SPSE Workshops, Talks, & Events

St. Paul Street Evangelization provides professional Catholic speakers for our workshops and other events. We are available for parish missions, conferences, and individual talks. Below are some of our speaker profiles and talks. Our hosts are responsible for covering travel expenses and a stipend for our work. Use the contact form below, or email Adam Janke at adam@stpaulse.com for more information or to book a speaker.

Workshops and Retreats

Click on a workshop for more information.

“Now is the time to commit all of the Church’s energy to a New Evangelization.” Pope St. John Paul II

Basic Evangelization Training is among the most hands on, practical, and dynamic evangelization workshops available for Catholics today. It is also our most popular workshop. Participants will gain the courage they need to become enthusiastic and joyful evangelists as they overcome any fear they have of sharing our faith through a series of presentations, small group work, role playing, and prayer ministry. [more info]

In response to the National Eucharistic Revival in the United States, St. Paul Street Evangelization has developed the Invite One Back Training workshop. This workshop is specifically designed for parish ministry, focusing on helping Catholics reconnect individuals with Jesus Christ and His Church on a personal, one-on-one basis. While there is some overlap with our Basic Evangelization Training, the Invite One Back Training takes a more targeted approach to ministry within the parish setting and everyday life and focuses on those who are Catholic, but have fallen away from the Church.

Beginning with Jesus and the Apostles, healing has had a special role in evangelization. In fact, one of the main reasons that Christianity spread so quickly was because of the signs and wonders performed in the Church during the first several centuries of its existence.

It’s not hard to believe that God would use saints to perform miracles. Even saints of the last century, like St. Padre Pio, were known to perform signs and wonders. Yet, do we believe that God wants to use ordinary people like you and me to do so?

Our Healing in Evangelization Training Workshop will discuss the basis in Scripture and Tradition for asking God for miracles of healing, and model healing prayer using a four- step process. The goal of the workshop is to help each Christian evangelist discern what role healing prayer might take in their work of evangelization. [more info]

Street Evangelization is at the heart of our work as an apostolate. Years of experience and thousands of interactions with real people have taught us a lot about how to have fruitful conversations out on the street.

This 6 hour workshop includes presentations on the basics of street evangelization, small group practice sessions, as well as full group discussions and role playing. This training is perfect for parishes who would like to start up their own Street Evangelization team!

Light the Fire (LTF) is an event where volunteer evangelists invite people to come into a Catholic church for an encounter with Jesus. The church is open to the public, and guests find beautiful instrumental music playing while the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance on the altar. Other volunteers stand ready to welcome them, pray with them, and share the Gospel. The key invitation is for people to come into the church to light a candle. [more info]

St. Paul Street Evangelization offers various kerygmatic and evangelization focused parish missions and retreats. If you are interested in a parish mission or retreat, please contact us. We will set up a mission according to your needs and goals for the event.

Rescued: A Parish Easter Mission

Roundtable Discussion and Lunch for Parish Leaders & Volunteers – Round table discussion with the pastor, parish leaders, and mission leaders with parish staff and volunteers to honor, build up, encourage, and strengthen them in faith and ministry. Everyone, including our leaders, want to be wanted, valued, loved, and respected. But leaders and volunteers often feel beat up, worn down, overworked, undervalued, and unwanted. We will have a light meal together, enjoy fellowship, pray together, have a short (15 minute) talk, and then a round table conversation on healing past wounds, and reaching out into the future with a positive outlook for revival, knowing Jesus is with us.

Parish Mission Night 1: Rescued – Jesus was sent on a rescue mission to save humanity from sin and darkness. Now each of us is called to be part of that rescue mission. Our mission leader will help each of us understand how we have been called to evangelize. You will learn how to recognize the gifts of the Holy Spirit you have received through your baptism, tap into them, understand the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and grow as disciples preparing for our calling to share the Good News in all the world.

Parish Mission Night 2: Equipped – “If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?” (G.K. Chesterton) One of the most important parts of being equipped for the mission of evangelization is to receive more healing from the Lord. The sacraments are powerful encounters with Jesus and are our key sources of healing and grace. Tonight we will talk about the healing God wants you to experience in this life so you can spread the Gospel through supernatural joy in a world filled with suffering. (With Adoration, the Sacrament of Reconcilation, and prayer teams)

Parish Mission Night 3: Sent – Tonight you will be commissioned by the Church as a Missionary Disciple. Our mission leader will bring the experiences and stories of thousands of other Catholic evangelists who share the Gospel in the circumstances of their everyday life. He will share simple, fruitful tools you can use immediately to plant seeds. At the end of the night the Bishop, along with our priests and deacons, will commission each person as a Missionary Disciple. You will receive a beautiful blue-toned miraculous medal and resources to go and share the Gospel.

