When "Trusting God" Becomes an Excuse for Not Doing Your Job

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, co-host Todd Rhoades discusses the delicate balance between faith and responsibility in church leadership. He highlights how relying solely on spiritual language can sometimes mask procrastination and poor preparation, emphasizing the need for both prayer and practical planning. The conversation focuses on fostering a culture of accountability and excellence within church teams. • Addressing the tension between faith and preparation in church settings. • Spiritual language can sometimes be used as an excuse for lack of preparation. • Biblical examples show that faith involves both prayer and action. • Importance of modeling balanced leadership by preparing diligently and maintaining faith. • Creating a church culture where both competency and character are valued. • Having direct conversations about accountability when spiritual language hides poor performance. • Trusting God should lead to more diligence in work, not less.

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Transcript

When Preparation Gets Spiritualized

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Your staff member told you in just a really weird, disconcerning way, that they didn't prepare for Sunday. At least as much as they wish they would. Told you this again. But they followed it up by saying, I'm trusting God to show up. And you felt that not in your stomach? Really made you uncomfortable because isn't that what we're supposed to do? Trust God, right? Yeah. Saying all the right things, but also, weren't you supposed to prepare a lesson? Weren't you supposed to prepare your set list? Weren't you supposed to work on your sermon?

Excellence Versus Excuses In Ministry

SPEAKER_00 0:48

We're talking about excellence and excuses and accountability and all kinds of things this week on the podcast. I'm so glad you're here. This is the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. And my name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-hosts over, I'm I guess I'm a co-host of Chemistry Staffing, but I'm one of the co-founders over at Chemistry Staffing.com.

Spiritual Language As A Smokescreen

SPEAKER_00 1:06

There's a spiritual language that we use in ministry a lot of times that sounds right. Things like, I'm just praying about it, or God will provide, or I'm trusting his timing here. And all that absolutely can be true. But sometimes those kind of phrases are a smokescreen. It's a way to avoid the hard conversation or the uncomfortable decision or the preparation that you really didn't want to do or didn't take the time to do. And we've baptized procrastination and called it faith. And the problem is it's almost impossible to call out because the moment you challenge those kinds of phrases, you're the one that sounds unspiritual. Are we saying that we shouldn't trust God? No, I'm saying God gave you a brain, a calendar, and a deadline. And ignoring all three isn't trust, it's irresponsibility that's really just dressed up in religious language. So here's what it actually looks like when you have somebody on your team or when you hear phrases, these kinds of phrases, here's what it actually might show up like

Real World Staff Examples

SPEAKER_00 2:11

on your team. Yeah, it might be a worship leader who doesn't rehearse because the spirit will lead us. They don't pick out their song lists, or we're gonna be open, we're gonna we need to be open to the Holy Spirit. Maybe it's the executive, and there's nothing wrong with it, right? Maybe it's the executive pastor who doesn't create systems because we're spirit-led, we're not corporate, or the youth pastor who wings every talk because God just gives me the words. And you know what? Maybe he does. But he also gave you Monday through Saturday, right? Now listen, I'm not saying these people don't love Jesus. They do, and I'm not saying that God can't work through spontaneity, he absolutely can. But sometimes I think we've confused dependence on the spirit and dependence on God with negligence toward the

Do What You Can Do

SPEAKER_00 2:56

work. So, how do you tell the difference? Here's the question that I think you can ask: Are you doing everything you can do and trusting God with what you can't? My wife Dawn always had a phrase, she always taught the kids we call them Dawnisms or Momisms around here. Something she would tell the kids almost every day, and they're starting to repeat those. My daughter's a teacher, and she repeats this in the classroom sometimes as well, and maybe a little slightly different wording. But Dawn would always tell the kids, do everything that you can do and trust God to do the rest. That's exactly what this question says. Are you doing everything you can do and trusting God with what you can't do? Or are you doing nothing and just spiritualizing it? Okay, because biblical faith isn't passive. It's Nehemiah praying and posting guards, right? It's David trusting God and picking up those five smooth stones. It's Paul saying, I planted, Apollos watered, not Paul saying, Hey, I prayed and hoped that something would grow here. Faith-filled leadership prepares like it depends on you, and it prays like it depends on God. Lazy leadership skips that first part and calls entirely on the second.

Setting Culture And Clear Accountability

SPEAKER_00 4:13

And if you're leading a team, you've got to name this, right? First, you've got to model the balance yourself. You've got to let your team see and prepare, see you prepare and pray and work hard and worship and plan well and stay flexible. Show them what integrated faith looks like, not compartal compartmentalize spirituality. Secondly, create a culture where both competency and character both matter. You can't just be a nice person who loved Jesus. You also have to be a nice person that loves Jesus that also shows up on time, that doesn't work, that hits the deadlines. It both and it's not either or. And then third, you need to have a direct conversation when you see that drift. Hey, I love your heart. I do, I love your heart, but I also need you to prepare. Trusting God is essential. So doing, so is doing your job really well. You're not choosing between faith and excellence. You're refusing to let someone hide behind one to avoid the

The Cost Of Letting It Slide

SPEAKER_00 5:14

other. Because there's a lot at stake here. When you let spiritual language cover for poor performance, you erode trust, and the rest of your team notices. Your volunteers notice. They see someone getting a pass because they pray out loud in meetings and they start to resent it, and eventually, they'll either check out themselves or even leave. You also teach people that mediocrity is okay as long as you sound spiritual. And that's not the kingdom. The kingdom is whatever you do, work heartily as for under the Lord. Not whatever you feel like doing if you get around to it and blame God if it doesn't happen. So here's the bottom line: trusting God should make you more diligent, not less diligent. More diligent, not less diligent. Thanks for listening. If this has helped, share it with another church leader who needs to hear it. And remember, God's not looking for perfect leaders, just faithful and diligent. All right, we'll see you next time. That'll be tomorrow, right here on the Healthy Church Day.