Journey Home
JonMarc Grodi and his guests discuss the personal obstacles, doctrinal objections, and the irresistible attraction to the Catholic Church, which was founded 2,000 years ago. The podcast explores the journeys of individuals who have converted to Catholicism, addressing the challenges and joys of their faith transitions.
Episodes
Fr. Samuel Keyes - Former Episcopal Priest
Fr. Samuel Keyes was raised Baptist in Mississippi, but became an Episcopalian as a young adult, going on to serve as a priest in Massachusetts, Alabama, and Maryland. His spiritual trajectory continued to lead him deeper on the questions of tradition, liturgy and authority, and he eventually became a Catholic and an ordained priest through the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
David Lach - Former New Age
David Lach grew up in a group called the Church Universal and Triumphant, a syncretistic form of Theosophy, which taught a sort of monotheistic spin on the idea of the God within.
Among other things, he began to realize that his community’s concept of Jesus as an ascended master did not match up with the Jesus he saw in the New Testament. He visited a Catholic Mass, and immediately felt like this
TJ Nielsen - Former Evangelical
TJ Nielsen grew up in a Christian household, and his interest in philosophy and history led him to Hillsdale College. While there, he began to reflect more deeply on what it meant to take his Christian faith seriously, and his encounter with serious Catholics impacted him in such a way that he eventually felt called home to the Catholic Church himself. He has since gone on to found the Center for
Amy McEntee - Former Church of the Brethren
Amy McEntee was raised in the Church of the Brethren, and as she grew older, began to experience Christianity in a number of different denominational contexts.
When she began attending the University of Dayton and meeting faithful and engaged Catholics, she began to discover the truth and beauty of the Church, and started taking steps to become a part of it.
Sam Nunnally - Former Protestant Minister
Sam Nunnally grew up in Charismatic, Methodist and non-denominational Christianity in the South, and his desire to learn more about the faith took him right to the edge of believing in the Real Presence from his own personal study of Scripture, without any thought that he was drawing specifically Catholic conclusions.
After graduating college, he kept feeling the pull to ministry, serving in you
Erika Bachiochi - Former Agnostic
Erika Bachiochi was not raised in a religious household, and her reaction to divorce in her family, as well as suicides among friends, led her to a dark place spiritually.
Seeking truth and meaning, she was befriended by pro-life intellectuals, who helped her see that life was meaningful, and faith could be reasonable. She came home to the Catholic Faith in 1997, and has been active in the Catho
Dr. Monique Ruberu - Former Nominal Catholic
Monique Ruberu was raised Catholic, but picked and chose what aspects of Catholicism she was going to prioritize. In 2012, her marriage began to experience crisis, and she knew she needed to take her faith much more seriously if her marriage was to survive.
That search led her on a deeper journey of love for the Eucharist, but also into a renewed understanding of the sanctity of life, and she beg
Chad Nelson - Former Pentecostal Preacher
Chad Nelson grew up Catholic, but his faith caught fire as a teenager when he encountered Pentecostalism, and he eventually became an ordained Pentecostal preacher.
Eventually, through studying history and scripture, he began to discover that many of the things he loved most about Pentecostalism — a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the power of miracles, and the reality of God working in power th
Jeromy Darling - Former Evangelical Worship Leader
Jeromy Darling was a deeply devoted Christian, who got into church planting and the house church movement through his dad’s pastoral ministry.
When that community completely collapsed, it caused Jeremy to ask some serious questions for the first time: what did early Christianity actually look like? What kind of communities did the apostles found? How did we get the Bible in the first place? The
Deacon Michael and Jean Nixon - Former Hare Krishnas
Deacon Michael Nixon had a deeply troubled home life, and after a few years of homelessness, joined the Hare Krishnas at 13 and started selling drugs on the side. When he met his wife, they began a journey of spiritual exploration together, and in the most unexpected fashion, found a home in the Catholic Church, entering with their very young children. One of them, Fr. Michael Nixon, was a guest o
Dr. Lisa Heerema - Former Christian Reformed Church
Dr. Lisa Heerema came from a Reformed Christian background, and became interested in the Catholic Church through history, liturgy, and the sacraments, but had many questions, including about the saints, and her background in Calvinism was a significant hurdle in understanding the Catholic perspective.
