Welcome back. The weekend is over and we're back to work, back to work thinking about work,

particularly how we can be most fruitful by leaning on strong administrative structures

that we need in place. We've never talked about this angle of leadership on the podcast.

So it should be interesting. How do we build the structures we need so that we can fulfill our

calling in the world? The topic is relevant, of course, for ministries and relevant for Christian

business leaders and relevant for healthcare providers too. In fact, today's question comes from

a doctor who writes this. Dear Pastor John, I greatly enjoyed Ask Pastor John over the years.

Thank you for blessing and strengthening my faith in Jesus Christ. My question is this.

I'm a doctor. I've tried to live and serve by first-speed or four verses, 10 to 11, however.

I'm also the practice owner. My family and our two dozen employees and their families all

financially depend on the profitability of our practice. Increasingly, I find my thoughts and

efforts consumed by the profit-seeking aspects of running a business. Biblically, is there a way

for me to reconcile a God-honoring attention to patient care with my responsibility as a business

owner to generate a profit so that employees can provide for their families. Pastor John,

what would you say to this doctor? Well, the answer to that last question is yes. There is a way

to reconcile a God-honoring attention to patient care with the responsibility of the clinic owner

to manage the affairs of the clinic in such a way that it remains financially viable. That is,

remains in existence. It may be that you don't need to primarily talk in categories of care versus

profit, but maybe in the categories of clinic existence and clinic care. In other words,

perhaps the way to think of these two sides of the clinic's life is that there are two kinds of

care, not care versus something else, but two kinds of care that one must attend to in order for

patients to be helped. One is the immediate care of diagnosis and treatment for all the

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