April 2, 2025 • 37 mins
Fred Hill never imagined his 30-year engineering career would lead to becoming a chaplain for politicians, yet that's exactly where listening to spiritual prompting took him. As a chaplain at the legislature, Fred offers a rare window into the intense pressure faced by elected officials. This reality makes Fred's ministry of presence—sometimes simply holding space for a leader's tears—profoundly important.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the world,dedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethis show even better, please
(00:26):
let us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at leaderimpactca oron social at Leader Impact, or,
if you're listening from outsideof Canada anywhere else in the
world, check out our website atleaderimpactcom.
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Fred Hill.
After a 30-year career as aprofessional engineer working
(00:48):
primarily in the industryindustry.
I'll start that over.
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Fred Hill.
After a 30-year career as aprofessional engineer working
primarily in the energy industry, fred retired early in 2015 in
order to serve his home church.
He served as lead pastor forsix years.
Fred has also providedvolunteer chaplain services
(01:09):
within the Regina CorrectionalCenter, exercised his love of
motorcycles through theChristian Motorcyclists
Association and has had manyopportunities to combine his
love of travel with mission workin Mexico, south America, india
and Africa.
Fred is currently part of theleading influence team of
chaplains across Canada.
They combine their love ofsupporting people with their
(01:29):
love of politics to supportelected officials.
Fred and his best friend,helena, have been married for
over 35 years.
They have two grown boys andtwo exciting grandchildren.
Welcome to the show, fred.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, so December 31st is our anniversary.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh so 36 years, 37, now 30 G I've all fell apart
there.
37 years, fred, Thanks forjoining us here today.
Um, it is.
It is exciting to talk to you,especially in a world that we
are living in where politics iswow is all I can say.
A little bit front and center,right now right.
(02:12):
A little bit front and center.
So I'm excited to talk to youabout more.
A little bit about leadinginfluence, but really, how you
got to where you are today 30,did it say 30 years engineering
in the energy industry?
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got to where you are
today, because now you're withleading influence.
You know leading electedofficials, but from an engineer,
(02:37):
like what are those pivotalmoments for you to get there?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So you, you go back a little ways and and I, I came
to faith when, right before Istarted going to university, and
so I was really fortunate.
Um, I met my ultimately my wifethere.
Our names were alphabetical inorder.
So we wound up as projectpartners in all the little
(03:04):
workshops you do in chemistryand physics and project all
those things right.
We wound up doing them togetherand so she really helped me get
through university.
Well, I went through University,u of R here in Regina, and took
the industrial systemsengineering course.
That led me to a couple ofdifferent companies, but
(03:25):
ultimately I landed with SaskEnergy, it's Crown Corporation,
and I worked for subsidiaryTransgas and we did all sorts of
work high pressure natural gaspipelines, underground caverns
to store natural gas in gasprocessing plants, all that
stuff.
I did engineering and projectmanagement and staff management
and ended my career there fiveyears managing their environment
(03:49):
department, which was a lot offun.
But through all of that, twothings were taking place.
One, we've been totally engagedin our church through all of
that process and I was in seniorleadership roles in the church,
whether it was chair of theboard or chair of the elders or,
you know, just doing the workthat a church does.
(04:11):
And, in the same vein, veryinterested in politics.
You know door knocking forcandidates and stuff like that
because the whole realm ofpolitics has always engaged me
and I decided to get involved in2015.
There was a federal electioncoming up.
I sought the nomination fromone of the federal parties.
(04:34):
I lost the nomination.
You want to ask about pivotalpoints.
That's one of them.
I lost the nomination by ahandful of votes.
It was crushing, like really,you take a year off of your life
and just commit yourself fullyto that process.
You know what that's like.
And when it was done, I had acouple of days to kind of grieve
(04:59):
the process and my pastor cameand said I don't know if you
noticed, but we've put out aposting for another pastor.
We need another pastor on staff, somebody who could co-lead
with me, and I'd like you tothrow your name in.
I'm thinking like I'm aprofessional engineer.
I'm not a pastor, yeah, butyou've been providing those
(05:22):
services to the church for along time.
Throw your name in.
See what happens.
Well, they had 65 applicants andthe board eventually whittled
it down.
We went through about fourdifferent interview steps and
then they chose me and I wasreally fortunate.
We were a couple.
I was a couple of months awayfrom being eligible to retire,
and so they graciously waited acouple of months before asking
(05:48):
me on, and so then I was able toretire, as opposed to quit and
there's a pretty subtledifference there.
So that was a pretty pivotalmoment for me.
I operated, I think, well as alead pastor, but I'm great at
(06:08):
managing things and keepingthings operational and I'm good
at meeting with peopleone-on-one and supporting them.
But that role of pastor is abig undertaking, comes with a
lot of stress.
I was enjoying it, I loved therole, but in the midst of COVID
I was sitting in the service.
I had hired a couple ofassociates and one was leading
(06:30):
worship and one was preachingthat day, and we only were
allowed 30 people in thebuilding, if you remember those
days.
And so here's an aspect of myfaith I believe God still speaks
today.
Aspect of my faith I believeGod still speaks today.
And sitting in church watchingthese two guys, I heard loud and
(06:52):
clear they're ready to takeover and you're in the way.
Oh, oh, that hurt.
I went home.
My wife had been watchingonline because of the reduced
numbers that are allowed to bein the building.
I walk in the back door and shesays I think they're ready to
take over.
So that was a bit ofconfirmation.
Prayed about it for a couple ofweeks, believed that what we
(07:14):
were hearing was accurate andappropriate.
So at a Tuesday night boardmeeting I handed in my
resignation.
I gave them two years noticeI'll stay on for up to two years
but I believe they're supposedto take over and we created a
transition strategy over thenext few weeks and it worked out
really well, really really well.
(07:34):
But I'd never quit somethingbefore and so I turned my
resignation on a Tuesday nightand Wednesday morning.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Wednesday morning.
And Wednesday morning I got aphone call from an organization
I'd never heard of before.
Leading influence Schindler,our national director, had been
asking around looking for achaplain in Saskatchewan and he
had heard that I had a politicalinterest and so he sought me
out.
So literally 12 hours after Ihad handed in my resignation, I
(08:07):
was asked if I would be willingto be the chaplain.
I didn't know what that meant.
I didn't know who leadinginfluence was.
It takes to be an electedofficial, the less and less I
actually wanted it.
I still wanted to be involvedand I didn't know how that was
(08:33):
going to happen.
So here was this really coolprocess of shifting gears from
being an engineer to being apastor and then a chaplain to
politicians, pastor and then achaplain to politicians.
So I got these, this sort ofgreat balance of getting to be
still a pastor but inside thepolitical machinery.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Just yeah, I'm having so much fun.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
It's good yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
That's interesting that you say, because I mean, we
know that I lost an election, amunicipal government, and over
a year ago, and there's this, Istill want to be involved and
you're actually my connection,just to you know.
I get to be part of one of yourevents and all the political
leaders are there, but I stillhave that passion too and I
(09:18):
don't know where it fits in andI will.
