Josh Usabi

None 0:06

Welcome to the Leading Conversations podcast sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network . On each episode , jd Paring will have conversations with church planting pastors and leaders from around the country . You can learn more about how to connect with Excel at the end of this podcast . Let's join JD now and listen in on this leading conversation .

J.D. Pearring 0:30

Welcome to another podcast with Accel Leadership Network . This is the Leading Conversations podcast , and today we are very excited to have with us Josh

Josh Huseby 0:41

Usobi

J.D. Pearring 0:42

Is that right , usHabi ? Tell me , josh , what kind of name that is ?

Josh Huseby 0:50

It's a Norwegian name . So , yeah , my ancestors came over , I guess , from Norway to Minnesota , then to North Dakota and settled there and started farming and doing all the stuff .

J.D. Pearring 1:03

So yeah , and you are planting a church in Bismarck , North Dakota .

Josh Huseby 1:09

Bismarck , north Dakota , yep , capital of North Dakota , and we started back in 2020 , right in the middle of COVID , so it was a good time .

J.D. Pearring 1:18

Hey , sell us on North Dakota and or Bismarck . What does it have to offer North Dakota and ?

Josh Huseby 1:26

North Dakota is a great place to come , in the summertime . If you're going to visit , I'd recommend coming between July and August and the rest of the year no , we get four seasons , but our winters are a little bit brutal . I got to say that in the middle of winters we usually ask ourselves , my wife and I , why do we live here ? And we question that . But then we usually take a trip somewhere warm . But it's a great place to raise a family just some great people here . And we've lived here a good chunk of our lives and so we've grown to love it , even in spite of some of the weather challenges .

J.D. Pearring 2:06

So , other than the weather , it's great , huh .

Josh Huseby 2:08

Yeah , yeah , pretty much , I would say . And Bismarck's right kind of smack in the middle of the state or the capital city and right on the river , missouri River . So beautiful city , clean city , and I think it's the best in North Dakota . So that's my opinion . I'm a little bit biased , but we like it here .

J.D. Pearring 2:27

Well , great , well , hey , thanks for being with us . Tell us your story . How did you come to Christ ?

Josh Huseby 2:33

So I came to faith at a young age . I was probably around six or seven years old and my parents brought us to church every Sunday , and so we grew up in the church , grew up knowing about Jesus . I just remember praying with my dad . I said I understand eternity and I need Jesus . So he led me in prayer , my brother and I , that night . Then he passed away when I was nine .

Josh Huseby 3:02

That was a pretty major life event for me and I really at that point got angry with God and I said this is no good . Like what good is a God that loves me if he takes my dad ? I didn't understand . I had a lot of anger and so from I'd say , about age nine to about 20 , I was angry and I just was rebelling against God , didn't want anything to do with the church .

Josh Huseby 3:28

Um , throughout high school my mom made me go to youth group you know , still drug me to church , but I didn't want to be there . Um , I just had a lot to process and deal with . And so it was about when I was , I would say , about 20 years old , when I had just finally had enough running and I started attending a small church here in Bismarck . I was going to college here at the time and started attending this small church and just God was doing something in my heart and I was just tired of running , and so I finally just rededicated my life and I said , lord , I think you're calling me to ministry . I don't really know what this looks like , but I'm tired of running and been walking with him ever since .

J.D. Pearring 4:11

So yeah , so your recommitment and call to ministry were kind of at the same time .

Josh Huseby 4:18

They were yeah , and you know , god was healing some things in my heart , that again , my anger about my dad being gone , and I honestly sensed the calling . Since I was a kid , like since probably about the time I came to Christ . I remember , like to go back in time . I remember sitting there , the church we were attending . It was a small church and this guy was kind of from like a southern accent . We were over in England , my dad was Air Force , so we're in this , this military chapel , but the guy was from the deep South , I don't know Louisiana or something like that , and he was . He was preaching and he was kind of one of those guys who would wave the hanky and and yell a lot and sweat a lot . And he was .

