The Daily Grind with Matt Clarke

Don't Miss The Meeting

Written by Matt Clarke | June 9, 2026

Philip didn’t schedule a team meeting, he didn’t send a group text or blast an email. God told him to go to a specific road — a desert road — and he went. No agenda. No crowd. Just one man, a chariot, and a scroll he couldn’t quite figure out.

 

That man was a high-ranking official from Ethiopia, the treasurer to a queen. Powerful and educated, successful and yet, still searching and growing.

 

So, when Philip was asked to jump in and help, he ran to him. Not casually stroll over... he ran. He didn’t wait for the official to come to a seminar. He didn’t hope someone else would answer the man’s questions. He pulled himself alongside one person and asked a simple question: “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

 

That single conversation changed a man’s eternity.

 

"The Holy Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and walk along beside the carriage.'" (Acts 8:29) 

Here’s what many of us busy people miss: The most important conversations you’ll ever have won’t happen in a conference room. They happen in the car. Over coffee. On a walk. In the parking lot after everyone else has gone home. The one-on-one is where real leadership lives.

 

When you sit across from one person — just one — you can see what a group meeting hides. You can hear the hesitation in their voice. You can ask the follow-up question. You can speak directly into their situation, not a generic version of it. Philip wasn’t sent to Ethiopia. He was sent to one Ethiopian — on one road, at one moment in time.

 

God is still sending people to empty seats next to specific human beings. Are you showing up for those appointments?

 

In business, the one-on-one is where a struggling team member finally tells you what’s really going on. It’s where a rising leader gets the word of belief they’ve been starving for. It’s where you stop managing headcount and start developing a person. In your family, it’s the same. That dinner alone with your child. The drive where no one’s performing for anyone. The morning coffee with your spouse before the noise starts.

 

One road. One chariot. One question asked with genuine curiosity. One on One.

 

A few takeaways:

 

  1. Philip was sent, not self-directed. He didn’t dream this up. An angel gave the assignment and he obeyed. That’s permission for every leader to trust the nudge — the unexplained pull toward a specific person on your team or in your family. That nudge isn’t random. Pay attention to it.

  2. The Ethiopian was powerful AND stuck. This man had status, resources, and education. He was the queen’s treasurer — nobody’s pushover. And yet he said, “How can I understand unless someone guides me” That’s every high-performer on your team. They are high performers because of their desire for growth. Don't ignore them because they look like they have it figured out. That investment usually has the biggest return.

  3. Philip got IN the chariot. He didn’t shout from the road. He didn’t hand the man a pamphlet and keep walking. He sat down beside him. That’s the posture of a real one-on-one — proximity, not performance. Close enough to hear what’s not being said.

 

Who comes to mind right now? God just scheduled an appointment with you and them. Don't miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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