Usually, the first problem you encounter is that your initial village has a maximized expansion desire. Now, to expand, you will need wood, and you can't just keep giving the villagers wood forever, since they will become disillusioned. You will need forests near your village, and a lot of them. Training your creature to water trees is a very good idea as a couple of disciple foresters in a village with a high forest desire can devour a huge forest in no time. Another problem with trees is that the stupid villagers cut down the smallest trees first, which won't yield as much wood and which will prevent the forest from growing at its fastest rate.
Construction sites are also equally good targets.
This leads to the second problem. This is a veritable management nightmare since the shrines are the source of your Prayer Energy. Temple shrines don't work like the village storage either. You cannot dump a large amount of food on a shrine and expect it to last. A large amount of food dumped in a shrine will last almost exactly as long as a small amount of food.