In a state she says has drifted far from the moral footing she once knew, Holly Meissner is asking Minnesota’s Christian business owners to stop leaving their faith at the office door. The founder of the newly formed Minnesota Christian Chamber of Commerce says believers in the marketplace have too long accepted “the lie” that openly living out their faith at work will cost them customers, credibility, or revenue. Her answer, delivered on a recent episode of the podcast I Work for Him, was blunt: “I don’t think so.”

Meissner, who also runs the faith-based wellness clinic His Healing House, launched the chamber last October after what she describes as a year of prayerful hesitation following an initial invitation from Nina Carlson, vice president of the national U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. Carlson had been looking for someone in Minnesota to plant a local chapter. Meissner says she recognized the moment even as she resisted it. “I said, ‘Oh, I’ll pray on that,'” she recalled, “which really meant I knew I was supposed to, but I’ll pray on it for a little… hoping that God would just tell you no.”

A Clinic Built on Prayer

Meissner’s path to the chamber runs through her own business. After years spent walking her children through serious, at times life-threatening, health issues, she opened His Healing House, a wellness clinic whose name is a deliberate reference to Jesus. She initially planned to keep her faith understated in the business, she said, but clients seeking physical healing kept surfacing a deeper need. Asking permission before praying with clients — including those who identify as Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, atheist, or agnostic — became a defining practice. “Never has anybody told me no,” she said.

“We need to stop this lie that we need to keep our faith on Sunday morning and not bring it into the marketplace… We are in a different world, and people are hungry for the real and the truth.” Holly Meissner, Founder, Minnesota Christian Chamber of Commerce

That approach, she says, became the model for the chamber: bold faith paired with wisdom, aimed at building trust rather than alienating people who believe differently. “We can just have wisdom and bring our faith in entirely,” Meissner said. “I feel like that’s what I want to do in the chamber — empower people that you can run a business and be overtly faith-based.”

From the Sanctuary to the State Capitol

Much of Meissner’s message extends beyond individual companies. She is urging Christian business owners to step into public office — city council, school board, mayor, and higher — arguing that marketplace faith should translate into civic engagement. “We need to get Christian business owners, people following Jesus, to run for city council, to run for mayor… for lieutenant governor, attorney general, for governor,” she said, framing local leadership as the starting point for broader cultural change.

She points to Minnesota’s recent political turbulence as part of what convinced her the timing was right, describing the chamber’s October launch as coming just months before what she called a season in which “a lot of things came out in Minnesota.” Rather than discouraging business owners, she says the moment has clarified the stakes. “Christian business owners, we need to unite,” Meissner said. “But now I don’t have to tell them. They’re seeing for themselves, cuz if we don’t unite, we’re going to get buried.”

Businesses as “Small Churches”

Meissner frames the workplace itself as ministry territory. She describes business owners as pastors of their own “small church,” with employees serving as a mission field — a paradigm she says demands generosity, timely payment of bills, and consistent integrity, not just Sunday worship. “Do you know how many people have not surrendered their business to the Lord?” she said, adding that most believers, in her view, have been taught that business is “a necessary evil” rather than a calling.

Practically, the chamber operates through networking groups, prayer teams, and several events a month, aiming to connect Christian business owners so they can refer clients to one another, mentor newer entrepreneurs, and pray over one another’s companies. Meissner says the chamber’s early growth has outpaced her expectations, with one attendee describing a chamber gathering as feeling like “my people… this could be my church.”

Statewide Ambitions, Sabbath Boundaries

Looking ahead, Meissner says her goal is to double the number of local chapters by the end of the year, tailoring outreach to Minnesota’s distinct regional cultures, from the Iron Range to the Twin Cities metro to the state’s rural south. “Duluth is different than Minneapolis,” she said, describing a decentralized model meant to let chapters address the needs of their own communities rather than imposing a single statewide approach.

Balancing that expansion with family life, Meissner said, requires firm boundaries. She keeps Sunday as a Sabbath and does not work that day, a discipline she credits with protecting her marriage and children even as the chamber and her clinic both grow. “If we are not taking care of ourselves and our families first, we are no good to the places that we’re at,” she said.

Meissner was careful to frame her push for bold faith as distinct from confrontation. “We have wisdom and not be weird,” she said of engaging colleagues, clients, and vendors who hold different beliefs. Her stated aim for the chamber, and for Minnesota more broadly, is transformation she hopes will eventually be felt beyond the state’s borders. “I’ll take over Minnesota,” she said, “but then we will impact the nation.”