You know, something may come,something may not, but I know
that feeling.
I want to be involved.
It's amazing how, you know, 12hours later, tim Schindel calls
you right and says I think Ihave something for you.
When you look at the and I justwant to talk a little bit about
leading influence when you lookat the, you know the changes of
(09:40):
the political scenery over thepast many years.
How do you think your role haschanged?
Because, I have a few friendsthat have ran and they are
currently members of theLegislative Assembly.
And election was rough, it wasdirty, it was.
You know, it's very hard onthem.
How are you seeing that in yourrole of being a chaplain for
(10:07):
them?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah.
So the role of an electedofficial is hard period, and I
think as a society we've allowedit to get a lot harder as bad
as the election was here interms of you know, dirty
(10:32):
politics, if you want to call itthat and getting under each
other's skin.
It was also coming to a head inthe way sessions were running
too Like we could see it prettyclear.
Yeah, the ability to remainhumble and operate from a place
of honor and humility is adifficult spot in politics to do
(10:56):
, because there's such anexpectation in your followers
and supporters that you aregoing to be the angry tip of the
sword kind of thing.
Right?
I joke sometimes, although Idon't really joke.
I think the worst thing we didfor politics was we put cameras
in the session, because insteadof it actually being dialogue
(11:20):
and debate, it's often just ashow during question period.
Right, and let's be fair,that's not where the business of
legislature takes place.
That's where the show oflegislature takes place.
Lots of good business takesplace elsewhere, and even people
that are at each other'sthroats in question period are
much more civil to each other inthe hallway, and so we have to
(11:43):
be careful that what we see ontelevision or what we see in
question period isn't reallyreflective of the hard work that
they're doing otherwise.
Right, and so for me, I getreassured a little bit.
I get to spend time with theelected officials and their
(12:03):
staff during the day, not whenit's just question period right,
and so I get to see them attheir best and their worst.
Right, it's still a really hardjob, like one of the most, one
of my favorite, if I want tocall it that.
Favorite for a pastor isdifferent than favorite for
(12:25):
anybody else.
Right, our best days areeverybody else's worst day, and
I remember specifically justgetting a nudge from the Holy
Spirit just saying, hey, youshould call this minister.
He had a really tough day inquestion period.
He had a tough day in front ofthe media, and so I just reached
out hey, would it be worthwhilespending a couple of minutes
(12:45):
with me?
And got the nod, got theinvitation, went to his office
and it's one of thoseopportunities.
I just I didn't say anything, Ijust stood with him, ultimately
held him while he cried.
Right, this is what it lookslike.
The pressure is immense onelected officials.
(13:06):
The decisions you have to makeare made with incomplete
information, often in a hurryand often under a lot of
pressure, with no right answers.
What choice you make,somebody's going to dislike you
for it, and so part of theprivilege I have is to go in and
(13:30):
just walk alongside men andwomen who are laying themselves
on the line.
For us, whether we agree withthem or not is irrelevant, and
especially from, like I know,leader Impact.
You know, from a Christianperspective, from a faith
person's perspective, we knowthat it's God that raises up and
(13:51):
God that pulls down leaders athis choice and in his timing.
And for us we have to rememberthat because it's really easy to
make the decision or think thatif I just get that person
elected, everything will change.
That's not the way it works,right.
You and I know that we can gothrough a switch in an election,
(14:13):
whether it's party or people,and we're still going to have
all the same issues in the worldto face.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah Right, thank you for sharing that, fred.
I think that was a greatexplanation of what goes on in
front of us and what we see andbehind, and I think that's
really important.
We want to talk a little bitabout your best principle of
success.
If you have one, what is yours,and maybe a story that might
(14:41):
illustrate that?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Mm-hmm, I mentioned it, I think, already, sort of in
passing.
Somebody's clearly trying toget hold of us.
I think I mentioned it inpassing already.
I believe that God still wantsto speak to us today.
So we know that Christ came sothat he could be our Savior, but
(15:06):
he also wants to be our Lord,our Lord and Savior.
But in order to do that to lethim be our Lord we have to allow
him to speak to us, and todayit's hard because most of us
don't slow down enough to listen.
So there's a principle that Ihave for success, which is trust
(15:27):
and obey.
It was taught to be my by mymentor.
I've passed it on to lots ofother people.
To pray.
First we have to listen, wehave to trust that the things
that he's got for us are thebest things for us, and then we
have to be committed to beobedient to what he tells us.
And all three of them are hard.
(15:47):
Right, all three of them arehard until they're no longer
hard because you've got so manyexperiences of him just being
true to what he says I mentionedalready, right, I was in the
church and I heard it's theirtime to take over and you're in
the way.
Like I could have beenfrustrated.
I could have tried to donebetter.
(16:08):
Instead, I listened to what hehad to say, I trusted it, I
tested it, prayed about it andthen I was obedient to it.
I'd never left any job beforeand it led me to the greatest
one I've ever had by a long shot.
So I mean, that's an example.
But there's so many day-to-daythings.
(16:28):
I'll give you one from abusiness perspective.
I had a staff member one timethat just couldn't quite cut it
in the role you know as lots ofcoaching, lots of help and
mentoring.
Just it wasn't there right forthat specific role.
(16:49):
And this person is knocking itout of the park in a different
role now.
But at the time it was like man, I'm going to have to let this
person go.
This is tough.
So I stopped.
I asked God the question how doI handle this?
And then I listened and waitedand what I heard was I don't
want you to do anything, I'll doit for you.
How are you going to write adismissal letter for me, right?
(17:13):
Like that doesn't count.
So I waited.
Sometimes you got to wait awhile.
This was only about four orfive days and this person came
in and, with all humility, askedif it would be okay if they
quit.
They had come to a decision.
There was something else thatthey wanted to do feed them
(17:35):
better.
And so then, with your straightface, you go.
Well, I suppose we could talkabout the options, right, but I
didn't do anything.
I was looking at one of thosehardest decisions a manager ever
makes I'm going to have to letthis person go.
They're just not cutting it.
And yet God said let me handleit.
And he changed their heart andthey came and said would it be
(17:58):
okay if I left?
How would we make that happen?
Yeah, and so we're stillfriends, right?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You didn't fire them.
Yeah yeah, have you't fire them.
I didn't fire them.
Yeah yeah, have you ever toldthem the story?
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well.
I may not link to this.
No, but you know that's a longtime ago.
Yeah, you know.
They probably wouldn't evenrecognize themselves in the
story.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah.
That's a great principle Listen, trust, obey.
And that the trusting sometimestakes time, you know, because
we want everything to happen sofast.
We want action.
You know, we move too fastsometimes, we just need to
listen.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Too fast to stop and listen and too fast to wait, and
we're repeatedly told wait uponme, wait for me, I'll do it.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah great, we learn, we know.
I think we all know we learnmore from our failures and
mistakes than our own successes,and I'm wondering if you have
one you can share and what youlearned from it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
As he laughs yeah, actually I'm laughing.
