About Me
If we were sitting together with a warm (or iced) chai in hand, here’s what I might tell you about me — and more importantly, about you, and the truth I hope you discover about yourself.
(By the way, this picture — with the simple glass — reminds me of the best chai I ever had while traveling in India. Maybe it wasn’t just the chai, but the love, warmth and hospitality of the people I was with. Chai everywhere, all the time. Wonderful.)
I’m Bill. A free-range pastor, psychotherapist, husband, dad, grandpa, and depending on the day… an overly enthusiastic sourdough baker who sometimes gives away loaves to anyone around. (It’s a spiritual gift.)
But believe it or not, this page is really about you.
If you’re here, something in you might be hungry for:
more peace
more joy
more contentment
more clarity
more hope
more steadiness
more aliveness
more God
…and maybe a little less of the sadness, worry, anxiety, stress, or spiritual guilt and shame that have followed you around longer than you’d like.
I get that. Because I've lived all of it.
And I’ve spent the last four decades helping people untangle the very things they’re afraid to say out loud.
My Story
(And Why It Might Matter for You)
I grew up loving Jesus from the time I was little — I don’t ever remember not knowing Him.
I just knew He loved me, cared for me, understood me, was with me, and would help me through anything scary in my life at the time.
I knew Him through a church that loved me to Him. I know what church “done right” looks like.
Church became my sanctuary.
Youth group became my world.
(And by the way, my wife Janene was in that youth group. I loved Jesus, but church always felt a little better — and more special — when she was there.)
I loved God and church so much that I became a youth pastor, then a senior pastor, and eventually even an accidental hospital chaplain — because apparently God thought I needed more humility, more compassion, and more free hospital cafeteria food.
I also spent years as the director of a college counseling center, helping students navigate life and mental health.
The Hidden Story Beneath All That
Though I was often happy, laughed easily, and loved deeply, I also felt so sad a lot of the time — but I didn’t realize how much so.
That melancholy followed me like a shadow into adulthood.
When I was 30, I was diagnosed with clinical depression — the “can’t get out of bed… I don’t feel like myself… what’s wrong with me?” kind.
So I did everything a Christian “should” do:
tried to trust God more
prayed harder
read my Bible more
served more
tried to fix myself spiritually
And everything therapy told me to do:
individual therapy
group therapy
psychological testing
medication
day treatment
hours and hours with counselors and working on myself
I experienced incredible help and healing through therapy and self-help, but it took an awfully long time.
And one of the hardest parts was this:
I loved Jesus… but my faith didn’t seem to “fix” my depression.
It added a whole layer of guilt and shame I didn’t need.
Maybe you’ve felt that too — believing in God but still aching inside, wondering why faith hasn’t worked the way you hoped… or if you’re broken beyond repair… or missing something you should know.
I understand that more deeply than you know.
When Things Started To Shift
Over time — especially through my chaplaincy years — I met God in new ways:
in beauty
in grief
in progressive Christian voices
in mystics and spiritual formation teachers
in A Course in Miracles
in Scripture
in silence
and in the hospital rooms of the sick and dying
My faith didn’t fall apart — it deepened.
It widened.
It grew kinder.
It became more spacious.
And it became more honest.
These days, I’m simply learning to follow Jesus and His way — rediscovering the historical Jesus of the Gospels, cherishing the red letters, and learning to live the kind of life He said is possible right here, right now, — the Jesus Way, not just after we die.
So, I’m also here for those who are rethinking, deconstructing, reconstructing, renewing, or rebuilding their faith — because I’ve been there too, and God met me in that place with a faith refreshed.
A Shift That Began to Change Everything
But one of the single biggest shifts in my walk with God came in the last several years when I discovered the secrets to mental health from God’s point of view and design.
I discovered that God has built into us — from the beginning — a thing called “innate mental health” that no one had ever told me about.
It explained every reason for why I had ever — or ever would — struggle.
