What only you can give

The story

A chatbot was rated kinder than the doctors

Clinicians read patient questions answered two ways — once by physicians, once by a chatbot — and rated the chatbot's answers empathetic or very empathetic 45 percent of the time. The physicians managed 5 percent. A chaplain and educator, Fleenor, cites that finding in an essay on whether a machine can be present, and he grants it rather than arguing with it. The machine is always rested, never rushed, never triaging six people at once. It can always say yes.

Then he draws a line that changes the conversation.

Comfort can be produced. Accompaniment has to be chosen.

A machine can generate the words that settle a frightened person. A person can walk into the room when they had somewhere else to be. In Fleenor's words: "Being chosen by someone who could have been somewhere else tells you that you matter."

Meanwhile the ground is moving. Barna's State of the Church research found this:

Among Gen Z and Millennials it runs closer to two in five.

So warmth is now something a machine can produce, and produce well. Presence remains something only a person can offer, because presence costs the person something. The machine's yes is free, which is exactly why yours carries weight its yes never will.

That is the whole Christian claim, oddly enough. Someone who showed up, at cost, and stayed.

Which leaves a question worth sitting with this week. If the warm words are now cheap and available to everyone you serve, what is your actual contribution to the people in your care — and does your calendar reflect it?

The practice

Name the three that only you can have

The same research found roughly a third of practicing Christians want help navigating AI, while 12 percent of pastors feel ready to give it. Demand runs three to one ahead of confidence. You do not need to be ready to teach a seminar. You need to be present where presence is the whole point.

Then use AI honestly for everything around them. One prompt that works before a hard conversation: "I need to tell someone their role is changing. Here is the situation. What am I likely underestimating, what is this person probably afraid of, and what would a wiser and kinder version of me say first?" Read the answer, take what is true, and discard the rest. Most leaders skip this step entirely and walk in less prepared than they could have been.

Prepare with the machine. Show up yourself.

The next step

Presence is one half of leading well now. Skill is the other, and skillful hands come by practice rather than by accident. The AI Edge assessment is free, takes about five minutes, and shows you where yours are already strong.

This is one of our first issues, and we would rather get it right than get it out. Hit reply and tell us what was useful and what would be more useful. A real person reads every response.

Not anti-tech. Pro-flourishing.

Climbing with you,
Jeff and Jason