After a life straight out of a film, Chris Simpson found meaning and purpose in a faith that underpins every aspect of his life. An interview with the director of CMBC International about mission, workplace, leadership and the centrality of Christ.
Chris Simpson, in Valencia (Spain), October 2025. / Photo: Marcos Sancio.
If there are lives that resemble a film, Chris Simpson’s could fit the profile of a Hollywood blockbuster. Someone who, coming from a difficult family background due to his father’s abandonment, fulfils the American dream by climbing the social and economic ladder of the world’s leading power, through his own efforts and constant pursuit of excellence.
From carrying out special missions in the army to being in charge of the security of the President of the United States himself, Chris saw how he was climbing the ladder in his professional life. To the world, he was an enviable success story. However, inside, he was torn apart by the search for meaning in this fast-paced life in which he found neither peace nor purpose.
Despite his upbringing in the Christian faith, his commitment to Jesus Christ was nothing more than “compliance” with the rituals of the surrounding culture. That was until one day he was confronted with the reality that, no matter how hard he tried, the important questions in life remained unanswered. His hopes were in something as fleeting as his own achievements.
A personal encounter with Jesus and surrendering everything to him led to a change of focus that redefined his life.
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Chris Simpson shared his experience in one of his presentations during the VII National Meeting of Christian Business Leaders, a group in Spain. He is currently the director of CMBC International (Christian Marketplace Business Coalition), an organisation present in 90 countries with a growing impact in the business world.
From his global experience, Simpson emphasised that the Christian faith cannot be limited to the personal or ecclesial sphere, but must also permeate the world of business and economics. He explained this in this interview.
[photo_footer] Chris Simpson, during his interview with Daniel Hofkamp. / Photo: Marina Acuña. [/photo_footer] “Do I have faith just on Sundays and when Monday morning comes I leave that faith at home? Has God redeemed all of my life? You see, that’s a fundamental question that so many professional men and women struggle with”, says Chris Simpson explains.
For him, “compartmentalised Christianity is a scourge upon Christian faith” because it separates the spiritual from the professional. “I made that fundamental decision that Monday mornings were just as important as Sundays. In fact, how I represented Christ on Mondays actually began to verify all the worship that I did on Sunday”.
“Many, many, many of us, unfortunately, we are more than happy to raise our hands on Sunday, sing the gospel songs on Sunday, and yet we get timid come Monday. I decided that my life has been fully given to God. And so, I began to very intentionally walk my faith out throughout the week”.
For the CMBC leader, the Bible continues to offer principles that are fully applicable to the business world. “People tend to say, ‘that doesn’t apply to my professional life, Jesus was just talking about a first century agricultural environment’. But that’s not true. Our God creates truth and wisdom that transcends time”.
“Everything that we need to lead and love and shepherd and disciple that business and those employees, those vendors and clients… Everything you need to shepherd them is found in God’s word. I always encourage businesspeople to find the greatest leadership books in the world, but tell them: filter all of it through God’s word, there is where true wisdom lies”.
[photo_footer] Chris Simpson, during several sessions of the annual conferece of the Spanish LEC conference for Christian business leaders. [/photo_footer]
In his analysis, Simpson identifies three major challenges facing Christian professionals, especially in the West: identity, fear and positioning.
“People are struggling with their identity, especially in the professional world. We go through education, we go to university, we have these goals to try and be successful professional people. And we begin to attach our identity to those goals. And then, that identity begins to replace your true identity, which is what? A son or daughter of God. This is very destructive for us, both spiritually and professionally”.
The second challenge is fear. “We are told that ‘it’s okay to be a Christian, but just keep it in your church and keep it in your house’, right? Christians become scared and have been influenced to believe that they live in a ‘post-Christian culture’. But there’s no such thing as a post-Christian culture. Jesus Christ has never gotten off the throne. He still reigns in every marketplace around the world”.
“What the fear has done is lower the volume of Christians, it has lowered their eye level, and lowered their perspective. Well, guess what happens? The people who God has placed within our professionals path and sphere of influence, they have ears to hear. But they can’t hear something that is just whispered. People never get to hear Christians because we are surrounded by a million broken voices screaming all of their narratives. And yet here we are trying to whisper the things of God just to fit in. That is a problem”.
Thirdly, Simpson speaks of the need to change the believer’s “positioning” towards their faith. “Some people decide to place Jesus as a priority in their life: ‘Yes, Jesus is my top priority’. But that's not enough. Jesus Christ just can’t be one priority amongst many: He has to be the paper on which all the priorities are written”.
