Better Preach (Ryan O'Hara)

Better Preach is Coming!

In a few short weeks I will release the inaugural episodes of Better Preach, a podcast focused on DELIVERING *and* DEVELOPING great talks for every kind of Catholic audience.

This ‘trailer’ episode is a sneak peek into what listeners can come to expect - the best of what I’ve learned in giving hundreds of talks over the last 25+ years, as well as learning from the best through expert interviews with today’s top communicators in the Catholic Church.

For more information visit: ryanohara.org/betterpreach

In this inaugural episode of Better Preach I am speaking with Ennie Hickman, one of the most respected and sought after ministry leaders in America. 

His raw and honest communication, a passion for following Jesus, and his simple and ancient approach to Christian living has impacted tens of thousands over the last two decades. 

He and his wife, Cana, have eight children. And after ten years leading of Adore Ministries, they founded Del Rey Collective in 2019.  

In this podcast you’ll learn: 

How speaking flows out of one’s relationship with God. 

Why Ennie prioritizes ministry to family, friends, and neighbors over speaking on stages. 

The irreplaceable importance of living life, off-stage, with integrity; that the words on stage and life off-stage need to match. 

His step by step process of developing a new talk. 

His unique take on the popular advice for speakers to “know your audience. “

To connect with Ennie Hickman check out enniehickman.com and delreycollective.com

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Links:

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Today I am speaking with Fr Craig Vasek, a Priest of the Diocese of Crookston, MN who for the last four years has been serving at the University of Mary, in Bismarck, ND as a Chaplain of Athletics and member of the teaching faculty. 

He has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome, as well as a Masters in Psychology from Divine Mercy University in Arlington, VA. 

Throughout his priesthood Father Vasek has worked extensively as a retreat director for the Missionaries of Charity of Saint Teresa of Calcutta in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America and just this year he was chosen as one of 50 priests nationwide as a "National Eucharistic Preacher" for the upcoming Eucharistic Revival sponsored by the USCCB. 

You will soon find out if you don’t already know that he is a man on a mission, filled with the love of Jesus and the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Are you ready? Buckle up, because by the end of this show you will learn: 

1. The critical connection between preaching and personal testimony,

2. The unique place where Fr Vasek learned a love for sacred scripture and a fervor for preaching. 

3. The difference between “giving a talk” and “preaching”. and why it’s crucial that all of our talks, preach.  

4. Fr. Vasek’s step by step process of preparing a talk or homily. 

5. How humility guides Fr Vasek to connect his speaking to a wide range and diversity of people.

Here’s a PDF of sample Speaker Notes from Fr Craig Vasek.

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator by fostering content that invites.

Links:

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Today I am speaking to Kyle Heimann. He is a creative, thoughtful, talented and innovative leader in the Church today AND a darn good communicator.

In this podcast you will learn five really helpful things:

1. The advice he would give himself as a new speaker
2. How to win the attention war
3. The critical importance of starting and ending well
4. Helping people change JUST ONE THING as the result of a talk
5. His process for praying for and preparing a new talk.

And a few fun facts about Kyle Heimann

+ He speaks and plays ukulele at, mostly, youth events, often with Dan Harms as the duo, "Popple."

+ He and his wife have 4 kids. He likes condiments, plays the kazoo, and is a bad dancer.

+ And He is currently the Chief Mission Officer for Spoke Street Media, with a passion for promoting podcasts. Check them out spokestreet.com.

To connect with Kyle check out his website.

And here’s the link to the Steubenville Conference talk we discussed, Restored in Jesus Christ, as well as a PDF of his “speaker notes”.

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

Description

Have you ever tried to explain a difficult concept to a group of people and failed? It makes so much sense to you, but you can’t quite bridge the understanding gap between you and your audience, What do you do?

You might also wonder - does it really matter? Does this particular teaching really make a difference in people’s lives?

Today I am speaking with Katrina J. Zeno, MTS, who has been speaking and teaching on St. John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" for over 25 years in the USA and internationally.

And she’s going to hit those questions head on - how do we make difficult concepts, simple and ‘what’s at stake’, particularly with St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Katrina is the founding coordinator of the St. John Paul II Resource Center for Theology of the Body and Culture for the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, a position she held for 14 years. Katrina has authored three books, including Discovering the Feminine Genius and The Body Reveals God, and a blog entitled, “TOB Tuesdays,” posted on her website. Katrina received her Masters of Theological Studies (MTS) from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in Washington, D. C., in 2014 and her BA in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville a few decades ago. Her dynamic speaking style and ability to make complicated concepts simple appeal make her an expert educator and trainer.

To connect with Katrina Zeno online, check out katrinazeno.com

Here’s the link for her talk: “Living in the Trinity”

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Some questions for you!

1. Have you ever been afraid of speaking in public?  
2. What about being hesitant to tell people what you really want in life - for fear that they might turn you away?  
3. Have you wanted to grow as a communicator, but not really sure, practically, what to work on?  
4. Have you wanted to grow in authenticity as a communicator and deeply connect with your audience?  

Well today we are going to tackle each of these questions and more as I sit down with Nick Redd.  A man who lives on purpose.  

He currently serves with SPO as the Regional Director of Mission as well as the Young Adult Mission Director in Kansas City

Nick is passionate about equipping the Body of Christ to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit through understanding their identity a​nd​ authority as baptized Christians   He lives in KC, MO with his lovely wife Theresa, and 2 year old daughter, Perpetua (Tua) Joy, and 8 month old Judith (Etty) Esther.  

Here’s the link to the talk on “Hope” that we discussed: ASCEND 21 Exhortation

And the link to download the “Notes” for that talk: Speaking Notes for ASCEND 21 Exhortation

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Some questions for you!

1. What role should scripture play when we are speaking to Catholic audiences? 

2. How do you develop a talk that matches well with your experience and knowledge and also meets the precise expectations of the group that hired you?

3. What value really is there to listen back or re-watch talks you’ve already given?

4. And finally, when are people ‘most eloquent’? Stick around to the end -  I think the answer might surprise you. 

Well today we are going to tackle each of these questions and more as I sit down with Pete Burak; a leader in the Church, particularly, in reaching and forming young adult disciples.   

Pete Burak is the Vice-President of Renewal Ministries and the Director of their young adult outreach called id. He is a 2010 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, and has a Master’s Degree in Theology from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. 

Pete is also a frequent speaker, writer, tv show host, and podcaster on discipleship and evangelization, as well as a member of the USCCB Young Adult Advisory Committee. He and his wife Cait have 5 beautiful children.

Connect with Pete at: 

Renewal Ministries

And check out @peteburak on Instagram or Facebook and @pburak10 on Twitter. 

Here is the link to the talk Pete referenced from ASCEND 22: What’s at Stake. 

Here’s a link to the “Speaking Notes” Pete used during the ASCEND 21 Talk. 

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

1. How crucial is it that the message you are sharing into a microphone matches up with who you are without a microphone? 

