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: Chad Torgerson
“I am neither Bill Gates nor William Shakespeare, but I can use what talent God has given me to good use,” says Chad Torgerson, who converted to Catholicism three years ago at the age of thirty. “God grants us each certain gifts; He gave me talents with technology and a passion for writing. I maintain my own server, website, and social media outlets, design my own graphics, do all of the writing, and began guest-blogging recently (including on the New Evangelizers blog).”
When it comes to moving forward in knowledge of the faith, Chad minces no words.
“Knowing your faith is almost an oxymoron,” he says. “Faith and reason, to many people, seem opposed to each other. Learning how faith and reason can coexist, and, in fact, must coexist, is the secret to a deeper faith. We cannot abandon reason for faith, or faith for reason. Reason has limits and needs faith to be expanded. Faith can be limitless but must be grounded through reason. Together, they help to foster growth and build spiritual maturity.”
Despite growing in spiritual maturity, Chad still identifies some of the key areas where his sharing of the faith could improve.
“It can be much easier to share our faith openly when hiding behind our computer keyboards, but the greatest evangelistic work is done face-to-face,” he says. “A computer screen can’t convey the love and emotion behind real faith sharing. Behind a keyboard, we can use a thesaurus, spell-check, and fancy graphics to dress up a message. In person, we are left with only our voices. In any given moment, we may struggle to find the right words, but if we rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance, He will tell us what to say.”
You can follow Chad online at www.WakingUpCatholic.com.