Josh Huseby 5:00

I remember sitting there thinking this guy's nuts , like I would never do this . And in that moment I sensed the Holy Spirit saying one day you will . And I'm thinking , no , I won't , it's just like a little kid , you know , wanting to argue and fast forward . And now here I am , you know , preaching and leading a church , and so God obviously knew what he was doing . But yeah , that coming back to kind of return home to my relationship with God , that recommitment was also a decision to say I'm going to pursue ministry and pursue whatever God has for my life , because I had tried going off on my own , doing my own thing , and it just wasn't working . I was miserable and yeah .

J.D. Pearring 5:42

I need to ask do you preach with a handkerchief and sweat and have a southern accent when you're on stage ?

Josh Huseby 5:50

Probably all the opposite of those . No , I'm not sweaty and I don't have a hanky and I have a northern accent , as you can probably tell . But you know , it just was a kind of a cool moment I it was very much a marker in my memory . I can remember right where I was sitting all those years ago . God uses all different kinds . I didn't have to be just like him , even though in my mind I'm thinking this guy's just wild .

J.D. Pearring 6:20

What college was it In Bismarck ? Yeah ?

Josh Huseby 6:24

Bismarck yeah , bismarck State College . I did an automotive degree right out of high school and went to work in dealerships . I was wrenching on cars and kind of trying to forge my own path , even though I knew God wanted me to be in ministry . I was like , nah , I don't want to do that .

J.D. Pearring 6:41

Are you a car guy ?

Josh Huseby 6:43

I am a car guy . Are you a car guy ? I am a car guy and so that's part of my kind of my side hustle , or my I call it my garage therapy now . So I love ministry but obviously being able to get out in the garage work on vehicles . I've built a few motorcycles . I got a project . Right now I'm building a chopper , got a couple of project cars and probably too many projects , but you know it's fun . So you're a car guy and a chopper , got a couple of project cars and probably too many projects , but you know it's fun .

J.D. Pearring 7:07

So you're a car guy and a motor head .

Josh Huseby 7:10

Yeah , pretty much anything with an engine . But I've got a 68 Ford Fairlane . That's my project project and everything else is kind of just getting in the way of that one that's my main project .

J.D. Pearring 7:24

68 Ford Fairlight Is that a 289 in there ?

Josh Huseby 7:28

I have a 351 Cleveland in that one .

J.D. Pearring 7:31

351 Cleveland . Wow , I'm kind of a Ford guy . My grandfather would turn over his grave if he heard me say that I have a 66 Mustang . My first car was a Galaxy , but it was a 351 Windsor . You know , the weak little brother of the 351 Cleveland . We're probably boring anybody . I consider myself a car guy , but not a motorhead . I like cars , I know about them . I don't want to work on them . I retired from that in Denver . It was too cold .

Josh Huseby 8:17

Well , at that time . So I got out of high school , went to college for auto tech , did a two-year degree in that . Then that was about the time that I decided I was , you know , wanted to do this ministry thing and kind of get on God's plan for my life . So I enrolled at another university a hundred miles away as a music student , because I wanted to get a four-year degree so I could go to seminary . I needed a bachelor's degree so I could get my master's . There weren't any Bible colleges close by , so I just decided to do an undergrad in music .

Josh Huseby 8:48

Where was that that was in Minot . Okay , what school ? Minot State University .

J.D. Pearring 8:59

I don't . I don't know any of those . That's why I'm asking .

Josh Huseby 9:02

Surprise . Yeah , so I went to Minot state did a four year degree and while I was there I got hired at a local church as a worship pastor and so I started full time on staff while um kind of finished up my music degree . And then I started doing my master's while I was working there and finished , finished my master's and so I got a um master of arts in master's while I was working there and finished my master's and so I got a master of arts in worship studies and church planting .

J.D. Pearring 9:34

A master of arts in worship arts and church planting .

Josh Huseby 9:39

What's your instrument ? So for my undergrad I was a vocal major but I played percussion and I play a lot of other instruments guitar , you know , drums , just all this stuff . Kind of like most worship leaders , you got to be able to play a little bit of everything .

J.D. Pearring 9:51

So and church planting , so you took that at school .

