Gents Weekly: Faith

Issue #11: The manliest newsletter on the internet • March 23, 2026

Mar 23, 2026

Welcome to issue #11 of The Gents Weekly, a newsletter for the modern man.

Every Monday, you’ll receive a weekly roundup of inspiring ideas + products to help you become a better man.

Brought to you by the men of Gents Journey — Dean Bokhari, Stephen Seidel, and Matt McManus.

Let’s dig in…

The first ever Gents Journey Men’s Challenge starts today, March 23, 2026

What it is: The Gents Journey “20/20” fitness challenge.
How it works: Do 20 pushups OR take a 20-minute walk every day for 7 days.
How to participate:
- Each day for the next 7 days, get a quick selfie pic or video of yourself doing 20 pushups or a 20-minute walk
- Then, post it in the Gents Journey Chat for accountability. Not for us—for you. To prove to yourself that you can follow through
Join for a chance to win a free annual membership to Gents Journey:
- If you join the challenge, and complete all 7 days, you’ll be automatically entered to win a free annual subscription to Gents Journey ($197 value).
- If you’re already a paid member, you’ll have a chance to win an extra year for free.
- Winner will be announced in next week’s issue of the Gents Weekly.
To get started, visit our chat (which is free) below. Introduce yourself, and drop your selfie pic or video of yourself doing the challenge. (If you’re walking, we don’t need a 20-minute video of that (lol). Just post a pic or clip of yourself in action.)

Join Gents Journey’s subscriber chat

Available in the Substack app and on web

To use the browser chat instead, go here

📝 THE MESSAGE

A timely piece from the gents.
↓

The Power of Faith

This week’s issue of the Gents Weekly is on FAITH.

Faith is not passive. It’s not wishful thinking either. And it certainly isn’t about sitting back and hoping life somehow works itself out.

Real faith—especially for men like you and me—is about strength under pressure.

It’s the ability to keep moving when the road ahead is unclear. It’s trusting that your effort matters, your pain is not pointless, and that your life has meaning even when things don’t always make sense.

Every man gets tested.

Work will test you. Marriage will test you. Fatherhood will test you. Your own mind will test you.

And if all you have to stand on is your mood, your motivation, or your circumstances, you’ll fall apart the moment things go wrong.

Faith gives a man something deep to lean on.

It reminds him that setbacks are not the end. That delays are not denial. That hard seasons don’t automatically mean he is on the wrong path.

Too many men wait until they feel ready.

They wait to lead.

They wait to take action.

They wait to make the hard call, have the honest conversation, or go after the bigger life they know they were made for.

But faith does not wait for perfect conditions.

Faith MOVES. A man with faith takes bold action.

So whatever you’re working on (or working through) right now, it helps to have the power of faith on your side.

A strong sense of faith says: I do not need to see the whole staircase to take the next step. I know who I am. I know what matters. And I’ll continue showing up.

That’s what real faith looks like.

The kind of faith that helps a man stay steady when life gets heavy.

The kind that keeps him from panicking when money gets tight.

The kind that helps him face rejection without losing himself.

The kind that gives him the strength to carry responsibility instead of running from it.

Faith doesn’t remove your struggles. But you better believe it gives you the strength to endure it.

And maybe that’s what men need more than ever right now…

The faith to endure.

When the rest of the world is telling you to be less assertive, less of a man—YOU do the opposite.

Be more assertive. Be more of a man. And do it with faith…

Whether that faith means you’re leaning on a higher power, or whether it means you’re leaning on your own…

Move with faith.

Faith in God. Faith in the universe. Faith in yourself.

Because when a man has faith, he can make anything happen.

Try this tomorrow morning: Before you check your phone, say this out loud: “Today, I will act in faith, not fear.” Then back it up by taking one hard action you’ve been avoiding.

— Dean Bokhari
Co-founder, Gents Journey

📰 THE MOMENT

Sh*t that’s happening now, ICYMI
↓

This Week’s AI Prompt: Faith

What do you believe in when life tests you?

Faith is a loaded word. For some guys, it’s God. For others, it’s the universe, or karma, or just the belief that things work out if you keep showing up. For some, it’s nothing at all—just grit and the refusal to quit.

Whatever it is for you, this isn’t about converting anyone or proving anything. It’s about figuring out what you actually lean on when life gets hard. What keeps you standing when logic says quit. What whispers “keep going” when everything else is screaming “give up.”

Most of us have never stopped to define what that is. We just know it’s there. And when we lose touch with it, we feel lost.

This prompt helps you name it, understand it, and reconnect with it.

THE PROMPT:

Copy everything below and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude:

I want to figure out what I actually have faith in. Not what I think I should believe, but what I genuinely rely on when things get hard.

