From Emergency Medicine to Everyday Mission: Dr. Bob Snyder’s Story and What It Means for Modern Professionals
What happens when a successful emergency room physician discovers that saving lives isn’t enough?
For Dr. Bob Snyder, the answer changed everything. His journey from a bustling trauma center in Pennsylvania to the streets of Budapest, and eventually to leading a global movement, is a story of courage, purpose, and the radical integration of faith and work.
And it carries lessons every modern professional needs today.
The Breaking Point: When Career Success Isn’t Enough
For fifteen years, Dr. Snyder thrived as an emergency medicine physician, co-chairing a hospital department and teaching at Thomas Jefferson University. But daily life in the ER confronted him with a haunting paradox: he could fight fiercely for his patients’ physical survival, yet remain silent about their spiritual eternity.
That tension stirred a question professionals in any field can relate to:
“Am I fully living my purpose at work?”
Despite all the right tools of medicine, Snyder realized he lacked the tools to bring his faith authentically into his workplace. That frustration sparked a move that would change not only his career, but also the lives of tens of thousands worldwide.
A Leap of Faith to Budapest
In 1996, Bob and his wife Pamela—together with their three daughters—moved to Budapest, Hungary. Their mission wasn’t medical advancement, but spiritual integration: to discover how ordinary believers could be effective witnesses “where they live, work, and play.”
What began with healthcare workers soon spread to educators, business leaders, and professionals across 128 countries. The model was simple: equip insiders, not outsiders, to live out their faith in their own workplaces and communities.
The CPR Analogy: Why Faith Can’t Stay in the Church
Snyder often compares this to the story of CPR. Originally confined to hospitals, CPR only transformed survival rates once it was released to the public—taught in schools, gyms, and workplaces.
Faith, he argues, should be no different. “Almost no one is talking about Jesus in workplaces, gyms, or markets,” he says. “We’ve got to get Jesus outside the church.”
This perspective challenges modern professionals: leadership isn’t just about titles or performance metrics—it’s about influence, integrity, and living values consistently, wherever we are.
Multiplication Over Addition: A Leadership Lesson
One of Snyder’s guiding insights is that Jesus never added—He multiplied.
Rather than working alone, Snyder built global partnerships with nurses, doctors, and Christian fellowships. Today, IHS Global and its partners have trained over 50,000 healthcare workers and developed 5,000 trainers across 43 languages.
For leaders in business, education, or non-profits, the lesson is powerful: sustainable impact comes through collaboration, training others, and multiplying capacity—not trying to do it all yourself.
Intimacy, Risk, and Letting Go of Outcomes
Snyder’s personal reflections reveal another leadership principle: following God involves three things—
- Intimacy with God: hearing His heart and aligning with it.
- Risk and Sacrifice: stepping out even when outcomes are uncertain.
- Letting Go of Outcomes: trusting that results belong to God, not us.
For today’s professionals facing burnout, constant change, or identity struggles, these principles offer not only resilience but also freedom: leadership is not about overwork, but overflow.
Why This Matters for You
The heart of Cities Project Global and its Leadership Circle program is to help professionals like you live this integration of faith, work, and life.
- If you’ve ever felt tension between your career and your calling, you’re not alone.
- If you want to lead with both excellence and purpose, you need tools, community, and coaching.
- And if you believe leadership should extend beyond the boardroom into everyday influence, Leadership Circle was designed for you.
As Dr. Snyder’s story shows, the workplace itself is the mission field.
Take the Next Step
If Dr. Snyder’s journey resonates with you, now is the time to explore how your own leadership and influence can multiply impact.
👉 Learn more about the Leadership Circle program and other opportunities at Cities Project Global.
👉 Subscribe to the Intersection Podcast for more stories like Dr. Snyder’s.
👉 Join a community of professionals who are learning to live by faith in every arena of life.
Closing Thought
Dr. Snyder once asked: “Who goes to work and watches people die every day—and never thinks about their eternity?”
For modern professionals, the question might be reframed: “Who goes to work every day, leading teams, serving clients, making decisions—and never considers the eternal impact of those actions?”
The call is clear. Leadership is more than influence. It’s discipleship in motion.
And the story of Dr. Snyder reminds us: when faith overflows into work, lives are transformed—starting with our own.