One of the most popular aspects of my book The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid were the many sidebars about New Evangelizers in Action, stories of everyday Catholics doing their best to know, live, and share their faith. The original plan was for an entire bonus chapter of New Evangelizers, but unfortunately the page count exceeded the plan for the printers.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to share this great bonus content from The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid. Enjoy!

New Evangelizers in Action: Teresa Tomeo

“My entire apostolate/ministry is hopefully an effort to help promote the New Evangelization,” says popular radio host and writer Teresa Tomeo.  “It is what I love and what I do 24/7 (when I am not sleeping of course).”

So what drives this desire to focus on the New Evangelization?

“I think Pope Benedict is truly a prophet for our times and knows why this is so needed right now,” Teresa says. “We have an incredible opportunity to evangelize as well as re-evangelize and it has never been more needed.  I just hope that more Catholics will discover the treasures of the faith and take time to study it more closely.”

To help in this effort of educating others, Teresa explores multiple methods of delivering the message.  “I run a full time media apostolate (Teresa Tomeo Communications LLC), host a national talk show, write books about the faith, media influence, and women’s issues, and speak regularly around the country on these issues as well.  I am also active in social media with blogging as well as maintaining Facebook pages.  My company also has a public relations arm that works with Catholic apostolate in helping them with their own evangelization efforts.”

Like others who work to spread the Gospel, Teresa understands the need to continually be educated herself.  “My biggest challenge in knwing my faith is keeping up on all of the great writings and teachings in the Church,” says Teresa.  “There is so much depth and beauty but not enough time to absorb it all but I keep trying.”

It also helps to be able to identify her own shortcomings when it comes to living out the faith, which includes trying to be patient with the un-churched.  “We are living in dark times right now and I know we are all on a very unique journey but I want so many people to know Jesus and recognize the gift of the Church,” she says.  “But then I have to remember that I can only change myself so it is always back to square one. It’s a good lesson to look back at my own many failings and remember that I was there once too.”

Baptized into the faith, but having left it for fifteen years, Teresa’s own reversion to Catholicism only acts to heighten her own desire to share the faith with others.

“You can’t have a discussion or even try to witness if people are not open to the truth and so many people deny what is right in front of their noses and they live literally in an alternative universe or reality denying facts and staying in their own comfortable place,” says Teresa.  “The truth of Church teaching is so clear in terms of what we see in society when we don’t follow the natural law.  Just look at the fallout from abortion and STD’s.  When we don’t follow God’s plan things fall apart but people often refuse to look at this.”

You can find Teresa’s books and other resources online at www.teresatomeo.com.

One of the most popular aspects of my book The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid were the many sidebars about New Evangelizers in Action, stories of everyday Catholics doing their best to know, live, and share their faith. The original plan was for an entire bonus chapter of New Evangelizers, but unfortunately the page count exceeded the plan for the printers.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to share this great bonus content from The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid. Enjoy!

New Evangelizers in Action: Tim Drake

“I encountered Christ in the Catholic faith through Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration,” says Tim Drake, a convert from Lutheranism who now works as a Catholic journalist, radio host, and author. “Once I had that encounter, and understood the Catholic understanding of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, there was no turning back.”

And though there’s no turning back, Tim acknowledges the myriad of potential difficulties along the road to heaven.

“I suspect that, as with most people, the biggest challenges to living my faith are my own shortcomings, failings, weaknesses, and sin,” says Tim.  “My own selfishness is what prevents me from the grace that Christ and His Church so desperately want to share with me. There is a tremendous need for spiritual directors and spiritual direction so that those of us stuck at a particular place in our faith journey might be able to advance.”

While Tim’s own parish in the Diocese of St. Cloud in Minnesota offers multiple opportunities for Tim to continue in his own faith development, the overall emphasis on using new tools to share the Good News is still very much in early stages.  “My parish is active in the New Evangelization primarily through the programs it offers, such as dynamic parish Bible studies and educational offerings for adults and confirmation students,” says Tim. “The parish website is quite rudimentary, however, and neither the parish nor the pastor utilize social media. The Diocese has embraced some social media to engage in the New Evangelization, but is at the beginning stages. There is much more that both the parish and the diocese could be doing in this regard.”

