The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Beyond Damascus

Episode Date: February 25, 2022

Are you looking for faith opportunities for the young people in your life? Jeff sits down with the leaders of an incredible faith opportunity called Damascus, a Catholic camp for youth. Tune in to hear all about the story, mission, and experience of Damascus. Snippet from the Show “This is the first time I heard God speak to me.” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show, episode 259, beyond Damascus. Thanks for joining me again this week on the show. It is going to be a different show for you this week to be sure. you know, we are getting ready to start our Lenton journey together, kind of a retreat online together here, and we're going to be focusing on discipleship, specifically, the activated disciple. And I got a little bit more I want to share with you at the beginning of this show that will prep you a little bit for next week, which we're going to begin really in earnest next week. A number of you reached out and said that you really wanted to get the materials for this,

And so I'm going to kind of delay just a little bit here. And we're going to go into it next week. But I do have some introductory remarks for you to think about that, who knows, this might be Providence, you know, that we have a little time to talk before we actually get into the heart of the material. Also, I'm going to be sharing with you today an interview that I had this last week with some wonderful, wonderful missionaries at Damascus. Damascus is in Ohio, and it's a summer, kind of a summer camp experience for young people, ages 6th to 6th grade to 12th grade, and it's incredible. It is really incredible. And I can't wait to share that with you a little bit later on in this show.

And so it's going to be a little bit longer than normal, but it is going to be good. All right. So if you are interested in going through this Lenton journey with me, where we're going to talk about becoming an activated disciples, give you a little bit more time. to get the materials. You can still get them and I'll put that information in the show notes and hopefully it'll all get to you before we start again next week. You can get the book, the activated disciple, you can get the 40-day challenge and you get the videos that accompany the challenge. So lots of good material. But before we get into the Beyond Damascus interview, I want to ask you a few questions, It's kind of a preparation for going through a number of weeks together where we take a look at discipleship,

but not just teach about discipleship, but really impart discipleship, to share with you some principles about discipleship that are geared towards your life changing, which is very, very important. And so I want to ask you some questions in preparation for our Lenton study on discipleship, and the questions are probing questions, are to make you think. a little bit, but they are also to help you prepare for what we're actually going to be talking about together. So as I ask these questions and talk about them just briefly, think about your own life and where you're at right now. There's so much going on in the world. At the time of this show, the Russian leader Putin has invaded Ukraine in Kiev. I was in Kiev back.

in 1990 and I had been there twice that was the second visit to Keeve and I actually proclaimed the gospel in a stadium there and it was so amazing to see the hunger in these people's lives and you know what we shared back then hopefully is helping in some way with those people and what they're going through now remember to pray for them okay let me ask you a few questions number one are you happy are you happy right now in your life? Are you satisfied? Are you content with your relationship with the Lord? And I think this is an important question given the speed of life, all that's going on right now. And to be honest with you, oftentimes we don't stop and ask ourselves these questions. We don't really. And if someone says,

well, are you happy with your relationship with the Lord right now? The answer is sort of, well, I guess, you know, could be better. And that's kind of the typical answer, isn't it? Well, it could be better. So we want to talk about that. We want to talk about, are you happy? Are you content? Right now, are you satisfied with your relationship with the Lord? Or are you longing for, hungering for more?

And I'd also like to ask you if you could change something about your relationship with the Lord. What would it be? What would you change about your relationship with the Lord? Most likely, those are going to be the things that we're going to be going through together. I think number one, most people would say, when I ask the question, what would you change? Most people automatically go to prayer. They said, well, you know, I could pray more. I could pray better, right?

More effective. Sometimes people will say Bible study, reading the Bible. Certainly Bible in a year has impacted hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions of people around the world, and brought them up to a new level. What about Holy Hour? That's kind of connected on to Bible reading and prayer. And there's also Mass. You want to go to Mass more often? Are you satisfied with where you're at and how much you're getting of the Lord every single week?

