Todd Engstrom

Author: Todd Engstrom

  • When Life Seems Strange

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    Todd Engstrom
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    Lately, I’ve found myself caught in a loop of thought: “Life shouldn’t feel this way.” But the truth is—it does. It feels uncertain. Disorienting. Foreign. And the more I sat with that, the more I began to realize: maybe that’s exactly the point. Scripture speaks of us as “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews…

  • Fluent in Feelings, Silent in the Spirit?

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    Todd Engstrom
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    Over the past several years, I’ve enjoyed the growing fluency in the language of emotion. Feelings wheels were used in a web design sprint I was involved in. Therapeutic language is more commonplace, for both good and bad. But this all is a vocabulary to help us name our experiences and emotion with nuance and…

  • Re-Formation: How is God Reshaping the Church Today?

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    Todd Engstrom
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    When we hear the word Reformation, our minds often go to the 16th century—Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and the dramatic upheaval of the Church. That moment in history was a turning point: The Reformation wasn’t just reform for reform’s sake—it was a Spirit-led recalibration around the authority of the Word and the centrality of the gospel.…

  • Jesus Has All Authority—Stop “Releasing” People to Do Ministry

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I was talking with two friends recently, and one of them was wrestling with something I’ve heard many times before: “I want to make disciples in my home… but I’m not sure if I have permission.” This kind of confusion is more common than we’d like to admit. In many churches, faithful believers are left…

  • Extra Ordinary Prayer

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    Todd Engstrom
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    “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face… then I will hear from heaven…” —2 Chronicles 7:14 In recent weeks, I’ve been praying with different groups across Austin—listening for hunger. Hunger for God. Hunger for His Spirit to move again. Hunger for awakening. And while I’ve…

  • Forerunning, Not Competing

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I recently got back from a spring break trip to Florida—family, friends, sunshine, the usual mix of chaos and rest that comes with traveling with kids. I left a day early, though. My oldest had a playoff soccer game, so I packed up and hit the road solo while everyone else stayed behind. That night,…

  • Lost and Led: Learning to Trust Jesus in the Unknown

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I hate feeling lost. I love leading. Recently, I found myself in an environment where I had zero familiarity—a dance competition for my daughter. Let’s just say I’m not exactly a seasoned “dance dad.” I showed up feeling like I had been dropped behind enemy lines with no map. The dance world has its own…

  • The Deadline Dilemma in Ministry

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I love deadlines. Others hate them. The word itself sounds ominous—essentially, cross this line, and you die. But where did it even come from? It turns out that deadline has a fascinating etymology. Originally, in the 19th century, a “deadline” referred to a literal boundary in prisons—if a prisoner crossed it, they could be shot.…

  • Thinking Out Loud: Groundbreaking

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I’ve always found ground breaking ceremonies a little funny. There’s a circle of people dressed in nice suits and fancy shoes, all wearing hard hats for a quick photo while they shovel a bit of dirt. It makes me scratch my head—why celebrate at the very start of a building project? And grand openings with…

  • One Body, Many Parts

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I am increasingly thankful for the way God has designed His Church. In recent weeks, as I’ve engaged in conversations and reconnected with old friends, I have been reminded of how much we need one another—not just on Sundays, but every day of the week. The body of Christ is not a theoretical concept; it…

  • Nostalgic Novelty

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    Todd Engstrom
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    I probably think too much, and my mind often takes the things in front of me and connects them to other ideas in really odd ways. And sometimes, I think I “discover” patterns. Lately, I’ve been pondering if this is a recurring theme in my own life and among friends. It seems like we’re drawn…

  • Hope that Does Not Put Us to Shame

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    Todd Engstrom
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    Early this week, I found myself staring at the daunting task ahead. A quarter of my time has already passed for support-raising, and as I evaluated the results so far, I felt the creeping weight of doubt. Will I reach the goal? Some days, it just seems insurmountable. To make matters harder, I was receiving…