When asked what more could be done to speed up and further these efforts, Tim identifies an all too common problem for evangelization efforts within the Church. “Funding certainly is a roadblock both at the parish and diocesan level,” Tim explains. “Both could be doing far more with technology and social media, but simply do not have a dedicated person or the funding to be as active as they might.”

Even still, Tim sees great promise in the future of New Evangelization.  “I hope that it will be an opportunity for all the faithful to grow in their knowledge, love, and practice of the faith,” Says Tim.  “Faith is a gift, but one that is meant to be shared. Christ told the apostles to ‘Go out to all the nations and baptize them.’ We are facing a time when ignorance of, and hostility toward, the Church are extraordinary. I would like to see the lay faithful of the Church use this opportunity to not only grow in their own faith, but to spread that to family members, friends, co-workers, and strangers so that more may come to know Christ and His Church.”

So how is Tim growing in his own faith himself?

“As British journalist and convert G.K. Chesterton once said, ‘The Church is much bigger on the inside than it is from the outside,'” quotes Tim.  “Being Catholic is realizing just how much you don’t know, and admitting that you’ll never be able to learn everything there is to know about the Church. There’s much that is a mystery. As Catholics, we need to be comfortable with mystery.”

You can read years worth of articles from Tim Drake at the National Catholic Register’s website at www.ncregister.com.

One of the most popular aspects of my book The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid were the many sidebars about New Evangelizers in Action, stories of everyday Catholics doing their best to know, live, and share their faith. The original plan was for an entire bonus chapter of New Evangelizers, but unfortunately the page count exceeded the plan for the printers.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to share this great bonus content from The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid. Enjoy!

New Evangelizers in Action: Bravehearts Men’s Ministry

Since 2007, Bravehearts Catholic Men’s Ministry out of St. Joseph’s Parish in Lake Orion, Michigan has helped men in their faith lives in multiple ways.  By bringing in local and national Catholic speakers to help inspire and challenge men to live their Catholic faith and following up these gatherings by forming small men’s groups, Bravehearts men build the confidence needed to talk about faith.

“I have considered myself Catholic all my life although due to my ignorance and poor catechesis I fell away from the Church in my 20’s and 30’s,” says Scott Gordon, chairman of Bravehearts.  “Then I had a profound spiritual experience in my mid 30’s that I attribute to the 24-hour Perpetual Adoration chapel at our parish as well as a small men’s group I attended.”

These two things combined changed Scott’s life for the better.  “I was compelled to learn and get more involved in every aspect of my faith and to this day am still amazed at how ignorant and stupid I was when I was younger. Because of this spiritual experience I have engrossed myself in aspects of evangelization in both my personal life and parish life.”

Andy Gardner, Braveheart’s vice-chairman, has experienced similiar blessings by spending time in prayer and adoration, but the desire to be a new evangelizer still requires work to overcome the roadblocks.

“There is such a richness to our Catholic faith that is also so intimidating at times,” says Andy.  “Where do you start?!? To some it’s not knowing which version of a Bible to get, what the heck is in this 3” thick Catechism, how do I say a Rosary if I even wanted too!?!?”

For Andy, and other men in Bravehearts, inspiration usually comes from others experiencing life in much the same way as they do.  “Just hearing other men talk about living their faith is educational at times,” Andy explains.  “The other way we’ve overcome this challenge is sitting in silence in our perpetual Adoration Chapel at St. Joe’s. We have a Bravehearts hour on Tuesday mornings at 5:00am, and there is always a portion of that hour spent in silence to learn from God. Nothing could be easier than just sitting and listening.”

“We believe prayer and worship is one of the most important aspects to this ministry,” Scott adds. “We encourage a strong prayer life with emphasis on prayer and adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. We pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our men’s ministry to help all men of all faiths come to a better knowledge of the truth which is Christ Himself and His Holy Church.”

Both men believe the time spent in prayer, study, and fellowship will yield great results for the Church.