For as soon as you started tosay that, thought came to mind.
I had applied for a promotionone time at Sask Energy and I'd
probably been there 10 yearsalready, and it was a pretty
senior role I was applying forand I didn't get it.
And afterwards I went to have aconversation with the hiring VP
(19:23):
and just help me understand,like, what were you looking for
that I didn't have.
What do I need to do to getmyself ready if that sort of
role ever comes open again?
And his response was we haven'tseen you fail yet and we really
need to know how you're goingto respond when you fail before
we put you in that senior roleand I'm thinking, well, I'll go
(19:45):
make an opportunity for myselfthen.
I've always laughed at thatwhat.
You haven't seen me fail.
Anyway, I have failed and Ihave learned from it.
I'll tell you, as a chaplain atthe ledge, my number one
currency is trust.
Everything is confidential,right?
(20:06):
These people live in a fishbowl.
They have to be able to trustme, and so there's been a couple
of times in my life that I canpoint to where I failed on the
trust level.
Once with my wife.
It was early in our marriage.
We had come to an agreementeven before we were married we
would never speak ill of eachother to anybody else, right?
(20:30):
If we got an issue with eachother, we're going to take it up
with each other, and in public.
You know, you're never going tocut your wife down in public.
You're never going to cut yourhusband down in public.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And I did once.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Oh, I was crushed, and a little bit of it was
because I realized I had justdone what I had promised not to.
But the bigger part of it wasthe realization I'd have to go
home and tell her, and I knew itwas going to break her heart,
right.
So it would have been so easyjust to keep my mouth shut.
(21:04):
So easy just to keep my mouthshut, and instead I have to go
and explain the situation anddeal with the fallout of having
broken that trust.
It's so much easier to keep ourmouth shut.
Being confidential is hardsometimes, because I'm a verbal
processor, so sometimes the doggets an earful yeah, one other
(21:26):
was along the same.
Yeah, because I'm a verbalprocessor, so sometimes my dog
gets an earful.
Yeah, yeah, but I have oneother was along the same lines.
I've got a friend that was anMLA and he was going to be
retiring and he had shared thathe was going to be retiring with
me and I thought it was publicinformation but it wasn't, and I
was having a one-on-oneconversation with a person that
(21:49):
was in the premier's office andI just let it slip like it's
common knowledge and you couldtell, you know, when you know,
right, you go oh, this is news.
Oh no, I'm the one that brokethe news.
And so then immediately I had toturn around and go find this
guy.
And immediately I had to turnaround and go find this guy and
apologize and let him know whoknows what, so that he can go
(22:11):
start to manage the fallout.
For me, trust is so importantand it's so quickly lost.
We're still good friends, it'sgood.
But still to have to walk up toanyone for me, especially
anyone, one of the MLAs and say,look, I blew it, because
everything is based on trust,they live in a fishbowl.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Nothing can right, yeah, they trust you.
Has anyone ever broken yourtrust?
Oh that you can remember.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, there's a few that have um from time to time,
but I this is relatively new forme over the last few years I've
COVID was really good for me.
This way, I've just learnednever to get offended.
Like you can say somethingabout me, lisa, to somebody else
, and I'll hear about it andI'll go huh, that's funny, Right
(23:06):
.
Like I just let them.
It's like water off a duck'sback now and part of it is just
I've learned um.
My savior went through anythingfor me.
I can go through a little bitof backtalk and stuff, so people
have let me down and sometimesfor a day or two I'll dwell on
(23:31):
it, but boy, I let it go prettyquick.
There's lots of people thathave come back to me and
apologized.
Later I had a fellow come backalmost 10 years after he had
broken my trust to apologize andask forgiveness, and I really
had to ask him to remind me whatit was Like.
I keep pretty short memory,right.
(23:54):
I'd rather.
I'd rather not remember, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So I would turn that to the people that maybe you
have broken their trust, thatyou know, maybe they're willing
to grant grace just like you did.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I know in both of those cases, I know that they're
both both this MLA and my wifesuper graceful people.
Yeah right, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's a little bit why I can share the stories yeah
, and I mean I mean I think ofthe people we surround ourselves
with right.
We've surround ourselves withpeople that you know, we do
trust and that they, you,they'll grant us grace when
something like that happens oryou know it was a slip, but you
came clean right away.
So, most importantly, well doneso at Leader Impact and I know
(24:38):
you know a little bit about us,but we want to grow personally,
professionally, spiritually, forincreasing impact.
So I'm wondering if you'd bewilling to share an example of
how the spiritual, which I thinkyou can, makes a practical
difference in your life as aleader, which is your life.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, well, it comes a little bit back to the listen,
trust and obey part, right,like, for me, the spiritual,
everything is spiritual.
In our church we used to have aboard of directors and a group
of elders, one to deal with thespiritual and one to deal with
the practical everyday aspectsof the church.
That was a really bad idea.
(25:15):
I don't recommend that foranybody, right?
Because the reality is it's allspiritual and so that listen,
trust and obey it's engaging himin every aspect of what we do.
I walked down the hall at thelegislature and I wait for a
nudge from the spirit, like, ifI'm going to go from floor three
to floor one, what do I take?
(25:36):
The elevator or the stairs,like, like, it's not.
Like, how many steps do I take,sort of thing.
But I will listen for thatnudge because there may be a
divine appointment in thestairwell, and there have been
many of those.
I remember one specifically,right Like I was in session
listening to question period andhad a horrible migraine.
(25:59):
Only time I would have aheadache that I would call a
migraine.
It was almost debilitating.
But I'm also one of those kindof guys that I'll just persevere
, right.
And so I'm sitting up theretrying to pay attention and I
got this nudge.
No, it's time for you to leave.
I got up and left and I wouldhave taken the elevator and said
, no, take the stairs.
(26:19):
So I took the stairs and whileI was going down I crossed paths
with one of the security guardsand he grabbed me and took me
off into an alcove and I thought, oh no, I'm in trouble again
again.
Brad, I grew up in theneighborhood of the ledge.
I got thrown out forskateboarding down the hallway
(26:39):
when I was about, so you know itcomes rushing back.
But he grabbed me, pulled meinto an alcove and we probably
spent half an hour in a time ofconfession.
He needed a time of confessionand, like part of the benefit of
the headache, I don't think Ireally heard or retained
(27:00):
anything that he had to say, butwas able to listen to him, pray
with him, and I would not havehad that encounter if I had
persevered upstairs like I would.
Normally the nudge was move, gotake the stairs.
Okay, just sit and listen.
It changes everything whenyou're in tune with what the
(27:21):
Holy Spirit Galatians 5.25, Ithink it is is now that you know
the spirit, stay in step withthe spirit.
I might be quoting it not quiteright, but to me that's an
aspect of how the spiritual hasan impact on our everyday life,
which can include our commerciallife or business life, whatever
(27:41):
.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, yeah, I love the nudge.
Whatever you call it.
Some people may call itsomething different it's I think
I struggle with that.
I didn't listen, I didn't getup and go.
I didn't.
