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ILI: History Makers Leadership Podcast
Ep 71 | Radical Hospitality: Biblical Leadership Lessons
In this episode, we explore the biblical theme of radical hospitality and its power to transform lives and leadership. Biblical hospitality goes far beyond social niceties or scheduled coffee dates. From Leviticus commanding Israelites to "love the foreigner as yourself" to Jesus making welcome a condition for entering the kingdom ("I was a stranger and you welcomed me in"), Scripture consistently emphasizes radical hospitality as core to our faith. Yet in our hurried Western context, we've often lost the unhurried pace that makes true welcome possible.
As Christian leaders, our practice of hospitality reflects the profound truth that we ourselves were once strangers, even enemies to God, who have been welcomed into His family through Christ. By intentionally making room for others, creating organizational cultures of welcome, and valuing presence over productivity, we participate in God's redemptive work while modeling Christlike character for those we lead.
Through personal stories from global travels, reflections on Scripture, and practical insights, they highlight how welcoming others reflects the heart of Christ. From the warmth of being received in South Asia to the simple gift of sharing coffee at home, this conversation unpacks how hospitality builds trust, fosters discipleship, and models the gospel. Leaders will discover both timeless biblical foundations and everyday practices for creating a culture of Christ-like hospitality that blesses others and strengthens communities.
Ready to develop a leadership style grounded in biblical values like hospitality? Visit iliteam.org to discover the eight core values of effective Christian leaders and how you can partner with the International Leadership Institute in equipping leaders in over 100 nations worldwide.
Join a community of leaders who are ready to change history and make an impact in this world. When you take part in ILI training, you will discover how ILI's Eight Core Values will help you transform your leadership. Discover more at ILITeam.org/connect.
Today I'm excited we're going to have a great conversation really centered around the biblical theme of hospitality. We're going to share some stories, share some examples from our own time experiencing hospitality from really the global body of Christ. We're also going to look at a couple of biblical examples and then really some practical practices that you and I can step into as leaders to help us live lives of Christlike hospitality that brings transformation not only in our own lives but in the lives of the people we lead. Let's jump into today's conversation. You know, norval, I'm so excited to be here with you again. I've had a little bit of travel. I've got a little bit coming up. I know you've had a little bit of travel this year and one of the just kind of fun parts is really meeting and spending some time with other people in the body of Christ around the world.
Speaker 2:It's probably one of the best, if not the best thing about equipping leaders globally is that you get to meet people globally, and I've been all over the place and people are so hospitable. Oh my goodness, they they love on us, they overwhelm us with their love. They give us gifts which often don't fit in our bags when we come back. True, they take us to the best restaurants in their city, and it's just amazing how hospitality is part of every culture, obviously, but some cultures are experts at it.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think what's been so encouraging to me as a believer, experiencing that is seeing how hospitality really there are so many cultures that practice it and the Christian expressions of those cultures have such a bonding and heart that helps that to be really a transformational experience.
Speaker 2:It's true that to be really a transformational experience, it's true you walk into a country for the first time and you meet somebody that you either know them from emails and maybe video calls, or you really have never seen them because they've been delegated the job to pick you up at the airport. But there's that immediate trust and it seems like you've had an experience like that, uh, in your last trip to South Asia.
Speaker 1:That's right. Yeah, I, uh, I did, I had that experience and it was, you know, it was really surreal because it met me in a, um, in a just a kind of critical moment. I mean, you know, getting off of any airplane in any context, you know, you're a little tired, you kind of, you know, feel a little gross sometimes 15 hour flight sometimes yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I had been traveling at that point for well over, well over 24 hours, right, Three different airports, three different planes, and and so you're just, you're kind of you know, you're feeling it, You're finally in the place you're supposed to be, but you're a little groggy, You're a little, you know, kind of just sweaty and not feeling at your best. And and then Norval, I was standing there at the, at the baggage terminal, and it was this surreal feeling Again I've been through a couple of airplanes at this point Like is my bag going to be here?
Speaker 2:Oh, I've had that. I've had the dread of being the last bag in one of those places.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you're standing there and you're watching the rest of the plane just slowly leave, and so what? Once was this crowd of people? There's now like two or three of you, and uh, so I'm standing there and I'm just thinking, you know, oh man, the one time I don't pack clothes in another bag like I wish, I thought of this. How could I have done this to myself? Um, thank the lord, my bag shows up. It's one of the last ones that I just go. Oh, thank you lord. So I grab my bag and and now it's like, okay, I gotta walk out of this place and I have to find the people that I'm here to meet.
