Best Mike Kiser Podcasts (2025)

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Jennifer Bryson - Former Agnostic 1:00:00

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3d ago1:00:00

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Jennifer was raised Christian, but by middle school had decided that religion was a stupid thing for stupid people. As an exchange student in Austria, she began to be intrigued by Catholic culture, but still saw it as outdated and superstitious. While studying Marxism in East Germany at Karl Marx University, it gave her a realization she needed to …

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David and Roseanna White - Former Baptists 1:00:00

10d ago1:00:00

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David and Roseanna White came from a strong Baptist faith, and Roseanna began a successful career writing Christian historical fiction, with David founding a publishing house. Fascinated by CS Lewis and his description of Christianity as a house with different denominational rooms, Roseanna decided to search out which “room” she belonged in. The mo…

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Eben Emerson - Former Church of Christ Minister 1:00:00

17d ago1:00:00

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Eben Emerson, a former Church of Christ minister and missionary, was originally on The Journey Home in 2011.In the decade and a half since that, Eben has some powerful insights to share about common mistakes new converts make, many of which are lessons he himself learned the hard way.Eben's experience is hopefully a great encouragement to those of …

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Susan Sucher - Former Pentecostal 1:00:00

24d ago1:00:00

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Although raised Methodist, Susan Sucher began attending an Assemblies of God youth group in her teens, which is where her faith really took off. As she and her husband were discerning marriage, they were also processing together some of the inconsistencies they’d been noticing in Pentecostal theology, particularly when it came to the Lord’s Supper.…

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Shane Page - Former Methodist Pastor 1:00:00

1M ago1:00:00

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Shane Page was raised in a United Methodist family in North Carolina, and went on to become an elder and a pastor in a congregation there, serving 18 years in church leadership. He didn’t grow up with any experience of Catholicism, and had almost no knowledge of it, but his desire to be as fully formed as possible in his faith led him to dive headf…

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Heidi Hess Saxton - Former Protestant Church Musician 1:00:00

1M ago1:00:00

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Heidi had a strong faith life, and went to Azusa Pacific hoping to do some kind of ministry. She was leading music at a Baptist church and preparing for a mission trip to Europe when her pastor announced he was becoming Catholic. This threw everything into question for her, and she began to wonder, if God was calling someone she deeply respected in…

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Michael Garcia - Former United Pentecostal Pastor 1:00:00

1M ago1:00:00

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Michael Garcia was baptized Catholic, but wandered a bit as a young man. When his brother got involved with a Oneness Pentecostal community, Michael was intrigued, and after exploring it, felt that this was the kind of community God was calling him to. He quickly began to sense a call to ministry, serving in a couple of different United Pentecostal…

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Bishop Earl Fernandes -Lifelong Catholic 1:00:00

2M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

It has been a longstanding tradition in the Coming Home Network, which is located in the Diocese of Columbus, to invite the sitting bishop to share his story on The Journey Home -- even if he's not technically a convert!In the case of Bishop Earl Fernandes, there is a lot of story to tell -- from his immigrant parents' faithful handing on of the Ca…

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Deacon Matt Halbach - Catholic Revert 1:00:00

2M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Deacon Matt Halbach grew up Catholic but wasn’t very well formed. As a young man, he began to struggle with depression and anxiety, and was even thinking of suicide at one point. In the midst of that, a coworker began to share his Catholic faith, and invited Matt back to Mass. Finally, he agreed to go, and went back to Confession. Everything change…

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Joshua & Teresa Mangels - Former Assemblies of God Ministers 1:00:00

2M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

After beginning a personal relationship with Jesus as a teenager, Joshua Mangels felt a call to ministry and eventually became an Assemblies of God pastor. As he studied the Church Fathers, he discovered a sacramental worldview that was completely new to him, and he had to know more. Initially, he and his wife hesitated to dig deeper for fear of ri…

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Bishop James Conley - Former Baptist and Presbyterian 1:00:00

2M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Bishop James Conley was raised Presbyterian, and studied Applied Humanities at Kansas University in the 1970’s, falling in love with the Great Books. That led him to become Catholic his junior year of college. He traveled Europe for a bit after that, considering a monastic vocation, before following a call to diocesan priesthood, and eventually bec…

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Fr. Michael Nixon - Former Hare Krishna 1:00:00

3M ago1:00:00

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Fr. Michael Nixon was born in Hawaii to parents who were Hare Krishnas. When he was in elementary school, his whole family became Catholic, which was a radical change for him. He began the process of discovery of the Catholic faith among fellow Catholics his age who had known all this stuff from birth, and that perspective as a child discovering Ca…