What about, and this one is a very important one right here, what about hearing the voice of the Lord? Oh, Jeff, are you serious? Are you serious? You think we can hear the voice of the Lord? Absolutely. I know it to be true. I know it in my own life, and I know that many other people are experiencing that, too. And you can too.

You really can. Is that something that you would want to go deeper into, hearing the voice of the Lord, to actually be led by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis? I don't know about you, but this is one of the things that I think separates us from casual Christians, casual Catholics, or cafeteria Catholics, or cultural Christians. Catholics, is that we literally have a relationship with the Lord and we hear his voice and we're led by the Holy Spirit every day. What about knowing the will of God for your life? That's something that we're going to be talking about. And every disciple should know the will of God for their life,

whether it's the objective will for all of us, principles for living, principles over preferences. or what about specifically in your life? What is God saying to you right now in your life? What direction is he calling you to walk in? Is he saying things to you about your marriage, about your parents, about your brothers and sisters, your husband, your wife? What is God's will for you?

Are you single? Are you married? Are you a priest, a deacon, religious? It's a simple question, really, that we have to all ask ourselves, and that is, what is the will of God for you according to your vocation? And this is really a good one, too, and we're going to spend some good time on this next one. What does the shape of your day look like? That's a good question, because I think sometimes we just kind of live willy-nilly, and we never really circle back to take a look at,

wow, what does my life look like anyway? Is there any shape to my life, or is it just kind of a going everywhere at the same time? Does the shape of your day say something about the desires of your heart regarding God? If someone followed you for 24 hours, would they get a good idea of what your relationship with God was all about? Now, that's a good question, isn't it? And in fact, you just might ask someone who knows you to follow you around through the day and then look at them and say, you make the conclusion, right? What am I all about?

What's really important in my life? Does your day begin differently than those who don't know God? Does it end differently? Another thing that we're going to talk a lot about is we're going to talk about how to share Christ with other people, the gospel. And I have to ask you, before we begin, are you afraid to talk to others about God? Do you have a number of excuses that you use to dismiss yourself from the call to evangelize? And what about your relationship with the church, his body, on earth. Do you deeply enter into the sacraments as a way of interacting with the Lord? Is confession

meaningful in your life? The Eucharist truly meaningful? Does the Eucharist give you the grace and the food to live in this world, this troubling world that we're in? What about the saints? You have a relationship with those who have gone before us and are willing to pray for you? What about their wisdom? Their wisdom would be so helpful in your current situation. Jesus gave his mother to you. Is that evident in your daily life? Do you enjoy her motherly love and direction? These are the types of things that we're going to be addressing during this retreat,

which begins in earnest next week at this time. I don't just want to talk about these subjects. I want to teach and challenge you to go deeper as I am. challenging myself and hopefully going deeper myself, to live at the level that God has called you to, to live supernaturally, this supernatural life that is that is substantively different than the average person today. Finally, do you know anyone who needs to go on this retreat with us, with you and me? Someone who is perhaps aimless at this point in their life. Maybe they're broken. They just went through a horrific divorce or lost someone in their

family. They lost a job. They're hurt. They're confused. Those are the people I would like to reach in this retreat. So prepare yourself. And if you want to get the materials, the book, the challenge journal, and the videos, it's not too late. The information will be in the show notes. This last week, you know, by the way, I had, that's what I wanted to say about the retreat. But this last week, the chance to speak at Damascus in Ohio. And it's an amazing camp. It really is where young people encounter the Lord in a spirit-filled, powerful way. And I spent some time with them. And I said, hey, I think my friends that I talk to every day on the Jeff Kaven show would love to hear what you guys are doing. And so I want to bring you that interview. All right, here I am. We're out

in the middle of Ohio, which is a little bit of home for me because I was a pastor in Dayton, Ohio when I came back to the Catholic Church, but I am sitting here literally, it feels like a log cabin in the wilderness, and I am here with Dan and Brad and Aaron, and they're going to talk a little bit about Damascus, and what it means to your children, what it means to your grandchildren. Listen, this podcast that you're listening to right now, and I'm not kidding about this, this is the way the Lord works, this podcast right now, may be. the turning point for your grandson. It may be the turning point for your daughter, your nephew, your niece, because when they go on retreats, oftentimes God really speaks to them and it stays

