Finding your Yes to God as a Young Adult
Finding your yes to God as a young adult is not always a dramatic moment. Sometimes it starts at a line dancing night. Jim sits down with David James, a 24-year-old Mission Service Associate at Heritage retreat center in Sharon, Georgia, who is weeks away from entering the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil. A former Baptist from South Carolina, David shares how frustration with a Sunday social culture, a Catholic young adult community, and 210 acres of sacred Georgia ground became the unlikely path to his yes. His story is a compelling window into why young adults today are turning toward the Catholic Church in growing numbers.
What’s in this episode:
David's journey from Baptist church life to OCIA and Easter Vigil
The role of a vibrant young adult parish in welcoming new questions
Why young adults are turning to the Catholic Church in record numbers
The sacramental life as a daily structure for devotion and belonging
Heritage Retreat Center and its roots as Georgia's first Catholic settlement
The MSA program and what a year of service and faith formation looks like
Radical hospitality as ministry and offering work to God
Saint Carlo Acutis and using technology for the good of the Church
How witnessing guests arrive worn out and leave renewed shapes a young person's faith
The glowing rectangle problem and why real encounters with God require presence
One resource every Catholic family should know: The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Book he is currently reading: Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor by Allen Hunt and Rome Sweet Home by Kimberly Hahn & Scott Hahn
Advice to his younger self: Find the Catholic Church a lot sooner than I did
Final wisdom for listeners: Don't be afraid of your faith; be Christ to others through your faith
Resources Mentioned:
Heritage Retreat Center – Georgia's historic Catholic retreat center and home of the MSA program
Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor by Allen Hunt – A conversion story that inspired David as a new Catholic
Rome Sweet Home by Kimberly Hahn & Scott Hahn – A conversion story David read alongside his own journey into the Church