Catholic ministry

A 748 Word Interview about Ephesians 6 Ministry

/ chicoinematt

Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Father Nick Fleming via phone call on May 7th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given. 

The name “Ephesians 6” clearly references the Armor of God passage. What specific aspects of this Scripture inspired you to found this ministry, and how does it shape your approach to spiritual growth? 

This ministry began out of a desire to do spiritual warfare. The spiritual battle over the soul can only be won if we focus on God. There are two ways to contend with an opponent: to fight them head on or to live your best life. 

For example, if you are running a race, your opponent will try to distract you. Our attention is taken away from the finish line. That’s how the Devil works. Not coming into full view, he begins with little distractions. Peter was walking on the water when he was focused on Jesus, he only started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus. 

Faith is our shield, the sword of the spirit…what better way to describe our faith than the armor. 

Your mission statement mentions helping people “engage in Spiritual Warfare.” How do you explain this concept to those who might be unfamiliar with it, and what practical tools does your ministry provide?

First of all, to help people recognize their disorder in the world and to help them see the disorder and find the root cause. I start to ask them mundane questions: do you make your bed, do you have a regular morning routine? I help people first find the disorder. They can start to find virtue by establishing order in their life. It’s a life grounded in purpose. 

Through my experience in pastoral ministry, I find people come to me when their life is falling apart. So helping them to see the disorder first is how we can lead them to the path of salvation. 

For example, the first experience Peter had with Jesus was him as a sinful man. 

So rather than fixing a broken world we focus on fixing the broken heart. By redeeming each and every individual, the Kingdom of God is made present. 

The Lord wants us to take the first steps. Our God is a Good Father who wants us to have independence, to freely choose Him and not as a drone. He wants us to surrender our humility to Him but at the same time he will allow us to participate in the redemptive act of the Cross of Jesus. I am surrendering my ego and my own self-gratification of ambition to act out of humility to follow Jesus. 

That’s the crux of the Church’s ministry to find people in the wounds of Jesus and to help them desire God’s will. 

In your experience working with people through Ephesians 6 Ministry, what do you find are the most common spiritual challenges people face today, and how does your approach help address them?

There is no particular virtue lacking in the world. I think the most prevalent issue is mediocrity and that people believe there is no such thing as being great. Greatness begins with purpose. People allow themselves to be moved by the circumstances in their lives or whatever seems to be going on in the world around them. 

I help people find that they are more than the circumstances that they are in to make them to be. Once we learn where the disorder is, we can establish order and find purpose. This is where the armor of God comes in.

“Strangers in a Strange Land” by Cardinal Chaput mentions the problem with our age is not that we are not strangers in a strange land, it is that our children and grandchildren are comfortable being in this world. That we have grown too comfortable. That’s our chief struggle. And we see that there’s a longing. We see a growth in more orthodox and traditional churches. It makes it worthwhile when it’s hard to live. The young people are drawn to this more ascetical life because they long for meaning, heroism. 

The world should open us up to wonder and awe. Life is not meant to be a vat of entertainment. Leisure is not sitting idly and doing nothing. It is sitting with purpose and reflecting on the good. Play is what satisfies our reason. It is contemplating the greatest things. 

Real rest is when you stop putting on a performance for the other and when we can rest in their presence. 

Where can my audience find more about your ministry?

Follow us on Instagram 

About Fr. Fleming: 

Fr. Nicholas Fleming, entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence and attended Providence College, where he earned a degree in Philosophy in 2011. He earned a degree in Theology from Angelicum University and was ordained a priest on June 27th, 2015. Following ordination, Fr. Fleming completed a license in Marriage and the Family at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family. After completing his studies in 2016, he was assigned as an assistant pastor at SS John and Paul in Coventry. Fr. Fleming currently serves as the pastor of SS John and James and St. Mary Church West Warwick, in RI. While pastor, I have perceived the need for more specified virtue training to encourage the faithful to be fit for the Kingdom, and with the help of his partner has begun the work of Ephesians 6 ministry.

Thank you for sharing!

A 1295 Word Interview with Sam Nunnally

/ chicoinematt

Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Sam Nunnally via phone call on May 12th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given. 

Your journey from Protestantism to Catholicism is central to your story. Could you share a pivotal moment or realization during that search for “the fullness of truth” that ultimately led you to the Catholic Church?