with them. So I want to welcome to the show. Dan and Brad and Aaron, you guys, you guys really have something going on here. Hey, thanks so much, Jeff. It's a pleasure to be on the show. It's really something. I guess I'm just going to ask you some questions about Damascus, because I know that many of my listeners have heard of it, but they don't know exactly what it is. Dan, tell us what is, in broad terms, Damascus. Yeah, so we're just, we're a community of missionaries who are hungry to see the revival of the Catholic Church in America. So we live life together and we go on mission together. Primarily, our mission is to the young church. And so we serve middle schoolers and high schoolers, seeking to bring them into a encounter with Jesus Christ through the power of the

Holy Spirit, and especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and allow that encounter with Jesus to be that Damascus moment, that life-changing encounter that where God marks them as his own, like he marks St. Paul, and then God propelled St. Paul into an apostolic mission, and that that life-changing encounter would propel young people into a life of mission. You know, it kind of reminds me of years ago when I was on EWTN, a movement kind of began called, I think it was Youth 2000. And the beautiful thing about that, which I see in what you're doing, is that there is a dynamic relationship between the Bible, the sacraments, adoration.

And one of the common denominators of ministries these days that are really growing is a focus on the Word of God, the sacraments, and adoration. But you guys bring something more to it that is sort of the secret recipe that Colonel Sanders didn't have. And it really, it really is something. And Aaron, what beyond that sets you apart from other things that are going on out there? Yeah, it's funny. The, you know, oftentimes people have asked, because our camps, our camp's been really successful. Praise the Lord. You know, we have, we'll have 12,000 kids who come through our doors this year, who are invited into a relationship with Jesus. And people will ask, you know, what's the secret sauce? How do you,

how do you get kids on fire for the Lord? And our answer is very simple. You know, we, we, we, offer what the church offers. We put them in front of Jesus and we invite them into a relationship. Our motto, I think what's unique here is that we live the adventure of the Catholic faith through high adventure activities that lead us to a high adventure faith encounter. You know, something can be said, there's the connection between the natural and the supernatural that when you put a kid up on the on the high ropes course and you challenge them to take a leap of faith, you know, literally off the edge of the road. What kind of course are you doing? What are we jumping off of here? I didn't see that when I came in. We'll give you a fuller tour. Listen, I believe. I believe. So we challenge them out,

you know, to take a step out of our comfort zone on the blob, on the water obstacles, up on the ropes course, you know, in all the activities that we have here. And then those same young adults who have led them through that incredible adventure in the day, then get to invite them into a relationship with Jesus. And all of a sudden, what used to maybe seem impossible or undesirable now has a particular affinity. Right. Aaron, what do you do here? What's your role? Yeah. My name's Aaron Richards. I'm one of the executive directors here. I work with Dan every day. And Brad, the primary thrust of my mission is operations and managing the finance here at Damascus. That's fantastic. And Dan, what do you do? Yeah. So I'm also one of the executive directors. And I oversee kind of our mission and our advancement. So how do we

grow the, how do we grow the kingdom and advance the kingdom? All right. And the third disciple here is Brad. Yeah. And Brad has more energy than most youth groups around the country. He's excited about the Lord. And Brad, what is your position here? Yeah. So my name's Brad Piran. I'm the missionary program director here at Damascus. So I oversee our first and second year missionaries as they go through our formation program serving the youth that we serve here at Damascus. So we're kind of twofold, right? We have this community of missionaries that serve the youth of the church. So my start here was actually really humbling because anytime Dan Dimitay and Aaron Richards come together for something, it seems like the Lord just has a blessing on it.