Speaker 2:Well, first, of all, you're walking now. You're walking into the real world right up until that moment you're kind of sheltered behind customs immigration. Yeah, yeah, like at this point you have to go into the country. Now I'm here.
Speaker 1:And if you've ever traveled internationally, the moment you cross that threshold into the place, suddenly there's hundreds of people all standing there, somebody, you know. Hey, taxi, taxi, taxi, you know, come over here. Hey, do you need a ride? Do you need a ride? You know? There's all of this activity and action and momentum, anxiety immediately. Oh man, anxiety is just growing. Uh, and again, 20 something hours. You're tired, you're just trying to figure out and and and.
Speaker 1:I was experiencing this moment, right, all these thoughts kind of flooding into my head, going okay, I've seen this, this person, on a video before. Do I really remember their face? What did it look like? And it was this beautiful moment. The Lord just was so gracious to me.
Speaker 1:I'm scanning the crowd and instantly I just saw there was one man who was standing and he was holding a little basket of flowers. They were bright, they were colorful, uh, they were clearly, you know, not just kind of thrown together, but but in a, in an arrangement arranged to be beautiful. And I looked and he made eye contact with me and I knew that was who I was here to meet. Uh, and it was this beautiful, sweet moment. He and his, his wife, they come up, they, they embrace me, they give me a hug, they say, hey brother, welcome, welcome, welcome. Please let me help you with your bags and your things. And here please take this. You're so welcome, please be at ease, you can breathe right. And I went from that kind of shoulders high, without even realizing kind of tense, to there was just this release.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I knew that I was, I was safe in the arms, uh, uh, of someone who would treat me like family, uh, someone who would, um, not just welcome me but but walk with me, uh, in a new place, in a new culture, in a new context. And you do, you just suddenly can see, you can see that the peace I could, just I could see the peace hit myself. And it was like this beautiful moment of just kind of seeing and hearing the gospel in a fresh, new way I came in to, I literally came out of the airport and into that new world, into that new place, anxious, alone, unsure of what to expect, only to be met by someone that instantly was recognizable as a follower of Jesus, simply because they practiced sacrificial hospitality.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, like we said, hospitality is part of every culture, obviously, but the Bible and the Christian faith has this idea of this radical hospitality.
Speaker 1:I mean absolutely, and I think you know, Norval, I'd love to hear from you I know you did a little bit of just preparation for this it's not just something that's true. In some parts of the Bible it seems to be a consistent theme, it's a thread.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a thread throughout the Bible, leviticus, chapter 19,. 34 specifically says and that's the law. Yeah, yeah, so the law of Moses says the foreigner residing amongst you must be treated as your native born. Love them as yourself.
Speaker 1:Wait, that sounds familiar to me.
Speaker 2:It's interesting. But it's interesting because you got the second commandment repeated here towards the stranger. That's right. So now you are not a stranger, we are not strangers. When we come in, we don't know them but, we know. We know each other at least who we are yeah and even when they have a sign with our names, they know who we are. Yeah, but here's the bible is talking about a stranger and there's a beautiful verse in the book of Job.
Speaker 1:In the middle of the book of Job.
Speaker 2:He gives that big discourse.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:In Job 31, 32, Job says no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler. Wow, what a beautiful statement of hospitality.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think that's a transform, mean that's a transformational statement, and I know there's a lot going on in Job's life in this moment, right, like he's having a whole conversation with God, but he's trying to present God. This is your heart, and so I'm sharing this about my actions, because I know you would say that this is okay, this is a good thing.
Speaker 2:This is me, this will have. These are things that count on your approval. This is me, this will have will. These are things that count on your approval. Right, and he was. He's actually asking God why is all of this happening to me?
Speaker 1:But I digress, yeah, um the prophet Isaiah.
Speaker 2:There's a text in the prophet Isaiah when God is speaking to the people, criticizing them because they do all these fasts and all these practices but their heart is not transformed. They're, they're, they're, they're not doing justice, yeah. And then god says uh, that the true? It is it not? It says the true fast, is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor? Wanderer again stranger with a shelter.
Speaker 2:So the essence God is saying, the essence of your faith, is providing hospitality, and then of course, in the New Testament, Jesus, we know the famous text in Matthew 25, when Jesus talks about the end and when he says I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me in, that's right.
Speaker 1:So that's a statement of hospitality as a condition for entering the kingdom, I mean hospitality and incredible and incredible and I'm glad you brought that up because it's a statement on again a heart posture, right A part of our heart that expresses, and I think that's some of that continuing thread from Isaiah where God's saying look, the kind of welcome that you've been offered in relationship with me is one that should cause you to be welcoming to those who would otherwise be strangers and outsiders, unwelcome in other contexts.
