Journey Home

Rebekah had Judaism in her background, but was raised in a fundamentalist form of Pentecostalism that she rebelled against strongly, going deep into a world of regrettable life decisions. Through God’s providence and some key relationships, she began to come back to faith, and was surprised to find, after her initial Christian conversion, that her true spiritual home was in the Catholic Church. She now works helping women in crisis pregnancies in Steubenville, OH.

Jennifer Wood’s desire to serve the Lord led her to pursue formation in a Lutheran seminary. It was in her ongoing research and study that she began to realize that there was a deeper and more faithful form of Christianity, and that had its most definitive expression in the Catholic Church. Her desire to work in evangelization and discipleship led her to get involved with Spiritus Ministries, forming missionaries to work in Catholic youth ministry.

Jeff’s family was Episcopalian, but early in his childhood, his mom started taking him to a Pentecostal church, which caused a lot of confusion for him over the years. Seeking some spiritual stability, he later began to explore the Lutheran church, but that opened new doors for him of history, liturgy and sacramentality, and eventually led him home to the Catholic Faith

Ken Oliver-Mendez came from a Presbyterian background, attending both Cedarville College and Covenant College. His experience of faith formation and journalism gave him a broad view of the many different expressions of Christianity, but in the midst of all of them, he realized that his true spiritual home was in the Catholic Church. He currently brings his faith and his professional experience together in the world of Catholic journalism as editor-in-chief of Catholic News Agency.

When a friend said he was becoming Catholic, Chris began to explore this foreign Christianity and fell in love with the Church, fully entering with his wife at Easter Vigil 2021.

After 34 years as an Evangelical pastor, Gerard began to dig deeper into issues dividing Protestants and Catholics, realizing it was time to return to the Faith of his childhood.

Terry and Renee grew up in the Assemblies of God, and avoided some anti-Catholic prejudices because of the Catholics they met in charismatic ecumenical gatherings. Terry went into medicine, and in his 40’s, he and his wife felt a call to become overseas medical missionaries.

After years of service, Renee’s illness led them to have to come back to the states, where Terry began working in a Catholic hospital. The relationships they developed through that experience helped lead them slowly and surely into the Catholic Church.

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 have a better grounding in philosophy, which led her to reconsider Catholicism.

In addition, her experience as an interrogator for the US military helped shape her anthropology in a way that she came to understand that the Catholic Church had the fulness of truth about philosophy, God, and the human person.

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 more she and David researched it, the more they realized that the roots of Christianity were ultimately Catholic; it was the Catholic Church that put together the Bible, that preserved the Faith, and that had the fulness of truth. They came into the Catholic Church together in the Fall of 2021.

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 you who are new Catholics, and trying to take the steps to grow in your faith, maintain your relationships, and help loved ones understand your journey.