And Catholic Youth Summer Camp was that way. And they invited me into this six years ago, which is so exciting right after I graduated from Ohio State. And now I oversee the missionary program. Oh, that's great. Well, you know, a lot of times when kids will go off to camp, a kid is thinking, well, do they have a lake? What kind of, you know, are the girl's going to be there? You know, I'm going to meet them and what kind of activities and those of sports and so forth? What can the kids expect if they come to Damascus that sets this above just coming and learning what the church

believes? I mean, that's good to learn what the church believes. But you guys are sort of experiential. Is that right, Brad? Yeah, that's right. And I would say that like what we offer so uniquely is someone that's not that much older than you that is walking the life of faith that's inviting you into discipleship. That whenever like the young people come, they encounter young adults who are on fire for the faith. And I've loved traveling around the country over the last couple years. And when you meet bishops, they're almost always going to tell you they want two things for their diocese. They want encounter with Jesus for their youth. And they want young adults that have purpose and mission. And so here at Damascus, what we've decided is that we feel called to creating a young

adult community of missionaries who find purpose and mission by bringing encounter to the youth of the church. And so the young people, when they come to Damascus, they can expect just finding role models and mentors that love Jesus and that are doing it in the world. They're going to college. They're going to university. They're working jobs in the world outside of Damascus. And these young people are like, oh, you can do that and love Jesus. I think I might be interested in that too. Yeah. So that's what's going to transform them. And if you're looking for what's the hook to get your child or your grandchild signed up. You know, we've got just the finest activities in the world.

What do you have, 470-some acres? We do. Yeah, 470-1 acres here in Central Ohio. We've got a beautiful 30-acre lake. We've got two zip lines that run parallel over the lake. We've got a high ropes course, a five-story climbing wall, paintball, archery tag, a number of different ropes activities in the woods. What else?

We just like to cover kids in mud and paint as well. There's nothing better than just being covered head to toe in paint. Yeah, that's right. There's few things better than that. There's few things, but very few. I got to let you know, I am a young adult. This gray beard is for a community play. Oh, that makes sense.

That does make sense. I think the ropes are for me. I mean, compared to Moses, you are young. Thank you. You can step aside, Dan. We're done with you. Okay, so I'd like to ask you the question. from a parent's perspective, if someone is, calls up, ding-ling-a-ling, you guys, oh, that's old-fashioned.

Yeah, that's how our sounds. You got it. You answer Damascus, and they say, yeah, I'm thinking about sending my two sons to your camp. A neighbor said that they really had a good experience. Could you tell me kind of what, what they're going to go through? Yeah, that's awesome question. So essentially, kind of our schedule is very, it's very focused on. as Aaron said earlier, high adventure activities and a high adventure faith. And so we have

different adventure activities throughout the day that they would spend the morning on the land and air adventures in the afternoon at the lake. And they're doing all of that within the context of their cabin group, which, you know, modern Catholic talk would be like kind of your small group or your discipleship group. But they're with their counselor, their missionary mentor that entire week and all of that. But then we also have the three pillars kind of of how they encounter the Lord throughout each day. So the morning, we have a kind of a, what we call prayer lab, where we teach the young people how to hear God's voice in prayer. And that's really important to us. We hear over and over again through our testimony of the young church that they just

say, man, this is the first time I ever heard God speak to me. And such simple words, too, that like, I love you, right? Or like, I'm here for you. But giving them access to understanding how does God speak to us? That's not some booming voice. But that's not some booming voice, but that the Lord... Yeah, it's not a British voice, yeah. Speaking my language. That it's so normal and natural and giving them permission to hear him.