2. What are the challenges and superpowers for Catholic speakers who are introverts? 

3. Is it possible to redeem procrastination once and for all? 

In my conversation with Sarah Kaczmarek, we cover each of these questions and more!

Sarah has served in ministry for the last 18 years and strongly desires to see all of God’s children walk in wholeness and holiness.  She is currently the Director of Pastoral Ministry at Encounter Ministries. 

Sarah holds an MA in Counseling and is currently completing a certificate in Spiritual Direction. She loves teaching and speaking about the heart of the Father, the wholeness He desires for us, and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives.

Here’s the link to her “Power and Purpose Talk” at Franciscan University of Steubenville. 

Click here to get Sarah’s Speaking Notes for the “Power and Purpose Talk” above. 

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started. 

Description

If you are speaking to Catholic audiences you don’t want to just to pass on correct information, you want to make a deep impact.  But how exactly do you do that?   And are you willing to stay humble and attentive enough to hear the Holy Spirit, over months, maybe even years to allow a specific message - for the Church - to emerge in your life? 

Well, this was the transformational idea that I talked with Dan DeMatte about today.  From his very first talk to his fellow 8th graders to co-founding one of the fastest growing youth and young adult ministry movements in the country, Damascus, he has been a steward of powerful messages for thousands each year. 

He is the author of Catholic bestseller, Holiness Revolution, with the Dynamic Catholic Institute. And recently released a new book called Dream Bigger! He is the co-host of Beyond Damascus, a podcast and radio program carried across the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network And he lives in Ohio with his wife, Amber, and their four children.

Link to Theme Song for the first retreat he lead as an 8th grader, Michael W. Smith’s “My Place in this World.”

Here’s the link to the talk called “Dream Bigger” that we discussed: Dream Bigger by Dan DeMatte

A link to Damascus Ministry

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

How do you TRUST and FOLLOW the Holy Spirit as you are delivering talks? What work and prayer do you need to put in to make sure any un-planned pivots are led by the Spirit?

In my convo with Mark Hart, sometimes referred to as the Bible Geek, we talked in depth about this question and many other fascinating ideas, including his first BIG talk that didn’t turn out exactly as he had planned, his method for preparing talks to ensure that he is best able to follow the Spirit, and his spiritual practices to stay grounded as one of the most trusted communicators in the Church today.

Mark Hart is a best-selling author, Catholic radio personality and highly sought after speaker. He proudly serves as the Chief Innovation Officer of Life Teen International. Mark and his wife, Melanie, have four children and live in Phoenix, Arizona.

Here’s a link to his many articles written for LifeTeen.com

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description: 

How do the best communicators break free from their notes? It so often appears unscripted and effortless.  How do they do it?  

Today, in my conversation with Paul George we tackle this big question and many other of his convictions and strategies for effective communication.   

Paul has spent over a quarter century helping people discover the “art of living” through self-knowledge, a relationship with Jesus Christ, and finding true happiness. Throughout these years, he has served in various capacities, including: president of a non-profit, speaker, mentor, consultant, coach and author. And yet It’s his role as husband to Gretchen and father to his five kids that he cherishes the most. His book, Rethink Happiness, was released in May, 2018. And he holds an undergraduate degree in education and a master’s degree in Theological Studies from the University of Dallas.

Please connect with Paul at his website: paulgeorge.la

And be sure to check out his weekly podcast “The Paul George Show” wherever you listen to podcasts!

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description:

It has famously been said that if one is a “jack of all trades” they are a “master of none”. How does such an idea apply to Catholic Speakers?

Well today in my conversation with Ali Hoffman, speaker, doodler, and digital creative we jump into this very question and so much more.

Ali has a passion for Jesus, the Catholic Church, her family, donuts, and Pilot G-2 .38 pens, in that order. She served with NET Ministries and after graduating from the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota with a degree in Catholic Studies and Family Studies, she moved back home to the GREAT state of Texas where she was co-youth coordinator at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Carrollton, Texas for 6 years.

She now does modern calligraphy, digital design, and speaking full time. You can find more of her work on instagram at The Oodles of Doodles and her online shop.

Link to her website.

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description: 

What’s a great way to really improve as a communicator?  Is there a silver bullet?  Is there something I can do today or is this gonna take years?  Well, yes and yes.  

In my conversation with Tim Glemkowski, Executive Director the National Eucharistic Congress, he shares a really simple but powerful answer to this question and many others.  

Previous to his current role with the National Eucharistic Congress, Tim served in the Archbishop’s Office for the Archdiocese of Denver as the Director of Strategy, assisting with initiatives focused on building for a time of apostolic mission. He is the former founder and president of L'Alto Catholic Institute and Revive Parishes. Tim authored Made for Mission: Renewing Your Parish Culture, which was released in Fall 2019 through Our Sunday Visitor. He is an international speaker who has also consulted for many organizations, dioceses, and parishes. His writing has appeared in numerous print and web-based theological and catechetical publications. Tim and his wife, Maggie, live in Lakewood, CO with their three young children. 

A link to his speaking website

A link to the website for the Eucharistic Revival

Here’s a link to Tim’s Talk for Proclaim: “Align Everything in Mission”

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description: 

Is a regular structure and framework for each of your talks, constricting or freeing?  Does it prevent or enable you to speak more confidently and clearly to an audience?  In my conversation with Kris Frank he shares two really helpful ‘structures’ for his talks.  First the structure of three key questions he asks himself as he writing a talk AND another structure he uses as a map in both preparing and delivering his talks.  Rather than being a rigid constraint these simple and repeatable structures provide freedom and clarity. 

Kris serves as Vice President of Vagabond Missions in Steubenville, Ohio, where he lives. Kris has been privileged to travel around the country, sharing the Gospel with teens and young adults at various retreats, camps, and conferences. He also published his first book, Hope Always, in 2020. Kris spends his free time with his wife, Grace, and their five children.

Here’s a link to Kris Frank’s website, where you can pick up his book “Hope Always” http://www.kristopherfrank.com/

And a link to the apostolate he works for: Vagabond Missions

Here’s the link to the talk he referenced in the interview titled: “God is Savior”

And a link to the “Speaking Notes” for this talk, if you’d like to follow along.  Note: For your reference the notes clearly lay out the “Me We God You We” method and structure. 

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started. 

Description

We say thousands of words each day. Many of our words aren’t world changing, they just help make it from morning to night, accomplish our work and family goals, and get us from point A to point B. Most of which we (or anyone else) will ever remember. And that’s probably a good thing.

Speaking to Catholic audiences uses that same format - a string of words put together as strings of sentences - but it’s different. There’s a different intent, a different power, and a different weight.

This was a highlight of my conversation with Kelly Colangelo, on the “privilege of speaking”, the profound trust that another gives when they hand us a microphone. It is something that having done it enough we might start taking for granted. Not Kelly - even after all these years you can hear the great honor it is for her to be entrusted with such a task. It calls me on. I bet it will for you too.

