Kevin Shinkle was baptized in the Church of the Nazarene, but his family left the church when their pastor told his parents they had to stop smoking, and that brought an end to Kevin's churchgoing days for a while. He went on to college, and met some friends who were devout Catholics and helped him develop an initial curiosity about the Church. When his career as a journalist began to become more intense, he decided he needed a foundation of faith, and those seeds planted by his Catholic friendships began to bear fruit.