It was kind of a series of moments. At age 20, I had an experience about the Eucharist that didn’t fit into my Protestantist worldview. Later when I was in seminary in 2004, I had to read the Early Church Fathers. After reading them, I had my head in my hands and realized I had it all wrong. Even though I was a pastor at a non-denominational church by then, I knew then that the Catholic Church was the fullness of truth. I continued to study trying to fit Catholicism into my Protestant framework. I became a Methodist Pastor for about five years hoping that would be the fix. But I was never able to settle into my feelings about the Catholic Church. After a failed attempt at church planting, I left full-time ministry and went into banking. 

As God began working on my heart, I remarried in 2018. Around 2020, I began to pull the pieces together and truly consider converting. I was reading Catholic theologians like Yves Congar, Karl Rahner, plus a host of apologetical material. It was becoming clear that the Catholic way was the way to go. In 2022, I told my wife, Amber, that I was converting to Catholicism (she herself was a convert to Catholicism in 2005 from Mormonism). 

Prior to my conversion, we found a way to split the difference by going to a Protestant service one week and the Catholic Mass the next. Through this exposure and this gentle approach from my wife, I felt comfortable eventually converting to Catholicism. She never put pressure on me.

Women in general are looking for strong Christian men. The whole New Evangelization approach was something that my wife was doing intrinsically. If we choose to love our brothers and sisters in Christ then we would approach evangelization like how my wife did. 

The name “It’s Okay to Be Catholic” suggests there’s a certain hesitancy or shame some feel about embracing Catholic identity. What experiences led you to identify this as a problem worth addressing through your ministry?

That’s a great question! People resonate with the name. I resigned to the fact that it’s okay to be Catholic. It’s almost like an understatement. It’s obviously more than okay to be Catholic – it’s the best way to live! Sometimes it’s tough getting people to the place that it’s comfortable to explore Catholicism. It kind of requires a “veil” to be lifted. The Instagram account takes my backlog of seminary training and reading and speaks to the spiritually curious using Protestant language but through a Catholic lens. 

The whole idea of It’s Okay to Be Catholic is to simply open the door. We live in a very Protestant nation which requires people to want to explore the Catholic faith. It takes time and people need grace to move at their own pace. In my Diocese of Pensacola, Florida there’s only about 3-4% Catholic population. 

As Director of Campus Ministry at Florida State University, you work with young adults at a critical time in their faith formation. What unique challenges do Catholic college students face today, and how does your conversion story help you relate to their questions?

This is the way I try to mentor the students: I simply try to be open about my struggles with faith and life. I try to be personable with them and talk about the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. Because I come from that background, I can speak to those issues directly. A lot of these students are converts. There’s a huge influx of (mostly men) coming back to the faith. 

When students go home after OCIA and confirmation, they often experience criticism from their families. The students struggle with the hurt caused by this. I try to relate to their situation and lean into my experience with Protestant misunderstandings about the Catholic faith. 

You’re involved in several media initiatives, including a partnership with Truthly, “the world’s first Catholic AI app.” How do you see technology and new media serving the Church’s mission, and what excites you about these possibilities?

It’s the future. As much as I love the tradition of the Church, when people talk about AI and digitization there’s a skewed view. AI doesn’t have to conflict with tradition. It behooves the Church to move quickly with this technology to help share our ancient faith. 

What Truthly does is help get information like, for example, the Early Church Fathers to people in an easy to digest fashion. It’s AI that is trained to give balanced and helpful information about the faith. When I first got involved with this app, I put it through the ringer with various prompts. If you push it, Truthly will go to higher level theology. 

It’s a great example of a way that the sacred traditions of the Church can be placed in a new vehicle to share the truth. The truth never changes. But sometimes the medium needs to change.

I love the fact that Pope Leo XIV is leaning towards social justice in the world of AI. 

What elements of Catholicism do you find yourself most passionate about sharing with others?

On the social media front, I love uncovering the truth about Catholic history. This requires some digging and reading. I try to whittle down each reel to about a minute. I love to uncover the history of the Catholic Church and dispel myths. 

The other thing I personally love is contemplative prayer. One thing that led me to the Catholic faith was the mystics. From Bernard of Clarivaux to Julian of Norwich. Those are the kind of things that drew me to the Church and those are things I am still reading. I am currently reading a treatment of St. John of the Cross (based on the Dark Night of the Soul). Before that I was reading St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 

Looking ahead to your forthcoming book and other projects, what’s the core message you hope readers and followers take away from your work?