And we, so we teach him Lexio devena in the morning, and we teach him how to hear God through prayer and hear God through scripture. I have never heard anything like this before. It's really, really, it's kind of a unique opportunity. So that's how we start our day. We also have daily mass every afternoon. And so after the kids are out getting muddy

and having an adventure on their activities, they come into mass. And one of the significant things about mass is we like to give catechesis before mass, where we'd like like to teach them how do you not just let's like celebrate mass, but how do you actually enter into mass? So we may teach them about the offatory. How do you enter into the offatory? The epiclesis. Like, why the heck? Like what's the epiclesis? And like, what's the purpose of it? So that it kind of gives them a heightened purpose around the, the, the celebration of the mass. We like to say we celebrate mass, right? And so like it really truly is a celebration that, uh, that, like, we enter in with the heart of worship. And so worship is truly, truly kind of the heart of who we are. And we give God ourselves during the sacrifice as a mass. And then at the end of the night, we have club. Brad, do you want to explain to class? Yeah, so club's sweet. So club starts with a lot of fun, right? So high energy, a lot of excitement, funny skits, all that good stuff. Brad's getting wild. I'm sweating through all my clothes. But then after that, what I love about it is it should be

like our lives, right? That like we shouldn't, we shouldn't see this like dichotomy between joy and reverence. The joy in reverence, like, is heaven perfect joy or is it perfect reverence? It's the perfection of both. And so these young people come in in the same environment where they are going to be brought before the Lord and Eucharistic adoration later. They're having this exciting party. And then they go out for a snack. And when they come back, it takes on a more serious tone with dramas and things like that. But they're able, as a young person, to say, this same space where I had so much fun, I'm actually coming back. And wow, this is actually so much fun. And it's so funny to hear that like with all the excitement and all the amazing activities

and things we have at the end of the week, the kids are like, well, club, like Jesus in the Eucharist. Like those are the things because if we can bring young people into love of Jesus in the Eucharist, they might go to a church where preaching isn't quite what it's like at Damascus or at a different retreat. They might go back to a church where the community is not quite like that, but they're going to go back to a church. Well, with property this big, 470 acres, you've got all of these log cabin looking places that are new and so clean and just that's a beautiful place you must what do you do you host like what two 300 kids a year yeah yeah right right yeah it's actually it's an amazing story and and just the story of god's miraculous work so i think a lot of people there their view of the catholic church right

now is that it's shrinking and that the young church doesn't care um our view is the complete opposite we're busting at the seams and the young church is more alive than i've ever seen and like we we opened our church, I mean, our doors to Damascus in 2016. We built to serve 1,200 kids a summer. And after that first summer, we sold out. And so we increased our capacity to serve 2,300 kids a summer. And we sold out. So we doubled our capacity. You served 4,600 young people a summer. And then throughout the year, we serve another 6,000 on retreats. And honestly, Jeff, it's actually sad because you're doing such a great job hyping up this show. But we have, we opened registration on October 1st. And by October 3rd, we had over 1,

and young people in our wait list. And so we're just, we're crying out to God that he would, he would bring a miracle, a multiplication of the bunk beds, right? That, like, there has, that God is asking us. Yeah, like, the church is so hungry, that young people are so hungry, and parents want this so bad for their, for their youth. Well, then what do people do that are, are you basically saying that summer of 20, 22 is full right now, and there's a waiting list? I think there's, I think there's 11 spots available. So here in San Bernard, Ohio. Well, let me ask you this.

I mean, you probably like me. Is there a way that I might have like a hundred seats? I'm just kidding. The key word is Jeff Kavins. Okay. God has been asking us to take this to the nation. And so we've opened a camp in Minnesota as well this upcoming summer. That's where I'm at.

Exactly. And so there are spots at our Minnesota camp still this summer. So if you're hungry, you can go to CYSC, dot com, c-y-s-de-com, and find out about the Minnesota. I'll put that in the show notes, by the way. We'll put your address there. This is fantastic. We're going to take a break.

And when I come back, I would like to talk about where are youth at today? What are they dealing with in their lives today? And I know you guys are aware of it. But I think it's good for parents and grandparents to know that where they send their kids, they know kids better than probably the parents oftentimes. Well, we'll know their kids. Hey, by the way, before we take that break, I do want to remind you, coming up in June, this June, we have a pop-up trip to Israel. You know we've canceled for almost three years now. Father Mike and I have canceled our big June trip, which is rescheduled for June of 2023.

