Blog

I have been to my share of conferences about how to be effective in ministry. I’ve read my share of books that propose how to grow organizations. I have attended my share of seminars and courses that talk about how to have an ever-increasing impact. All all of these have been valuable.

However, these four verses, if lived out, is what will cause us to have the greatest possible impact. 

Our effectiveness and impact as a leader is directly tied to our ability to experience empathy. Whether your leadership is in your home, your place of work, your church, your peers, or anywhere… you will only be able to inspire and influence to the degree that we can feel what other people feel. And while empathy comes easier to some than others, I am also convinced that empathy can be learned. But nothing is learned if it’s not valued.

Everything would change if we completely understood we are absolutely loved. I mean everything. Imagine your life was lived each moment, knowing in every fibre of your being, that God is madly and endlessly in love with you? And then imagine you couldn’t help but live out an unconditional love that mirrors the very image of how God loves.

In my travel to about 40 different countries over the past 20 years I've encountered and engaged a lot of religion. I have toured many churches, temples, shrines, mosques and monasteries. I have been in the most ornate and invaluable holy sites and I have also been in worship places carved out of rock and made of mud and sticks. I have discussed faith with Buddhist Priests, Muslim Imams, Hindus, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Priests, many different flavors of Christian leaders of various denominational backgrounds, agnostics and fervent atheists. I have had my fill of religion.