Speaker 2:We are strangers after all being Gentiles and being lost who are welcomed into the family of Abraham, into the family of God, as adopted sons and daughters who call God Abba. But that's in Romans. So that was Jesus, paul. There are several texts in the letters of Paul about hospitality, but one of them is Romans 12, 13,. Share with the Lord's people in peace, practice hospitality.
Speaker 1:I mean it's pretty sweet, very specific practice hospitality.
Speaker 2:Well then Peter? Peter in his letter says offer hospitality without one another, without grumbling. I guess we can do it out of obligation. Well, you know I have to do it. But Peter says do it gladly. And then John in his third letter says command believers for welcoming and supporting fellow workers in the faith. So we hear from Jesus, we hear from Paul, peter and John. It's pretty clear that hospitality is an important commandment in the Bible for us.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think I mean even when I think through the history of the church, the early church, right when I look at Acts, you look at each of these moments where people come to faith, right where they encounter the story of the gospel, they come to faith and they invite the teller of that story into the home to celebrate, to share a meal, to express fellowship and hospitality. And I think in the life of a Christian leader man, that's part of our leadership, that's part of our life, and when we live those things out, it is really an ongoing example of the gospel. And that's what I felt when I was there in South Asia with our dear friends.
Speaker 2:Right On the receiving end of it, and I want to throw an interesting question out for you so we can talk about it, because this wasn't on our notes, by the way. So when you talked about welcoming somebody into your home in a biblical context and gosh, maybe even 50 or 100 years ago, so you bring somebody into your home for a meal, that means you're going to go catch the chicken, kill the bird, feather it, clean it up, cook it. If it's a bread-based meal, you might have to go and bake the bread. So we're talking about hospitality as long events. Well, we invite people for coffee, for a 20-minute coffee.
Speaker 1:Now.
Speaker 2:I've been to some parts of the world where a meal is going to last you three hours, even if they're not cooked. That's because you just sit down and you talk and you meal. But in our accelerated world, how do we do that? Because we've talked about the wonders of receiving hospitality. We talked about how the Bible the wonders of receiving hospitality. We talked about how the Bible tells us to extend hospitality. How do we do it? You know, how do we somehow extend that time, or how do we make the best of our short time to express hospitality?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, I'll be honest, norval, there's lots of ideas that come to mind, but I think the biggest and honestly most convicting is as I look at how our brothers and sisters practice hospitality in other parts of the world. They're practicing the call to hospitality because there's not a call to hurry right, the commandments don't include a call to hurry and rush and you know that kind of anxiety-driven addiction we have to being busy.
Speaker 2:Sounds like the Mary and Martha story.
Speaker 1:It very much is the Mary and Martha story.
Speaker 1:The most hospitable moments I've experienced as a recipient have been moments where I explicitly didn't feel a sense of hurry, and it's not that the moments always have to be long, but that there isn't a sense of deadline or delivery, because the hospitality itself is what's being delivered Like, that is, the gift that's been extended, not a means to the gift that's being extended.
Speaker 1:And as I think about how do we do that in our culture, in our context, particularly in the West or in a post-Christian context, I really think we do it first by being people who live and practice a more sacred pace to life, with the margin necessary. And I think, first of all, that kind of behavior and attitude writ large produces a context where people can feel sincerely welcomed. Right, if somebody comes over to my home and I know that I've got somewhere to be and some of these other things going on, I can't, I'm not in a position to regularly practice welcome and hospitality, well then they're going to be able to sense my sense of rush or my sense of, you know, drive to get this conversation done, so that you can kind of go on. But we can value those conversations and those moments more, and we can try and live with a bit of space for that by not booking ourselves one thing after the other, but by building in a little bit of that margin Building in that extended time.
Speaker 2:And I know that has also application in our sharing of our faith in the gospel in reaching those who are not. And for that conversation I want you to tell us the story of your Breville espresso machine. And Breville is not paying for this at all. But you have a. Your machine is so good that I ended up buying one for myself. But what's the story of that espresso machine?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the story of that espresso machine is one where, honestly, god taught us a measure of hospitality in our home that we weren't really anticipating. So I want to kind of take us back in time a little bit. We can remember when COVID was in its early days and lots of things were still shut down or were in the process of shutting down, there was a young couple or a couple of young ladies that really my wife and I had a relationship with. We'd known for some time, we were very friendly and we'd been in different discipleship kind of relationships with them. Very friendly, and we'd been in different discipleship kind of relationships with them, but all of them primarily in the context of explicit church programs, right, so a small group at the church, or you know, I was actually their youth pastor for a time, and so it was in those kinds of contexts.
