stable churches hire slowly, with intentional onboarding and clear early wins. • Revolving doors in staffing are fixable through honest assessment and addressing identified patterns.Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.comBe 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.