Kelly fell in love with Jesus at age 17 and has dedicated her life to bringing others into a radical relationship with Christ. She has been involved in ministry for more than a decade spreading the Gospel message at retreats, rallies and conferences. She speaks internationally to people of all ages on a variety of topics and has appeared on EWTN's Life on the Rock, and has been a contributor to Life Teen and Chastity Project blogs.

Kelly currently serves as the Director of Youth and College Ministry at a parish in Northwest Florida. She graduated with honors from Niagara University with her B.A. in psychology, communications & theology and from Syracuse University with her M.S. in counseling. Kelly resides in Tallahassee, Florida.

Here’s a link to Kelly’s website. Please reach out!

Want to check out Kelly’s new book - “Dates with Jesus”? Here’s a link for more information.

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

How do you approach getting and receiving feedback for the talks you give? Is it something you build into your routine?  Or something you avoid like the plague?  And when you get feedback - do you know what to do with it? In my conversation with Joel Stepanek we jumped deep into this topic and many other topics related to the spiritual life of speakers, what kind of microphone he prefers (oh he’s got some big feelings about that one), and who his biggest influences are as a communicator. 

Joel has been actively involved in ministry for over 15 years. He currently serves as the Vice President of Parish Services for Life Teen International where he guides several teams that support Catholic parishes in creating and sustaining vibrant youth ministries that form Catholic evangelists and disciples.

Joel is a sought after speaker and author of several books, including “Chasing Humility: 8 Ways to Shape a Christian Heart,”  Joel holds a Master of Arts degree in religious education with an emphasis in youth and young adult ministry from Fordham University in New York City and a Master of Science degree in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University-Global. Joel is an avid “Spartan”-racer, marathon runner, enjoys cooking and gardening, and loves spending time with his wife and three children, Elijah Daniel, Sophia Grace, and Micah James.

Check out his website: joelstepanek.com

And please connect with him on Instagram and Twitter 

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

If you are a parent and you are trying to raise your kids Catholic you have undoubtedly heard one of them say: “Mass is boring.”  “Church is boring.” “The Catholic stuff is lame.” Have you ever heard that? I’m sure you have! I know I have. 

And a lot of times we blame the kids for this take - like they just need to mature and “see the light”, but is it really all their fault?  Or have we the teachers, preachers, and catechists failed to find creative and engaging ways to share the greatest story ever told?  I think that’s a big part of the equation.  The founder of Young Life, Jim Rayburn, an evangelical Protestant ministry to high school kids is quoted as saying:  "We believe it is sinful to bore kids with the gospel. Christ is the strongest, grandest, most attractive personality to ever grace the earth. But a careless messenger with the wrong method can reduce all this magnificence to the level of boredom …. It is a crime to bore anyone with the gospel."

Those are some powerful words to reflect on and while this particular quote didn’t come up in our conversation, my guest today, Edmund Mitchell is doing everything he can to share the truth of Catholicism with passion, joy, and  creativity.   

Edmund is a graduate of Franciscan University where he studied Theology & Catechetics. He’s the co-founder of Real+True, a project of Our Sunday Visitor, which creates videos, podcasts, and social media to unlock the catechism of the Catholic Church for the world. 

Check out Real+True right here: www.realtrue.org

Here’s the video Edmund referenced on the Resurrection, called: Why Catholics Believe in “life everlasting”

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s alink to get you started.

Description

Does the name of Jesus roll easily off your tongue? My guess is - if you are a Christian you might say ‘sure’, but take notice over the next week how many times you say the Name of Jesus. There’s power in that name and I don’t think we use it enough. More often when we might say Jesus, we substitute it w “god” , “faith”, or “Church”.    I bring this up because Beth Davis who I speak with today on the podcast brought up the name of Jesus 35 times. I counted.  I think that’s a record for the podcast.  And I am here for it!  

And the reason it came up so much is because she has a really close relationship with him and wants to lead people to him every single time she presents to Catholic audiences.  

There’s no other goal for her when she speaks and for us too, right? 

That’s the uncomfortable challenge today - are we speaking in such a way that squarely aims at this encounter, that helps facilitate through authenticity, docility, and prayer a deep and powerful connection between the speaker, the audience and the irreplaceable presence of Jesus. 

Beth Davis, a lover of Jesus, a retired youth minister, and the Director of Ministry Advancement for Blessed is She. She is passionate about teaching women how to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus and speaking hope to weary hearts. Her favorite things include being an aunt to her fab five niece and nephews, calling everyone ‘friend,’ and whatever book she’s currently reading.

Check out Blessed is She right here: www.blessedisshe.net

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started. 

Description

When it comes to giving Catholic talks, where does “humor” fit in?  Is it just a matter of telling jokes you found on the internet or do you have to be a naturally funny person to do it right?   Well, it turns out - it’s not about jokes and you don’t have to be a budding stand up comic to make humor work.  

In my incredible conversation with Michael Hoffman, a 30 year + professional speaker, trainer, and leader we jumped right away into this topic - about humor - and it’s necessary role in communication.  But again - don’t just think “jokes”, ask yourself “what can I do to help people more deeply receive the often hard or uncomfortable  truths I want to share?”  Right there is where the secret lies. 

Michael Hoffman has been igniting and equipping business and faith audiences as a professional keynote speaker and trainer for 30 years.  In everything he does he tries to connect his communication skill sets in service, sales and leadership to having the impact of love in a business world that needs it so desperately. 

Check out Michael’s website: www.ignitingperformance.com

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

You know the verses about love in 1 Corinthians Ch. 13?  It’s the reading that you always hear at weddings.  St. Paul starts by saying, “...if I don’t have love I am a resounding gong and a clanging cymbal.”  1 Cor 13:1b

People speaking to Catholic audiences have a similar bar to hit - do we have love in our heart for the people God allows us to speak to?  And if we don't, how can we gain that love for them? 

In my conversation with Julianne Stanz, a world-class Catechist, she shares how to cultivate that love, but also how that love is evidenced in and through ‘encouragement’, which meant to literally ‘give heart’ to another.  This intentionality is so needed in our day. 

Story-teller, encourager and author, Julianne Stanz is the Director of Discipleship and Parish Life for the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin and is a consultant to the USCCB Committee on Catechesis and Evangelization. She is the author of the books “Braving the Thin Places: Celtic Wisdom to Create a Space for Grace” and “Start with Jesus: How everyday disciples will renew the Church” published by Loyola Press.

Check out Julianne’s website right here: www.juliannestanz.com

And here’s an Amazon link to her latest book, “Braving the Thin Places.”  Check it out!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started. 

Description

One of the most repeated phrases we’ve heard on this podcast is “Know Your Audience” and while that admonition is really important to keep in mind, is it possible to not just “Know Your Audience”, but to “Know Every Audience?”

My guest today, Chris Hurtubise, thinks so and I think he might be right!

I won’t give it away, because I want you to check out the episode, but I’ll give you a hint - there’s this acronym that’s been floating around in Catholic circles over the last couple of years - RIM. It stands for Relationship Identity and Mission. Right here is where Chris believes and I do too that we can come to know EVERY audience and what makes them tick.