Speaker 1:Well, as schools shut down, these two young ladies were actually in their final year of school here in the States, so we would call them seniors or 12th graders here in the States. The next year they would be stepping out into university or college. Well, in the midst of that, we purchased this coffee machine, really because we just enjoy coffee, we just have fun with that, but we ended up finding that it became this ongoing excuse, this ongoing gift to these two young women. We just simply had an understanding you can come to our house whenever you choose. When you come to the house, you can have a coffee whenever you want. Just come. It's very common in the States for people to drink coffee, drinking coffee constantly and so these two young women would come over and we would have this machine ready for them to just make another coffee. But that coffee opened the door for so many gospel conversations and that's really what we began to find as a real transformation for us and for these young women.
Speaker 2:So a coffee machine or an espresso or a latte becomes a tool for discipleship.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, because again we would sit there, they'd come in, they'd have the cup of coffee. We'd sit for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, which would turn into an hour or an hour and a half, depending. And again, that was a period of time where we had the space, we had the time. But we have since still found that there are so many conversations we're able to have where people feel welcomed into our home and life and family because they're able to just sit and join us for something as simple as a cup of coffee or a cup of tea.
Speaker 2:Right, that is such a blessing to be able to offer that, because the essence of evangelism and discipleship is relationships, and I think we've heard somebody say that the difference between a stranger and a friend is trust or something to that tone. And it's that time together that builds trust, and that hospitality, that welcoming heart, with or without a espresso machine, that will bring people in into our world so that then we can take Jesus into their world. That's right. How about that?
Speaker 1:And you know, I heard someone say a long time ago you'd be surprised how much more you'll see the personal impact of hospitality when you're living with the margin to be hospitable to others, right. So maybe it does mean having that coffee or tea available. Maybe it means, hey, instead of just cooking for four, I'm going to cook for a fifth, in case there is one other person. If no one comes, that's okay, I just have it for lunch tomorrow. I'll be honest, I didn't have the margin for that, but I got phone calls from other people who welcomed me in and that actually was how our family made it through those hard moments, particularly when Casey and I were first married.
Speaker 1:Plenty of people that would just say, hey, we're cooking dinner, you guys want to come over? And man, a blessed phone call for us because we needed that, that we were in a context to need that, that kind of hospitality again. I really think it's just such a practical expression of the gospel in our daily life because we were strangers. I mean, paul describes us as enemies to God and yet he welcomes us in because of what Christ has already accomplished and that good work manifesting itself as us being a part of his family, and I think that's why it's such an important message in a world today that has lost some of that that has missed some of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're so driven and focused and in a hurry and unfortunately I've got to say this is something that we have seen around the world because this has proliferated this sense of hurry. But a lot of times our friends from the rest of the world teach us that unhurried pace of hospitality that we need to embrace.
Speaker 1:I'm in such agreement, norval, because I'm really confronted. The more I get the time and the opportunity to spend time with believers around the world, I see how much my culture has impacted my understanding of Christ. And that's not always bad, but sometimes it does color it, it skews it, it portrays it. And, to be clear, christ had an objective. He was here for a work to be done. God had him here on assignment and he was fulfilling that calling.
Speaker 1:And still he was quiet and would sit with the children right, he took a nap on a boat, he spent time faithfully with the father, time away, he practiced Sabbath. He did all of these things that again, at least in the West and in the States in particular, there's just this cultural antagonism to that kind of Sabbath rest and sacred pace, and if we're living in those spaces, I think we're better able to practice hospitality. But what I'd love to ask you, norval, just quickly, I'd like to think aloud with you what do you think are like maybe three or four really practical practices that we could implement as Christian leaders? Because you know, it's not just about our personal, it is personal. But how do we help as leaders, how do we help develop a context where the people we lead can practice that kind of hospitality.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, it is leadership by example, Mm, and I think I think if there's, if there are a few takeaways from what we talked about, is the first one is is a is a self-discipline to create space, to create that margin in your life to be hospitable. If, if we don't have margin, like, like you said, Jesus, Jesus had this margin where he could go pray but he could also be interrupted, so he had this margin. To me, that's the first. I think the second lesson comes from your coffee maker Create a door, if you will, to relationships.
Speaker 1:Okay, there you go.