I should have you know and Itry not to regret.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I have those too, right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Right, Like absolutely yeah.
I sometimes wonder oh, what ifI had Right?
Right, but you can't live thatway, it's you know what?
God, I'm sorry, Give me anotheropportunity.
I know you still love me.
Right, Like I'm not cut out ofhis world just because I said no
one time.
But the reality is it's muchmore fun, over and over and over
(28:29):
again, to follow his lead andsee the amazing things that he
lets you do.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Good Thanks for that.
I feel better.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Like it says right, he's prepared.
Amazing works for us to do.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So one of our last.
We have two questions left foryou.
Leader Impact is dedicated tohaving a lasting impact for us
to do.
Yeah, so one of our last.
We have two questions left foryou.
Leader Impact is dedicated tohaving a lasting impact to
leaders having a lasting impactas you continue to move through
your own journey.
Have you considered what youwant your faith legacy to be
when you leave this world?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah for sure I want to leave behind a whole bunch of
people who know him and followhim and have incorporated them
in their lives.
And I remember when this becamesort of an issue for me you
talk about nudge I had heard himpretty clear saying I want you
(29:24):
to begin intentionallydiscipling other people, and I
like had no idea how to do that.
Like I don't even know where tostart with that God.
And so one of the things thatI've learned through my
mentoring is if he puts a desirein your heart or a character
trait that you know that youshould be working on, then you
(29:47):
begin to pray for the desire andthe ability and he'll honor
that prayer.
And so I started that processand about a year later I was
still praying for the desire andthe ability to disciple people.
And he says would you just stopfor a moment and take stock?
And what do you mean?
And so I have a journal I usethat's a whole other story and
(30:11):
we just started making notes onthe people that I was currently
mentoring and discipling andcoaching, and I had about five
groups of people on threedifferent continents that I was
discipling through some toolsthat we've got, three different
continents that I was disciplingthrough some tools that we've
got, and a couple that I wascoaching through their work and
(30:32):
a couple other individuals, andI hadn't even realized that I
had started to do the thing thathe had called me into.
I didn't realize that that'swhat was taking place.
It had just sort of accumulated.
People would ask hey, fred,would you meet with me?
And it would get formalizedright.
One guy friends just connectedus because we were both
(30:53):
engineers.
He was here from Nigeria and hehad some spare time.
Well, why don't you meet withFred?
He's an engineer, you're anengineer, you guys must have
something to talk about.
And again, one of the nudges, Iwas dropping him off at home
(31:14):
after we'd had coffee and justthis ask him if he wants to be
discipled.
Oh, okay, like he's flying hometomorrow, how does that work?
And we wound up spending timewith him and a bunch of his
staff from his company inNigeria.
We spent about two yearstogether in this discipleship
path just from being willing tosay, well, are you interested in
being discipled?
And they're great people withlots of knowledge.
But we all need coaching andmentoring along the way.
(31:34):
I know that's my legacy ishelping people move into that
discipline relationship.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know that you were there forme and I'll share the story
because this is the nudge that Ihad been offered a really
lovely position, a job, and Iwanted it.
And we worked for months onwriting this description and I
wanted it and I know we wentback and forth on this a little
(32:02):
bit and then, when it came timethere's just something came to
me and I couldn't accept it andI remember being crushed
thinking how could I not?
And I had the discussion withyou and my mom fell three days
later after I had said no, andI'm the caregiver, I'm the one
we're going to cardiologyappointments.
(32:23):
I had to clean out my officebecause my you know and you
don't know at the time, and it'slike I wanted it, I and I
remember just praying and I waslike there's something that said
no that's such a great example.
And I, you know, and I and I nowI look back I'm like I was
(32:45):
exactly where I am, exactlywhere I'm supposed to be, and so
little things like that, thosenudges that are really hard.
But when you talk about youknow just your faith legacy, you
were there for me, so you'rethat guy that you know.
So I thank you for that, justbeing at the other end of the
phone when I needed it.
So, all right.
(33:07):
So our final question for you,fred, is what brings you the
greatest joy?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
That's easy Me and my wife on our motorcycles
whipping down a new highway.
We've never been on on a cool,absolutely crystal blue sky day.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Oh, where's your head when that where?
Where are you?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Oh, I'll tell you, the acoustics inside of a full
helmet are amazing.
Nobody's complaining thatyou're singing.
I sing almost nonstop when I'mon my motorcycle.
It's crazy, yeah, yeah.
And he put on thousands andthousands of miles.
I can go forever.
She and she was the motorcyclistright, like like you'd think it
was the other way around, but Iremember she had always wanted
(33:54):
a motorcycle.
Eventually she got one and Ihad borrowed it and taken it to
work one day.
And she phones me at work andshe never phones me at work.
Like she had taken 13 years offto raise our boys.
So she's at home.
She knows not to interrupt meat work and she never phones me
at work.
Like she had taken 13 years offto raise our boys.
So she's at home.
She knows not to interrupt meat work.
I had people in my office, butit's her, so I'm going to answer
because she wouldn't normallyphone.
(34:15):
And I hit the speakerphone andshe comes on and she goes
where's my damn bike?
It's in the parkade.
Get your own bike, okay phonecall's over, like she said it
nicely.
But every guy in the room wherecan I get a wife like that?
Oh, you're right, I hadpermission to buy a motorcycle.
(34:38):
I had one shortly after that.
We ride together all the time,yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That makes my cheeks hurt.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Mine too.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Well, helena, well done.
So do you both have separatebikes now?
We do, yeah, parked away forthe winter, or are they still
there?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
I didn't mean to bring that up.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Thank you very much, and Tim, our national director,
who lives in Victoria, wrote tochurch a couple of weeks ago, oh
, and was mean enough to send mea photo.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Meany yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, I don't know it cost him down the road.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Oh, wow, soon the weather will change there.
For you, fred, I want to thankyou for taking the time out
today to share with us.
It is always a pleasure.
I love spending time with youand I've seen Helena, and when
we see each other.
We see each other at Costco andwe'll just stop for like a half
hour and talk, so I love seeingher too.
If people want to engage withyou, where can they find you?
(35:39):
What would be the best place?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Yeah, probably the best.
Go to wwwleadinginfluencecomand in there you can pick a
province.
If you're listening to thissomewhere else in Canada and you
want to know who's the chaplainin Ontario, you go to Pray
Ontario, and so we've also got aprayer network in each of the
provinces here.
It's Pray SK, and if peoplewant, they can sign up for that
(36:05):
and they'll get daily.
We issue daily prayers for MLAshere, and so we've got a bunch
of authors who you know what ittakes to write prayers every day
for weeks on end, right, and sojoin Pray SK and then you can
become part of that team that'spraying for MLAs, regardless of
the color of their team.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, good, all right .
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Well, it's our joy to support all of them, because
when they're all supported well,we get better governance as a
province.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, all right.
Thank you again, fred, forjoining us.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Thanks, Lisa Cool.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Well, I want to thank everyone for joining us and if
you're part of Leader Impact,you can always discuss or share
this podcast with your group.
