Journey Home

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 seriously consider the question of Christian authority, especially on questions of morality. Wade's realization that his own mother had chosen life for him despite challenging circumstances led him to dig deeper into the pro-life question; in the midst of that, he discovered the writings of Pope John Paul II, and realized there was a lot more to the Catholic Church than he'd realized.

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, and that the Catholic Church’s three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium was how Jesus had set things up to begin with.

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. Who had the right interpretation of Scripture? After two of their children became Catholic, Jeff and Lois began to explore the Church, eventually resigning ministry and receiving the Sacraments of Initiation.

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 years in ministry, as both a children’s and student pastor, Grant ended up coming home to the Catholic Church.

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 transcend the spirit of the age. This led him to discover the history and authority of the Catholic Church, and he knew that he had to come home.\