How to Be a Christian Speaker on Secular Stages Without Being Shut Out

You've been invited to speak at a corporate leadership conference. The topic is resilience. You know exactly what you want to say. But there's a voice in the back of your mind asking the question you've asked a dozen times before: how much of my faith do I bring into this?

Say too much and you risk being labelled. Say too little and you feel like you've hidden the most important part of who you are. It's a tension every Christian speaker faces at some point. And most of us were never taught how to navigate it well.

The C.S. Lewis Principle

C.S. Lewis once wrote that what we need is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects - with their Christianity latent. NCAPS founder Katie Hornor adapted that idea for speakers: "What we want is not more speakers on Christian topics, but more Christian professionals speaking on other topics - with their Christianity latent, so that God's glory and His Gospel can go out to all the world."

That word "latent" is the key. It doesn't mean hidden. It doesn't mean ashamed. It means present beneath the surface. Woven into the fabric of everything you say and do, without it being the topic itself.

Think about it this way. When you speak about leadership with integrity, kindness, service, and humility... you're already speaking Christian values. You don't have to quote chapter and verse for the Gospel to be at work in a room.

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house."

Matthew 5:14-15 (NIV)

Light doesn't announce itself. It just shines. And people notice.

Three Ways to Carry Your Faith Onto Any Stage

1. Let your values do the talking. Brendon Burchard, one of the highest-paid speakers in the world, frequently talks about the importance of living your message. Your audience will pick up on your character long before they notice your content. How you treat the sound engineer. How you respond to a tough question. How you talk about other people in your stories. These small things communicate your faith more powerfully than a Bible verse on a slide ever could.

When you speak from a place of genuine love for the audience - not performance, not ego, not self-promotion - people feel it. They may not be able to name it, but they feel it. And that feeling opens doors that arguments never will.

2. Share your story honestly. You don't need to preach to share your faith. You just need to tell the truth about your life. If God played a role in your turning point, say so. If prayer was part of how you got through a difficult season, include it. Don't edit God out of your story to make it "safe" for a secular audience.

The trick is in how you frame it. Instead of "God told me to..." try "I felt a clear sense that I was supposed to..." Instead of "The Bible says..." try "There's a proverb I come back to again and again..." You're not watering anything down. You're meeting people where they are so they can hear what you're actually saying.

Nancy Duarte, one of the top presentation coaches in the world and author of "Resonate," teaches that the best communicators make the audience the hero of the story. When you share your faith through personal narrative rather than prescription, you invite people into the story instead of pushing them away.

3. Be the best in the room. Nothing opens doors for the Gospel like excellence. When a Christian speaker is also the most prepared, most engaging, most professional person on the programme, people pay attention. They ask questions. They want to know more about you. And that's when the real conversations happen - in the hallway, over coffee, after the event.

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

Your good deeds on that stage - your preparation, your care for the audience, your skill - those are the things that make people curious about the source.

All Stages Are Sacred Stages

Here's the thing most people miss. There is no line between sacred and secular for the Christian speaker. A boardroom is a mission field. A podcast is a pulpit. A sales conference is a place where someone is silently struggling and your message might be the thing that gets them through.

When you step onto a "secular" stage, you're not leaving God in the green room. He's there. In your preparation. In your words. In the way you look someone in the eye and speak truth they didn't know they needed to hear.

The greatest missionaries of our generation may not be the ones with Bible college degrees. They may be the ones standing on corporate stages, at industry summits, and in podcast studios - carrying the light into rooms where it's desperately needed but rarely invited.

You don't have to choose between your faith and your career as a speaker. They were always meant to work together.

Try This Today

Take your most-requested talk and read through it with fresh eyes. Ask yourself: where have I edited God out to play it safe? Is there one place where you could let your story be more honest - not preachy, just truthful - about the role faith has played? Make that one edit. See how it feels when you deliver it next.

You're Not the Only One Navigating This

The tension between faith and platform is something NCAPS members talk about all the time. It's one of the reasons this community exists - to support speakers who operate in both ministry and marketplace. If you want to be around people who understand what it's like to carry your faith onto every stage, come and see what NCAPS is about.