On Sunday, February 24 over 450 people packed Substance Church’s downtown campus to hear world-renown Christian speaker Sy Rogers at the “God, Sex and Culture” evening forum. Sy Rogers spoke about the sexual brokenness and temptations of all humans. And offered an assuring message of the hope that God is our redemptive advocate when it comes to our struggles. The sanctuary was full of people from all ages and stages. Many youth leaders said they felt more equipped to tackle subjects of sexuality with their youth groups.

In partnership with Thrivent Financial, we hosted two Engaging Generations Through Generosity seminars that took a deep dive into research Thrivent commissioned Barna Group to conduct around the generosity of self-identified Christians. The research was designed to reveal how each age-group expressed generosity within five categories studied: Monetary Giving, Service/Volunteering, Hospitality, Gifts, Emotional-Relational Support. “The goal of the training was to spur generosity to help support churches, and grow church members’ engagement with their faith,” said Leith Erickson, Thrivent Financial trainer.

Dismantling racism has to be a developmental process. It’s a journey. "If we don’t figure out a way to include this as part of the Christian discipleship walk with Jesus, it’s just not going anywhere,” started Dr. Ruben Rivera. Dr. Rivera shared that most dismantling racism efforts stall or never get off the ground; so at our first Dismantling Racism workshop, held at Mercy Vineyard Church on January 24, Dr. Rivera offered 3 principles when embarking on racial reconciliation work.

Security best practices taught at our Get IT Secure Ministry Equip training on Jan. 16, 2019. Including five tips to block phishing attacks via email and nine tips to strengthen password security.

Transform Minnesota is committed to connecting and equipping church leaders in Minnesota communities; large and small. We are offering more conferences and forums geared toward churches in rural and small town communities, with plans for expanding our influence in the rural evangelical community in 2019.