If you have attended a Sunday gathering at the Midtown location the past month, chances are you had a cup of coffee. Whether you knew it or not, you connected with JT Engberg. JT is a medical student and in his “spare” time, he roasts his own coffee. Midtown is his newest customer. JT has been a part of the Citylight Family since 2020 and currently is a member of Citylight Mosaic. So how does a medical student get into coffee? JT thrives on detail and roasting his own coffee gives this to him. He likes to know what to expect and not just with coffee, but also with life and his faith and future. From a young age, JT thrived knowing what to expect and the study of logic and objective truth. A few years ago, his faith was affirmed by logic and objective truth revealed to him through community and the Bible. He found out that God is only about that.
“Growing up, I never had doubts about God,” JT shared. “I experienced a lot of growth in youth group and memorizing verses was my thing. I would say that I probably was trying to impress people back then in AWANA with the verse memorizing. I definitely liked people knowing how smart I was and I wasn’t as focused on learning about God as I should have been.”
In college at Kearney, JT met some incredible spiritual mentors that offered clear and logical direction and pointed him to God. It was one of the first times he felt his life was completely immersed in Christianity.
“There were guys like my friends Adam, Arick and Aaron who were cool and intentional,” JT described. “They made me realize you can be well-rounded and still trust in God. Being an analytical person, not emotional, I tended to be more separated. I became a person who is a Christian all the time instead of some of the time. Those guys were instrumental and became close friends. They showed me that their faith defines everything they do and are. It was so incorporated in their life. My faith just grew in college.”
After Kearney, JT moved to Omaha for medical school. He joined a medical fraternity and quickly heard about Citylight. He appreciated the Bible teaching at Citylight. However, with his schedule, it was difficult to get into community.
“I went to the Midtown location regularly for the first two years of medical school but just never got involved with a small group or anything,” JT said. “My friend Shaker invited me to Mosaic in late 2022. I went to Mosaic a few times and then left for the rural rotation. When I came back, I got plugged in there.”
During this time, JT began to wrestle with questions he didn’t have answers to. The surgery rotation schedule he was in was grueling and tough. With long days and nights, he was surrounded by relentless cold and analytical thinking which brought on anxiety. A close friend who was not a believer and a fellow scientist began to ask JT “why do you believe in God?”
“I was surrounded with a lot of unbelieving and smart people and not enough time, and I hit a big wall during that rotation,” JT confessed. “The intensity of actual death and real life around me. Understanding these people who are dying and how real it was. I didn’t have any doubts in life or in God, but the questions started to hit me hard. I believed but had anxiety attacks. I wanted to search for answers. I started to do apologetics wondering if this could be helpful. For me at that moment, I needed reassurance. I reached out to my parents. I tried my best to read. I listened to William Lane Craig. I wasn’t going to the Bible, I just wanted reassurance from people. It was nice hearing a lot of smart people explain how they were still able to have the faith. I got to hear smart people talk about the faith. I talked to my pastors at Mosaic and friends, and it was helpful.”
“Also, I wanted to know, from a scientific standpoint, why do I believe in God and if I can’t explain this scientifically, that’s a problem. One thing I learned is that coming to a conclusion on the reasonableness of believing in God isn’t based on the outspoken conclusions of many very intelligent scientists. It’s a very complicated topic that would require an impossible amount of study in many fields of science, history, philosophy, religion, and theology, and there would still be questions after all of that. There are many people who are very intelligent and well regarded in their fields who ultimately believe in God and have a relationship with Jesus, and realizing that made me feel less alone and anxious in my belief. And second, it's community too. I relearned that if I don’t stay on top of my faith, it’s easy to spiral. If I don’t think about God for an entire week, that’s not good.”
Finding objective and logical truth to answer the questions that were in JT’s mind but also to answer the questions he was hearing form his colleagues was pivotal in JT’s faith. God provided all the details and fulfilled expectations troubling JT’s heart and mind.
So how does coffee fit into JT’s story of answers and truth? Back when JT was in college, his friend Aaron, being a “coffee snob,” introduced JT to “real” coffee and the world of roasting. His other friend Adam took coffee to another level by introducing JT to roasting his own. What seemed like a fun idea at first, has taught new perspective and has given JT answers.
“Believe it or not this whole thing has taught me deeper things,” JT admitted. “I am learning definitely the value of time, the cost of my time verses the return, and problem solving and the talent of juggling a lot of things at once. I see more what is worth the time and what is not worth it. I’ve never made money with my coffee, but that’s not important right now.”
Looking ahead and after medical school and residency, JT’s dream is to go out to rural Nebraska to do family medicine.
“That’s my mission field,” JT admitted. “Rural Nebraska is underserved in terms of medicine. They need me and I am excited to fill the need. I am excited to be an all-encompassing health provider to the community. To have more control over my practice, to choose the things I like doing, and to spend time with patients. I also dream about regularly going down to South America for medical missions. I speak Spanish.”
JT is already contracted with a doctor in Grant, Nebraska and will start there when his residency is completed. JT concluded with:
“I was really impressed with the doctor who taught me on that family medicine rotation, the other doctors and staff, and the whole facility, and I really look forward to working there. I’ll bring my coffee and roaster too. We’ll have free coffee at my clinic.”
So the next time you are at the Midtown location, try JT’s coffee before you gather with the church for worship. Consider the detail that went behind roasting and preparing it. May it be a reminder that God is behind all the details and providing direction and truth for all circumstances.
For more information on JT's coffee, visit meadowmountaincoffee.square.site and on Instagram @meadowmountaincoffee
Such a beautiful story and thank you for sharing! Because I have spent my life in rural NE, I felt compelled to write and also because I know your mother through a 3-yr Bible study at church. She is so proud of you! As a mother and grandmother to adult children and grandchildren, I know this to be true. Rural NE will welcome you and love you! You have wisely chosen a good community in Grant and much success awaits you. Many challenges await also. Many prayers from friends and family will support you and God will lead you. Blessings.