Attending a Coming Home Network retreat was key in helping her feel more at peace about her jou
Fr. Allan Phan - Former Buddhist
Fr. Allan Phan grew up in a family with Buddhist roots, but they sent him to Catholic school in Nebraska, where he began to flourish, and develop spiritual connections with all kinds of elements of the Catholic life, including and especially with St. Francis of Assisi.
Despite some objections from loved ones, he made the journey home to the Catholic Faith, and discerned a vocation to the priesth
Garrett Hines - Former Evangelical Missionary
Garrett Hines was raised in the non-instrumental Church of Christ, but had a renewed excitement for Evangelization through a nondenominational congregation, and became a missionary to Indonesia for a few years. That ended poorly, and shook his faith.
During COVID especially, he began to explore other ways to renew his Christian commitment, and became fascinated with the Catholic Church. He becam
Brenda Caster - Former Seventh-day Adventist
Brenda Caster was raised SDA, and even went to an Adventist boarding school. She rebellled a little in her teens, but ended up staying SDA, and eventually married a man who became an SDA elder. When she found a network of ex-SDA people trying to help people out of the church, it opened her eyes to a whole new way of looking at the world.
Brenda shopped around Protestant congregations, but was int
Patrick Correa - Former Atheist
Patrick Correa’s mom was Pentecostal, but his dad was an atheist. At age 15, after his brother’s suicide, Patrick decided he was an atheist as well. In 2004, at the age of 29, he hit rock bottom and had a born-again experience, going between different churches, and in the course of that, felt God strongly calling him to commit to RCIA at the Catholic parish his wife had been attending. His faith c
Steve Sjogren - Former Vineyard Pastor
Steve Sjogren had an encounter with Jesus as a young man that led him to become involved with the pioneers of the Vineyard movement, eventually planting one of the most successful Vineyard congregations in the country in Cincinnati.
However, a combination of burnout in ministry and dissatisfaction with whether or not he was doing Church the way Jesus intended led him to go deeper, and the more h
Matt Daniels - Former Baptist
Matt Daniels was raised Baptist, and his dad was a football coach, which meant he moved around a lot. When he was in college, his dad had a heart attack, and it forced him to lean on God and turn to prayer.
Around this same time, he was also studying in Rome, and while there, decided to try to pray the Rosary for the first time. It made a profound impact on him, and began to connect him with the
Shaun and Jessica McAfee - Former Evangelical Protestants
Shaun McAfee, contributor to Catholic Answers and the National Catholic Register, discusses how the experiences he had during his military service and the development of a relationship with a Catholic counselor played into his decision to join the Church.
His wife, Jessica, discusses how her own formation in Evangelicalism was challenged by the things she was discovering in Catholicism as well.
Deacon Stephen Nash
Deacon Stephen Nash was baptized Catholic, but several of the family members who had been anchors of faith in his life passed away when he was young.
There were sparks of faith along the way that caused him to pop in and out of Church occasionally, especially in college, when he became friends with a classmate at Princeton who was discerning the priesthood.
When he married his wife, he started
Dr. Marcus Peter/Lee Sondeno - Former Pentecostals
Lee Sondeno was a Pentecostal worship leader, and Dr. Marcus Peter was an evangelist and preacher in the Assemblies of God. They share the stories of how each of them became Catholic, and look at some of the main differences between Pentecostal and Catholic theology.
They also explore some of the key experiences and practices that Catholics and Pentecostals share in common, as a way of helping C
Ken Reiman - Former Atheist
Ken Reiman was raised without any formal religious background, although he was exposed to many traditions, especially Buddhism through spending summers with his grandmother in Japan. He gradually moved from atheism to agnosticism to deism, unsure of what religious tradition was true.
Once he felt drawn to Christianity, the questions about scripture and tradition that he asked led him to the Cath
Wade and Neena Gaynor - Former Methodists
Both Wade and Neena grew up strongly Christian, and at the same time that they were beginning their life together, Wade got a contract playing minor league baseball for the Detroit Tigers. Even in the midst of an intense travel schedule, they still made time to attend local Methodist churches when they could.
