Long Bio
I moved around a lot growing up. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1970 and moved to Columbus, Ohio in second grade. The summer before seventh grade my dad bought our family an Apple II+ computer which I quickly appropriated for my bedroom, and shortly thereafter I moved to South Carolina when I was thirteen. In Columbus, classmates thought I was a geek (before it was cool to be a geek) because I liked computers. In South Carolina, my friends thought it was awesome we could play Joust and Karateka without blowing quarters at the local gas station.
Though I only lived there for two years, I absolutely loved South Carolina and thirty years later some of my best friends in life are from that short time. I still call my friend Eric every year on his birthday. I missed it one year and he made sure to give me grief about it the next year.
Another one of those friends that I keep to this day is my eighth grade English teacher who now insists I call her Margaret, even though the teenager in me struggles with that. But Margaret changed my life one day when she told me after class that, I had “no right nor reason not to be a writer.” She arranged for me to take upperclassman journalism when I was a freshman, and continued to push me and encourage me long after I moved away. For over three decades she’s been one of my biggest cheerleaders in my writing endeavors. I know that the lives of several of my classmates were also improved for having had her as a teacher.
Shortly after turning fifteen I moved twice, first to Florida and then to Cincinnati, Ohio, where I registered for my fourth school in two years on the day I turned sixteen. Fortunately, instead of making me actually attend classes that day, my mom let me go home and watch M*A*S*H* reruns all afternoon.
Hate is a strong term that I try to avoid, so I’ll simply say I wasn’t a big fan of high school. Having attended so many schools played a large part in that, so I hustled and took night school classes and managed to graduate as a junior. I wasn’t smart like Doogie Howser. I just worked hard to meet my goal. Again: Attitude, inertia, follow-through.
My original plan was to take a year off from school and just work, but ended up enrolling in a community college taking classes that interested me, but didn’t really get me to my goal. Getting out of high school was a clear cut path. College was like trying to get out of that shrubbery maze at the end of
I am author of The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid (Servant, 2013) and the co-author, along with my wife, of The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imperfect Living (Servant, 2012). Additionally, I am the Director of Evangelization and Family Life Ministries for the Archdiocese of Denver.
In addition to my work in Catholic New Media, I’m also known as the co-host with my wife of “The Catholics Next Door,” a daily 3-hour talk show which aired for several years on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel. I’ve been honored to have interviewed hundreds of well known Catholic and entertainment personalities from Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Dr. Scott Hahn to Julie Andrews and Kevin Bacon and everyone in between. Before that, my wife I created the very first Catholic podcast hosted by a Catholic couple called Rosary Army. We’ve since rebooted our radio show (The Catholics Next Door) as a brand new weekly podcast.
Some of the awards and achievements I’ve received in recent years include:
- Gabriel Award – Entertainment Category for Mass Confusion (2012)
- People’s Choice Silver Telly Award for Mass Confusion (2012)
- Catholic New Media Award for Best Group Podcast for The Catholics Next Door Podcast (2011)
- Catholic New Media Award for Most Entertaining Podcast for The Catholics Next Door Podcast (2011)
- Franciscan University-Named Leader in Catholic New Media (2007)
- People’s Choice Best General Podcast Award for Rosary Army Catholic Podcast (2006)
- Profiled in CatholicTV Magazine, St. Anthony Messenger Press, Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Register, EWTN, and multiple other publications and media outlets.
I am also the founder of New Evangelizers, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people know their faith more deeply, live their faith more fully, and share their faith more successfully. Additionally, I have founded several other apostolates including Rosary Army, Total Consecration, and Promote Catholicism, all designed to help people develop a greater relationship with Jesus Christ.
In 2006, I became the founding President and original Chief Operations Officer of the Star Quest Production Network (SQPN), a worldwide apostolate dedicated to leading the way in Catholic New Media. Under my leadership, SQPN became the primary destination for people looking for high quality Catholic podcasts and new media. In this role I conceived, executed, and hosted the first Catholic New Media Conference in 2008, which is an annual event that continues to draw hundreds of Catholics each year who are interested in using New Media for the New Evangelization.
I’m also involved in all areas of video production from initial development to directing, producing, writing, and editing. “That Catholic Show,” one of the video series I created, which is hosted by my wife, is used in parishes worldwide.
Additionally, in 2011, “Mass Confusion,” a sitcom pilot I created premiered on CatholicTV. Co-written and co- starring my wife, along with our good friends, Mac and Katherine Barron, in 2012, “Mass Confusion” was awarded both the prestigious Gabriel Award and People’s Choice Silver Telly Award for efforts in Entertainment.
In total, various online new media initiatives have been downloaded nearly 5 million times.
In addition to my own books, I write a lot of columns for various Catholic publications and I’ve written the foreword to Sarah Reinhard’s 2012 title, “Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative or Clueless,” also from Pauline Books and Media.
I’ve been featured on many media outlets including EWTN’s Life on the Rock, Relevant Radio, Catholic Answers LIVE, Catholic Exchange, National Catholic Register, Envoy Magazine, and Faith and Family Magazine.
Married since 1995, my wife, Jennifer, and I, are the parents of four sons and a daughter.