The Common Perspective
March 2025
Over the past 50 years, the speakers at the annual BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast have included leaders in our province from business, sports, law, non-profits, real estate, medicine, government and education. Here are some examples:
An award winning CFL coach shared how his own brother gave up his chance at a college education so that he could attend instead, knowing his family could afford to send only one child at a time.
A RCMP forensic scientist was sent to Cambodia to investigate a Canadian who was exploiting children in the sex trade. He was moved to create a foundation that has helped thousands of girls and boys overseas escape this fate.
A nurse, and a future leader in Canadian medicine, shared how her life changed when she witnessed the Sisters of Providence courageously treating AIDS patients without hesitation, at a time when other hospitals were hesitant.
A City of Vancouver worker with over 35 years of service focusing on the city’s homeless invited a philanthropist to walk the streets of Vancouver overnight. This philanthropist established a foundation that has built supportive housing for thousands of homeless and barely-housed people.
A businessman born with albinism discovered that in parts of Africa, people with his condition face mutilation, violence, and even death. Determined to effect change, he devoted 10 years of his life and invested millions of his own money to develop programs to remove the stigma of albinism in those countries. The United Nations went on to model this approach, implementing it throughout the world impacting thousands of lives.
A young girl who was severely burned by napalm in the Vietnam War, surviving only because of the intervention of a photographer. Today, as a Canadian citizen, she shares with the world her journey of resilience and hope.
A prominent university president recounted how his Christian college friends saved him from taking his own life as a young man.
Canada’s leading polling expert and successful businessman shared from his research how prayer impacts our health and life.
An immigrant from Hong Kong became a successful businessman and philanthropist in BC. He was the first Asian Canadian to be a Lieutenant Governor. He shared how his faith sustained him through this journey.
These men and women come from different cultures, backgrounds, ages, languages, and experiences. Yet their stories reflect a shared perspective found in the most common church prayer, the Lord's Prayer:
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” Matthew 6:9-13
These are people who believe in God as their Father and pray for His Kingdom to come on earth. Each has learned that all humanity depends on daily bread. They have experienced the grace of their personal need of God’s forgiveness. They struggle to walk the painful yet healing path of forgiving others. They understand temptation and the need to be protected from evil.
Praying this prayer helps put their lives in perspective and begins to transform them. They join a 2000 year old history, walking the same path as millions before them. In embracing this prayer, they have made their lives new, becoming more loving and compassionate toward the world around them.
And isn’t it a small miracle that this same invitation, this same prayer, is offered to all of us?
Blessings,
Tom
PS: This year's speakers continue the same perspective in describing how their faith has sustained and inspired them during life’s extreme challenges. Click to go to this year's BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast info.
