This past Saturday, several good friends and I ran a race called the Tough Mudder. We had a lot of fun, worked hard, and got muddy. Afterward, I realized that this race makes an excellent analogy for what the beginnings of many new ministries feel like. Initially it’s scary seeing the course that has been laid […]
How fun would it be that on youth nights we could break out St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and have a deep theological discussion with anyone and everyone in our youth group, because they’d already have an awesome foundation in what we believe? Okay. So my friends tell me I’m a dreamer, but what a […]
Thanks for joining me, Matt, on this series for men. We’ve come a long way and here we are at the conclusion. To recap, we started off talking about the ways men are attacked. We are fed lies from the Devil and grow burdened with our fears and our sins. In response to this, we must […]
Thanks for joining us for Part 3 of our series for men. In Part 1, we talked about how the world we live in is hurting. Depression, alcoholism, pornography… the list goes on and it’s obvious to see there is an attack on men in this world. Last week in Part 2, we discussed how the […]
Welcome back to our series for men. I encourage you to share this with the men at your parish, your brothers in Christ, and anyone God has placed in your life who you think would benefit from this series. Last week, we talked about how the world we live in is hurting. Depression, alcoholism, pornography… the […]
This post is the first part of a series dedicated to the men. Through this series, I want to speak to the fathers, sons, and brothers out there on becoming a man of prayer. Wherever you are in your ministry experience, this is for you. We all have room to grow. My name is Matt […]
A young man who did not have a left arm wanted to compete in martial arts. He found a teacher to train him, but the teacher only taught him one move. Other competitors would learn many more, and the young man just knew he was going to lose in an upcoming competition. As it turns out, he won not only […]
I’ve read a lot about strengths and weaknesses. Arguments go back and forth about which we should focus on. However, I’ve experienced that sometimes you find yourself in a position that requires certain skills regardless of whether they even are your strengths or weaknesses. The job of the minister is one such position. Over the […]
Ministry is almost as much preparation and planning as it is getting out of the way and letting God work. We must learn how to get out of the way of what God is trying to do in the lives of the youth and volunteers. I have to allow growth, progress, and His plan to take shape. It’s not my ministry, but His.
In a phone conversation with Mary Sharon Moore, an interviewer with Called and Gifted, the concept of living on the green growing edge came up. This was a gifts interview, an attempt to further discern particular charisms, certain supernatural graces, that an individual might have. At this point in the conversation we were discussing the […]