The priority of team alignment

Importance of Mission-Passionate Staff

• Organisations that stay on mission recruit and retain staff passionate about the mission, not just skilled.
• Passion and competency together are essential for long-term mission faithfulness.

Case Study: Veggie Tales

• Founded to bring Bible stories to life through creative children’s programming.
• Founder Phil Vischer reminded staff: “This is what we are all about.”
• The president (2 years in) responded: “If that’s what this is all about, I need to opt out.”
• This revealed that passion for the mission was not passed to the next generation of leaders.
• Lesson: Professional expertise without a heart connection leads to mission drift.

Lessons for Leaders

• Avoid assumptions — don’t confuse strong resumes with genuine mission alignment.
• Recruitment should test for mission passion and competency.

Retention Requires

• Ongoing cultivation and development of passion.
• Passing first-generation passion to the next generation.