Chris Hurtubise is the Director of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship for the Diocese of Superior in Northern Wisconsin.

His biggest passions are proclaiming the Gospel into every sphere within the Diocese and casting vision for a mission-driven Church.

A native of Chicago, Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classics from Hillsdale College and a Master’s Degree in Theology from the University of Dallas. Chris and his wife Stephanie both converted to Catholicism in 2006. They live on a hobby farm with their four children: John Paul, James, Thomas, and Elizabeth.

To learn more about Chris is doing in the Diocese of Superior, check out their website.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

I’ve given hundreds of talks to college students and by and large I feel like I know what makes them tick. I’m confident, I’m able to be myself and I have a lot to share with them as so much happened and changed in my life during those years. 

But if you just dial back the clock four years on those audiences - from 18-22 yrs/old to 14-18 years old - it’s a whole different story.  It’s a really difficult challenge - especially week in and week out  - speaking to teenagers.  And I think if you can master sharing the truth of the Gospel and of Catholicism with this age range, you can probably talk to just about anybody!!

Well my guest on the podcast, Pat Millea, is a master of this very thing - he is one of the best communicators I know when it comes to combining winsomeness *and* substance in Catholic talks for teenagers. 

If you want to grow as a Catholic communicator with teens - today’s podcast is made just for you. 

Pat Millea is an experienced leader and minister, having worked in parish youth ministry for 15 years. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Sociology & Theology, and went on to receive his Master of Arts in Theology, also from Notre Dame. For two decades, Pat has encouraged and equipped audiences of all sizes and ages. He has spoken at the National Catholic Youth Conference, Catholic HEART Workcamp, and hundreds of diocesan and parish events, and he has contributed content to ministry organizations through curriculum writing & leadership workshops. Pat and his wife Kenna are parents to seven beautiful children and live in West St Paul, MN. 

Check out the website for the Martin Center for Integration and his podcast “This Whole Life”

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a  link to get you started. 

Description

What does preaching look like in it’s simplest form?  I’d say if you boil it all down, it’s just two things - a person with a bible, but not just a person reading from the scriptures, but someone with the bible open having dug deep into the words, coming up for air, and sharing what they’ve discovered, uncovering it’s meaning, inspiration, and the application of the divine words to our lives.  This beautiful gift has to flow from a living relationship with God -  the one who gave us the incredible gift of this LIVING WORD in the first place.  

On the podcast this week, I’m sitting down with Rachel Herbeck, who shares her very simple, but powerful approach to preparing for talks.   It’s do-able and convicting, humble and challenging, ordinary and holy.  I can’t wait for you to check it out!

Rachel Herbeck is a lover of Jesus, good food, and finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she serves as the Director of Communities for Intentional Disciples, a young adult outreach of Renewal Ministries. Most importantly, she is the favorite aunt to 10 nieces and nephews!

Please connect with Rachel on Instagram @rherbeck or @intentionaldisciples

And learn more about her work with ID at intentionaldisciples.com or renewalministries.net

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

It says in John 4:32 that Jesus’ food and drink is to “do the will of the one who sent me.” The one who sent him was God the Father. In my lifetime in Catholic speaking and teaching, there’s always been less of an emphasis on the first person of the trinity, God the Father. Jesus has had the spotlight, and occasionally you hear people preach and teach on the HS, especially if you are in charismatic circles, like I am.

But have you noticed, though, in the last handful of years that’s been changing. More and more people are speaking, teaching, and preaching on God the Father, and by association, who we are as sons and daughters of God. I love this move, especially as an adoptive parent myself and one who has struggled with the experience of fatherlessness in my own life. I need and the world needs so badly to know the perfect Fatherhood of God.

And in my conversation today with Brett Powell, God the Father, his words, his actions, his promptings moved right to the center of the conversation.

Brett Powell has been a leader in the new evangelization for the past 30 years serving in various roles - as a parish youth minister, campus missionary, as a senior executive with Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) Canada and currently as the Archbishop’s Delegate for Ministries and Development in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. He has a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Royal Roads and has been a leadership coach/consultant in the Church and corporate world for several years working with Executives, Priests, Bishops and lay leaders. Brett and his wife Andrea are high school sweethearts and the proud parents of 8 children and 2 grandchildren.

Please connect with Brett and subscribe to his email list at brettpowell.org

And check out his podcast with Jake Khym “The Way of the Heart”, wherever you find podcasts!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Christianity could’ve been about making a trip to outer space to search out, grope in the dark, and hope to find a God who loves us - far away from our actual lives, but in reality - the truth is - God came right to us - right into the actual mess of our lives.  

And this is where we pick up today with the inimitable Chris Padgett.  We talk about all sorts of things,  but a theme emerges throughout. In the speaker and in the audience - BE WHO YOU ARE - drop our false pretenses, get real and welcome God where he most wants to go - right into our messy lives.   

Chris Padgett is a brilliant speaker, musician, and author who has traveled around the world for over two decades giving concerts, talks, parish missions and retreats to all ages about the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. A convert to Catholicism, he has an MA in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville.  Chris has published numerous books and articles, and has been involved in video, television and radio for many years. He and his wife, Linda, have been married over 27 years and have nine children. The Padgetts live in Central New York in a nine sided home with a donkey, goats, chickens, and too many rabbits. 

Please connect with Chris and subscribe to his email list at chrispadgett.com

And check out the books he recommended at the end of the episode

The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich - Amazon Link

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger - Amazon Link 

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger - Amazon Link 

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel - Amazon Link 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

When I set out to do this podcast, one of the questions I was really eager to answer was: How do the strongest communicators PRACTICE their talks? And honestly except for a few different ideas here and there - it seems like people mostly don’t practice talks from start to finish.  And there are a lot of reasons for that - they often give the same talk over and over, they practice particular bits of their talks, they practice the opener and closer, but improvise a bit more based on a structure in between.  

But in my conversation with Dave Rinaldi today, I got the first really satisfying and challenging answer to this question.  He has a very particular approach that will, I think, challenge and surprise you.  We get into towards the end, so buckle up!  We’re going for a fun ride together. 

David Rinaldi is the Vice President of Mission for NET Ministries. He trains and equips NET's missionaries to bring the Gospel to 100,000 people each year. David has 20 years of ministry experience with youth and young adults and has given over 1,500 presentations to a variety of audiences and has never been run out of town. Yet. 

Please connect with David at his website catholicspeaker.org

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Where does my authority as a speaker come from?  Experience? Education? Certainly those influence my ability to speak confidently and accurately about my subject matter.  But is there something deeper - something embedded into the very fabric of who I am as a son or daughter of God and my unique sphere of influence? 

Well, in my conversation today with Jason Simon, zero punches were pulled. And he goes right for the jugular, to use one of his phrases from the podcast, on this really important issue of “authority” in preaching and teaching in the Church.   

Jason Simon is the President of The Evangelical Catholic (EC).Under his leadership, since 2007, the EC has experienced consistent expansion by equipping local Catholic leaders to not only be disciples, but disciple-makers. Jason has an MDiv from the University of Notre Dame and lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Grace, and six children.