“Evangelization basically boils down to truth,” says Scott.  “Through my research of history, scripture and common sense I am completely convinced that all truth, all love and all grace exists first and in its entirety within the Catholic Church. And if we fail to evangelize and defend the truth that defines us we risk losing our identity as Catholic Christians.”

“No doubt there are problems in the world,” Andy says.  “But tell me how Evangelization won’t help fix poverty, crime, abortion, pornography, war, or any other of the problems in our world. Evangelization will bring more people to want to fix these issues either in their own lives or in the world. Evangelization is the answer to any problem in our world today, and as more and more people come to a deeper faith in Christ, they will begin attacking these problems.”

You can learn more about Bravehearts at www.BraveheartsMen.org.

Dan Gonzalez is the brainiac behind the New Evangelizers logo for the apostolate my wife and I started and Jennifer still runs.  He helped design the current look and feel of Rosary Army, That Catholic Show, The Catholics Next Door and all the other ministries operating out of our basement.

He’s amazing.  I’ve offered him a job, but he doesn’t want to leave Miami.  Can’t really blame him.

He recently developed and launched an amazing iPad app called Mass Explained.  It’s one of the most gorgeous apps I’ve ever seen.

Again, I offered him a job for a reason.

We met Dan in person a few years ago when my wife and I were speaking at the Eucharistic Congress in Atlanta (I’ll be speaking there again in June, by the way).  Dan had a booth next to ours for his Agnus Gift Shop t-shirt company.

Now, you’ve got to understand something about t-shirts at the Eucharistic Congress.

The first year we went to the Congress was in 2003 and we had our own booth for our Rosary Army apostolate.  Despite being a relatively new ministry, we sold Rosary Army t-shirts (and people loved them).  In subsequent years, as the Congress swelled to 30,000 attendees annually, we sold shirts in different colors but with the same design, and each year people bought them.

But over time, more and more t-shirt companies popped up in the exhibitor’s area until the market was over-saturated and we quit selling our shirts.   Even worse, all the Catholic shirts looked the same.

And then we met Dan in 2009 and were blown away by his creativity and the incredible designs of his shirts that he created all by himself.  His booth was providentially located right next to the Rosary Army table and he generously gave all of our kids shirts with a LEGO Pope image he created.   They absolutely loved them and in the past 5 years have pretty much worn them out.

Again…did I mention I keep offering the guy a job?

Well, again, this was 2009 when he gave us those shirts, and one kid in our family was barely out of the womb.

So imagine our surprise when last week a box showed up at our door and it was packed to the rim not only with new LEGO Pope shirts for the boys who have considerably grown over the years, but it also had shirts with Dan’s brand new design based on the coat of arms of Pope Francis.

And on top of that, the newest edition to our family also got a surprise and several new Catholic t-shirts of her very own, including her own LEGO Pope t-shirt with room still left to grow.

So major thanks to Dan for his enormous generosity.  And if you are a retailer or looking for a cool fundraiser for your youth group, make sure to check out Dan’s fundraising kit where you can get a bunch of the shirts and sell them to support your Church group.  It’s a great opportunity and better than a bake sale.

And seriously, Dan, want to come work for me? 🙂

I know what this is going to be, but I’m not going to tell you just yet.

Can you guess what this is going to be?  Post your answer in the comments below and I’ll send something cool to the first person to guess correctly before I upload the next updated picture.  Better hurry.  I’m making progress…

I started this painting a few weeks ago and finally finished it yesterday. My oldest son, Sam, asked me what I’m going to call it and I had no idea. I asked folks on Facebook for suggestions for a name and there were a ton of great ideas. Post your suggestions for a name in the comments below! Also, I’m not sure what to do with this. I’ve never sold any of my works and I feel kind of weird even thinking of doing that. Anyone have experience selling or auctioning off something like this?

Jennifer and I will be speaking together in Amarillo, Texas on Saturday, February 22, 2014 at St. Thomas the Apostle’s 7th Annual Retreat (Both men and women welcome!).

I’ll be speaking solo at the San Antonio Catholic Men’s Conference on March 7-8, 2014.

Click the links above for details. Hope to see you there!