Simply that the Catholic Church is true and it’s beautiful. If you can shine a bright light on the Church, it does make mistakes of the past disappear.  But the focus is on the beauty. Let’s say you are out in a dark ocean. And you don’t realize there’s a lifeboat 50 yards from you. What I find is there are tons of people struggling and wading through the stuff they heard about the Catholic Church over the years – much of it incorrect. My job is to simply show them the lifeboat by shining a light on it. Once they are in the lifeboat you can clean them up, warm them up, and get them to shore. As long as you have them focusing on the Church’s beauty – for example, like the beauty of the Eucharist – you can work on the other things they may have questions about. 

For those who might be in the position you once were—curious about Catholicism but hesitant—what would be your encouragement to them about taking that next step in exploration?

My encouragement to them that if I can do it, they can, too. It took me 20 years to put the pieces of  Catholicism together. Take your time and investigate it fully. Find someone that you can trust to talk to or go on the internet and look up Catholic apologetics. It’s Okay to be Catholic!

Where else can my audience find more about your ministry? 

It’s Okay to Be Catholic and my Instagram account. Look for more podcast appearances, books, and speaking engagements to come! 

Thank you for sharing!

A 524 Word Interview with the Founder of Mission Blueprint

/ chicoinematt

Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Glen Gauer, founder of Mission Blueprint via phone call on January 19th, 2024. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.

What led up to the creation of Mission Blueprint?

It started in 1988. I was searching for the truth. I went to Mass my whole life. When I joined the army and went to basic training and all those Baltimore catechism questions came up. Two weeks before basic training, my girlfriend’s aunt visited Medjugorje. I was skeptical. “If Mary was really appearing, then God is real.” In the middle of basic training, I went through the five proofs of Thomas Aquinas. I started a relationship with God during my time in the military.

In 1989, I made a SEARCH weekend. All the questions I had about God I understood based on the testimony I heard at the retreat.

I gave my life to Christ as a Catholic in 1990. 93-94 I did NET Ministry. Later, I worked for the Diocese of Rapid City as the Director of Youth Ministry from 1996-1999. Taught at Saint Thomas More High School (2001-2005) and got married in 2005. I was a Campus Team Director for FOCUS from 2008-2017. Started Mission Blueprint in 2017.

What led you to shift your focus from FOCUS to Mission Blueprint?

I was sitting in Eucharistic Adoration: I asked him: Do you want me to start this ministry? It wasn’t an audible word but it was very clear. “GO!” was his message to me about Mission Blueprint.

My back went out when I was in Atlanta. God was clear He wanted me out of FOCUS and to start a new ministry.

Tell me more about the name Mission Blueprint.

We hired a former FOCUS missionary to help us with branding. The word blueprint is related to our Blessed Virgin Mary. “Create a website that comes from Mary’s pen,” I told the brander. On March 25th, 1990 I had three Catholics pray over me. The power of the Holy Spirit fell over me and it was a life-changing event.

My goal is Mission Blueprint is to help people have an experience the power of God.

What are some ways to go about achieving this goal?

Hosting conferences is the main way we do this. Between 2017-2019 things were trending well. Then 2020 hit and halted a lot of our efforts. We started more praise and worship nights. We have a Men’s Conference, a conference called Revival, a couple’s Conference called Tighten the Knot, and a Women’s Conference.

What is your favorite Marian devotion?

The Rosary. I pray it daily. Sometimes more than once. Our Lady of Good Success is our intercessor for Mission Blueprint.

I’ve never heard of that particular Marian title. I’ll be sure to check it out.

What is your hope for Mission Blueprint in 2024?

“That’s a great question! I want us to explode as a ministry. Like a micro-Pentecost. Because of what’s happened the past few years we have been stuck on idle. It’s time to go AND grow.”

How can my audience contact you?

Go to Mission.blueprint.org

Thank you for your time Glen! It was great chatting with you about your ministry.

Of course! It was great. Remember you are loved and may God strengthen the bars of your gates.

About Glen:

Glen came from a small farm near Ipswich, S.D. After a year with N.E.T. Ministries in 1993 and graduating from Franciscan University in 1996, his career began in the Rapid City Diocese
first as Director of Youth Ministry, then High School Religion teacher.

He married in 2005, joined FOCUS in 2008 and started Mission Blueprint in 2017. He and his wife Jamie have five children: Judah, Gideon, Jakobi, Ezra and Ave Maria.

Thank you for sharing!