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Fr. Scott Wooten - Former Episcopal Priest 1:00:00

3M ago1:00:00

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Fr. Scott Wooten grew up firmly Anglican, but attended Catholic school. As he continued toward ordination as an Episcopal priest, he persisted in the belief that the Anglican, Orthodox, and Roman churches were all legitimate branches of the true Catholic Church, so he didn’t feel that there was ever any need for him to become a “Roman” Catholic; he…

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Dr. Matthew Wiseman 1:00:00

3M ago1:00:00

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Dr. Matthew Wiseman was raised with strong Baptist roots, and even as a young child, he was constantly reading and studying the Bible. His family attended progressively smaller churches, and even a house church, determined to live the Scriptures as faithfully as possible. Their ongoing study of the Old Testament story led his family toward the Hebr…

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Rhonda Gruenewald - Former Agnostic 1:00:00

4M ago1:00:00

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Rhonda Gruenewald fell in love with the Church through her husband, and went on to found Vocation Ministry, which equips diocese to promote and nurture religious vocations.By Journey Home

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Dr. Michael Root - Former Lutheran 1:00:00

4M ago1:00:00

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After working on ecumenism initiatives as a Lutheran, Dr. Michael Root’s convictions led him to Catholicism in 2010 where he continues to be an important voice of Christian unity.By Journey Home

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Dr. Matthew Levering - Former Quaker 1:00:00

4M ago1:00:00

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Matthew Levering found himself developing something resembling a Christian worldview through reading Dostoevsky and Walker Percy. This foundation led him to the Catholic Church.By Journey Home

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Keith and Tami Kiser - Former Presbyterians 1:00:00

4M ago1:00:00

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While studying for ministry as a pastor, Keith Kiser and his wife met Scott Hahn in a Bible study. Shortly after they became Catholic and now lead youth ministry and family camps.By Journey Home

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Fr. Brad Elliot, O.P. - Former Lutheran 1:00:00

5M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Fr. Brad Elliott was raised Lutheran, and pursued formation in music, finding success as a jazz drummer. Feeling compelled by beauty and truth to enter the Catholic Church in 2002, he continued to play drums professionally for a number of years, before feeling a call to pursue a religious vocation. In his discernment process, he felt God calling hi…

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Rae-Mi Leroy - Former Buddhist 1:00:00

5M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Rae-Mi LeRoy was baptized Catholic, but never went to church. She had no experience with any particular faith until college, when she studied world religions and became interested in Buddhism. From there, she became fascinated with Yoga and went on to work as an instructor, but still felt something was missing spiritually, and so she left a career …

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Eddie Trask - Catholic Revert, Former Evangelical Protestant 1:00:00

5M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Eddie Trask was raised Catholic, but by college, had fallen away from his faith. When he came back to Christianity, it was through Evangelical and non-denominational congregations, and it was through meeting his wife and going through some significant family struggles together that things really began to turn around. As they began to grow together …

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Christopher O'Keefe - Former Mennonite Pastor 1:00:00

6M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Christopher O’Keefe's faith journey led him to give his life to God in service, working in prison ministry, and eventually becoming an ordained pastor in the Mennonite tradition. However, his desire to find a solid and stable apostolic authority, as well as a doctrine that would not change to accommodate cultural norms, led him to find a home in th…

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Justine Callis - Former Evangelical Protestant 1:00:00

6M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Justine Callis was raised in a Christian home, and became a successful gymnast. Her athletic pursuits led her to Arizona, where she plugged into an Evangelical megachurch and her faith began to grow. She also worked in Evangelical campus ministry at Arizona State, where she was coaching. When she met Catholics who were on fire for their faith, it s…

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Mike Iversen - Former Evangelical Youth Minister 1:00:00

6M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Mike Iversen came from an Evangelical background, and after getting degrees in English and Earth Science, he felt called to bring his skills to youth ministry, going on to get an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Seminary. During his studies, he also spent many years working with Young Life. His study of apologetics, Church history, and more helped him …

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Fr. Andrew Crabtree - Former Evangelical Protestant 1:00:00

7M ago1:00:00

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Fr. Andrew Crabtree grew up Baptist, but got involved in more nondenominational congregations as a young man. He began touring as a Christian musician, having radio success with his band "Calling Glory." His experience of playing concerts in different denominations got him thinking about the divisions in Christianity, and he began to long for Chris…

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Fr. Scott Woods - Former Evangelical Protestant 1:00:00