And that will be up on my website shortly. You've got to get a place there because that thing is going to sell out. And we're going over to Israel with Father Mike and about six other incredible priests. And we're going to have some of the, Biggest names in Catholic music. When I say biggest names, I mean the most effective music leaders and worship leaders. Ali Ali, Taylor Tripodi, and others are going to be with us. And that's going to be on the website. Coming up also this year, we're going to be going to Greece, Turkey, in the footsteps of Paul. That's going to be in the fall.

That's on my website. And then there is a river cruise through Europe. That's going to go through Switzerland and France and the Netherlands. Our whole family would be there. We'd love to spend kind of a vacation. time of teaching and fellowship with you. It's all on the website. All right, we're going to be back in just a moment talking with Dan, Aaron, and Brad from Damascus. This is exciting, isn't it? I think so. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, I'm Sonia Corbett, the Bible study of Angelista.

When I became Catholic, I had a really hard time understanding the role Mary was supposed to play in my life. So I went to her, and I told her, I just don't get it. I need your help. And guess what? Mary did just that. She showed me a way to pray that has revolutionized my entire life. Mary has been called the mother of listening. She didn't just hear the word. She knew how to hear it in light of her own relationships, circumstances, and habits. And then she let the word transform her. I realized that I had to share what I was learning about Mary's way of praying with others. So I wrote How to Pray Like Mary, a step-by-step guide to discovering God's voice in the scriptures and letting him transform your heart. I invite you to learn more about how to pray like

Mary at ascensionpress.com or on Amazon. Ever been to camp as a kid growing up? I'd love to hear from you. What did you experience when you went to camp? What did it have an impact on your life? What do you remember about it? What about camp counselors, teachers, people that you met? You can go ahead and email me, and I'd love all that information is in the show notes. I'd love to hear from you. We're talking with Dan, Aaron, and Brad. They are leaders at Damascus,

which is actually a Catholic mission camp, really out in the nowhere. Is it north of Columbus? Northeast of Columbus. Yeah, we've got other names other than the middle of nowhere that are a little more encouraging. Well, the heart of it all.

It is the geographic center of the state, which is kind of interesting. So Cinterberg. in Ohio, shaped like a heart. So you're correcting me here. I am somewhere. Nazareth was in the middle of nowhere. It only had a population of 1,000.

And Sinneberg has a population of about 2,000. But being realistic, it is just outside of Columbus. So it's easy to get to. We're about 40 minutes from the airport, so it's accessible. It's not bad. And I know that you've had a lot of visitors, parents, priests, deacons, the bishops have been here to visit you and to see what you're doing and love it. They absolutely love it.

I want to turn the attention here to, and you can certainly mention what you do here, but our kids today, they are glued to the smartphone. They are TikTok out, you know, and Snapchat and so forth. There are problems that our youth are facing today. Talk to me a little bit about that. Where are the youth today and what are some of the things that they are faced with? Yeah, I think the answer to that question two years ago would have been different than it is right now. The pandemic has really, I think, transformed the culture of the youth generation.

So, you know, we'll see. I think time will tell what the major diagnosis is. I think what we've seen here is that there's been a tremendous onset of isolation and the associated effects of that. And I think you do see that played out in sort of a self-centered social media fueled mindset, But ultimately, it's run in parallel to put a positive spin on it with a tremendous hunger for connection. You know, in the months and I guess years at this point, post-pandemic, you know, as we saw kids come here, it's like there was a new desire for connection and for relationship that was born in them. That's actually, I think, it's kind of tilled the fields for the planting of the seeds of the gospel. Yeah, I would say when I think about the young people today, I think they're looking for two things predominantly.