The struggle to find a solid church home while they were on the road led them to serious
Roger Maxson - Former Baptist Minister
Roger came from a Fundamentalist Christian background and went on to become a Baptist pastor. When cracks in his "sola Scriptura" foundation began to appear, it shook his faith, and he wondered if Christianity was true at all. Through the help of a friend who started walking him through apologetics, he began to realize that "sola Scriptura" was not the only framework for understanding Christianity
Jeff and Lois Heron - Former Wesleyan Ministers
Jeff and Lois were both raised in Christian households, and Lois’s parents were missionaries. They met at a Wesleyan school, and began ministering together while still attending college, eventually serving as a pastoring couple for 34 years. Growing questions about what was meant by “the Church” bothered them, as well as difficulty in resolving theological disputes within their own congregations.
Grant Adams - Former Evangelical Youth Minister
Grant had roots in both Baptist and Assemblies of God congregations, and went on to seminary to prepare for ministry. While there, he was introduced to the Church Fathers, who had a very different view of Baptism than the one he’d grown up with. Seeing that they treated it as a sacrament made him wonder if his view of Communion was also out of step with historic Christianity. After serving seven y
Gary Morgan - Former Cowboy Church Pastor
A committed Christian who followed a call to Baptist ministry, Gary’s life took a dramatic and unexpected turn when he was invited to help develop a network of Cowboy Churches in Texas. He flourished in this role, and it grew rapidly. However, the chaos of COVID, combined with partisan political infighting in his congregations, led him to seek an anchor in a theological tradition that could transc
Vijaya Bodach - Former Methodist and Agnostic
Vijaya was baptized in a Methodist church and raised Anglican in India, but some painful experiences in her youth led her to mistrust God as Father, and she stopped praying in her teens. She went on to become a scientist, and abandoned religion altogether for years. After 9/11, she and her American husband began to read Bible stories to their children, but didn’t know which church to go back to. T
Rebekah Cohen Morris - Former Evangelical Protestant
Rebekah had Judaism in her background, but was raised in a fundamentalist form of Pentecostalism that she rebelled against strongly, going deep into a world of regrettable life decisions. Through God’s providence and some key relationships, she began to come back to faith, and was surprised to find, after her initial Christian conversion, that her true spiritual home was in the Catholic Church. Sh
Jennifer Wood - Former Lutheran
Jennifer Wood’s desire to serve the Lord led her to pursue formation in a Lutheran seminary. It was in her ongoing research and study that she began to realize that there was a deeper and more faithful form of Christianity, and that had its most definitive expression in the Catholic Church. Her desire to work in evangelization and discipleship led her to get involved with Spiritus Ministries, form
Jeff Hutson - Former Pentecostal
Jeff’s family was Episcopalian, but early in his childhood, his mom started taking him to a Pentecostal church, which caused a lot of confusion for him over the years. Seeking some spiritual stability, he later began to explore the Lutheran church, but that opened new doors for him of history, liturgy and sacramentality, and eventually led him home to the Catholic Faith
Ken Oliver-Mendez - Former Presbyterian
Ken Oliver-Mendez came from a Presbyterian background, attending both Cedarville College and Covenant College. His experience of faith formation and journalism gave him a broad view of the many different expressions of Christianity, but in the midst of all of them, he realized that his true spiritual home was in the Catholic Church. He currently brings his faith and his professional experience tog
Chris Kellam - Former Evangelical Protestant
When a friend said he was becoming Catholic, Chris began to explore this foreign Christianity and fell in love with the Church, fully entering with his wife at Easter Vigil 2021.
Gerard Figurelli - Former Baptist Pastor
After 34 years as an Evangelical pastor, Gerard began to dig deeper into issues dividing Protestants and Catholics, realizing it was time to return to the Faith of his childhood.
The Journey Home: Dr. Terry and Renee Wortz - Former Pentecostal Missionaries
Terry and Renee grew up in the Assemblies of God, and avoided some anti-Catholic prejudices because of the Catholics they met in charismatic ecumenical gatherings. Terry went into medicine, and in his 40’s, he and his wife felt a call to become overseas medical missionaries.