7M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Fr. Scott Woods’ family wasn’t Catholic, but because they sent him to Catholic school, he developed some strong associations with Catholicism, and especially the priesthood. He began telling everyone that he wanted to be a priest, even though he wasn’t yet a Catholic. He began attending daily Mass in high school, and his parents, seeing that he was…

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Rhonda Ortiz - Former Evangelical Protestant 1:00:00

7M ago1:00:00

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Rhonda Ortiz had roots in Evangelical experience, including some in Pentecostalism, but a search for a Christian home during her college years led her to begin exploring the Catholic Faith. Her love for and study of the “Great Books” of history helped further point her toward Catholic ideas, and meeting her husband, who was going through the same k…

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Ashley Stinnett - Former Evangelical Protestant 1:00:00

8M ago1:00:00

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Ashley Stinnett attended numerous Evangelical congregations growing up, and even explored RCIA in the early 2000’s before dropping out due to family medical reasons. His wife was the daughter of a Protestant minister, and when COVID hit, it caused them both to completely re-evaluate questions about authority and Christian unity, and the purpose of …

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Lucas Koach - Former Anglican Priest 1:00:00

8M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Lucas Koach came to faith as a teenager through Young Life, and pursued a call to ministry, entering Denver Seminary. That trajectory eventually led him to the Anglican Church of North America, where he served as an ordained priest for several years. Drawn by Catholic Social Teaching, a desire for Christian unity, and the thought of St. John Henry …

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Tsh Oxenreider - Former Evangelical and Anglican 1:00:00

8M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Tsh Oxenreider was raised Evangelical, and even felt called to do missionary work, but her desire to grow deeper in her faith began to lead her toward liturgy and the sacraments, which she began exploring through the Anglican tradition. However, she still felt as though God was calling her to deeper roots, and the more she prayed and discerned her …

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Philip Seeberg - Convert From Judaism 1:00:00

8M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Phillip Seeberg grew up in a Reformed Jewish household, but stopped attending synagogue after his Bar Mitzvah. In college, he met some Christians who were handing out New Testaments, and he began to read the story of Jesus. Powerfully moved by what he read, he became a Christian, and joined InterVarsity Fellowship, but the divisions between denomin…

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Debbie Capen 1:00:00

8M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Debbie Capen came from a Catholic family, but was not well-formed in her faith. An unplanned pregnancy in college, followed by an abortion, led to a dark turn in her life. Searching for answers, she began to pray the Our Father, the only prayer she remembered from her Catholic childhood. That opened a door for her to make a slow and steady return t…

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Dr. Justus Hunter - Former Free Methodist 1:00:00

9M ago1:00:00

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Justus Hunter’s dad was a Methodist pastor, and he himself decided to pursue academic study in theology, attending Asbury College and Seminary, where he encountered Church history in a way that made him want to learn more about the world of the early Christians. After getting a doctorate from Southern Methodist University, he went on to teach theol…

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Sr. John Dominic Rasmussen, O.P. - Formerly Secular 1:00:00

9M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Sr. John Dominic Rasmussen, O.P., grew up in Nashville, and her dad worked in the country music industry. Though not always serious about questions of faith, it was while she was in high school that she felt called to enter the Catholic Church, and began to discern a vocation to religious life. She would go on to help found the Dominican Sisters of…

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Dr. Brian Duncan - Former Baptist Minister 1:00:00

9M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Dr. Brian Duncan graduated high school early and went straight into Baptist ministry training. On fire for Jesus, he was constantly seeking deeper resources to help him teach the faith, which led him to discover the Church Fathers. Teaching from them caused problems in his independent Baptist congregation, so he spent a little time in a Reformed Ba…

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Amanda Martin - Former Episcopalian 1:00:00

9M ago1:00:00

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Amanda Martin came from a strong Christian background, and her husband became an Episcopalian priest. Not coming from a liturgical or sacramental Christian experience, she experienced significant opposition from family who thought she was making a huge mistake and overcomplicating Christianity with rituals and external piety. She shares some of the…

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Fr. Doug Martin - Former Episcopal Priest 1:00:00

10M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Fr. Doug Martin grew up in a Godly United Methodist family, but didn’t start taking a call to ministry seriously until college, where exposure to various Christian traditions led him to research Church history. At that time, he became Episcopalian, and eventually was ordained an Episcopal priest. After realizing the need for a stronger way of under…

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Deacon Lee Ashton - Former Evangelical and Episcopalian 1:00:00