Walking with Others Retreat

A two-part retreat we offer, once in the fall and once in the spring. The day begins with Sunday Mass, lunch, and then 2 hours for the retreat.

Part 1: Looking Inward – In the fall we focus on the nature of missionary discipleship in the first talk, how to bring back fallen away family and parishioners in the second talk, then we create an action plan, and are commissioned as missionary disciples by receiving blessing and blessed miraculous medal.

Part 2: Looking Outward – In the spring we focus on the nature and mission of the parish in the community in the first talk, how we can reach out in practical ways to build a bridge of trust from the public square to the church in the second talk, create an action plan, and evaluate how we can move forward into the future.

Contact us if you would like us to help you set up your own mission or retreat. Fill out the form on this page, or contact Adam Janke at adam@stpaulse.com

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2

Parish, school, and diocesan support staff have a unique capacity to evangelize. Often times the first 3 minutes a visitor spends with the person of first contact in the parish decides whether they will stay at the parish or leave. Through our unique one day hospitality training, your first contact staff (administrative assistants, business managers, custodians, ushers, principals, Christian charity coordinators, or event planners) will be evangelized and prepared to receive others in the name of Jesus Christ. Additionally, the Catholic Hospitality Training Institute provides ongoing training and materials that can be shared with the entire staff. The one day training is followed up with a monthly program that includes videos, reflections, and a chance for each group to work on their action plan. [more info]

The Upper Room is a parish-based retreat for youth or adults that offers an opportunity for participants to encounter Jesus Christ, drop their nets, and follow Him as a disciple. This could be set up to follow several weeks of street evangelization, now inviting the community to come and experience more of Jesus.

The theme of the retreat, “The Upper Room,” takes the call to discipleship seriously while recognizing that it is an encounter with Jesus in the power of the Spirit that can set hearts on fire. The retreat speaker provides powerful testimonies, insights into Scripture, and humor to express God’s goodness. Optional activities are chosen based on the audience and can include group discussions, ice-breakers, free time activities, silent reflection, Eucharistic adoration, Mass, Reconciliation, and dynamic prayer experiences. The retreat focuses on inviting participants to experience a deeper love of Christ and the Church by replicating elements found in the conversion stories narrated in scripture (cf. Acts 2:14-41, Acts 10:34-48) ) and throughout the History of Church. [more info]

• Equip Leaders for Evangelization: Train leaders to train, mobilize and empower Catholics for the vital mission of evangelization, especially to disengaged and fallen away Catholics.
• Understand the Church’s Mission: Deepen the understanding that the primary mission of the Church is evangelistic: the salvation of souls. All other works of the Church serve this central mission.
• The SPSE Model: Listen, Befriend, Proclaim & Invite
• Gifts from Heaven: Breaking the Ice with the Rosary and Miraculous Medal
• Proclaiming the Gospel
• What We Need to Know about Salvation
• Sharing our Personal Testimony
• Giving Good Reasons to Believe
• Praying Out Loud
• Answering Objections
• Starting and Running a Street Evangelization Team

Talks

Click on a talk for more information.

Our 10 Great Ways talk is the perfect introduction for your Catholic parish, school, or organization to the work of St. Paul Street Evangelization. This 60 minute talk flies by as we discuss 10 things that every Catholic can begin implementing into their own life to start evangelizing today. The first 3 are focused on our relationship with God. The last 7 are focused on our relationship with others. After the talk there is time for 30 minutes of Q&A. Every talk includes a free resource table with information and tools participants can pick up and start using the same day.

At almost every parish workshop we give we are asked about bringing back fallen away adult children. This 45-60 minute talk is based on the real life experiences of our evangelists and their families, with practical ideas for evangelizing adult children who have left the faith. We will also spend 10-20% of our time talking about ideas to evangelize others, such as family, friends, and strangers.