After years of service, Renee’s illness led them to have to come back to the states, where Terry began working in a Cathol
Jennifer Bryson - Former Agnostic
Jennifer was raised Christian, but by middle school had decided that religion was a stupid thing for stupid people. As an exchange student in Austria, she began to be intrigued by Catholic culture, but still saw it as outdated and superstitious.
While studying Marxism in East Germany at Karl Marx University, it gave her a realization she needed to have a better grounding in philosophy, which led
David and Roseanna White - Former Baptists
David and Roseanna White came from a strong Baptist faith, and Roseanna began a successful career writing Christian historical fiction, with David founding a publishing house. Fascinated by CS Lewis and his description of Christianity as a house with different denominational rooms, Roseanna decided to search out which “room” she belonged in.
The more she and David researched it, the more they re
Eben Emerson - Former Church of Christ Minister
Eben Emerson, a former Church of Christ minister and missionary, was originally on The Journey Home in 2011.
In the decade and a half since that, Eben has some powerful insights to share about common mistakes new converts make, many of which are lessons he himself learned the hard way.
Eben's experience is hopefully a great encouragement to those of you who are new Catholics, and trying to take
Susan Sucher - Former Pentecostal
Although raised Methodist, Susan Sucher began attending an Assemblies of God youth group in her teens, which is where her faith really took off. As she and her husband were discerning marriage, they were also processing together some of the inconsistencies they’d been noticing in Pentecostal theology, particularly when it came to the Lord’s Supper.
She decided to explore the Catholic Church, and
Shane Page - Former Methodist Pastor
Shane Page was raised in a United Methodist family in North Carolina, and went on to become an elder and a pastor in a congregation there, serving 18 years in church leadership.
He didn’t grow up with any experience of Catholicism, and had almost no knowledge of it, but his desire to be as fully formed as possible in his faith led him to dive headfirst into questions of history, liturgy, and eve
Heidi Hess Saxton - Former Protestant Church Musician
Heidi had a strong faith life, and went to Azusa Pacific hoping to do some kind of ministry. She was leading music at a Baptist church and preparing for a mission trip to Europe when her pastor announced he was becoming Catholic.
This threw everything into question for her, and she began to wonder, if God was calling someone she deeply respected into the Catholic Church, what might that mean for
Michael Garcia - Former United Pentecostal Pastor
Michael Garcia was baptized Catholic, but wandered a bit as a young man. When his brother got involved with a Oneness Pentecostal community, Michael was intrigued, and after exploring it, felt that this was the kind of community God was calling him to. He quickly began to sense a call to ministry, serving in a couple of different United Pentecostal congregations along the way.
However, when Mich
Bishop Earl Fernandes -Lifelong Catholic
It has been a longstanding tradition in the Coming Home Network, which is located in the Diocese of Columbus, to invite the sitting bishop to share his story on The Journey Home -- even if he's not technically a convert!
In the case of Bishop Earl Fernandes, there is a lot of story to tell -- from his immigrant parents' faithful handing on of the Catholic Faith, to his vocation to the priesthood,
Deacon Matt Halbach - Catholic Revert
Deacon Matt Halbach grew up Catholic but wasn’t very well formed. As a young man, he began to struggle with depression and anxiety, and was even thinking of suicide at one point.
In the midst of that, a coworker began to share his Catholic faith, and invited Matt back to Mass. Finally, he agreed to go, and went back to Confession. Everything changed for him from there, and he had a major convers
Joshua & Teresa Mangels - Former Assemblies of God Ministers
After beginning a personal relationship with Jesus as a teenager, Joshua Mangels felt a call to ministry and eventually became an Assemblies of God pastor.
As he studied the Church Fathers, he discovered a sacramental worldview that was completely new to him, and he had to know more. Initially, he and his wife hesitated to dig deeper for fear of risking their ministry.
However as Joshua began
Bishop James Conley - Former Baptist and Presbyterian
Bishop James Conley was raised Presbyterian, and studied Applied Humanities at Kansas University in the 1970’s, falling in love with the Great Books. That led him to become Catholic his junior year of college.