And if you are not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
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(37:06):
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Thank you for engaging with usand remember impact starts with
you.
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the world,dedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethis show even better, please
(00:26):
let us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at leaderimpactca oron social at Leader Impact, or,
if you're listening from outsideof Canada anywhere else in the
world, check out our website atleaderimpactcom.
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Fred Hill.
After a 30-year career as aprofessional engineer working
(00:48):
primarily in the industryindustry.
I'll start that over.
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Fred Hill.
After a 30-year career as aprofessional engineer working
primarily in the energy industry, fred retired early in 2015 in
order to serve his home church.
He served as lead pastor forsix years.
Fred has also providedvolunteer chaplain services
(01:09):
within the Regina CorrectionalCenter, exercised his love of
motorcycles through theChristian Motorcyclists
Association and has had manyopportunities to combine his
love of travel with mission workin Mexico, south America, india
and Africa.
Fred is currently part of theleading influence team of
chaplains across Canada.
They combine their love ofsupporting people with their
(01:29):
love of politics to supportelected officials.
Fred and his best friend,helena, have been married for
over 35 years.
They have two grown boys andtwo exciting grandchildren.
Welcome to the show, fred.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, so December 31st is our anniversary.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh so 36 years, 37, now 30 G I've all fell apart
there.
37 years, fred, Thanks forjoining us here today.
Um, it is.
It is exciting to talk to you,especially in a world that we
are living in where politics iswow is all I can say.
A little bit front and center,right now right.
(02:12):
A little bit front and center.
So I'm excited to talk to youabout more.
A little bit about leadinginfluence, but really, how you
got to where you are today 30,did it say 30 years engineering
in the energy industry?
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got to where you are
today, because now you're withleading influence.
You know leading electedofficials, but from an engineer,
(02:37):
like what are those pivotalmoments for you to get there?
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So you, you go back a little ways and and I, I came
to faith when, right before Istarted going to university, and
so I was really fortunate.
Um, I met my ultimately my wifethere.
Our names were alphabetical inorder.
So we wound up as projectpartners in all the little
(03:04):
workshops you do in chemistryand physics and project all
those things right.
We wound up doing them togetherand so she really helped me get
through university.
Well, I went through University,u of R here in Regina, and took
the industrial systemsengineering course.
That led me to a couple ofdifferent companies, but
(03:25):
ultimately I landed with SaskEnergy, it's Crown Corporation,
and I worked for subsidiaryTransgas and we did all sorts of
work high pressure natural gaspipelines, underground caverns
to store natural gas in gasprocessing plants, all that
stuff.
I did engineering and projectmanagement and staff management
and ended my career there fiveyears managing their environment
(03:49):
department, which was a lot offun.
But through all of that, twothings were taking place.
One, we've been totally engagedin our church through all of
that process and I was in seniorleadership roles in the church,
whether it was chair of theboard or chair of the elders or,
you know, just doing the workthat a church does.
(04:11):
And, in the same vein, veryinterested in politics.
You know door knocking forcandidates and stuff like that
because the whole realm ofpolitics has always engaged me
and I decided to get involved in2015.
There was a federal electioncoming up.
I sought the nomination fromone of the federal parties.
(04:34):
I lost the nomination.
You want to ask about pivotalpoints.
That's one of them.
I lost the nomination by ahandful of votes.
It was crushing, like really,you take a year off of your life
and just commit yourself fullyto that process.
You know what that's like.
And when it was done, I had acouple of days to kind of grieve
(04:59):
the process and my pastor cameand said I don't know if you
noticed, but we've put out aposting for another pastor.
We need another pastor on staff, somebody who could co-lead
with me, and I'd like you tothrow your name in.
I'm thinking like I'm aprofessional engineer.
I'm not a pastor, yeah, butyou've been providing those
(05:22):
services to the church for along time.
Throw your name in.
See what happens.
Well, they had 65 applicants andthe board eventually whittled
it down.
We went through about fourdifferent interview steps and
then they chose me and I wasreally fortunate.
We were a couple.
I was a couple of months awayfrom being eligible to retire,
and so they graciously waited acouple of months before asking
(05:48):
me on, and so then I was able toretire, as opposed to quit and
there's a pretty subtledifference there.
So that was a pretty pivotalmoment for me.
I operated, I think, well as alead pastor, but I'm great at
(06:08):
managing things and keepingthings operational and I'm good
at meeting with peopleone-on-one and supporting them.
But that role of pastor is abig undertaking, comes with a
lot of stress.
I was enjoying it, I loved therole, but in the midst of COVID
I was sitting in the service.
I had hired a couple ofassociates and one was leading
(06:30):
worship and one was preachingthat day, and we only were
allowed 30 people in thebuilding, if you remember those
days.
And so here's an aspect of myfaith I believe God still speaks
today.
Aspect of my faith I believeGod still speaks today.
And sitting in church watchingthese two guys, I heard loud and
(06:52):
clear they're ready to takeover and you're in the way.
Oh, oh, that hurt.
I went home.
My wife had been watchingonline because of the reduced
numbers that are allowed to bein the building.
I walk in the back door and shesays I think they're ready to
take over.
So that was a bit ofconfirmation.
Prayed about it for a couple ofweeks, believed that what we
(07:14):
were hearing was accurate andappropriate.
So at a Tuesday night boardmeeting I handed in my
resignation.
I gave them two years noticeI'll stay on for up to two years
but I believe they're supposedto take over and we created a
transition strategy over thenext few weeks and it worked out
really well, really really well.
(07:34):
But I'd never quit somethingbefore and so I turned my
resignation on a Tuesday nightand Wednesday morning.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Wednesday morning.
And Wednesday morning I got aphone call from an organization
I'd never heard of before.
Leading influence Schindler,our national director, had been
asking around looking for achaplain in Saskatchewan and he
had heard that I had a politicalinterest and so he sought me
out.
So literally 12 hours after Ihad handed in my resignation, I
(08:07):
was asked if I would be willingto be the chaplain.
I didn't know what that meant.
I didn't know who leadinginfluence was.
It takes to be an electedofficial, the less and less I
actually wanted it.
I still wanted to be involvedand I didn't know how that was
(08:33):
going to happen.
So here was this really coolprocess of shifting gears from
being an engineer to being apastor and then a chaplain to
politicians, pastor and then achaplain to politicians.
So I got these, this sort ofgreat balance of getting to be
still a pastor but inside thepolitical machinery.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Just yeah, I'm having so much fun.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
It's good yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
That's interesting that you say, because I mean, we
know that I lost an election, amunicipal government, and over
a year ago, and there's this, Istill want to be involved and
you're actually my connection,just to you know.
I get to be part of one of yourevents and all the political
leaders are there, but I stillhave that passion too and I
(09:18):
don't know where it fits in andI will.
You know, something may come,something may not, but I know
that feeling.
I want to be involved.
It's amazing how, you know, 12hours later, tim Schindel calls
you right and says I think Ihave something for you.