This 45-60 minute talk examines practical methods to evangelizing in a modern culture that has turned its back on God and the Christian faith. We will look at the 4 basic questions on which humanity finds common ground, study Pope St. John Paul II’s Mission of the Redeemer and Pope St. Paul VI’s Evangelization in the Modern World, share real life stories of evangelization, and talk about ideas for evangelizing family & friends, in the workplace, and with people in everyday circumstances.

Designed to be offered as the keynote at a Men’s Conference! The Church has called Catholic men everywhere to recognize that we are under spiritual attack, to step into the breach, and to engage in the battle for souls. In this session, Adam Janke will talk about how men have been leading the way in the work of evangelization since the time of the Apostles, and how each of us can proclaim the Gospel effectively and persuasively in our everyday lives without being “weird.” This powerful presentation is filled with practical ideas and real life stories of conversion and healing.

This 45-60 minute talk examines our tried and true “One Good Reason” method of evangelization. It goes deeper than conversational evangelization and focuses on the “proclamation” part of sharing the Gospel. We will review the history of this method, it’s growth through out street teams, and how it has helped our evangelists become better at proclaiming the Gospel in everyday life. We will review the 5 archetypes (Catholic, Christian, non-Christian theist, agnostic, and atheist) and “one good reason” we use with each. Finally we will do some role playing and take questions and answers.

This 45-60 talk covers the history of St. Paul Street Evangelization, from the conversion of its founder, Steve Dawson, to an international apostolate. It is filled with stories to inspire your listeners to become missionary disciples themselves. We will talk about some of our basic methods and do some role-playing with evangelization tools, including the Miraculous Medal.

Speakers

Steve Dawson

Adam Janke

Brian Lee

Dr. Deb McManimon

Bob Wilson

Beth Schuele

Randy Grasso

Senior Regional Missionary

Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Event Inquiry

If you are interested in hosting a talk or event at your diocese, parish, school, or organization, please use the form below to contact us. Someone will respond to you within 2 business days, but often sooner.

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Some places where we have held workshops in the past:

Williamsport, PA · Wichita Falls, TX · Austin, TX · Augusta, MI · Austin, TX · Libertytown, MD · Brighton, MI · Mokena, IL · Detroit, MI · Bloomington, IN · Canton, MI · Reading, MA · Simi-Valley, CA · Evansville, IN · Buffalo, NY · Cape Girardeau, MO · Melvindale, MI · Lubbock, TX · Des Moines, IA · Sulphur, LA · Gulf Shores, AL · Saratoga, NY · Chicago, IL · Conroe, TX · Troy, VT · Columbia Heights, MN · Sioux City, IA · Utica, MI · Duluth, MN · La Plata, MD · Green Bay, WI · Gary, IN · Kalamazoo, MI · Algona, IA · Venice, FL · Ave Maria, FL · Chicago, IL · Gary, IN · Royal Oak, MI · Green Bay, WI · Amesbury, MA · Duluth, GA · Great Falls, MT · New Ulm, MN · New Brighton, MN · Somerville, NJ · Scranton, PA · Slayton, MN · Ontario, Canada · Bellflower, CA · Notre Dame, IN · Jackson, CA · Sterling Heights, MI · St. Claire Shores, MI · Austin, TX · Wixom, MI · Corbin, KY · Tulsa, OK · Gibsonburg, OH · Phoenix, AZ · St. Paul, MN · Gillette, WY · Savannah, GA · Riverview, MI · Miami, FL · West Plains, MO · San Diego, CA · Liberty Township, OH · Lake Orion, MI · Steubenville, OH · Las Cruces, NM · Anacortes, WA · Dubuque, IA · London, ON · Oviedo, FL · Davenport, IA · Salem, OR · Walled Lake, MI · Newark, OH · Rochester Hills, MI · New Ulm, MN · Wichita, KS · Lagos, Nigeria · Gillette, WY · Mountlake Terrace, WA · Allentown, PA · Ann Arbor, MI · Fairfax, MN · Fort Wayne, IN · Bridgeport, MA · Harrisburg, PA · Novi, MI · Vermillion, OH · Oil City, PA, Newbury, OH · Harvard, IL · Allen Park, MI · Diocese of Toledo · Pittsburgh, PA · Springfield, MO · Cross Plains, WI · Cambridge, MA · Cape Girardeau, MO · Elizabethtown, KY · Benton Harbor, MI · Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana · Ellwood City, PA · New Castle, PA