Journey Home

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 he looked into the riches of the Catholic Faith, the more he realized that everything he was trying to invent in his churches had been there in a fuller sense in the Catholic Church all along.

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 spiritual riches of the Catholic Faith. He went on to become a coach and a teacher himself, and is now Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

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. They also discuss the unique ways they’ve been able to share their gifts in the Church since becoming Catholic.

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 Catholics to have more fruitful conversations about the Church with their Pentecostal loved ones.

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 Catholic Church. He was eventually baptized in Beijing. He shares how his experience working as a U.S. diplomat has been shaped by his faith journey.