“Yes, we can include Jesus in our life, but he has to be the fundamental foundation upon which everything else sits”.
Simpson highlights the fundamental role of local churches as ‘the plan A’ of God, but he also warns of the risk of wasting the potential of Christian businesspeople and professionals.
“Sometimes we under-leverage our people. In some churches, they take the influential businesspeople, put them in the building committee, and they leave them there. Or pull them out when they need them to negotiate something, then they put them back”, he says.
“But I would encourage our pastors and churches to take those amazing men and women of amazing professional and social spheres of influence and mobilize them. Don’t park them, mobilize them to go back in the mission field”.
“We look at the church as though it is the end as if ‘here's where mission happens, in the church’. But no, the church is here to prepare the saints to go do ministry, there is where the real impact happens. Brothers and sisters in the pastorate, be intentional about putting a missional mentality into your people, especially your professionals, because they have, beyond the walls of the church, an incredible amount of influence”.
[photo_footer] Chris Simpson at the 2025 LEC conference for Christian business leaders in Valencia, Spain. / Photo: Marina Acuña. [/photo_footer]
Asked how to deal with difficult decisions in the business world, Simpson emphasises authenticity.
“If you’re leading and your company is going through difficulties, be authentic with your people. Say, look, I don’t know the answers, but I do know where to go. I’m going to go to the Word of God. I’m going to pray about this. I’m going to invite you to come with me in this decision-making process”.
“Authenticity is key. Many of our leaders get in trouble because they think they have to be perfect: they put the mask on, as if everything’s okay and they’re strong, confident. But as Christians we can’t be unauthentic, we must get rid of the hypocrisy. We have to be the most genuine, authentic people that anyone ever meets”.
During the event in Spain, Chris Simpson shared testimonies from businesspeople who are making a difference. He recalled the case of an entrepreneur in Singapore who doubted his ability to mentor other young people because his company was not very large and he had his own struggles
“I told him: ‘Others around you need to see you as a fellow Christian and say, hey, look, I’m still working through it. It's never going to be perfect. Just keep going, keep going. Endurance, perseverance’. Your story, I told him, is exactly what that young person needs. It’s God’s story in your life. You, as a leader, can share with those young persons and lift them up in amazing ways. We have that capacity, it’s a beautiful thing”.
Simpson also recounted a personal experience in his office in Dallas, where he decided to change the work environment by talking to his team not about gossip or complaints, but about their families, their struggles and their joys.
“If all you’re scrolling, looking at or listening to 24 hours a day is darkness, before long, it becomes the only filter by which you see the world. But when someone like us, a Christian leader, can step into those spaces, even just for a moment, and speak life over these people, there’s like a ray of sunshine in their dark corners”.
Simpson expressed hope regarding the development of ministries for Christian businesspeople in Spain.
“There is a spiritual hunger amongst the people of Spain, and really all of Western Europe right now. I just came from the Netherlands, and there is a spiritual hunger there as well”.
“Now, some don’t know how to define it. But people are starving spiritually. And so, Christian ministries like the ones that are developing here in Spain and Western Europe, they’re seeking to meet that need. But remember that Christ is the focus: this is very important with business-oriented ministries. It’s very natural for some of the organizations to begin to change their focus, to make business the center and Christ be on the outside… Well, in that case, it’s no longer a ministry. It's just a networking group, maybe with a couple of Bible verses attached to it. You lose the power of the Holy Spirit when that happens”.
“But when you keep Christ in the center, you can talk about business all day long and it all filters through Christ. If you’re going to meet a spiritual need and spiritual hunger in society, then have an organization that keeps Christ at the center. When you do that, the Holy Spirit will come alongside you and begin to satisfy that hunger”.
Simpson concludes the interview with high expectations. “I'm excited. I'm very excited. Because when people begin to taste the Lord, they will taste and see that He is so good. In the area, with the history of Spain and Southern Europe, there’s a lot of tradition. But sometimes it lacks actual transformation. Tradition without transformation is empty and it leaves people starving. But when you begin to taste the true Jesus Christ, and see that he is good, he begins to satisfy and coming along with that is transformation”.
“When lives are changed, you'll see organic growth and this place is going to have a tidal wave of kingdom impact before you know it. I’m very excited about that”.
This article was first published by Líderes Empresariales Cristianos (LEC) and translated with permission.
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