SEEK 25

Brothers. I had the privilege of journeying to Washington DC with a group of students from Emmaus Journey’s NYC campus efforts in the CUNY (City University of New York) system. There is so much to say about this powerful event. The devotion was palpable. The talks were heavy-hitting and insightful. This was truly a mountaintop experienc for so many, myself included.

But as I stood there, I realized that the real power of these events does not lie in the excellent execution, the moving talks, the beautiful liturgies and amazing music, as helpful as those things are. The REAL power lay in the presence of the many missionaries who accompanied the students to SEEK. Most of these missionaries were FOCUS missionaries, which makes sense given that SEEK is a FOCUS production. But, Emmaus Journey missionaries were there. Spiritus missionaries. Damascus missionaries. Christ in the City Missionaries. Missioners of Christ. Dan was at SEEK in Salt Lake City repping HeroicMen. And while these missionaries carry different banners, we are all cut from the same cloth, the cloth of Christ.

The original Missionaries were the Apostles. 12 men! They are those who caught the football of Jesus’s great commission and ran with it, and the ripple effect of their obedience to Christ's charge is 2000 years of Holy Spirit fire spreading over and renewing the face of the earth. Jesus told them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to I serve all that I have commanded you.” And we, in 2025, carry the baton in communion with the successors of the Apostles and are all laborers in the fields of one Lord and Master and serve only for his Glory, not our own. Like John the Baptist, we must decrease and He must increase. Pope Francis teaches that all of the baptized are missionary disciples, and among those are the Saints - the Great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us who are interceding for our witness in this time. This is OUR time. And we are all called to a ministry of some level of accompaniment - an accompaniment that simply points out the Lamb of God for those who have spiritual hunger and thirst, like John the Baptist did. An accompaniment in which we are always ready to give account for the hope that lies within us. We scatter seeds of life-giving hope. Gospel seeds. We water planted seed. But God causes the growth. He has made this mission dependant on our obedience to his Great Commission.

So, brothers. What are you doing in 2025 to facilitate your own encounter with Christ on an ongoing basis? Let's face it, we can't give what we don't have. What are you doing to embody the Spirit of John the Baptist, calling others to repentance and encounter? What are you doing to bring others under the life giving love of God the Father through the costly blood of His Son, our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. What are you doing to raise up other disciples who will carry the mission forward?

There is no greater mission that we can make central to our lives, brothers. This is what is means to embrace Heroism in this life - to be like Jesus who poured himself out for others. For those of us who are fathers, the primary beneficiaries of this sacrificial living should be your wife. Then your children. If they are not beneficiaries of your sacrifice, then, to use the words of @Dan Donaldson, “DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT $200!” But once our families are strong and embodying the logic of God in other-oriented love and gift of self, we can mobilize ourselves together with our families to be the witnesses this generation needs.

May we be obedient missioners for the sake of his great glory, brothers.

Onward.