The Second Chair Struggle: Why Your Associate Staff Are Quietly Burning Out

The Healthy Church Staff Podcast

The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
The Second Chair Struggle: Why Your Associate Staff Are Quietly Burning Out
Jan 28, 2026 Episode 538

This episode of the Healthy Church Staff podcast, hosted by Todd Rhoades, explores the 'second chair crisis' within church staff hierarchies. It reveals a significant disparity in how senior leaders and other staff members experience church life, based on a church staff health assessment involving over 3,400 participants. Key insights highlight the experience gaps between roles and the critical importance of senior pastors understanding perspectives from those in 'second chair' roles.• Introduction to the 'second chair crisis' within church staff structures.• Significant experience disparity between senior pastors and other roles, with a notable score gap in health assessments.• Structural factors, not character, drive differences in church experiences between senior and associate staff.• Highlight on creative arts staff facing critical challenges, including invisibility and lack of voice.• Recommendation for senior leaders to actively seek and listen to the perspectives of their staff.

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