When you look at the and I justwant to talk a little bit about
leading influence when you lookat the, you know the changes of
(09:40):
the political scenery over thepast many years.
How do you think your role haschanged?
Because, I have a few friendsthat have ran and they are
currently members of theLegislative Assembly.
And election was rough, it wasdirty, it was.
You know, it's very hard onthem.
How are you seeing that in yourrole of being a chaplain for
(10:07):
them?
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah.
So the role of an electedofficial is hard period, and I
think as a society we've allowedit to get a lot harder as bad
as the election was here interms of you know, dirty
(10:32):
politics, if you want to call itthat and getting under each
other's skin.
It was also coming to a head inthe way sessions were running
too Like we could see it prettyclear.
Yeah, the ability to remainhumble and operate from a place
of honor and humility is adifficult spot in politics to do
(10:56):
, because there's such anexpectation in your followers
and supporters that you aregoing to be the angry tip of the
sword kind of thing.
Right?
I joke sometimes, although Idon't really joke.
I think the worst thing we didfor politics was we put cameras
in the session, because insteadof it actually being dialogue
(11:20):
and debate, it's often just ashow during question period.
Right, and let's be fair,that's not where the business of
legislature takes place.
That's where the show oflegislature takes place.
Lots of good business takesplace elsewhere, and even people
that are at each other'sthroats in question period are
much more civil to each other inthe hallway, and so we have to
(11:43):
be careful that what we see ontelevision or what we see in
question period isn't reallyreflective of the hard work that
they're doing otherwise.
Right, and so for me, I getreassured a little bit.
I get to spend time with theelected officials and their
(12:03):
staff during the day, not whenit's just question period right,
and so I get to see them attheir best and their worst.
Right, it's still a really hardjob, like one of the most, one
of my favorite, if I want tocall it that.
Favorite for a pastor isdifferent than favorite for
(12:25):
anybody else.
Right, our best days areeverybody else's worst day, and
I remember specifically justgetting a nudge from the Holy
Spirit just saying, hey, youshould call this minister.
He had a really tough day inquestion period.
He had a tough day in front ofthe media, and so I just reached
out hey, would it be worthwhilespending a couple of minutes
(12:45):
with me?
And got the nod, got theinvitation, went to his office
and it's one of thoseopportunities.
I just I didn't say anything, Ijust stood with him, ultimately
held him while he cried.
Right, this is what it lookslike.
The pressure is immense onelected officials.
(13:06):
The decisions you have to makeare made with incomplete
information, often in a hurryand often under a lot of
pressure, with no right answers.
What choice you make,somebody's going to dislike you
for it, and so part of theprivilege I have is to go in and
(13:30):
just walk alongside men andwomen who are laying themselves
on the line.
For us, whether we agree withthem or not is irrelevant, and
especially from, like I know,leader Impact.
You know, from a Christianperspective, from a faith
person's perspective, we knowthat it's God that raises up and
(13:51):
God that pulls down leaders athis choice and in his timing.
And for us we have to rememberthat because it's really easy to
make the decision or think thatif I just get that person
elected, everything will change.
That's not the way it works,right.
You and I know that we can gothrough a switch in an election,
(14:13):
whether it's party or people,and we're still going to have
all the same issues in the worldto face.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah Right, thank you for sharing that, fred.
I think that was a greatexplanation of what goes on in
front of us and what we see andbehind, and I think that's
really important.
We want to talk a little bitabout your best principle of
success.
If you have one, what is yours,and maybe a story that might
(14:41):
illustrate that?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Mm-hmm, I mentioned it, I think, already, sort of in
passing.
Somebody's clearly trying toget hold of us.
I think I mentioned it inpassing already.
I believe that God still wantsto speak to us today.
So we know that Christ came sothat he could be our Savior, but
(15:06):
he also wants to be our Lord,our Lord and Savior.
But in order to do that to lethim be our Lord we have to allow
him to speak to us, and todayit's hard because most of us
don't slow down enough to listen.
So there's a principle that Ihave for success, which is trust
(15:27):
and obey.
It was taught to be my by mymentor.
I've passed it on to lots ofother people.
To pray.
First we have to listen, wehave to trust that the things
that he's got for us are thebest things for us, and then we
have to be committed to beobedient to what he tells us.
And all three of them are hard.
(15:47):
Right, all three of them arehard until they're no longer
hard because you've got so manyexperiences of him just being
true to what he says I mentionedalready, right, I was in the
church and I heard it's theirtime to take over and you're in
the way.
Like I could have beenfrustrated.
I could have tried to donebetter.
(16:08):
Instead, I listened to what hehad to say, I trusted it, I
tested it, prayed about it andthen I was obedient to it.
I'd never left any job beforeand it led me to the greatest
one I've ever had by a long shot.
So I mean, that's an example.
But there's so many day-to-daythings.
(16:28):
I'll give you one from abusiness perspective.
I had a staff member one timethat just couldn't quite cut it
in the role you know as lots ofcoaching, lots of help and
mentoring.
Just it wasn't there right forthat specific role.
(16:49):
And this person is knocking itout of the park in a different
role now.
But at the time it was like man, I'm going to have to let this
person go.
This is tough.
So I stopped.
I asked God the question how doI handle this?
And then I listened and waitedand what I heard was I don't
want you to do anything, I'll doit for you.
How are you going to write adismissal letter for me, right?
(17:13):
Like that doesn't count.
So I waited.
Sometimes you got to wait awhile.
This was only about four orfive days and this person came
in and, with all humility, askedif it would be okay if they
quit.
They had come to a decision.
There was something else thatthey wanted to do feed them
(17:35):
better.
And so then, with your straightface, you go.
Well, I suppose we could talkabout the options, right, but I
didn't do anything.
I was looking at one of thosehardest decisions a manager ever
makes I'm going to have to letthis person go.
They're just not cutting it.
And yet God said let me handleit.
And he changed their heart andthey came and said would it be
(17:58):
okay if I left?
How would we make that happen?
Yeah, and so we're stillfriends, right?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You didn't fire them.
Yeah yeah, have you't fire them.
I didn't fire them.
Yeah yeah, have you ever toldthem the story?
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well.
I may not link to this.
No, but you know that's a longtime ago.
Yeah, you know.
They probably wouldn't evenrecognize themselves in the
story.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah.
That's a great principle Listen, trust, obey.
And that the trusting sometimestakes time, you know, because
we want everything to happen sofast.
We want action.
You know, we move too fastsometimes, we just need to
listen.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Too fast to stop and listen and too fast to wait, and
we're repeatedly told wait uponme, wait for me, I'll do it.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah great, we learn, we know.
I think we all know we learnmore from our failures and
mistakes than our own successes,and I'm wondering if you have
one you can share and what youlearned from it.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
As he laughs yeah, actually I'm laughing.
For as soon as you started tosay that, thought came to mind.
I had applied for a promotionone time at Sask Energy and I'd
probably been there 10 yearsalready, and it was a pretty
senior role I was applying forand I didn't get it.
And afterwards I went to have aconversation with the hiring VP
(19:23):
and just help me understand,like, what were you looking for
that I didn't have.