Register for “Priests for an Apostolic Age: Conference for Priests and Deacons” at this website

And to learn more about Jason and the Evangelical Catholic, click here: evangelicalcatholic.org

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

What motivates you to speak to Catholic audiences?  Is it part of a job?  A calling or gifting?  Would you do it for free?  Do it for fun?  

In today’s episode my guest, Connor Flanagan, asks me straight up: Do I write talks for fun? And after stammering a bit, and being caught off guard I realized he was onto something.  Do I love the craft, the art and science of sharing about Jesus, do I love the people I am speaking to - Is SPEAKING to CATHOLIC AUDIENCES simply a means to an end (a paycheck, a line in a job description) - OR IS IT SOMETHING that is worthy of my best effort - even if I was speaking to an audience of one?  Is it something I work on because God gave the gift and I want to always give God and others my absolute best OR am I tempted to mail it in, share the minimum viable product and move on?

Connor Flanagan is a hip-hop artist passionate about encouraging others to step into God’s dream for their life. In a world where people are crippled by fear, scared of the unknown, and longing for purpose; Connor desires for his career to serve as a witness of what can happen when you don’t settle for what the world offers, and instead allow God to breath life into your gifts. From a small farm in Richfield, OH (where he performed multiple “back-deck” lip sync concerts with his siblings) to opening for David Crowder and having two records debut in the top 10 on the iTunes chart; Connor knows first hand the hard work, hustle & unshakeable faith it takes to step out and pursue a career in music.

Over the past 5 years, Connor has been working side by side with DJ/producer Ric Robbins (who has worked with DC Talk, Grits, Kelly Clarkson) to make music that adequately expresses the joy that he has found in & through Jesus. 

If you want to learn more about Connor or connect with him online - check out connorflanaganmusic.com or @connoflanaganmusic on Instagram or TikTok. 

And for a an audio-visual explosion check out the DJ/Video mentioned in the episode: Ben Bohmer live in Cappadocia over Turkey. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Do you have ‘canned’ talks? Like talks that you give over and over to different audiences?  I know I do. In fact, that talk that I mentioned just a minute ago “Everyday Apostles” is probably the single talk I’ve given the most.  

In my conversation with Brother Sam Gunn of the Brotherhood of Hope, he challenged me and all of us to not just pull the same concepts out of “back pocket.” but to approach each new time you give that talk for what it is: new day, new event and most importantly new people.  You see the ‘back pocket’ for Bro Sam is shorthand for ‘self reliance’ and in our convo he shares many different ways to approach the same talk you’ve given many times with fresh eyes. 

Brother Sam Gunn is a popular Catholic speaker and the author of the 99 Day Novena, an image-based approach to hearing and responding to God's voice. Drawing on 30 years of walking with college students and young adults, Brother Sam combines artistic creativity with traditional spirituality to help young people open up a lively conversation with their Lord and God who always has good things to say. Brother Sam is a member of the Brotherhood of Hope and currently serves as Director of Mission Content for SPO. 

If you want to learn more about Bro Sam and the Brotherhood of Hope connect with them online at brotherhoodofhope.org

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

This week we are doing something a little bit different! When I interviewed Br. Sam Gunn, from the Brotherhood of Hope, last week, we got into a great conversation about his answer to my question: “Why be a Brother and Not a Priest?”

And in classic Brother Sam fashion he turned it right back around on me. I think what we discuss in these 10-12 min are a really important part of the full beautiful picture of what Catholicism presents to the world.

So, if you have ever wondered “why would a man choose celibacy, being a brother and not become a Priest?” - well, you’re in good company.

If you want to learn more about Bro Sam and the Brotherhood of Hope connect with them online at brotherhoodofhope.org

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites.

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join Ryan’s email list.

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Today and for the next few weeks, we are taking a step back and trying something new. If you’ve been listening to this podcast you know that I often ask my guests to share stories from their worst talk or their first talk.  It’s been a really fun question to ask.  And today I want to share the three lessons I learned from one of my WORST FIRST talks - like many have shared my first big talk was one of my worst talks - so I’m combining the two! 

Also looking back, like many have shared in the podcast, the lessons I learned from that experience made a huge impression on me going forward and still impact me to this day.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

I want to share today about the surprising way God taught me, perhaps the most important lesson I’d ever learn about the call and ministry of speaking to Catholic audiences.  It wasn’t the lesson I was looking for but it was a lesson that was on the lookout for me…something i really needed even though

We’ve talked about this principle in a variety of ways throughout the podcast so far and I’m excited to share the unique way God planted this truth in my heart. 

Let me know what you think about this particular format and approach. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Have you ever had to prepare a talk at the last minute?  Like day of or day before?  Not the fault of poor planning, but somebody gets sick or there’s car trouble.  There are any number of good reasons why your number might be called - to give a talk - without a ton of notice.  Well, if you have ever found yourself in that situation and are not sure how to whip up something solid in a timely way - I believe this episode can help.  

I’ve put together a simple four-part template that can guide you, even at the last minute, to put together a talk that can be inspiring, and actionable.

Here’s a link to the template for "How to Prep a Talk at the Last Minute.”

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

So today is Ryan’s turn in the hot seat. He invited his good friend and previous guest on this podcast, Connor Flanagan , to do the honors.  They talk about the chaos of family life, how it feels to get paid to preach the Gospel, some encouragement to those wanting to do more speaking, and what launched him into ministry in the first place!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

Description

I want to share with you a short clip from an episode of another great podcast called “This Whole Life”.  This show is hosted by Pat and Kenna Millea, good friends of mine here in the Twin Cities.  Pat is a Catholic speaker, leader and podcaster - also a Better Preach alum - episode 21 - and his wife Kenna is a podcaster and licensed marriage and family therapist and their show, “This Whole Life” explores the crucial overlap of mental health and the spiritual life, sanity and sanctity.  

Recently they invited me on their show  to share a bit about my experience of the overlap of -  the spiritual life and mental health - from my perspective and experience with foster care and adoption.   We talked about how my wife Jill and I met, our struggles with infertility, the challenges and opportunities of foster care and adoption and in this short clip - I am talking about the difficulty of discovering that parenting our boys they way Jill and I were parented wasn’t going to work.  We had to learn new ways to engage, correct and bring about reconciliation in our home.  I hope you enjoy it. 

I’d love for you to listen to the whole episode - Episode 15 of “This Whole Life” wherever you find podcasts. 

Link to This Whole Life website: https://www.thiswholelifepodcast.com 

Link to Martin Center for Integration: https://martincenterforintegration.com/

I hope you’ll not only check out the full episode but follow that show too!  They are doing amazing work!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Confidence (or lack thereof) has a way of shining through the moment you open your mouth to speak.  When it’s there - it puts everyone listening at ease.  When it’s not the audience remains vigilant and alert, worried more that this person makes it to the end in one piece. And forget remembering anything they had to say!  

My guest today brings the power, joy, and freedom of confidence to every talk she gives.  