10M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Deacon Lee Ashton was raised Episcopalian, but when he joined the military, he felt a disconnection from that faith tradition, and began to search for a new Christian community. For 27 years, he got involved in Evangelical congregations, having some great experiences with them along the way. However, he began to realize that different churches were…

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Pro-Life Roundtable With Dr. John Bruchalski and Kerstin Pakka 1:00:00

10M ago1:00:00

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Dr. John Bruchalski of Divine Mercy Care and Kerstin Pakka of Project Rachel in the Diocese of Toledo share the stories of how they came from believing in a right to abortion, to having a radical encounter with the forgiveness of Christ that has since empowered each of them to work to build a culture of life and promote access to the kind of care t…

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Deacon Lester Loh - Former Agnostic 1:00:00

10M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Deacon Lester Loh came from a Presbyterian family, but by early childhood was already completely tuned out of anything related to faith. Over the years, a couple of his siblings became Catholic, which caught his attention, but he didn’t take it too seriously. He ended up dating ad eventually marrying a Catholic, observing her faith from afar until …

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Reza Akhtar - Former Muslim and Anglican 1:00:00

11M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Reza Akhtar was raised Muslim in Canada, but was not particularly observant. At a private elementary school, he became exposed to basic Protestant Christianity, but it was in college that he began to explore it more deeply. He married a Catholic, but wasn’t quite ready to make the full leap into the Church, so he spent a few years in an Anglican co…

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Taylor Kemp - Former Pro Soccer Player 1:00:00

11M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Taylor Kemp was baptized Catholic, but early in his life, soccer effectively became his religion, taking up not only all his time on Sundays, as well as all his attention and affection. The more success he found, the more inadequate he felt, realizing that he had made himself and his soccer skills the measure of everything. By the time he had becom…

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Luke Nelson, Jr. - Former Wesleyan Pastor 1:00:00

12M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

As the son of a pastor, Luke Nelson grew up surrounded by people of deep faith. Following his own call to ministry, he attended Bible college and served for 25 years in the Wesleyan Church.There were several issues that began to trouble him, but among them was the question of the Lord’s Supper. In his Wesleyan/Methodist tradition, it was considered…

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Dino Remedios - Catholic Revert 1:00:00

12M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Dino Remedios grew up nominally Catholic, absorbing much of what he knew about the faith from the Filipino culture he came from. In his teenage years, he began to drift more into relativistic lines of thought, becoming a practical agnostic. Over time, however, he found that the answers offered by materialism were dissatisfying, and through a discov…

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Joe Ward - Former Calvinist 1:00:00

1y ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Joe Ward was adopted from foster care in New York, and attended a number of different churches growing up, including Presbyterian, Methodist and Mennonite congregations. In his college years, he became extremely interested in Calvinist theology, and explored it deeply while also doing work with InterVarsity Fellowship. After graduating, Joe went on…

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Seth and Julianne Burkholder 1:00:00

1y ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Seth and Julianne met each other in small town Ohio, and even though Seth was raised Catholic, that took a bit of a back seat as he focused all his attention on using his skills as a kicker to try and break into the NFL. They eventually ended up in a Presbyterian congregation together, but they began to struggle with the question of how they should…

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Megan Thomas - Former Southern Baptist 1:00:00

1y ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Megan Thomas grew up heavily involved in her Baptist world, steeped in Scripture, prayer, mission trips, and more. However, she still felt like something was missing in the way she understood Christianity. As she grew older and she began to take greater ownership of her faith, Megan realized that a lot of the arguments she was using to defend her f…

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Kent Hill - Former Nazarene 1:00:00

1y ago1:00:00

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Dr. Kent Hill has had a front-row seat to some of the most important ecumenical moments in American Christianity over the last several decades. Along with his roles in international development, Kent also served as president of Eastern Nazarene College, and was an original signer of the 1994 document "Evangelicals and Catholics Together." He shares…

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Eduardo Faria - Former Presbyterian Pastor 1:00:00

1y ago1:00:00

1:00:00

In Eduardo Faria’s experience as a Presbyterian pastor in Brazil, he was deeply in love with his faith and passionate about teaching it. But when some significant questions about the nature of the early Church and Christian authority led him to explore Catholicism, it also raised many questions about what this might mean for his ministry, his famil…

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Fr. Jerry Byrd - Former Baptist 1:00:00

1y ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Fr. Jerry Byrd was raised Baptist, and had a strong interest in music. When a high school friend announced they were becoming Catholic, he decided to go to Mass to see what it was all about. Having played music in his Baptist church, he was drawn immediately to the beauty of the liturgy, and the truth of the Eucharist. He decided to enter the Churc…