Till Christ be formed in every heart.
after Galatians 4:19
Parish missions, retreats, and staff formation that turn a busy parish into one that makes disciples.
Most parishes are built to maintain, and many pastors feel it.
The calendar fills with sacraments, programs, and meetings, so the staff runs hard just to keep the doors open. Meanwhile many Catholics in the pews have never heard the Gospel proclaimed clearly, and they have never been given a real chance to respond to it.
A parish in this position does not need another event that comes and goes. It needs an event that fits into its own life and leaves something behind, such as small groups that keep meeting after the weekend.
That is how a parish moves from maintenance to mission, which here means a parish that makes disciples on its own, week after week.
I have sat in the staff meeting, and I know how hard this work is.
I worked in parish ministry from 2005 to 2023, including ten years in youth ministry and seven years leading adult faith formation, before joining Paradisus Dei as a Mission Evangelist, where I lead parish missions and retreats and support That Man Is You!, its program for men. Along the way I have trained more than twenty parish staffs in evangelization.
I host the podcast Every Knee Shall Bow with Ascension Press, co-host Catching Foxes, which has passed eight million downloads, and contributed video teaching to Ascension's OCIA program, Invited. I also teach theology and philosophy at Campion Academy, a classical Catholic school.
Read the full story and download photosThree steps from a first conversation to a parish on mission.
Start a conversation.
Write to me about your parish, what you already have going, and what you hope will change. We will talk through the options and settle on dates and a budget that fit.
Build on what you already do.
I place each event inside your parish's own life, so it serves your existing groups and their calendar. A men's conference, for example, can kick off the season for your men's groups. I call this missional continuity.
Send your people out.
Every event ends with a clear next step for your people: a small group to join, an initiative to start, a date on the calendar. We plan that step together before I arrive, so the fruit outlasts the weekend.
Conferences and Events
I give keynotes at large conferences for youth, adults, men, and couples. I also give single talks at events within driving distance, such as Magnify at St. Mary's Catholic Center in College Station.
Ask about datesWeekend Retreats
I lead weekend retreats built around whatever theme your group needs. A weekend away gives people time to hear the Gospel and decide how they will respond.
Ask about datesParish Missions
My three-day parish mission proclaims the Gospel to people who have put up barriers to God's love. It closes by launching small groups or an evangelization initiative.
Ask about datesStaff Formation
I lead retreats for parish staffs, training days for Catholic schools and diocesan school staffs, and training for missionary ministries. The most effective form is an off-site day with the pastor and staff: we pray, we eat together, and we ask hard questions about the parish calendar, such as what needs to stop so that the Gospel stays at the center.
Ask about datesTheology of the Body
I teach St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body as a one-hour talk, a day-long workshop, or a week-long seminar, and I have given it to adults, parish staffs, clergy, high school and college students, marriage enrichment groups, and parents. Many Catholics know the Church's conclusions on sexual morality but were never given the reasons, and this teaching supplies them. Free audio from a past TOB Week is on SoundCloud.
Ask about datesOnline Coaching
When travel is not practical, I coach parish and school staffs by video, with the same formation in evangelization and discipleship that I give in person.
Ask about datesCourses I Developed
Courses I wrote for parish adult faith formation, and I teach each one myself.
- InclusionAn OCIA track for well-formed, baptized Protestants becoming Catholic
- Catholic Evangelization 101
- The Way of ChristThe Catholic moral life
- Start HereShort series on prayer, Scripture, and the liturgy
- Theology of the Body Seminar
Two podcasts, two registers.
One teaches Catholics how to share their faith. The other is two friends arguing about faith and culture. Both are free wherever you get podcasts.
Every Knee Shall Bow
A Catholic evangelization podcast. Each episode gives five weekly steps for sharing the faith with family, friends, coworkers, and strangers, and shares stories of conversion.
Catching Foxes
Two guys talking about the collision of faith and culture, with discussion over instruction. More than eight million downloads, and occasionally explicit.
I build each talk around your event's theme and your people, so most of what I give is written for the occasion. Here are a few recent ones.
Go Home and Live as Missionary Disciples
This commissioning talk sends men home with one concrete next step for leading their families in faith.
Receptivity
Mary as the perfect model of discipleship
My Soul Magnifies the Lord
Holiness and the reversal of the world's logic
That ONE Thing
This parish mission on repentance grew out of Sherry Weddell's Forming Intentional Disciples and a conversation with a Greek Orthodox priest who admitted that he rarely preached repentance. I realized that I never had either. The first talk confronts the false images of God the Father that people carry, including what we call Catholic guilt. The second asks one question: what is the one thing, whether a sin, a wound, a label, or a fear, that keeps you from God? Pastors tell me confessions go deeper after that night. The third talk covers how to stay free of that one thing and how to get involved in the parish. It runs as a three-day parish mission, a weekend retreat for high school students, or a one-day retreat for those entering the Church.
Evangelization, Scripture, apologetics, the Theology of the Body, men's formation, and the intellectual life.
Tell me about your eventThree places to start.
I have written here since 2010 on evangelization, parish life, Scripture, and the moral life. These three give a fair sample. The Apologetics page gathers the articles that answer the questions Protestants and skeptics ask most.
Formed By Distraction
Eliot described men pulled off one thing by a second and off the second by a third, so that their minds never come to rest. We now carry what he described in our pockets. What kind of man is endless distraction forming?
Why Protestants are Becoming Catholic at my Parish
"The Catholic Church is historical, they tell me. Their churches change every six months, depending on what book or conference their pastor is currently investing in."
Why You Need Your Men's Group
"Good answers start with a solid question. The question we need to ask is, 'What is the problem towards which men's ministries are the solution?'"
Read all articlesI do not charge per talk, only for my time.
Because the Gospel should be freely given, I set my fee by the time an event requires, and I work within your budget. Online video coaching is available for staffs anywhere.
A good mission should still be bearing fruit a year later. When the Gospel is proclaimed and people have a way to respond, parishioners begin to pray and meet in small groups, and some begin inviting others. Without that follow-through, even a moving weekend fades. So every event I lead ends with a next step for your people, and I plan that step with you before I arrive.
Tell me about your parish or event below, or write to gomer@layevangelist.com.