It explained why I often suffered so much and for so long with depression and worry — and that I didn’t have to anymore.
The Truth No One Told Me Growing Up in Church
And they should have!
God built into every one of us innate mental health.
That's the truth that is one of the missing pieces to basic Christian discipleship - how God made us perfectly psychologically. I want my grandkids to know this a lot sooner than I did!
Even when you feel depressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, you’re still more than okay because your innate mental health and well-being is still there "underneath" it all to be understood, experienced and enjoyed.
And understanding that it’s there — and how it works — can change everything.
Finding this truth keeps changing my life — my faith, my emotional world, and my understanding of God’s love.
And now I spend my days trying to help others wake up to it too.
Discovering this wasn’t about finding new techniques to feel better; it was about gaining a deeper glimpse into God’s love through how He made us — which has only increased my love for Him.
So Why Am I Here?
(And What Does This Have to Do With You?)
I want to help you find what I found — and to know God’s love even more by seeing what He already put inside you.
I want you to see and know that when it comes to God, your faith, your life, your identity, your purpose, and your mental health…
You are more than okay.
You don’t have to get mental health — you already have it.
You always have.
Someone just needed to tell you.
And I hope that can be me.
This is one of the missing pieces in learning how to come alive and live the life Jesus invites us to — right here, right now. (John 10:10)
Your job isn’t to “be better.”
It’s simply to see what’s already true.
My ministry is helping Christians grow deeper in God's love (Eph. 3:19), follow the Jesus Way and discover what God already placed within them — bringing soul and psyche back together again, letting spiritual formation and psychological insight work as friends, not enemies.
If you want to explore what that looks like, there are four ways to walk with me — you can find them on my main ABOUT page. And if you’d like to reflect on these ideas more deeply with me, my blog is where I hope to share more thoughts about faith, life, and mental health etc.
At the heart of it, I’m a pastor.
But maybe you could also say I’m:
one part pastor,
one part psychotherapist,
and one part fellow seeker and struggler
who has learned — sometimes the hard way — what God already built into our minds, our hearts, and the wholeness and health that’s been there all along.
Here’s What I Want You to Know Most
Whether you have:
struggled with sadness
wrestled with anxiety
spent years in therapy
questioned your faith
tried hard to be a “good Christian”
felt like something was missing
wondered what was wrong with you
felt like your emotions don’t match your beliefs
wrestled with spiritual guilt
questioned long-held beliefs
carried heaviness you couldn’t explain
or simply want to live more awake, more alive, and more connected to God, with more love, joy and peace of mind.
You’re in the right place.
I believe a fresh faith in God — and fresh insight into your God-given innate mental health — can change everything and affect every area of your life.
And I’d love to walk with you as you discover what’s already been true about you all along.
I hope some of this has helped to give you just a brief glimpse of who I am.
If you ever want to reach out, say hi, or share part of your story, you can email me anytime at:
bill@morethanokay.me
— Bill
A Few “Bill-ish” Things About Me
(For what it's worth... For curiosity sake...)
Grew up in St. Paul - East side pride! (By the way... The Bible talks a lot about St. Paul, but it never mentions Minneapolis!)
The 4 best days of my life - when I got married and when my 3 kids were born. (And everyday I get as another gift.)
Never met a cookie I didn’t like
Love racquetball but have been strongly encouraged to stop hitting people with the ball.
Depending on my mood and season of the year I bake sourdough and cardamom bread like a man possessed — preparing for the Great Flour Shortage
Still waiting for the Vikings to win a Super Bowl (please pray)
New favorite hobby: rucking — walking with a weighted pack because apparently my body needed a midlife plot twist
Newest joy - joining the worldwide "Unconditional Love Club" called grandparenting - with two granddaughters who are a joy”
I love preaching and teaching — speaking and presenting are some of my favorite ways to serve. I’ll be adding a page soon with more info.
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