The Lord has planned a return home for the Monholands after 6 years at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. We will now be Parish Missionaries in Denver, Colorado. The Hoosier State will always remain very dear to us, but not as dear as the many beautiful people we met along the way. We have been called to blaze a new trail in Denver, and help develop the Parish Outreach arm of FOCUS. While we remain convinced of the great opportunity and need to evangelize on college campuses, we were invited to Saint Vincent de Paul Parish to help raise disciples in the parish setting. We are very excited about the new opportunity to use the skills we’ve learned over the last 10 years of lay apostolate to think on our feet. Parish mission will be brand new to the Denver area, and require a great faithfulness to God, and a fluidity to follow his spirit where he is leading, into unknown waters.

What is a Parish Missionary, you may ask? In short, the role will be very similar to what we have been doing on a college campus for 6 years, but in a parish setting. We will be accompanying people to walk toward Christ alongside them, and when people stop, or turn away, we will be there to invite them deeper and be the hands and feet of Christ to walk toward the eternal goal of life with Christ together. But all of the will come with the added challenge of less availability…We hear that families may have a few more obligations in their life than college students…;) It will require the full creativity of our experience. Please pray for us!

We are so grateful that for all of the experience at DePauw and how it will shape our next steps. In Particular, we are thankful for all of our mission partners, friends, and teammates throughout the past 6 years who have helped bring us to where we are today. Read a little bit more about our first call to mission below.

Incarnational Evangelization – To take on the Good News in the Flesh.

I was incredibly blessed in High School to know a group of friends who cared for me deeply. They loved me, shared their time with me, and we grew in friendship. All of this was in spite of the fact, that I didn’t share the same common creed as this ‘Christian’ friends I had. I was always loved genuinely and deeply, even when I didn’t see eye to eye with them.
After years of invitations (that I declined) and many prayers, by the grace of God I finally attended youth group, and came to know Jesus Christ in His Church through the presence of the Holy Eucharist! Realizing this incredible gift I have been given by God, made present to me by the fidelity of my friends, God has given me the call to be a missionary, to ensure that others feel known, loved, and cared for. I couldn’t be more excited to go out and serve the spiritually poor; to lay down my life for them (John 15:13) and to love them as much like Christ as I can.

While Chelsea and I are called to go on mission by giving our very lives and going to the spiritual gold mine of college campuses, others are only able to go on mission by giving to others by sharing their time, talent and treasure. The Monholand family would like to invite you into this mission with us. Your prayer, financial support, and willingness to share our call to mission with others will be vital in helping us to invest deeply into the next generation of college students.

When we answered the call to join FOCUS, we made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners to help me through this mission. If you are interested in partnering with me, please let me know of the best way to reach you and I will schedule an appointment. I’d be honored to share this mission with you.