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October 18, 2012 - 7pm
In Attendance: John Mitchell, Joe Osteen, Ginger Osteen, Jeanne Singh, Becky Estep, Marge Mattingly, Laura Hack
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm and the opening prayer included "Open My Eyes Lord" and Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's prayer.
2. John and Laura shared the experience of Marcellino D'Ambrosio's presentation at Holy Spirit Parish the previous Sunday. Mr. D'Ambrosio spoke on the New Evangelization. The talk began with the historical perspective of Vatican II and how we are called through our baptisms to be evangelizers. He spoke about the importance of Gaudium et Spes, the Church in the Modern World, and Nostra Aetate, the Church's Relations with Non-Christian Religions, and their key elements of evangelization, as well as a number of the other documents as nurturing the foundational responsibility we each share as evangelizers. D'Ambrosio then elaborated on the most powerful tool we all have that equips us as Sharers of the Good News--our personal faith stories. John shared that he had been following D'Ambrosio's ministry for many years: http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/ .
3. Laura challenged the Evangelization Committee members to Google "How to share your faith story". The results of the Google Search are astounding and a revealing look at the draw of many protestant faiths' towards youth ministry. There are countless sites and programs in regard to how to share one's faith story. With all the material that was available there was one suggestion that was repeated most often--besides sharing from one's heart . . . When God presents us with the opportunity to share our experience of Jesus Christ with another individual, the other person will usually give us two minutes of time to get their attention. After two minutes, if we haven't been able to plant a seed of interest, then we will usually lose their attention. Laura gave each member a simple exercise to practice in learning how to share one's faith story (it follows these meeting notes). Members are challenged to use the suggestions on the sheet, but also to think ahead towards sharing different elements of their journeys depending on the person and situation that presents itself. Ginger had also been independently information on faith stories and has offered the following website for detailed pointers and even videos for suggestions for different situations: http://www.archsa.org/evangelization/about.aspx (The Power of Personal Testimony, offered by the Archdiocese of San Antonio).
Further discussion took place in regard to challenging on MQHR groups to have one member in each monthly meeting share their faith story with their group. This would take the leadership skills of each of us on the committee and would mean each group at MQ being visited by an Evangelization Committee. We all agreed strongly that our Parish Pastoral Council should be the first and we will be working towards preparing a short presentation and challenge to be shared with our different MQ groups. (Since this meeting, it occurred to me--Laura :), that our diocese is offering a faith-sharing tool called "Sharing Our Stories" to each of our parishes as a way to highlight our different parishes in honor of the 25th Anniversary of our Lexington Diocese. Maybe we could use the tool as a parish early next fall. Just thinking ahead a bit...)
4. Our next meeting will be Thursday, November 15th, 7pm, in the Media Center.
5. We shared Closing Prayer and the meeting adjourned at 8:25pm. lhack
Your Faith Story
Before you can share your story, you have to know your story. This questionnaire will help you express what God has done in your life.
Most times, people will tend to give you two minutes of their attention while you share your faith story. That's enough, if you are prepared. To practice, write your faith story on this page.
1. What was your life like before you embraced Christ as the center of your life?
2. How did your journey, with Christ as the center of your being, begin?
- Did other things converge with the Scripture and/or other experiences in your life?
3. What is your life like now?
last updated 08/25/2012