First is something worth following. And second, it is an identity worth having. And so when I look at the young people, when they go to social media and they go to other things, they're following things to tell others that they're following something. Right? They're looking for something worth following, something that I can tell people about that gets them excited and lets them know more about who I am, that I'm in on the end things. And I understand like what's going on. And like, I don't. know, the greater things happening in the world. And so I think they're looking for something worth following. And then the second is I think they're looking for an identity worth having. So all of a sudden, like, not only are they following people on social media, but they're trying to post the perfect picture or the perfect video or let you know all the accolades they have, right? And why are they doing that? Because they want to create an identity worth having. Right. But I think that what we're trying. And maintaining. No, that's it. Because anything we like gain through that kind of self-promotion, we have to maintain.

through that self-promotion. And that gets exhausting because I all of a sudden have to live up to this identity instead of living from this identity. And so I think that that's what we're trying to do with Damascus is really give them the gospel, which we all know in its true sense is an adventure worth following. And then also to give them that identity that we're beloved sons and daughters. And that comes way before anything we do. Yeah. Thanks, Brad. That's so rich. I think Jeff, just to speak to what I've seen in youth ministry and what young people are attracted to and what's working in youth ministry is really what I would describe as kind of a spirit-filled orthodoxy. That young people are hungry for the marriage between the charismatic renewal and

traditional orthodoxy. Like that young people are incarnational, what humanity is, but they love the incarnational aspects of the Catholic faith. They love the smells, the bells, the religious habits, the casics. They're attracted to the sacramentals. Yeah, they love to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. And then they're also really hungry that, especially in this age of atheism and agnosticism and secularism, they're hungry for God to give evidence that the gospel that's proclaimed from my lips is actually true. And so they're hungry to see the Holy Spirit move and not just with words, but with power. And so a lot of times when we minister, we give God permission to move not just with words, but empower. And so we

we actually will pray for healing that when a young person gets has an injury or if they're sick, we pray for healing. And we just give God permission to move. And we see, we've seen so many miracles. We actually have a whole journal up in our chapel. We call it the miracle journal where young people write the miracles of conversion that they've had or the physical healings they've had or miracles they've seen because we want to give God permission to give evidence and renew his wonders in our day. And young people are hungry for that. And that the Holy Spirit is alive and act. and they can tell when people are inauthentic and when the spirit is a show versus a person who's truly animated, not by hype, but animated by the spirit of God. What are the age groups?

How old are the people who are coming here? We serve middle school and high school. So starting in sixth grade through 12th grade primarily here at Damascus. And I think it's worth mentioning, our flagship program that most of the kids participate in is called Catholic Youth Summer Camp. Okay. So you could either search for Damascus or Catholic Youth Summer Camp. So you could either search for Damascus or Catholic youth summer camp we'll put them both on our show notes for it for you let me throw this out because this is something that i think is so critically important you guys you guys emphasize off obviously the tradition in the church you you emphasize sacred scripture i have seen some great adventure bibles around this place and i got a picture i plan that we're like hey take this

carry this behind the car and i got a picture i'm gonna i'm gonna put that picture in the show notes of I've never seen a great adventure Bible so worn out in a year or so. Oh, man. Thank you, Jesus. I'm going to put that on there, but I'm going to put a picture of you guys on the show notes because I know, I know that you're listening. You and I have been together a long time on this podcast, and you want to know what these guys look like.

So Aaron's in Brown, and Dan is in green. Brad is in a vest. Yes, I invest. But it's sort of a reddish vest. It is. Yeah, like a bird-indy. Yeah, you would be like. Like in Egypt, desert wanderings, early world.

Okay, there you go. So we're going to take a picture of them. But let me ask you this question. Today, young people are created for love. They are created for love and they're settling for likes. When they're created for love but settling for likes, what happens to them and how do they discover that love? Yeah.