Speaker 2:So your coffee machine is a door. People can come in, have a latte and that starts the conversation. Whatever it is for you, whatever it is for me, create that door for people to come in. Allow yourself to be interrupted.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We are afraid of being interrupted and we treat interruptions as a nuisance.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's probably an internal belief that the interruption is stopping us from the plan and path that we are supposed to be on. And, to be clear, there are probably a dozen moments like that in any given day where, yeah, my phone just went off and all of a sudden, I'm not looking at the notification anymore. Now I've gone into Instagram or TikTok and I've spent 10 minutes and didn't even realize it. Right, we have interruptions that just take us off track, but I also think that there are interruptions that are really sent from God. I think we've got some examples of this where when did we entertain, like, when did we give you drink? When did we give you food? Well, you were entertaining angels, unaware of the fact that I was in that moment. So I think you're right. I think it's having the sensitivity of heart and spirit to say, hey, wait a second. I have got to be looking to see if this interruption is from the Lord or if this is just a distraction.
Speaker 2:Maybe the interruption is the plan.
Speaker 1:That's so true.
Speaker 2:So true, it takes discernment there.
Speaker 1:I also think, practically Norval, we have to give our teams, the people we lead, the freedom to see those moments. They have to see it in our example, but I think they've got to see it in the way that we encourage them and they've probably got to hear it explicitly. Not every interruption is a distraction. There are moments where you're invited to practice hospitality and that invitation is a good practice.
Speaker 1:I think one of the incredible things about the International Leadership Institute. We pray every day at 11 o'clock. We pray over our teams, we pray over trainings, we pray over personal needs. We're covering in prayer the ministry and the people that we serve with in this movement, norval. But I love the practice that we have of inviting people to join during that prayer time. Sometimes it's international leaders who come and join and they just share about what's going on in their nation or the church or the spread of the gospel in their context, their current prayer needs. Sometimes it's other ministries where we're just wanting to come alongside and pray over them and bless them and walk that journey with them. But I think as leaders, it's intentionality in providing those moments to say hey, as an organization, this is what hospitality looks like for us, because I think that even within your organizational culture can really help to shift the perspective a little.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It does remind me that as an organization, as an international office, we practice hospitality. After all, when one of these leaders, who treat us like kings in their country, comes to visit us, what can we do? We probably cannot top their over-the-top hospitality, but we can give them some, and that is something that builds a culture of hospitality in the whole company or in the whole organization. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think, man, some of those practices could be just as well reflected anywhere else. Imagine if you're leading in a church, maybe you invite some of the other pastors in town to come so you can pray over them. If you're leading in a marketplace, maybe you and your leadership team keep the open opportunity to invest in other teams and organizations, keeping the doors open for invitation. Hey, if you want to see how we run things, come, just take a look. We'd love to host you here, give you a sense of how we've structured Not that we're perfect, but so you've got some idea. I think it's those kinds of actions as leaders that we can take that can really help to develop a larger tone for the practice of hospitality in our Christian context.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, and it is a biblical principle. It is a great thing to do. It is really fun to welcome, to, to welcome and and receive people and and entertain them and give them your best.
Speaker 1:Well, and and I think it's it's great to remember too, it's fun, it's entertaining. But you know, I look back at that example. When I stepped off the plane in South Asia, I felt the tension, I felt the pressure, I felt the loneliness, I felt the exhaustion, and then I saw someone expressing hospitality and all of that melted, I felt at ease and I felt the great, you know, brotherly embrace of a dear friend, um, and suddenly my attitude shifted. And to know that we could have that influence and impact on somebody else's life.
Speaker 2:What a privilege man, what a privilege?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Well, leader, I don't know what your context is and I don't know really all of the details of your life, but I do know that what God's called us to do something, it's for our good, it's for his glory, and I think it's part of his larger redemptive plan.
Speaker 1:Listen, as leaders, we want to practice faithful hospitality, but with that we want to live a whole life filled with Christlike character. Here at the International Leadership Institute, we help leaders discover the eight core values of the most effective Christian leaders. If that's something that would be interesting to you or a resource that would help to grow you in this moment in your life and leadership, I want to encourage you check out iliteamorg. You'll discover what those eight core values see, some of the ways that you can get plugged into what's happening around the world, even find some ways that you can mobilize your church to partner financially to invest those same eight values in the lives of men and women in more than 100 nations of the world. I think it's going to be a great resource for you and a wonderful place where you'll find some like-minded Christian community. You'll want to check it out, iliteamorg. Thanks so much for joining us today.