Help me:

1. Define what faith means to me
   - Is it God? The universe? Myself? Other people? Something I can't name?
   - When life gets hard, what do I come back to?
   - What beliefs have carried me through the worst moments of my life?

2. Identify where my faith has been tested
   - What moments made me question everything I believed?
   - What did I learn about my faith (or lack of it) during those times?
   - Did my faith grow stronger, or did it change into something else?

3. Figure out what I'm putting faith in that I shouldn't be
   - Am I relying on things that let me down (money, success, control, other people's approval)?
   - What false gods am I serving?
   - What do I need to stop putting my faith in?

4. Build a practice around my faith
   - How do I stay connected to what I believe in?
   - Prayer? Meditation? Journaling? Time in nature? Conversations with people I trust?
   - What does a daily practice of faith look like for me?

5. Give me one action this week to strengthen my faith
   - What's one thing I can do to reconnect with what I believe in?
   - How do I show up as someone who has faith, not just someone who talks about it?

Here's what I think I believe in: [Describe your beliefs—religious, spiritual, or otherwise]

Here's when my faith was tested: [Share a hard moment]

Be honest. Help me see what I actually rely on vs. what I pretend to believe.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The AI is going to push you to define what you actually believe in—not what you inherited, not what sounds good, but what you genuinely lean on when everything else crumbles.

By the end, you’ll have:

Clarity on what faith means to you
A practice to stay connected to it
One action to take this week

WHY THIS MATTERS

Faith isn’t certainty. It’s not having all the answers. It’s not pretending you’ve got it figured out.

Faith is what keeps you moving forward when you can’t see the path. It’s what you hold onto when everything else slips away. It’s the thing that whispers “you’re going to be okay” when your brain is screaming otherwise.

You don’t have to be religious. You don’t have to be spiritual. You don’t have to believe in anything outside yourself.

But you do have to know what you believe in. Because when life knocks you down—and it will—that belief is what gets you back up.

Run this prompt. Define your faith. Live it.

Drop one thing you have faith in below. Let’s talk about it.

— Matt McManus
Co-founder, Gents Journey

👊 THE MOVES

Media for men.
↓

Watch | You Only Have 2 Things To Worry About

Be sure to subscribe to our Gents Journey YouTube channel.

(Watch the video above first.)

The message is simple:

If you’re healthy, you have nothing to worry about.
If you’re sick, you either get better or you don’t.

And if you don’t… you’re out of things to worry about anyway.

Stop worrying about things that are out of your control.

It sounds almost too simple, but that’s the point.

The Back Row

For me, this hit home fast.

I remember coming home for my sister’s birthday, and my mother said, Tom is sick. He was my stepfather who helped raise me, as my parents were divorced.

I thought he had a cold, but it was cancer. And less than 6 months later, he passed.

During that time, I tried to control everything.
Thoughts. Feelings. Emotions. Appointments. You name it.

Like if I just prayed harder… planned more… worried enough… I could somehow change the outcome, but I couldn’t.

After he passed, I felt the grief and regret of never calling him “Dad.”

Growing up, we had a tradition of watching the Philadelphia Eagles every Sunday, and my favorite player was Fred Barnett.

The day I flew out for his funeral, I was carrying it all — grief, anger, confusion.

I walked to the back of the plane… and there he was in the last row — the Fred Barnett.

I approached him and, through tears, shared the story of my stepfather, Thomas F. Isett II.

Call it a coincidence. But in that moment, it felt like something more.

Like faith finding me in the back row — exactly when I needed it most.

Fly High

That moment reminded me of something I was fighting the whole time:

Not everything is meant to be controlled.
And not everything needs to be understood.

That’s what faith is.

Not having all the answers.
Not having everything figured out.

But believing in something greater than ourselves. However, that shows up for you.

Trusting that even when life doesn’t go your way, it’s happening for a reason.
Trusting that the heartache you’re carrying doesn’t have to be carried by yourself.

Because the alternative is exhausting — spending your life worrying about things you were never in control of to begin with.

Here’s a question to consider welcoming back into your life from our Journey Deck: What brings you peace?

The past has already shaped you.
The future will come how it’s meant to.

Let go. Trust the process. And Have Faith.

Because when we do, we realize something powerful:

We were never meant to control everything… only to rise higher.

Fly high.

— Stephen Seidel
Co-founder, Gents Journey

PS: Here’s one of the greatest NFL plays I’ve ever seen, featuring Freddie himself.

🔗 MEANINGFUL MENTIONS + MAGIC LINKS

Fun stuff you’ll dig about our theme of the week.

↓

💻 REAL MEN HAVE A COACH IN THEIR CORNER

Stop playing small, step into the man you know you are.
_

We’re looking for ten men who want coaching and guidance to level up in life + work. If that’s you, fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch.

Until next week,
—The Gents

Inspired? Share this newsletter with another Gent you think it could help.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?