Podcast Summary

Future-Ready Staff Teams for 2026: Culture & Clarity for the Next Season

Podcast: unSeminary Podcast
Host: Rich Birch
Guest: Paul Alexander, Executive Pastor at Sun Valley Church
Release Date: January 22, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into how church leaders can build staff teams that are both healthy and high-performing heading into 2026. Drawing heavily on the results of a recent national executive pastor survey, Rich Birch and guest Paul Alexander explore practical strategies for navigating staff challenges—specifically around staff health, organizational structure, morale, and leadership development. Paul brings candid insights both from Sun Valley, one of America’s fastest-growing multisite churches, and his years consulting with The Unstuck Group.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Sun Valley’s Growth & Multisite Approach

• Context Setting: Sun Valley Church has grown from a single campus to six physical locations (plus prison and online campuses).
  • Paul: “We originally went multi site because we had to go multisite. … If we’re going to obey Jesus, we don’t have an option.” [03:29]

Major Staff Tensions Emerging for 2026

• National Survey Results:
  • Nearly 1 in 3 executive pastors cite staff-related issues as a primary pressure point for 2026.
    • Staff health, morale, succession, leadership, and development pipelines are top concerns. [04:23]
• Culture as the “Lid” on Progress: Churches may have clear vision and strategies, but poor staff culture and unhealthy team structures are the limits on real progress.
  • Paul: “The lid is the culture of the team and the team culture and the team structure. What’s holding them back from going where Jesus wants them to go.” [01:17, 05:49]

The Pendulum: High Performance vs. Health

• Most churches oscillate between seasons of high performance (project-driven, end-oriented) or high health (relational, nurturing)—rarely achieving both.
  • Paul: "Most churches have a tendency to run on a pendulum ... we want staff teams to be both very healthy and very high performing." [05:49]

Leadership: Modeling Health from the Top

• Health Can’t Be Legislated: No policy can enforce health; it must be modeled by leaders.
  • Paul: “You can’t legislate health. … You also can’t lead a healthy organization unless you yourself are healthy.” [09:34]
• Moral Authority: Leaders set expectations through their behavior (e.g., not emailing staff late at night). Staff watch and replicate these rhythms.
  • “Culture’s a lot like that. It’s way more caught than taught.” [12:00]

Practical Rhythms & Structures for a Healthy Team

• Taking Time Off: Mandatory days off and enforcing rest to prevent burnout.
  • Memorable Quote: “If you don’t take every day off between now and the end of the year, don’t bother coming in in January.” [13:09]
• Establishing a ‘Finish Line’: Define when each workday ends to avoid ministry encroaching endlessly on personal life. [14:39]
• Marriage Retreats: Regular retreats and counseling for staff couples bolster team and family health. [16:00]
• Staff Sabbaticals:
  • Every seven years: director-level staff receive extended paid time off with development allowances; all full-time staff also get a month off (with some differences in allowance).
    • “What’s that really cost us? Nothing. And so yeah, there’s some real tactical things that you can do to invest in your team.” [16:00-17:47]

Doers vs. Leaders: Creating a Leadership-Development Culture

• Ephesians 4 Mandate: Staff should equip others for ministry, not just do the ministry.
  • At Sun Valley, new hires are told: “You’re no longer going to be evaluated on how awesome you are. … What’s going to keep you in the room is your ability to make everybody else just as incredible as you.” [19:12]
• Volunteers as Heroes: The church’s real ‘heroes’ are volunteers, not staff.

Accountability & Cadence for Performance

• Annual Strategic Planning: Goals are set and cascaded from senior staff to campus levels.
• Metrics for Everyone: Every staff member has measurable goals.
  • Paul: “If you can’t measure it, then you can’t actually do it right. … All of them.” [26:24]
• Relational Check-Ins: Monthly one-on-ones include questions about work, life, marriage, and spiritual growth, not just performance. [23:43]
• Results & Fruit: Staff fit is assessed by fruitfulness and alignment with gifts; strive less for title/role, focus on faithfulness.

Diagnosing Staff Culture Issues

• Trust Your Instincts: Don’t ignore “something doesn’t smell right” in the team; often an early sign of misalignment or dysfunction. [28:34]
• Structure vs. Culture:
  • If structure is the lid, check benchmarks (e.g., staff-to-attendee ratios, budget percentage to staffing).
  • If culture is broken, clarify, communicate, and reinforce it in every facet of staff experience.

Anticipating the Challenges of Growth

• Engagement is Lagging Growth: Sun Valley’s rapid growth brings risk of outpacing leader development and member engagement in service, giving, and discipleship.
• Constriction Grows Leaders: Stretch and challenge foster leadership development more than resource abundance.
  • Paul: “You accelerate leadership not by giving resources, but by constricting resources, because leaders always figure it out and grow through constriction moments.” [35:06]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Culture as the Limiting Factor:
  • Paul: “The lid is the culture of the team and the team structure.” [01:17, 05:49]
• On Modeling Health as Leaders:
  • Paul: “Culture’s a lot like that. It’s way more caught than taught.” [12:00]
• On Results & Accountability:
  • Paul: “If you can’t measure it, then you can’t actually do it right.” [26:37]
• On Doers vs. Leaders:
  • Paul: “You’re no longer going to be evaluated on how awesome you are. … What’s going to keep you in the room is your ability to make everybody else just as incredible as you.” [19:12]
• On Staff Structure Benchmarks:
  • Paul: “If you’re spending more than 50 cents on the dollar on your staffing, you should ask yourself why.” [29:30]
• On Growth Pressure:
  • Paul: “Growth sometimes can grow faster than our ability to grow leaders.” [35:03]
• On Promoting Rest and Longevity:
  • Paul: “If you don’t take every day off between now and the end of the year, don’t bother coming in in January.” [13:09]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Survey Insights & The Staff Pressure Point: [04:23–05:49]
• Pendulum Problem: Health vs. High Performance: [05:49–08:38]
• The Importance of Modeling Health: [09:34–13:09]
• Practical Health Rhythms (Time Off, Retreats, Sabbaticals): [14:39–18:44]
• Doers vs. Leaders, Equipping Culture: [19:12–21:54]
• Accountability, Metrics, and Regular Reviews: [22:21–27:53]
• Diagnosing Staff Culture—First Steps for Leaders: [28:34–32:36]
• Sun Valley’s Growth & The Challenge of Leadership Pipeline: [33:47–36:01]

Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is candid, pragmatic, and sometimes blunt—reflecting real lessons from frontline church ministry. Paul and Rich are direct about the high expectations and sacred responsibilities of church leadership, blending spiritual wisdom and practical management advice. Throughout, there’s insistence that health and high performance are not mutually exclusive but must be blended for a church to sustain its mission in a complex, fast-changing era.

Connect with the Guests

• Paul Alexander: Email at paul@theunstuckgroup.com
• The Unstuck Group: unstuckgroup.com
• Sun Valley Church: sunvalleycc.com

This episode provides a practical, actionable roadmap for church leaders aiming to build staff teams that are healthy, high-performing, and ready for the complexities of 2026 and beyond.