Around 80 businesspeople, professionals and leaders attended the national meeting of Christian Business Leaders held in Valencia.
Chris Simpson, during one of the presentations at the LEC 2025 Conference held in Valencia./ Photo: Marcos Sancio
From time to time, it is necessary to receive a boost to continue, or a few words of encouragement to find the right path again. The national meeting of Christian Business Leaders (LEC) reached its seventh edition on 26 and 27 September in Valencia, where some 80 businesspeople, executives and entrepreneurs from all over Spain gathered, and the meeting lived up to expectations.
This annual space for training, fellowship and networking seeks to inspire professionals to live their faith with integrity in the business world. This year's programme included presentations by Chris Simpson, president of CBMC International, and Sarab Rey (known on social media as Izanami), anthropologist and leadership expert. In addition, the coordinator of the United Bible Groups, Jaume Llenas, shared a relevant biblical reflection, completing a programme focused on seeking a practical application of biblical principles on leadership, business and personal life.
[photo_footer] Spaces for conversation, getting to know each other, and sharing. / Photo: Marcos Sancio [/photo_footer]
In his first plenary session, Simpson addressed the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 as a guide to a countercultural Christian lifestyle. He suggested that these beatitudes are a mirror in which every Christian can look at themselves. “Jesus did not come to improve your life, but to crucify the old one and raise a new one in its place”, he said.
The CBMC leader insisted that faith must permeate all areas of life. “If your colleagues don't wonder why you are different, maybe it's because you're not. Our work is a platform where they see how we lead, listen or decide. In Christ, our work preaches”, Simpson said.
In his second talk, 'Chasing Shadows: The Illusion of Success', Chris Simpson shared his personal testimony: from his humble beginnings to his career in the U.S. Secret Service, protecting President Bush in different countries. He acknowledged that, despite his achievements, he lived with a void: “I was chasing shadows until I turned around and found Jesus”.
Simpson encouraged participants to surrender their entire lives to the Lord and to turn both failures and successes into opportunities to serve God.
Chris also gave an extensive interview to this site, which will be published soon.
Saturday's devotional, led by Jaume Llenas, focused on Ephesians 4:17-23, addressing the challenge of living in holiness in a world marked by vanity and ego.
“The problem lies in the secular mind, in thinking according to the present age. But there is another way to live: learn, listen and go to Christ”, Llenas said.
The speaker reminded the audience that Christian transformation is not about adding Jesus to one’s life, but about stripping away the old man and renewing the mind to reflect the character of Christ in every business decision.
[photo_footer] Sarab Rey, during her talk. / Photo: Marcos Sancio [/photo_footer]
For her part, Sarab Rey delved into the different types of power that influence organisations. In contrast to leadership based on fear or pleasure, she defended a model centred on purpose and Christian faith. “Our companies are not therapeutic places, but we have a responsibility to create safe environments where people see themselves as God sees them”, said Sarab.
The speaker used her presentation to show how neuroscience and the Bible coincide in their diagnosis of human needs, and how it is necessary to find purpose in what we do in order for our lives to be fruitful.
Rey explained the importance of expert power (sharing knowledge) and referential power (leading with trust and integrity), linking them to the call to be light and salt in the business environment. She quoted Isaiah 58:6 to recall the mission to “break the bonds” and warned about the distractions that can extinguish the Christian calling. “We live in a context that discriminates against us, but the light shines brightly. We have to be lit up, alive, radical”, he explained.
At the end of the talk, Sarab answered questions with great ease and recounted the surprising way in which she came to know the gospel, through a personal reading of the Bible, which led her to completely refocus her life.
[photo_footer] The participants of the 2025 LEC gathering in Valencia, Spain./ Photo: Marcos Sancio [/photo_footer]
In addition to the presentations, the meeting offered participatory spaces, both in the form of questions to the speakers and in small groups, where attendees shared their experiences and challenges.
At the end of the event, participants were asked to define in one word what the meeting had meant to them. The most repeated word was “inspiration”.
They were also encouraged to get involved in local LEC groups, which are at the heart of the project and allow participants to stay connected and support each other throughout the year.
For Ignacio Rodríguez, one of the organisers, the experience was very positive. “We have improved quite a few things compared to other meetings and we have involved many more people, which has allowed for a greater distribution of tasks”, he commented on the logistics of the meeting. “It is exciting”, he added, “to see how the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit impact each person who leads a business, and through them also their organisations and employees”.
[photo_footer] One of the sessions./ Photo: Marcos Sancio [/photo_footer]
Rodríguez also highlighted the value of this meeting as an annual benchmark. “It's the perfect place to meet, strengthen friendships, network and disconnect from our businesses to hear how the Word of God influences our lives and our work”.
Similarly, Ángel González, another member of the LEC committee, emphasised the importance of the practical and testimonial component of the meeting. “It is inspiring to come to know how God has acted in the lives of people who were very far from him, such as Chris, or even in cases such as Sarab, whose life was far from God and who, surprisingly, found him on his own path. Jaume's participation was also extraordinary and very practical”.
González highlighted that the meeting serves as a meeting point for Christian entrepreneurs from all over Spain and even abroad, creating opportunities for collaboration and business based on faith. “Getting to know other believers inspires, encourages and opens up opportunities. This has to be translated more closely at the local level, generating continuity in a small circle. The annual meeting allows us to interact and visualise what can be done in the spiritual realm within the business world”.
More information about the meetings, local LEC groups and other initiatives can be found on the website lideresempresarialescristianos.com (Spanish language).
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