Josh Huseby 9:55

Yeah , I was always fascinated by kind of the nuts and bolts of why churches work the way they work , and maybe that's part of my automotive background is I'm curious about , you know , the inner workings of things . And so I was fascinated by this idea of starting a new church and saying , okay , well , what are the structures and systems and what does leadership look like , and , you know , kind of challenging some of the ideas of the way we've always done things , and that

Church Planting Journey and Challenges

Josh Huseby 10:24

fascinated me . At the time I didn't know that God was calling me to be a church planter . I just kind of thought worship was going to be my thing forever . But obviously those classes paid off and all that study like it was very much helpful for where I am now .

J.D. Pearring 10:39

So so you went into ministry . You're a worship pastor a couple different places .

Josh Huseby 10:47

Yep , I was a worship pastor in Minot for about seven years . That was the church that hired me right out of college and then went down to Owasso , oklahoma , which is a bedroom community of Tulsa , and was down there for about five years at a multi-site church , yeah , and then ended up coming back to North Dakota to be closer to family , and that's about the time we got the call to plant and the time that I met you and I went out to the Discovery Center .

J.D. Pearring 11:18

Yeah , how did the call to plant occur ?

Josh Huseby 11:23

Well , that was a little bit more gradual , I feel , like my call to ministry . I very much knew clearly God was calling me to be in ministry . The call to plant specifically . You know , we were at a kind of a crossroads where it was like , all right , either God's moving us on to another worship ministry or to church planting and honestly , like I had a lot of doubt , I'm like I don't know if I'm a church planter , I don't know if I have the chops to do that or the skill set you know , and just kind of had in my mind that church planters were a certain kind of human that maybe I wasn't . And so we ended up coming out to I forget what church . If it was Mariners , it was somewhere .

J.D. Pearring 12:06

It was at Mariners . I'll never forget because I , if it was Mariners , it was somewhere . It was at Mariners I'll never forget because I think it was January . We usually do those around Martin Luther King weekend and it was like 70 degrees and sunny in SoCal and there were a couple of you clients from North and South Dakota and you were just amazed that the sun sun happens in January or uh and that campus is just so beautiful . It was like being in heaven for a couple of days .

Josh Huseby 12:37

It was , and you got to realize that we we lose the sun for a few months . So when we saw it it was a rare sighting in January to January to feel warmth , but it was a beautiful , beautiful time out there and yeah , so we went out to Mariners and met up with you guys and went through that process , the Discovery Center , and really for my wife and I we were just exploring Like what has got up to . We feel something kind of going on in our hearts and there's some conversations happening within our denomination about church planning . But are we specifically called ? And we didn't really know . So we went into that process kind of open-handed to just say let's see what these leaders obviously these are people who know church planning , who've planted a lot of churches and done a lot of ministry let's just entrust the Holy Spirit to speak through them to us . And so we went into that , just very much kind of ready , I guess , for either a green light or a red light or a yellow light , you know , not really knowing what it was going to be . And at the end of that we ended up getting a yellow light saying you know , we feel like you guys could be church planters , that we believe in you but you also have to decide if this is really what God's calling you to do . So it's kind of like , all right , we're going to still , you know , we still need to really seek the Lord on this . And so that's what we did .

Josh Huseby 14:01

And we took some steps . We moved from Minot to Bismarck to where our sending church , so we planted in Bismarck and our sending church is also in the same town and they were wanting to plant and we were looking for a church to kind of partner with . So we ended up just joining up and just saying , hey , let's take some steps , let's take some time and pray and just discern . And so it was kind of a gradual , I guess , revealing of God's will . And that was also about the time of COVID . You know we moved just here right before COVID , and so a lot of time to just take things slow . And now I don't have any doubt that God called us to be here and that he was guiding us all along the way . It was just more of a slow , gradual sense of discerning his call , I guess .

J.D. Pearring 14:51

So COVID actually happened in North Dakota . It did for about a month .

Josh Huseby 14:56

No , that was one of the times I was really glad to be in North Dakota , because there's so few people here that everyone's already socially distant without even really trying . You know a lot of rural , you know farms and people just spread out . But but no it did happen here . We ended up , you know , having restrictions , but I don't think it was near as restrictive as other parts of the country , so it was very nice to to kind of have that minimized . But yeah , we planted right in April of 2020 .

J.D. Pearring 15:30

Wow , well , how has it gone ?