Katie McGrady is a wife, mom, award-winning author, international speaker, podcaster & daily radio show host. And the perfect guest to kickoff Season 2 of Better Preach.  

Here’s the link to the talk (via podcast episode) that was mentioned at the end of the conversation.

Link to Katie’s website for speaking, books, and her accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

The principal agent of evangelization is the Holy Spirit. 

Today I want to share two convictions that I hold about how to actually follow the Holy Spirit in talks; two ways to think about how we can best be led by the Holy Spirit before, and during the talks that we give. Because after all the Holy Spirit is the principal, primary agent of evangelization. If anyone is evangelized it is because the Holy Spirit has intervened, and helped to make it so! 

As I mentioned in the first episode of season two, we’re going to vary it up with our episodes. First, interviews with prominent Catholic speakers and priests. Second, solo episodes with just me and the microphone And third guided conversations about particular topics related to speaking to Catholic audiences with my good friend Connor Flanagan. This episode is that third kind. Connor Flanagan is taking the lead and hosting this conversation: How to Follow the Holy Spirit in Talks. 

Looking for St Dominic’s Prayer Postures?  Click here

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Here we go folks!  As promised at the beginning of Season 2 I plan on interviewing more and more priests in upcoming episodes.  Today we kick things off with Fr. Emmanuel Mansford for a great discussion about GOOD and BAD homilies.   He shares openly and vulnerably from his own experience of both. And what we people in the pews can do to help too! 

Fr. Emmanuel was born in London, England, and joined the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in September of 1998. He was ordained in 2007, has served as the Vocation Director and now serves as Director of Formation. Fr. Emmanuel is a sought after conference speaker with a passion for evangelization and recently named one of 50 National Eucharistic Preachers with the Eucharistic Revival; the USCCB's three year effort to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. And last but not least also an alumni, from the way back, of NET and SPO. Fun fact!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

It has been said, from the perspective of Christian mission, that if you can “change the campus” you can “change the world.”  For better or for worse it is during these years in college where people decide, maybe once and for all, exactly who they are going to become.  Paths are chosen -, faith, worldview, marriage, career are DECIDED during this consequential season.  It was true for me and likely true for you.    I’ve had the honor of working with college students and young adults for more than two decades and I treasure this ‘season in life’ even more now than when I first began.  

Today, I am speaking with a Pastor at the local Catholic Church on campus, at the University of Minnesota, Fr. Jake Anderson.  We dig in to the unique opportunities, challenges, and techniques he uses to preach day in / day out  / week in / week out to this unique group of people.  

Fr. Jake Anderson, a native of Wisconsin, was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Mpls and St Paul in 2015.  He currently serves as the pastor of St Lawrence Catholic Church and Newman Center at the University of Minnesota.  An avid outdoorsman who enjoys fly fishing and bow hunting, he is also a member of the Companions of Christ, a community of diocesan priests who live a life of priestly fraternity, accountability, and support.  

Connect with Fr. Jake and the St Lawrence Newman Center here at the University of Minnesota  

Check out Fr Jake and the St Lawrence YouTube Channel, Gopher Catholic, here. 

Description

As someone who speaks, teaches, or preaches for a living, one of the last things I would want to be called is “unoriginal”.   I associate that word “unoriginal” with words like boring, lame, predictable or unimaginative.  And one of my biggest fears as a communicator, especially one for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is having people use any of those words to describe me or my speaking. 

And yet there it is, unoriginal, even with all of it’s negative connotations, is PRECISELY a word all Catholic speakers need to aspire to. My mind was changed through my conversation today with Hilary Draftz, the West Area Director for FOCUS, as she used this word, unoriginal, to describe an important conviction she has about speaking to Catholic audiences.  Stick around to find out what in the heck she is talking about!

Hilary Draftz became a full-time FOCUS missionary in 2005 after earning a bachelor's degree in Film Studies and English Literature from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Hilary is currently serving as director of the West Area, leading a team of 6 regional directors who work directly with over 200 missionaries on 44 college campuses from California to North Dakota. She earned a Master of Arts in Theology from the Augustine Institute in 2021. And also in 2021, Hilary and her husband Tim adopted 5 amazing kids. 

Connect with Hilary here: https://www.focus.org/missionaries/hilary-draftz

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Let’s be honest, the Great Commission of Matthew 28 won’t commission itself.  While it stands in graphic relief in the New Testament as the hinge between Jesus’ time on earth and the era of the Church, it must be encountered and announced to be unleashed. Because if you look around the Church today - it doesn’t appear to be an obvious self-evident truth, that we must preach the gospel to all nations.   We have to be reminded, exhorted, and given a living example to follow.  

Fr. Josh Johnson preaches and lives, lives and preaches the great commission.  He is a bright reminder that we’ve been given a task to get after.  And in his case - this task is taken up one set of parish boundaries at a time. What a great convo - we get into this topic about reaching everyone - not just Catholics - within the Parish Boundaries, we talk about the difference btw personal prayer and work prayer, and finally we dig into the challenges and necessity of preaching on issues of  justice in the midst of the divisions of our time. 

After powerfully encountering Jesus in the Eucharist as a teenager, Fr. Josh Johnson dedicated his life to becoming a wholehearted disciple of Jesus Christ. Ordained for the Diocese of Baton Rouge in 2014, he has since become a highly sought after conference speaker, podcaster and author. A man who loves God’s people (and this became so evident in our conversation) he serves his local Church with joy as Vocations Director for the Diocese, and pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, in Baton Rouge. 

2021 article from Angelus News on the “Holy Six”

FORMED documentary on the “Holy Six” with Fr. Josh Johnson 

Link to Ascension Podcast: “Ask Fr. Josh”

Connect with Fr. Josh at his parish website.

And on Instagram or Twitter @frjoshjohnson

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Have you ever heard a bad homily?  No clear connection to the readings, it rambled on and on, and didn’t in any way apply to your everyday life. While this may not be the case at every Mass, bad preaching happens more often than it should.  In my conversation with Fr. Joshua Whitfiled, we discuss where this crisis come from, and what can Priests and lay people can do about it, and among many other things - what role might the Liturgy of the Hours, yes the official prayer of the Church, might play in bringing about renewal of preaching in the Church. 

Fr. Joshua J. Whitfield currently serves as the Pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas. A former Episcopal priest trained for ministry in England, after his conversion to Catholicism, he was ordained a Catholic priest through the Pastoral Provision of Pope Saint John Paul II in 2012. He and his wife Alli live in Dallas with their five children Originally from Glen Rose, Texas—the son of a football coach—he’s an alumnus of Texas Tech University, the University of Leeds, and Duke University. He is the author of several books including The Crisis of Bad Preaching: Redeeming the Heart and Way of the Catholic Preacher which is the subject of our conversation today. 

Book Recommendations: 

The Crisis of Bad Preaching by Fr. Joshua Whitfield 

Rhetoric by Aristotle

De Doctrina Christiana by St Augustine

The Book of Pastoral Rule by St Gregory the Great

The Joy of Preaching by Phillips Brooks

Connect with Fr. Joshua at his website. 