Well, I think it's the same thing that happens to us when we settle for an inferior encounter. that like we were made for something so great and we're so willing to take the counterfeit. We're so willing to take the counterfeit. I think about like in the young people, they provide such a mirror for me and my walk with the Lord because the things that they're looking for, the likes instead of the love, I find in myself too. I give into the counterfeit, like the counterfeit relationship instead of the truly honest and vulnerable one. Or I talk to a lot of college students because I oversee the missionary program and they're experiencing the same thing. Like I was made for love but I'm falling to pornography or I was made for this and I'm falling to

this. We as humans, I think, can sometimes be too quick to jump to an inferior, more readily available good instead of the great that we were actually made for. I think in ministry, too, we just have to get out of the way sometimes. One of the reasons we teach, like, I can stay on stage and say, God loves you all day long, right? But the reason we teach them to how to pray is because there's nothing more powerful than them asking, Father, do you love me? And hearing the Father say, I love you, right? And that me telling them that God loves them isn't enough. We have to teach young people how to hear God say, I love you, and place people in front of Jesus Christ hidden in the Eucharist, and let the paschal mystery become alive in them. And love is a person,

and his name is Jesus. And so when we truly, and I think the work of ministry is not me doing something for you. It's me actually kind of facilitating your experience and encounter with Jesus. And we, I think we had a transition years back in ministry where we stopped doing and we started facilitating and it shifted everything for young people's encounter. God wants this more than we do. Yeah, good word. Well, I got to tell you guys, it's amazing what I see here. I'm so glad I came here at your invitation to share on your speaker series. We're going to be talking. We're going to be talking tonight here at Damascus. And I love what you talk about on your podcast. I was on yours, and that's, I'll put that in the show notes, Beyond Damascus. That's right. That's a show that

my friend, you need to subscribe to as well, and give it some love. Because these young people, I am the oldest guy on campus right now, but these guys are so young and so filled with the love of God and a courage, and these are the people that your sons, your daughters, your nephews, your grandson, granddaughter, they're going to be around these people. And so I can't thank you guys enough for taking the time to share with me and my friends who are listening about Damascus. And we're going to put all the information in the show notes. And I just want to share as we close out this show, my dear friend, that, you know, we've been together for a long time. We've talked a lot about topics and so forth. And you know that I am big on, look, we've got to go beyond just

talking about things. We've got to get out of the boat. And I mentioned at the top of the show that this episode, 259, may be the most important episode in your life. Why? Because if you act on it and you get your grandson or your daughter into a Damascus mission camp, whether it's here in Ohio or Minnesota, and I know they're expanding, and even though there's so many others that are on the list, you're going to find your place. But if they end up here, that might be the gate that they go through to become a holy man, a holy woman, a priest, a bishop. You never know what's going to happen when they encounter Christ, when they are with other people their age. And so there may be a time in 30 years from now when someone asks a young man, well, how did you become a priest? And they say,

Well, you know, it all started when my grandmother sent me to Damascus. What was Damascus? Well, Damascus was a summer camp, a mission camp for young people, and it was there that I discovered that Jesus loved me, and I stopped settling for likes in my life. And that began the journey for me. So I'm encouraging you right now. Just take a moment. I want you to think about someone in your life right now that needs this kind of encounter.

Now, you know who that is. I want you to take a little bit of time today and pray. Lord, who of all my relatives needs an encounter that can be so transformative that in one week a lot of work can be done? And I want you to get out of the boat, look them up on the web site, figure out how to get them registered, and sponsor them, and then pray for them. I'd love to hear you do that, and you can keep in touch with me. Guys, thank you again. This has been absolutely incredible. And I hope I get a chance to be back.

And when I do, I will be dressed up as a 21-year-old. Yeah. And we're going to take you on the zip line. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And I trust the Lord totally. I trust him in that.

But it's been good being with you, my friend. Just remember, Jesus loves you so much. And when you meet Jesus, everything is different after that. He wants to take you on the great adventure. Love you, pray for you. And let's take a moment and pray before we end. always do. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I lift up my friends here, Dan and Aaron and Brad and all the others here at Damascus. Lord, use them in a powerful way.

May the message go far and wide that Jesus is in the house. He is here and he's transforming lives. And I pray, Lord, for all my friends who listen with me every week that they would see this as an opportunity that they can take advantage of for their loved ones, their neighbor, whoever. And I thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen. The name of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. I love you. Pray for me and I'll see you next week.