He traveled Europe for a bit after that, considering a monastic vocation, before following a call to diocesan priesthood, and eventually becoming an ordained bishop. He has since become in
Fr. Michael Nixon - Former Hare Krishna
Fr. Michael Nixon was born in Hawaii to parents who were Hare Krishnas. When he was in elementary school, his whole family became Catholic, which was a radical change for him.
He began the process of discovery of the Catholic faith among fellow Catholics his age who had known all this stuff from birth, and that perspective as a child discovering Catholicism in the context of his family’s convers
Fr. Scott Wooten - Former Episcopal Priest
Fr. Scott Wooten grew up firmly Anglican, but attended Catholic school. As he continued toward ordination as an Episcopal priest, he persisted in the belief that the Anglican, Orthodox, and Roman churches were all legitimate branches of the true Catholic Church, so he didn’t feel that there was ever any need for him to become a “Roman” Catholic; he considered his form of Anglicanism to be legitima
Dr. Matthew Wiseman
Dr. Matthew Wiseman was raised with strong Baptist roots, and even as a young child, he was constantly reading and studying the Bible. His family attended progressively smaller churches, and even a house church, determined to live the Scriptures as faithfully as possible. Their ongoing study of the Old Testament story led his family toward the Hebrew Roots Movement, a form of Messianic Christianit
Rhonda Gruenewald - Former Agnostic
Rhonda Gruenewald fell in love with the Church through her husband, and went on to found Vocation Ministry, which equips diocese to promote and nurture religious vocations.
Dr. Michael Root - Former Lutheran
After working on ecumenism initiatives as a Lutheran, Dr. Michael Root’s convictions led him to Catholicism in 2010 where he continues to be an important voice of Christian unity.
Dr. Matthew Levering - Former Quaker
Matthew Levering found himself developing something resembling a Christian worldview through reading Dostoevsky and Walker Percy. This foundation led him to the Catholic Church.
Keith and Tami Kiser - Former Presbyterians
While studying for ministry as a pastor, Keith Kiser and his wife met Scott Hahn in a Bible study. Shortly after they became Catholic and now lead youth ministry and family camps.
Fr. Brad Elliot, O.P. - Former Lutheran
Fr. Brad Elliott was raised Lutheran, and pursued formation in music, finding success as a jazz drummer.
Feeling compelled by beauty and truth to enter the Catholic Church in 2002, he continued to play drums professionally for a number of years, before feeling a call to pursue a religious vocation.
In his discernment process, he felt God calling him specifically to the Dominican Order, where h
Rae-Mi Leroy - Former Buddhist
Rae-Mi LeRoy was baptized Catholic, but never went to church. She had no experience with any particular faith until college, when she studied world religions and became interested in Buddhism.
From there, she became fascinated with Yoga and went on to work as an instructor, but still felt something was missing spiritually, and so she left a career in Hollywood to move to the Arizona desert to co
Eddie Trask - Catholic Revert, Former Evangelical Protestant
Eddie Trask was raised Catholic, but by college, had fallen away from his faith. When he came back to Christianity, it was through Evangelical and non-denominational congregations, and it was through meeting his wife and going through some significant family struggles together that things really began to turn around.
As they began to grow together in faith, they realized they needed a firmer fou
Christopher O'Keefe - Former Mennonite Pastor
Christopher O’Keefe's faith journey led him to give his life to God in service, working in prison ministry, and eventually becoming an ordained pastor in the Mennonite tradition.
However, his desire to find a solid and stable apostolic authority, as well as a doctrine that would not change to accommodate cultural norms, led him to find a home in the Catholic Church. He entered into full communio
Justine Callis - Former Evangelical Protestant
Justine Callis was raised in a Christian home, and became a successful gymnast. Her athletic pursuits led her to Arizona, where she plugged into an Evangelical megachurch and her faith began to grow. She also worked in Evangelical campus ministry at Arizona State, where she was coaching.
When she met Catholics who were on fire for their faith, it shocked her; she’d thought Catholicism was a “dea
Mike Iversen - Former Evangelical Youth Minister
Mike Iversen came from an Evangelical background, and after getting degrees in English and Earth Science, he felt called to bring his skills to youth ministry, going on to get an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Seminary. During his studies, he also spent many years working with Young Life.
