The Human Touch (Part 1): Why Your Presence Still Matters More Than Your Productivity

This episode of the Healthy Church Staff podcast, hosted by Todd Rhoades, discusses the integration of AI in church settings, emphasizing the importance of human presence in ministry. Despite the efficiency AI offers in tasks like sermon preparation or meeting scheduling, the podcast stresses the irreplaceable value of being physically present with people, especially during their most vulnerable moments. The episode challenges listeners to prioritize human connection over productivity by practicing 'presence over productivity.' • AI can automate many tasks in church management, like newsletter writing and meeting scheduling. • Human presence in ministry is irreplaceable, especially during personal crises. • Efficiency in ministry shouldn't overshadow personal connections with congregants. • The episode highlights the need to be present with people, which AI cannot replicate. • Listeners are challenged to focus on presence rather than productivity.

Have questions or comments?  Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

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.

Transcript

The Call You Cannot Outsource

The Lie Of Efficiency

Presence Is Still Analog

Your Ministry Superpower

The Human Touch Series

Resources And Tomorrow’s Topic

SPEAKER_00 0:07

You can automate your sermon prep right now. AI can write your newsletters, AI can figure your meetings, AI can even draft your budget proposals. There are apps that'll draft your church metrics better than you ever could. But last Tuesday, when Sarah got the cancer diagnosis, she didn't call the church app. She called you. This week on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, we're starting a series on AI, artificial intelligence in the church. Everybody's talking about it, but very few churches have really figured out exactly what all of this rapid change in our culture and in other technology means. Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at ChemistryStaffing.com, and I am so thankful that you are here this week on our special AI edition this week on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We've been sold, can I say it? We've been sold a lie that ministry success equals ministry efficiency. Get more done, reach more people, optimize everything. But you know what? Jesus spent three years with 12 guys. That's not exactly a scalable system. And yet we keep trying to measure ministry like it's a business. And we get into this drift, right? You're tracking sermon downloads, but you're missing the widow in the third row. You've got systems for everything except sitting with someone who's falling apart. Your calendar is all it's pretty, man. It's color-coded, and yet your people feel more disconnected now than they did two years ago. You know your engagement metrics, but not who's secretly struggling. And sometimes your staff meetings are all about efficiency while your team burns out from isolation. Now, I'm not against systems or efficiency. Matter of fact, I love systems and I love efficiency. But here's what I'm learning: there is an irreplaceable human element in all of our work, especially in church and ministry work. Presence cannot be automated. Being with someone in their worst moment, that's still analog. And the 20 minutes that you spend listening to that frustrated volunteer, no app in the world will done that, will do that for you. And when somebody just needs to be heard and not fixed, man, that's all you. Your physical presence at the hospital says what no text message can. And believe it or not, the way that you notice someone's been missing, no AI, no app, no automation can do that. And that's where the ministry gold is. And your staff needs to hear this from you too. They don't need just another productivity hack from their leader. They need to actually see their leaders. They need to notice when you're drowning, they need to be present in the wins and in your losses. The executive pastor having marriage trouble, he needs presence, not a performance review. And this is what I'm convinced of. The sacred act of showing up is more important today than it's ever been. Ministry isn't what you do for people, it's what you do with people. Jesus didn't fix everyone he encountered, but he was fully present with them. He wept with Mary and he wept with Martha. He sat with the woman at the well, he walked dusty roads with really confused disciples. That's still in the job description, even with all the AI and everything that's coming in to make our work, our ministry work more efficient. Here's your bottom line for today. In a world that can automate almost everything, and believe me, from what I see coming down the pike, man, if you think you can automate your pastoral and your ministry job today, give it another six months, a year, two years. You're gonna be able to automate a lot more. The temptation to automate ministry work is gonna be so prevalent everywhere. In a world that can automate almost everything, your ability to simply be with people is your ministry superpower, and it's the one thing that you can do in your ministry that AI will not ever be able to touch. So here's your challenge for this week. I want you to practice presence over productivity. And for some of you, including myself, that could be a really hard challenge. Cancel one efficiency meeting and spend time with someone you know needs you just simply to show up. No agenda, no fixing. They just need you to be there. Your presence matters more than I hope that's helpful for you today. This week, we're taking a look at what I'm calling the series, I'm calling it the human touch. And with everything that's going on in all the technology and all the AI, and believe me, I uh I watch the trends on all of this stuff. The amount of productivity software that's coming out for pastors that can manage all the things that maybe you don't like to do, the options for you are just going to be exponential in the next months and years. But your presence matters, and it matters more than that's what we're talking about here on the podcast today. I hope this has been helpful. If there's any way that I can help you, I hope that you would check out our website over at chemistrystaffing.com. Reach out to me, podcast at chemistry staffing.com, or you can go to my website, todd.church, if you're more interested in maybe some of the ways that we can help you and your church. All right, that's it. Hope you'll join me again tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're gonna continue this series on AI, and we're gonna talk about the art of spiritual discernment. So I hope you'll join me right here on the helpingchurch.com.