Josh Huseby 15:33

It's been a ride . I tell people that church planting is the hardest thing I've ever done in ministry and it's also the most rewarding thing that I've ever done and I love it . I wouldn't trade it for anything , but it is difficult and there are days when it's a grind , but then you get to like witness God's working and things that I just have never seen before . So we share a lot of stories and we love to tell what God's up to , but it's going well . The church is growing and we're just seeing constant signs that God is expanding his kingdom here in Bismarck .

J.D. Pearring 16:12

Can you tell us one of those stories ?

Josh Huseby 16:16

Let's see . Yeah , I could tell you probably one of the more unusual stories . I mean I've got a lot of variety of kinds of stories , but one of the things that's I mean I've got a lot , a lot of variety of kinds of stories , but one of the things that's unique about us is we are right next door to a homeless shelter . So we're in a building , it's a warehouse , and right next door to us we have a homeless shelter . And since since the beginning , since we've started being in this space , we've always kept just an open , you know , posture to homeless folks coming to worship with us . We have free donuts and free coffee , and they know that , and so we're a popular place to be

Ministry Leadership and Coaching Insights

Josh Huseby 16:54

.

Josh Huseby 16:54

On Sunday morning and I'd say it was about a month ago we had a lady come up . She was from the shelter and she was sitting in the back of the worship service and I'd been preaching and I'd come back for , kind of the end of the sermon Band had gone up to lead a closing song . And she approached me during the closing song and taps me on the shoulder and she says will you pray for me ? And I said , sure , what's up ? And she said I've got demons all over me and I said , okay , well , just hold on . I said I need to go up and close the service and then I said we'll pray for you . And so we I went back up , dismissed the service , and then she came up and this woman's name is Pam , just a short little gal with brown hair , petite little thing . And she comes up and she says will you pray for me ? I've got these demons that are bothering me . And I reached out and grabbed another lady who does prison ministry to come and assist . And so we started talking with her and interacting with her and we kind of started with you know , do you know Jesus as your savior ? Do you have salvation in him ? Do you know Jesus as your savior ? Do you , do you have salvation in him ? And she went from like this crying kind of high pitched you know voice , this woman's natural voice , and her voice dropped about two or three octaves , immediately stopped crying and said she does not want to be saved . And , and Renee , this other lady and I we kind of looked at each other . We're like , okay , this is this other lady . And I kind of looked at each other , like OK , this is , this is interesting . And so we ended up having about a 20 minute conversation between the two of us and Pam , and also this spirit , this demon that was like , speaking to us through her , and we asked her . We said do you want to receive Jesus , do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit ? Do you want freedom from this oppression of these spirits ? And she said yes and she prayed to receive Christ on the spot . We prayed over her .

Josh Huseby 18:53

She disappeared for about two or three weeks and then all of a sudden , she showed back up and she was completely different . Her eyes were clear . She now is in attendance , like every week , and we do dialogue during our services , like during the sermon . I'll stop and we'll have some questions . She's answering questions and like she is completely different . Now she's still homeless , still has some struggles and we're trying to help her with some of that . But I mean , it was just wild . I'm like , OK , we had , you know , we've got and that's not the only demon possessed person we've had come through the doors and so that , yeah , that was an interesting one , and there's always something with with our homeless population . There's always some interesting things to deal with , but we love it .

J.D. Pearring 19:40

That's crazy . So if you need somebody to cast out demons , just call Josh .

Josh Huseby 19:47

I don't know if I'm a specialist in that , but you know , it's just a reminder that you know he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world , and we don't have to be afraid even though we're not , maybe , you know , super experienced in that area that we have the Holy Spirit and he's greater .

J.D. Pearring 20:05

So thank you for sharing that . That's a crazy , crazy story . I can't imagine being homeless in North Dakota . It's got to be freezing .

Josh Huseby 20:15

It is , and that the shelter next door I think their capacity is like 60 to 80 . And they run like closer to 200 in the wintertime People are sleeping on the floor and it's way over capacity . Because you can't . You can't really survive on the street . You know other parts of the country you can . You can lay outside on a sidewalk and sleep or in a park around here . You freeze to death . So there's not as many homeless people , but the ones that are here they definitely have to be in the shelter .

