Saturday mornings are for sleeping in, right?

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Saturday mornings are for sleeping in, having a nice relaxing cup of coffee on the deck and easing into the weekend. At least that is my version of Saturday morning. Here at St. Joes, we have a group of men who do things differently. For the past 10 years or so they have gotten up early and met for coffee and prayer. If you happen to see Joe Zmikly, Steve Fox, Andy Clarke, Jonathan Forrest and a few other guys at a local coffee shop Saturday morning, they aren’t just having a casual cup of coffee together – they have an intentional agenda. They chat for about 45 minutes, then read the Sunday Scriptures and pray with them. They have also done book studies and as Andy said, “we challenge each other to enhcance our faith by attending retreats, doing service, and joining other groups, like Exodus 90 (pictured above).”  They are a small faith group and they lean on each other for prayer support, to help deepen each other’s faith, and to encourage one another to walk more intentionally with Christ.

When Joe was in college, he was invited by a friend to join a Protestant small group. These friends asked hard questions about the Catholic Church that he couldn’t answer, and they also ignited his faith in a way he had never experienced. When he and his wife Stacey got married, they moved to Baltimore and joined the Church of the Nativity (a dynamic, Catholic parish). The first Sunday they were there was “small group Sunday” and they jumped right in. They joined a couple’s group and had the same faith-deepening experience Joe had in college. Since they have moved back to St. Joes, they both have been involved in small groups, and find them essential to their faith.

Jonathan and Andy had a similar experience of joining a small group. They both entered the Church through RCIA and were anxious to stay involved in a small community experience like their RCIA group had provided. Jonathan, being an extrovert, went to everything that was offered. It was at a Bravehearts meeting that he heard Joe Zmikly talk about his small group and Jonathan was intrigued. After the meeting he introduced himself and Joe invited him to the Saturday morning group. The rest, as they say, is history. Andy, unlike Jonathan, is an introvert. Steve Fox, who Andy had met through RCIA, invited him to the Saturday morning group but it took Andy a year to finally go. It wasn’t until after his wife Holly joined a small group that he finally accepted Steve’s invitation. Andy and Holly used to joke that “the Catholic Church is perfect for introverts; you can attend Mass for a year and never really meet people.” But now they feel that “our small groups have given us an opportunity to make friends with the people in the pews.”

All these gentlemen feel their small group is an integral part of their faith journey. It is a place to learn and ask questions. As Joe says, “After I leave my small group, I feel like I can conquer the world because I know I am not alone. There are guys who are praying for me, have my back and don’t buy into the cultural rhetoric we are bombarded with everywhere.”

Are YOU ready to conquer the world? Stay tuned to learn how you can get involved in a small group here at St. Joe’s.