What do I need to do to getmyself ready if that sort of
role ever comes open again?
And his response was we haven'tseen you fail yet and we really
need to know how you're goingto respond when you fail before
we put you in that senior roleand I'm thinking, well, I'll go
(19:45):
make an opportunity for myselfthen.
I've always laughed at thatwhat.
You haven't seen me fail.
Anyway, I have failed and Ihave learned from it.
I'll tell you, as a chaplain atthe ledge, my number one
currency is trust.
Everything is confidential,right?
(20:06):
These people live in a fishbowl.
They have to be able to trustme, and so there's been a couple
of times in my life that I canpoint to where I failed on the
trust level.
Once with my wife.
It was early in our marriage.
We had come to an agreementeven before we were married we
would never speak ill of eachother to anybody else, right?
(20:30):
If we got an issue with eachother, we're going to take it up
with each other, and in public.
You know, you're never going tocut your wife down in public.
You're never going to cut yourhusband down in public.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And I did once.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Oh, I was crushed, and a little bit of it was
because I realized I had justdone what I had promised not to.
But the bigger part of it wasthe realization I'd have to go
home and tell her, and I knew itwas going to break her heart,
right.
So it would have been so easyjust to keep my mouth shut.
(21:04):
So easy just to keep my mouthshut, and instead I have to go
and explain the situation anddeal with the fallout of having
broken that trust.
It's so much easier to keep ourmouth shut.
Being confidential is hardsometimes, because I'm a verbal
processor, so sometimes the doggets an earful yeah, one other
(21:26):
was along the same.
Yeah, because I'm a verbalprocessor, so sometimes my dog
gets an earful.
Yeah, yeah, but I have oneother was along the same lines.
I've got a friend that was anMLA and he was going to be
retiring and he had shared thathe was going to be retiring with
me and I thought it was publicinformation but it wasn't, and I
was having a one-on-oneconversation with a person that
(21:49):
was in the premier's office andI just let it slip like it's
common knowledge and you couldtell, you know, when you know,
right, you go oh, this is news.
Oh no, I'm the one that brokethe news.
And so then immediately I had toturn around and go find this
guy.
And immediately I had to turnaround and go find this guy and
apologize and let him know whoknows what, so that he can go
(22:11):
start to manage the fallout.
For me, trust is so importantand it's so quickly lost.
We're still good friends, it'sgood.
But still to have to walk up toanyone for me, especially
anyone, one of the MLAs and say,look, I blew it, because
everything is based on trust,they live in a fishbowl.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Nothing can right, yeah, they trust you.
Has anyone ever broken yourtrust?
Oh that you can remember.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, there's a few that have um from time to time,
but I this is relatively new forme over the last few years I've
COVID was really good for me.
This way, I've just learnednever to get offended.
Like you can say somethingabout me, lisa, to somebody else
, and I'll hear about it andI'll go huh, that's funny, Right
(23:06):
.
Like I just let them.
It's like water off a duck'sback now and part of it is just
I've learned um.
My savior went through anythingfor me.
I can go through a little bitof backtalk and stuff, so people
have let me down and sometimesfor a day or two I'll dwell on
(23:31):
it, but boy, I let it go prettyquick.
There's lots of people thathave come back to me and
apologized.
Later I had a fellow come backalmost 10 years after he had
broken my trust to apologize andask forgiveness, and I really
had to ask him to remind me whatit was Like.
I keep pretty short memory,right.
(23:54):
I'd rather.
I'd rather not remember, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So I would turn that to the people that maybe you
have broken their trust, thatyou know, maybe they're willing
to grant grace just like you did.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I know in both of those cases, I know that they're
both both this MLA and my wifesuper graceful people.
Yeah right, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's a little bit why I can share the stories yeah
, and I mean I mean I think ofthe people we surround ourselves
with right.
We've surround ourselves withpeople that you know, we do
trust and that they, you,they'll grant us grace when
something like that happens oryou know it was a slip, but you
came clean right away.
So, most importantly, well doneso at Leader Impact and I know
(24:38):
you know a little bit about us,but we want to grow personally,
professionally, spiritually, forincreasing impact.
So I'm wondering if you'd bewilling to share an example of
how the spiritual, which I thinkyou can, makes a practical
difference in your life as aleader, which is your life.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, well, it comes a little bit back to the listen,
trust and obey part, right,like, for me, the spiritual,
everything is spiritual.
In our church we used to have aboard of directors and a group
of elders, one to deal with thespiritual and one to deal with
the practical everyday aspectsof the church.
That was a really bad idea.
(25:15):
I don't recommend that foranybody, right?
Because the reality is it's allspiritual and so that listen,
trust and obey it's engaging himin every aspect of what we do.
I walked down the hall at thelegislature and I wait for a
nudge from the spirit, like, ifI'm going to go from floor three
to floor one, what do I take?
(25:36):
The elevator or the stairs,like, like, it's not.
Like, how many steps do I take,sort of thing.
But I will listen for thatnudge because there may be a
divine appointment in thestairwell, and there have been
many of those.
I remember one specifically,right Like I was in session
listening to question period andhad a horrible migraine.
(25:59):
Only time I would have aheadache that I would call a
migraine.
It was almost debilitating.
But I'm also one of those kindof guys that I'll just persevere
, right.
And so I'm sitting up theretrying to pay attention and I
got this nudge.
No, it's time for you to leave.
I got up and left and I wouldhave taken the elevator and said
, no, take the stairs.
(26:19):
So I took the stairs and whileI was going down I crossed paths
with one of the security guardsand he grabbed me and took me
off into an alcove and I thought, oh no, I'm in trouble again
again.
Brad, I grew up in theneighborhood of the ledge.
I got thrown out forskateboarding down the hallway
(26:39):
when I was about, so you know itcomes rushing back.
But he grabbed me, pulled meinto an alcove and we probably
spent half an hour in a time ofconfession.
He needed a time of confessionand, like part of the benefit of
the headache, I don't think Ireally heard or retained
(27:00):
anything that he had to say, butwas able to listen to him, pray
with him, and I would not havehad that encounter if I had
persevered upstairs like I would.
Normally the nudge was move, gotake the stairs.
Okay, just sit and listen.
It changes everything whenyou're in tune with what the
(27:21):
Holy Spirit Galatians 5.25, Ithink it is is now that you know
the spirit, stay in step withthe spirit.
I might be quoting it not quiteright, but to me that's an
aspect of how the spiritual hasan impact on our everyday life,
which can include our commerciallife or business life, whatever
(27:41):
.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, yeah, I love the nudge.
Whatever you call it.
Some people may call itsomething different it's I think
I struggle with that.
I didn't listen, I didn't getup and go.
I didn't.
I should have you know and Itry not to regret.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I have those too, right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Right, Like absolutely yeah.
I sometimes wonder oh, what ifI had Right?
Right, but you can't live thatway, it's you know what?
God, I'm sorry, Give me anotheropportunity.
I know you still love me.