J.D. Pearring 20:46

Wow , they're the hardcore homeless Yikes . Well , hey , give us a leadership tip from the great Josh Huseby car guy , motorhead demon caster outer you know , there's probably a lot of things that would be good leadership tips or or principles .

Josh Huseby 21:16

I think the one that I that came to mind first when you asked me that was get a coach , have a coach . So all throughout my ministry years , whether I was a worship pastor or a church plant or whatever roles I've been in , I've always had a coach , and there've been a few seasons where I've gone like six months without it and I can feel like the edge start to dull . And so I currently have two coaches in my life and they're very different purposes . One is helping me with strategic kind of goal setting you know what's the next thing we need to to to push for as a church , and that's been super helpful . And then the other coach that I have is more of a soul care type of coach , and so we talk about processing the internals of what's going on in my heart .

Josh Huseby 22:03

What am I dealing with emotionally as a pastor and just as a , as a , as a person , and so having some kind of person to pour into your life who's a couple steps ahead of you , man , it's just such a healthy thing to do . And you know , in ministry we're lonely , we're isolated , and so it's easy to be kind of off by yourself and you just kind of either plateau in your development as a leader or you just feel alone . And so having somebody there to kind of pull you on and encourage you and just you know , link arms . Man , I wouldn't trade that for anything . So I'm a huge proponent of coaching and I was at one of the Accelerate events and you guys were talking about it and that's really where I was in a season at that point where I had been without a coach and then now I have one and I'm just so grateful and I'm grateful for the partnership too with Excel and just your guys's commitment to coaching as well . So that's my tip get a coach , have a coach .

J.D. Pearring 23:03

It's a great great tip are you coaching anybody yet ?

Josh Huseby 23:08

um , I am currently not . I was for a while when I was doing worship , leading like worship , you know stuff I had a few people that I was coaching . I'm not currently coaching anybody , but maybe in the future .

J.D. Pearring 23:21

Have you gone through Brian Berman's coaching training ? I have not . Okay , I think you would be phenomenal at being a coach . One of the prerequisites for being a good coach is somebody who understands the importance of it and leans into it . So if you are looking for a coach , you can check us out at accelnetworkorg . Or if you would like to become a coach , I know Brian is doing Brian Berman , our coaching coordinator . He's doing a couple of training days here fairly soon , but he does those regularly . So just check out Excel networkorg . Send us a note , we'll get you caught up with that , but I think that would be a really good next step for you when you're ready for that , josh , yeah .

Josh Huseby 24:11

I'd be glad to visit that that you know and talk about it so yeah Well .

J.D. Pearring 24:17

Hey well , right before we leave , it's um . You mentioned to me before this podcast that you're a big Minnesota Vikings fan . Is that normal in North Dakota ? Is that the team that they ?

Josh Huseby 24:29

Yeah , I'd say it's fairly normal . Most folks around here are either Minnesota Vikings or Green Bay Packer fans , and then there's you know kind of a smattering of other people who've kind of come from other places , whether it's you know , Cowboys or Chiefs or you know some other team . Mostly it's purple and green , and a couple of weeks ago we had that rivalry , you know , Vikings versus Packers , and so we had on Sunday morning , we had a meal after church and we had everybody wear their jerseys . So there was a lot of purple . We'll just say that and your team is doing well this year . They are , they're 5-0 . And everybody thought , I think , they had projected them to win six games for the whole season . So , being 5-0 right out of the gate , I'd say they kind of surprised some people , including myself .

J.D. Pearring 25:21

Well , congratulations . My team is on the opposite end of that . Well , hey , thank you so much for being on , thanks for what you're doing , thanks for just , you know , pushing things forward in North Dakota and giving us a little bit of insight onto that . So appreciate you , josh .

Josh Huseby 25:40

Yeah , for sure . So glad to be on here and just to be able to chat with you , JD .

None 26:37

Thanks for joining the Leading Conversations podcast . We hope that you found it both helpful and encouraging . At Excel Leadership Network , our focus is on the church planter rather than the church . If you'd like to find out more about us , visit our webpage at excelnetwork . org . Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes . See you next time with another leading conversation .