And on Twitter @frjoshtx

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

When we see great Catholic speakers at conferences or giving talks online, we experience a brief snapshot in time, not just of stories, humor, and application of scriptures and Church teaching to our everyday lives, but a whole person.  We see it simply as a person with a microphone, but in reality the moment they grab the mic is simply the current state of the journey that began years and years before with countless hours of prep, prayer, and a consistent desire to be a disciple before ever being a speaker.  In my conversation today with Paul Kim we dig into the lifestyle of a speaker, and how what we see and hear on stage must be first rooted in the realities of everyday life, ordinary and holy. 

Paul J. Kim is one of the most sought-after Catholic youth & young adult speakers in America.
The way he presents is a rare gift to witness and has impacted people of all ages in 48 states and in 16 countries over the past decade. Moving his audiences from laughter in one moment, to deep reflection and prayer in another; Paul utilizes his many talents to communicate the Gospel message of Christ to people in a way that is engaging, entertaining, and altogether life-changing.

His background includes a BA in Philosophy (Franciscan University of Steubenville), an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy (Hope International University), religious formation with the Community of the Franciscans Friars of the Renewal (NYC), and life experiences working as a therapist, missionary, and youth minister. He currently resides in Austin, TX with his beautiful wife and five children.

Connect with Paul online at pjkmusic.com

Instagram: @heypjk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pauljisungkim
Twitter: @pjkmusic
YouTube: @PaulJKim

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube.  Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Whether it’s at a retreat, a Conference, a prayer night, parish mission, even in the midst of a homily - there’s a fine line between a powerful effective testimony and a true ineffective one.  

Can you share the truth about God’s action in your life in a compelling and powerful way, and in such a way that it deepens the hearer's relationship with God and His Church? 

In this episode I want to share five pitfalls to avoid when developing and delivering a personal testimony.  And it must be said - I am speaking from first hand experience – I have fallen into every one of these traps. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Have you ever been asked: “if you could have lunch or dinner with any saint, who would it be?”

Well today we are going to have a conversation of sorts with a great saint in our Church’s history, a renowned teacher and preacher.  St Augustine.  And we are going to interview St. Augustine by way of a conversation with a theologian and Augustine expert, Dr. John Cavadini. 

His knowledge of St. Augustine, the preacher, teacher, theologian Bishop and Doctor of the Church can give us an exacting insight into what advice St Augustine might give us preachers, teachers, and speakers today, lay and ordained alike.  

John C. Cavadini is a professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as McGrath-Cavadini Director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life. A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1990, Cavadini specializes in patristic theology, especially the theology of Augustine, patristic biblical exegesis, as well as the theology of miracles, of the Church, and of marriage, and theology of evangelization. 

In addition, my guest today also served as my academic advisor back in the early 2000s when I was working on a Masters in Theology from Notre Dame.  So, it was a great honor to catch up with him again after so many years.

Connect with McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame - https://mcgrath.nd.edu/

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube.  Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

There are thousands and thousands of people in the Church today, youth ministers, DRE’s, Catechists, Priests, Deacons, Religious, who are teaching the Catholic faith to others.  And from me to all of you, first of all ‘Thank You!!” You are sharing the best news on planet earth with a world that desperately needs to hear the truth that will set them free.  

And if I could be so bold I just want to offer only one small piece of advice - today’s episode sums it up.  When you teach, don’t forget to preach!  If every person who was teaching the Catholic faith, also preached the gospel, our Church and thus our world would be a different place, in my very humble opinion.  And today we are just scratching the surface - I want to open the conversation today about the tricky relationship between teaching and preaching, Catechesis and Evangelization.  I’m not gonna cover it thoroughly, think of this as just a dip in the water.  There’s an ocean of words that have been spilled on this very important topic.  

This is part one of a three part series of solo episodes. They’ll come out in between interview episodes. 

Link to “Evangelization and Catechesis: Are We Really Proclaiming the Gospel” by Fr Johannes Hofinger, S.J. 

Link to “On Catechesis in Our Time” by Pope John Paul II

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

There is a weightiness to preaching that differs from every other kind of speaking. The message isn’t our own. The impact isn’t up to us.  It’s power comes from without, by grace lives within, and cannot be tamed, controlled, or cajoled.  As the Spirit blows where it wills, the preacher waits on the Lord. This is the burden of preaching. But it’s not a burden that rests heavy, only to crush, but a weight imbued with the Spirit that can (and must) be carried as the Preacher grows in trust of one greater, in trust of God, Father/Son, and Holy Spirit.   

As I spoke with today’s guest, my dear friend Fr. Andriy Chirovsky, he shared about the weight and burden that comes along with Catholic preaching.  I was riveted and I think you will be too.  It challenged me out of thinking that I’m doing much of anything when I give talks and has encouraged me to wait on the Lord, beg for his mercy, and plead with God to speak to his people. Can’t wait for you to hear this episode with my good friend, Fr. Andriy. 

The Right Reverend Mitered Protopresbyter Andriy Chirovsky, who prefers to sign his name as “Andriy, sinner-priest,” was ordained to the priesthood by the Confessor of the Faith, the patriarch of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church, Josyf Cardinal Slipyj in 1980. He has had extensive pastoral and academic experience across the United States and Canada, and has preached and lectured throughout North America, Eastern and Western Europe, and Australia. He founded the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies in 1986 at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and was its first Director for 16 years. The author of several books and numerous articles, Fr. Andriy has now retired from academic work due to his health. He is currently pastor of St. Paul Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Mission Parish in Flagstaff, AZ, where he lives with his wife, Halyna (yes, there are married priests in the Eastern Catholic Churches) and has founded East by Southwest Ministries, through which he is developing a series of podcasts on various aspects of the Theology, Spirituality, and History of the Eastern Churches, with an emphasis on East-West Ecumenism, and when appropriate, a good dose of humor as well. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

What's so good about the good news? As much as I've shared this and reflected on it, has it taken proper root,, in my life? Have I heard it fully, to the depths of my being?

Have I allowed myself to receive it and to be transformed by it? The answer's gotta be sort of, mostly. . So much of it has taken root in my life and transformed my life. I just got off a four day silent retreat and oh my goodness, the gospel being proclaimed for a few days and me just again, receiving it,, and seeing its transformative effect.

But I am a work in progress and the good news fades in and out and I think it's relative to how good I really, really do think it is. 

So we gotta dig into it. so I wanna share today. A simple summary of the good news and what makes it so good. 

Is it the best one? Is it the right one? I don't know. I wanna share it because it's something that’s memorable for me. And if it's memorable I can make it available, to others. 

Download The Ultimate Relationship App

Prayer of Surrender

Father, I believe that you created me, know me and love me.  Yet, I have not always chosen to love you in return and have damaged my relationship with you through sin. 

Thank you for sending Jesus to earth who proved your love by offering his life on the cross for me and for the whole world. 

I choose today to turn away from sin and turn toward your son, Jesus.

