May 3 eUpdate

-- May 3, 2010 Dear brothers and sisters, Happy May! I hope you are having a great start to your week. We at ChristLife have a number of updates to share with you... Pictures from our Discovering Christ Conference We're just coming "up for air" from the deluge of work surrounding the April 15-16 Discovering Christ Training Conference! It was a superb time of growing closer to the Lord Jesus, meeting new people passionate about making disciples, and learning how to run the Discovering Christ course. Check out our photo album for more on the conference. Video of Msgr Luca on Discovering Christ Msgr Luca's parish is now running their second consecutive Discovering Christ course for parishioners and friends of parishioners. In the video he speaks of how he invited his parish to Discovering Christ and his remarks on the course's effectiveness: "For me, that issue of how do you engage Catholics - more than the regular 35 or 40 that generally show up for any offering you may have - in a process that really changes them and makes a difference for the parish community - the answer to that for me, has been Discovering Christ." Msgr. Joseph Luca, Pastor, St. Louis Parish, Clarksville, MD Young Adults Evangelizing this Summer About 20 young adults from last summer's Discovering Christ course, have gone through ChristLife's pilot course of Following Christ, and just last night completed Sharing Christ. Wow, it has been an amazing ride, with so much spiritual growth and building of community! This summer our plan (and fervent prayer to the Lord) is to present Discovering Christ for other young adults (unchurched, nominally practicing, etc.) at a bar or restaurant in the Ellicott City, MD area. Our desire is to meet our contemporaries out there in the world and bring the life-changing message of the Gospel to them. Right now, we are praying and looking for a location to present the course. If you know the managers or owners of any good places, contact Pete at pete@christlife.org or 410.531.7701. Discovering Christ courses around the nation As of this spring, since our first pilot course of Discovering Christ in 2007, we are happy to announce that nearly 1200 people have gone through 16 Discovering Christ courses in six states! Awesome and such a privilege to be involved in a course that is changing lives. Here are a few recent testimonies from a course at St. Louis just last month: “I realized in a more profound way that God loves me so very much and I am able to finally forgive myself for years of sin and distance from my God.” “I realized that it is not only important to be close to God, but also the church community and others who want to know the Lord better.” As a result of the November and April conferences, several courses are running right now or about to begin: St. Louis, Clarksville, MD St. Anthony's, Washington, DC St. John's, Severna Park, MD St. Agnes Parish, Catonsville, MD Young Adults, MD (see above) This fall we are hearing of other courses in the works. And in Bratislava, Slovakia an expected 20+ parishes will use Discovering Christ as a follow-up to a city-wide evangelization mission in October. We'll be training leaders this September over in Slovakia. Pray for our work Please support us in intercessory prayer. We really see a lot of new opportunities for ministry opening up nationally and internationally and want to remain in the wisdom and peace of the Lord. This morning in prayer, I was reminded of 1 Peter 5:8: "Be sober and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. Resist him firm in your faith." We need intercessors to combat the influence of the Evil one and pray for the anointing and direction of the Holy Spirit on our work. Thank you to all who are committed to this hidden work of love. We were so encouraged to have brothers and sisters contact us and tell us they were fasting and praying for our recent conference. Thank you! Donate to our work Finally, we need financial support for our work. Our staff- Dave, Leo, Pete, and Angelus- depend on your generosity (thank you to all who already support us!) Please consider partnering with us in an on-going way to support the mission of ChristLife. Thank you so much! We pray His blessings upon you and your families! Sincerely your brother, Pete Ascosi Young Adult Coordinator ChristLife PS- If you haven't, read Archbishop O'Brien's letter on Discovering Christ, it's very encouraging! PPS- Also, Archbishop Gomez, the newly appointed Archbishop of Los Angeles, released an excellent pastoral letter, "You Will Be My Witnesses: On the Christian Mission to Evangelize and Proclaim Jesus Christ" (pdf) that is worth reading and reflecting on. It is very good.