His study of apologetics, Church history, and more helped him realize the need for a solid authority in a worl
Fr. Andrew Crabtree - Former Evangelical Protestant
Fr. Andrew Crabtree grew up Baptist, but got involved in more nondenominational congregations as a young man. He began touring as a Christian musician, having radio success with his band "Calling Glory." His experience of playing concerts in different denominations got him thinking about the divisions in Christianity, and he began to long for Christian unity.
While studying at a Wesleyan univers
Fr. Scott Woods - Former Evangelical Protestant
Fr. Scott Woods’ family wasn’t Catholic, but because they sent him to Catholic school, he developed some strong associations with Catholicism, and especially the priesthood. He began telling everyone that he wanted to be a priest, even though he wasn’t yet a Catholic.
He began attending daily Mass in high school, and his parents, seeing that he was so serious, allowed him to enter the Catholic C
Rhonda Ortiz - Former Evangelical Protestant
Rhonda Ortiz had roots in Evangelical experience, including some in Pentecostalism, but a search for a Christian home during her college years led her to begin exploring the Catholic Faith.
Her love for and study of the “Great Books” of history helped further point her toward Catholic ideas, and meeting her husband, who was going through the same kind of awakening of faith, was a crucial step in
Ashley Stinnett - Former Evangelical Protestant
Ashley Stinnett attended numerous Evangelical congregations growing up, and even explored RCIA in the early 2000’s before dropping out due to family medical reasons.
His wife was the daughter of a Protestant minister, and when COVID hit, it caused them both to completely re-evaluate questions about authority and Christian unity, and the purpose of worship. They began to see the Eucharist as the
Lucas Koach - Former Anglican Priest
Lucas Koach came to faith as a teenager through Young Life, and pursued a call to ministry, entering Denver Seminary. That trajectory eventually led him to the Anglican Church of North America, where he served as an ordained priest for several years.
Drawn by Catholic Social Teaching, a desire for Christian unity, and the thought of St. John Henry Newman, Lucas eventually became convicted of the
Tsh Oxenreider - Former Evangelical and Anglican
Tsh Oxenreider was raised Evangelical, and even felt called to do missionary work, but her desire to grow deeper in her faith began to lead her toward liturgy and the sacraments, which she began exploring through the Anglican tradition.
However, she still felt as though God was calling her to deeper roots, and the more she prayed and discerned her way through her questions, the more she felt tha
Philip Seeberg - Convert From Judaism
Phillip Seeberg grew up in a Reformed Jewish household, but stopped attending synagogue after his Bar Mitzvah.
In college, he met some Christians who were handing out New Testaments, and he began to read the story of Jesus.
Powerfully moved by what he read, he became a Christian, and joined InterVarsity Fellowship, but the divisions between denominations led him to seek the historical roots o
Debbie Capen
Debbie Capen came from a Catholic family, but was not well-formed in her faith. An unplanned pregnancy in college, followed by an abortion, led to a dark turn in her life.
Searching for answers, she began to pray the Our Father, the only prayer she remembered from her Catholic childhood. That opened a door for her to make a slow and steady return to the sacraments, beginning with Confession.
D
Dr. Justus Hunter - Former Free Methodist
Justus Hunter’s dad was a Methodist pastor, and he himself decided to pursue academic study in theology, attending Asbury College and Seminary, where he encountered Church history in a way that made him want to learn more about the world of the early Christians.
After getting a doctorate from Southern Methodist University, he went on to teach theology at the seminary level, and it was during thi
Sr. John Dominic Rasmussen, O.P. - Formerly Secular
Sr. John Dominic Rasmussen, O.P., grew up in Nashville, and her dad worked in the country music industry. Though not always serious about questions of faith, it was while she was in high school that she felt called to enter the Catholic Church, and began to discern a vocation to religious life.
She would go on to help found the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, a teaching order
Dr. Brian Duncan - Former Baptist Minister
Dr. Brian Duncan graduated high school early and went straight into Baptist ministry training. On fire for Jesus, he was constantly seeking deeper resources to help him teach the faith, which led him to discover the Church Fathers.
