How to Be a Successful Leader & Minister from the Podium

Maxims of Liberation and Compassion

Preach each Sunday with the understanding that among us sit men and women carrying real and often catastrophic burdens. Speak to their hearts.

• Preach as if one of our congregants has just lost their job and can no longer pay the bills.

• Deliver your sermon as if a parent before you has just buried a son or daughter—or a child who served this nation in uniform.

• Empathize as though one listener cannot afford food or schooling for their child.

• Speak as if everyone before you needs lifting up because they are grieving the loss of someone they love.

• Teach as if one of your parishioners has been told they have only six weeks to live.

• Praise with joy as if a family in the pews has finally moved into the home they spent ten years saving for.

• Rejoice as if one of your members has worked faithfully for two decades to send the first family member to college—or to earn a long-awaited promotion.

• Lecture as if every person attending already devotes twenty hours a week to community service.

• Listen as if one among them is considering offering their time and talent to the church for the very first time.

Educate courteously and compassionately—never assuming that our children have already learned about the dangers of crime, violence, prejudice, or injustice.

• Teach the Scriptures as though your parishioners are reading them for the first time.

• Counsel and fellowship as though one person in the congregation is deeply lonely—seeking recognition and comfort in a single kind smile.

• Guard the sacredness of our worship space. Avoid arguments about politics, race, or religion that distract from God’s peace.

Inspire your people. Show them how to overcome discouragement and become their highest selves—for the betterment of their families, their communities, and the world.

• Proclaim good tidings to all who long to be lifted up—to be inspired, to grow in faith, and to become more compassionate and successful.

• Believe deeply, for faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” You may provide the very spark that lifts another soul from despair.

And most importantly—guide every heart in your care to realize their worthiness:
to become their unique best;
to reach new heights of joy, vitality, health, achievement, and peace of mind.

We all need ministers and counselors who are rich in life, peace, health, greatness, and love—those who can teach us how to attain these things. When such leaders arise, they will find a loyal and grateful following.

If we embody these principles, people will be drawn to our church or fellowship—not out of obligation, but out of love.
If we live these truths, souls will be lifted to “meet the God of their understanding” and taste, even for a brief moment, that sacred bliss and unity with the Divine—
the peace that passeth all understanding.