Right, Like I'm not cut out ofhis world just because I said no
one time.
But the reality is it's muchmore fun, over and over and over
(28:29):
again, to follow his lead andsee the amazing things that he
lets you do.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Good Thanks for that.
I feel better.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Like it says right, he's prepared.
Amazing works for us to do.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
So one of our last.
We have two questions left foryou.
Leader Impact is dedicated tohaving a lasting impact for us
to do.
Yeah, so one of our last.
We have two questions left foryou.
Leader Impact is dedicated tohaving a lasting impact to
leaders having a lasting impactas you continue to move through
your own journey.
Have you considered what youwant your faith legacy to be
when you leave this world?
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah for sure I want to leave behind a whole bunch of
people who know him and followhim and have incorporated them
in their lives.
And I remember when this becamesort of an issue for me you
talk about nudge I had heard himpretty clear saying I want you
(29:24):
to begin intentionallydiscipling other people, and I
like had no idea how to do that.
Like I don't even know where tostart with that God.
And so one of the things thatI've learned through my
mentoring is if he puts a desirein your heart or a character
trait that you know that youshould be working on, then you
(29:47):
begin to pray for the desire andthe ability and he'll honor
that prayer.
And so I started that processand about a year later I was
still praying for the desire andthe ability to disciple people.
And he says would you just stopfor a moment and take stock?
And what do you mean?
And so I have a journal I usethat's a whole other story and
(30:11):
we just started making notes onthe people that I was currently
mentoring and discipling andcoaching, and I had about five
groups of people on threedifferent continents that I was
discipling through some toolsthat we've got, three different
continents that I was disciplingthrough some tools that we've
got, and a couple that I wascoaching through their work and
(30:32):
a couple other individuals, andI hadn't even realized that I
had started to do the thing thathe had called me into.
I didn't realize that that'swhat was taking place.
It had just sort of accumulated.
People would ask hey, fred,would you meet with me?
And it would get formalizedright.
One guy friends just connectedus because we were both
(30:53):
engineers.
He was here from Nigeria and hehad some spare time.
Well, why don't you meet withFred?
He's an engineer, you're anengineer, you guys must have
something to talk about.
And again, one of the nudges, Iwas dropping him off at home
(31:14):
after we'd had coffee and justthis ask him if he wants to be
discipled.
Oh, okay, like he's flying hometomorrow, how does that work?
And we wound up spending timewith him and a bunch of his
staff from his company inNigeria.
We spent about two yearstogether in this discipleship
path just from being willing tosay, well, are you interested in
being discipled?
And they're great people withlots of knowledge.
But we all need coaching andmentoring along the way.
(31:34):
I know that's my legacy ishelping people move into that
discipline relationship.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know that you were there forme and I'll share the story
because this is the nudge that Ihad been offered a really
lovely position, a job, and Iwanted it.
And we worked for months onwriting this description and I
wanted it and I know we wentback and forth on this a little
(32:02):
bit and then, when it came timethere's just something came to
me and I couldn't accept it andI remember being crushed
thinking how could I not?
And I had the discussion withyou and my mom fell three days
later after I had said no, andI'm the caregiver, I'm the one
we're going to cardiologyappointments.
(32:23):
I had to clean out my officebecause my you know and you
don't know at the time, and it'slike I wanted it, I and I
remember just praying and I waslike there's something that said
no that's such a great example.
And I, you know, and I and I nowI look back I'm like I was
(32:45):
exactly where I am, exactlywhere I'm supposed to be, and so
little things like that, thosenudges that are really hard.
But when you talk about youknow just your faith legacy, you
were there for me, so you'rethat guy that you know.
So I thank you for that, justbeing at the other end of the
phone when I needed it.
So, all right.
(33:07):
So our final question for you,fred, is what brings you the
greatest joy?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
That's easy Me and my wife on our motorcycles
whipping down a new highway.
We've never been on on a cool,absolutely crystal blue sky day.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Oh, where's your head when that where?
Where are you?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Oh, I'll tell you, the acoustics inside of a full
helmet are amazing.
Nobody's complaining thatyou're singing.
I sing almost nonstop when I'mon my motorcycle.
It's crazy, yeah, yeah.
And he put on thousands andthousands of miles.
I can go forever.
She and she was the motorcyclistright, like like you'd think it
was the other way around, but Iremember she had always wanted
(33:54):
a motorcycle.
Eventually she got one and Ihad borrowed it and taken it to
work one day.
And she phones me at work andshe never phones me at work.
Like she had taken 13 years offto raise our boys.
So she's at home.
She knows not to interrupt meat work and she never phones me
at work.
Like she had taken 13 years offto raise our boys.
So she's at home.
She knows not to interrupt meat work.
I had people in my office, butit's her, so I'm going to answer
because she wouldn't normallyphone.
(34:15):
And I hit the speakerphone andshe comes on and she goes
where's my damn bike?
It's in the parkade.
Get your own bike, okay phonecall's over, like she said it
nicely.
But every guy in the room wherecan I get a wife like that?
Oh, you're right, I hadpermission to buy a motorcycle.
(34:38):
I had one shortly after that.
We ride together all the time,yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
That makes my cheeks hurt.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Mine too.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Well, helena, well done.
So do you both have separatebikes now?
We do, yeah, parked away forthe winter, or are they still
there?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
I didn't mean to bring that up.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Thank you very much, and Tim, our national director,
who lives in Victoria, wrote tochurch a couple of weeks ago, oh
, and was mean enough to send mea photo.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Meany yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, I don't know it cost him down the road.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Oh, wow, soon the weather will change there.
For you, fred, I want to thankyou for taking the time out
today to share with us.
It is always a pleasure.
I love spending time with youand I've seen Helena, and when
we see each other.
We see each other at Costco andwe'll just stop for like a half
hour and talk, so I love seeingher too.
If people want to engage withyou, where can they find you?
(35:39):
What would be the best place?
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Yeah, probably the best.
Go to wwwleadinginfluencecomand in there you can pick a
province.
If you're listening to thissomewhere else in Canada and you
want to know who's the chaplainin Ontario, you go to Pray
Ontario, and so we've also got aprayer network in each of the
provinces here.
It's Pray SK, and if peoplewant, they can sign up for that
(36:05):
and they'll get daily.
We issue daily prayers for MLAshere, and so we've got a bunch
of authors who you know what ittakes to write prayers every day
for weeks on end, right, and sojoin Pray SK and then you can
become part of that team that'spraying for MLAs, regardless of
the color of their team.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, good, all right .
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Well, it's our joy to support all of them, because
when they're all supported well,we get better governance as a
province.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, all right.
Thank you again, fred, forjoining us.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Thanks, Lisa Cool.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Well, I want to thank everyone for joining us and if
you're part of Leader Impact,you can always discuss or share
this podcast with your group.
And if you are not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpactca and check out our
free leadership assessment outgroups available in Canada at
(37:06):
leaderimpactca or, if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpactcom or get in touch
with us by email at info atleaderimpactca and we will
connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with usand remember impact starts with
you.
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