Teaching from them caused problems in his independent Baptist congregation, so he spent a little time in a Reformed Baptist church, which also didn’t work out.
Disi
Amanda Martin - Former Episcopalian
Amanda Martin came from a strong Christian background, and her husband became an Episcopalian priest. Not coming from a liturgical or sacramental Christian experience, she experienced significant opposition from family who thought she was making a huge mistake and overcomplicating Christianity with rituals and external piety.
She shares some of the ways she prayed and discerned through that proc
Fr. Doug Martin - Former Episcopal Priest
Fr. Doug Martin grew up in a Godly United Methodist family, but didn’t start taking a call to ministry seriously until college, where exposure to various Christian traditions led him to research Church history.
At that time, he became Episcopalian, and eventually was ordained an Episcopal priest. After realizing the need for a stronger way of understanding of Christian authority, he gravitated t
Deacon Lee Ashton - Former Evangelical and Episcopalian
Deacon Lee Ashton was raised Episcopalian, but when he joined the military, he felt a disconnection from that faith tradition, and began to search for a new Christian community.
For 27 years, he got involved in Evangelical congregations, having some great experiences with them along the way. However, he began to realize that different churches were preaching differently on different passages, an
Pro-Life Roundtable With Dr. John Bruchalski and Kerstin Pakka
Dr. John Bruchalski of Divine Mercy Care and Kerstin Pakka of Project Rachel in the Diocese of Toledo share the stories of how they came from believing in a right to abortion, to having a radical encounter with the forgiveness of Christ that has since empowered each of them to work to build a culture of life and promote access to the kind of care that leads others like themselves to heal from the
Deacon Lester Loh - Former Agnostic
Deacon Lester Loh came from a Presbyterian family, but by early childhood was already completely tuned out of anything related to faith. Over the years, a couple of his siblings became Catholic, which caught his attention, but he didn’t take it too seriously.
He ended up dating ad eventually marrying a Catholic, observing her faith from afar until eventually he began to feel convicted to take th
Reza Akhtar - Former Muslim and Anglican
Reza Akhtar was raised Muslim in Canada, but was not particularly observant. At a private elementary school, he became exposed to basic Protestant Christianity, but it was in college that he began to explore it more deeply.
He married a Catholic, but wasn’t quite ready to make the full leap into the Church, so he spent a few years in an Anglican congregation, before he felt God calling him home
Taylor Kemp - Former Pro Soccer Player
Taylor Kemp was baptized Catholic, but early in his life, soccer effectively became his religion, taking up not only all his time on Sundays, as well as all his attention and affection. The more success he found, the more inadequate he felt, realizing that he had made himself and his soccer skills the measure of everything.
By the time he had become a professional player in the MLS with DC Unite
Luke Nelson, Jr. - Former Wesleyan Pastor
As the son of a pastor, Luke Nelson grew up surrounded by people of deep faith. Following his own call to ministry, he attended Bible college and served for 25 years in the Wesleyan Church.
There were several issues that began to trouble him, but among them was the question of the Lord’s Supper. In his Wesleyan/Methodist tradition, it was considered important, but he couldn’t articulate all the a
Dino Remedios - Catholic Revert
Dino Remedios grew up nominally Catholic, absorbing much of what he knew about the faith from the Filipino culture he came from.
In his teenage years, he began to drift more into relativistic lines of thought, becoming a practical agnostic. Over time, however, he found that the answers offered by materialism were dissatisfying, and through a discovery process that involved philosophy, beauty, an
Joe Ward - Former Calvinist
Joe Ward was adopted from foster care in New York, and attended a number of different churches growing up, including Presbyterian, Methodist and Mennonite congregations. In his college years, he became extremely interested in Calvinist theology, and explored it deeply while also doing work with InterVarsity Fellowship.
After graduating, Joe went on to teach music, and became part of the worship
Seth and Julianne Burkholder
Seth and Julianne met each other in small town Ohio, and even though Seth was raised Catholic, that took a bit of a back seat as he focused all his attention on using his skills as a kicker to try and break into the NFL.
They eventually ended up in a Presbyterian congregation together, but they began to struggle with the question of how they should approach receiving communion in the various chu
