Life

Is it Always God’s Will to Heal? – Tough Questions about Prayer

Over the years, people have asked me the question, “Is it always God’s will to Heal people?” Many people know, I’m always sharing miracle stories from the pulpit at Substance. We rarely go more than a month without hearing another crazy story of what God is doing within our church community. Yet, it also begs…
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How To Have The Best Year of Your Life – 4 Hacks to Revolutionize Your Resolutions

My wife and I have always been obsessive planners. And after having made a million failed plans, I’ve discovered a few tricks that can give our goals a bit more traction! So before you make another frail and disappointing resolution, consider these 4 principles that can place your dreams in the fast lane: (1). Don’t…
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Was Christ Really Born on Christmas Day?

After close to a dozen Christmas services, I’m definitely tired! But my heart is full. We had so many cool opportunities to share the life of Christ with people. And if you missed it (or wanted to see our full sitcom) we can finally post in online! Go to Youtube and share it! But I’m equally…
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What's the role of women in church?

Top “Must-Read” Parenting Books

If you know my wife at all, you’d know that she’s obsessive about being a great parent.  In fact, I call her the “Mommy-ologist” because she’s always got at least 2 parenting books on her at any given moment.  (I’m not kidding.  It’s almost ridiculous).  In fact, I don’t think we’ve gone on a vacation…
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Tithes and First Fruits – The Practice of Tzedakah

Over the years, a lot of people get confused about the Bible’s teachings on tithes and first-fruits. Part of this is because, there are actually three different types of tithes – which is distinct and separate from the idea of first-fruits. With over 2300 verses on giving, it’s easy to get confused. But to simply…
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How to Have a GREAT bad day

Have you ever had a day from hell? I’ve had a few of them. There’s the time I got locked out of my running car in the middle of a dangerous neighborhood during a snowstorm. And I had to wait outside with no jacket for six hours. Then, there was the day I had to fly…
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Resource Page for MBTI & Enneagram

Welcome to My Personality Workshop Landing Page! Once you get to know Carolyn and me, we are Personality Test Junkies: From Strengthsfinders to Love Languages, we do them all. Yet, our personal favorites are the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Enneagram. In fact, I can predict an eerie number of things about you simply…
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How your Marriage can Survive while Parenting Young Kids!

Being a parent with young kids can be one of the most chaotic seasons of life. And if that’s you right now, don’t give up! It only gets better. To make things even more difficult for my wife and me, we made the decision to plant a church (while having 3 kids under the age…
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Keep Praying for Minneapolis

Last week was a proud moment – and I wanted to post a short clip of it (see below). After church got out, Carolyn and I joined a few hundred pastors outside the Hennepin County Courthouse to pray over the upcoming trials related to George Floyd. Many of you know that our Minneapolis campus is…
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21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

Last year revealed all sorts of silliness:  We all imagined our hearts to be full of faith instead of fear. We all imagined that we trusted in prayer more than politics; yet, circumstances always reveal what we actually trust in (eg., money, politics, health-care, job-security). As Jesus puts it, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the…
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