Jesus, I thank you for your love and mercy.  I open the door of my heart and I invite you to be the leader of my life — to be my Savior and Lord.

Holy Spirit, help me to follow Jesus as his Disciple and give me grace to live the truth of Catholicism in every area of my life.

Amen

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

As the three year Eucharistic Revival began in 2022 in the U S. 50 different Catholic priests from around the country. We're commissioned and sent to preach: to announce again to the church that Jesus is Lord and that a perpetual sign of his love and mercy has been given to the church through the gift of his real presence in the Eucharist. When Jesus said just before he ascended into heaven, that he would be with us always. He meant it. 

Both in his personal ministry as a Bishop and as the head of the Eucharistic revival, my guest today on the podcast, Bishop Andrew Cozzens has great hope that this three-year journey isn't about starting a program, but rather about starting a fire; a fire of faith in Jesus Christ that will spread across the country and well into the future. In our conversation today, we discussed everything from the connection between preaching and belief in Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist, the unique history of Eucharistic congresses in America, what's on his bookshelf this month and why he doesn't keep old homilies on file. 

Bishop Andrew Cozzens, a proud graduate of Benedictine college in Atchison, KS served as a missionary for young people with both Twin Cities based NET ministries and the national college ministry Saint Paul's Outreach before entering seminary. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1997. On December 6th, 2021, he was installed as the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston in northern Minnesota. He currently serves as the chair of the USCCB committee on evangelization and catechesis, where he has been tasked by the bishops with leading a three-year national Eucharistic Revival, which seeks to impact the U S church at every level strengthening Eucharistic belief and practice.

For more information on the Eucharistic Revival - check out this link 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

it's been well-documented that the Catholic church has, historically, had something of a proclamation problem. The gospel, the good news hasn't been a regular part of our spiritual diet. It's not something we hear week in and week out. And yet I'd say that things have been shifting,  things have been changing. And I'd say over the course of the 25 years that I've been in ministry with college students and young adults, the tide has turned and it's really exciting. And yet while we may not have as much of a proclamation problem nowadays. I still think we have a problem. And it's a proclamation and response problem. How do we actually lead people Into evangelistic moments? How do we help them hear the gospel and then make a concrete response to its promises? 

So that's what I want to dig into. 

This is part three of the three part series we've been working on: On Sharing the Gospel. The first one was week one part one. “When you teach, preach!” When you teach the Catholic faith, preach the gospel. Week two:  “What's so good about the good news?”  We went through the core gospel message and shared what's so good about the good news. And finally today we're talking about how do you actually help someone respond to the gospel?  I want to give some practical tips and ways that I have seen that have worked in my years in ministry with college students and young adults.  

I hope it can bless you too. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

There may have been an era in the history of the Church when Catholic teachers and preachers didn’t need to share anything really at all from their own lives in their talks. 

This is not that era. 

With all of the Church’s teachings available free of charge on that smart phone in your pocket, knowledge and information isn’t where we are lacking. 

But there is one thing that I can’t access on the internet - your story, your experience,  and your struggles to live as a disciple of Jesus. 

In my conversation today with Matt Regitz we went  deep into the how and why of this paradigm, the irreplaceable importance of vulnerability - of presenting not just Catholic truths in your talks, but granting brave access to how you are actually bringing those truths to every aspect of your life. 

After graduating from Texas A&M and pursuing an oilfield sales career Matt Regitz took a leap of faith and became the youth minster at his parish in Houston, Texas. The mission has grown to include parishes around the world as he serves as a global leadership coach with Divine Renovation Ministries. Matt and bride, Stephanie, started Survive and Thrive Ministries to share their story of healing and hope with other families. The rest of the Regitz clan, including their four kids at home and a daughter in heaven, Mary Clare, love soccer games, barbeques, minivan road trips, and the communal life. 

Here’s the link to Divine Renovation Ministry 

Facebook page for Survive and Thrive Ministries 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

In this podcast we have focused almost all of our attention on helping people get better at giving discrete talks, teachings, or testimonies to Catholic audiences (at retreats, conferences, in homilies, ministry nights, you name it.).

But there’s another kind of speaking, in the Catholic world, that is super important and often overlooked and it DOESN’T  involve addressing an audience through a  keynote talk, teaching, or testimony.  

And that’s the role of an emcee.

Sometimes called a host, the emcee plays a really influential and important role for many Catholic events.  

But what makes for a great emcee and what skills does an emcee need that isn’t required of other kinds of talks? 

Today, I’m joined again by my good friend and occasional co-host, Connor Flanagan as we dive deep into the guiding principles of How to be a great emcee.  

Download PDF Overview of Episode 49: Four Guiding Principles of Being a Great Emcee. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

What happens when you really stand back and let Jesus lead the way?  Yes, in every aspect of your life - career, vocation, raising kids, etc.. 

But what if Catholic speakers, with great talent, opportunity and ambition don’t follow this principle.  I shudder to think, but then again I just have to look at my own life to see the results. Self-reliance is an idol that needs to be crushed in each our lives as disciples, and certainly foremost for those who come to serve the Lord through speaking, teaching and speaking.  

But I started off by asking ‘what if’, what would it look like for a Catholic speaker to  be dead serious about expecting, waiting, and trusting Jesus to take the lead?   While no one does it perfectly, my guest today, Mari Pablo, shares with great humility and profound trust in God, her conviction the need to to step aside and allow Jesus to bring the opportunities, bear the fruit, and get the glory. 

Mari Pablo grew up in a devout, always supportive, boisterous Hispanic family in South Florida. She graduated from Franciscan University with a double major in theology and psychology; she also holds a Master of Theology from the Augustine Institute. She has worked in youth ministry for over 15 years, and is currently serving parishes and universities across the country with The Evangelical Catholic.

​Mari is a presenter in numerous projects for Ascension Press and is well known for her dynamic presentations at the annual Steubenville Youth Conferences, NCYC, NET, Life Teen events, FOCUS conference, diocesan events and more. Mari has a deep love for food but an even greater love for Christ and is dedicated to helping others encounter Him.

Connect with Mari online at her website.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

For many of us a big challenge we have in ministry is NOT developing and delivering talks ourselves, it’s being confident that we have an effective plan to help OTHERS develop and deliver talks. 

For many years I took the easy way out. I’d be in charge of, let’s say, getting others to give talks at a retreat, and I’d wind ‘em up and let em go.  Very little engagement, oversight, and almost NEVER any feedback.  And you could tell. They could too.  No one felt good about it.  

But about 10 years ago I knew I needed to make a change, I had to get invested in the right way from beginning to end.  Each step along the way was really important and shouldn’t be overlooked.  and THAT’S  what we are going to dive into today.   

Download PDF Overview of Episode 51: Four Stages of Equipping Others to Give Talks. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Have you ever wondered what it would be like, as a layperson to go from listening to homilies to giving them?  I know I have. What if you as a ministry leader, professor, and conference speaker were also called to be a Deacon in the Catholic Church? You’ve been giving talks, thousands of them, for many years and now you are giving homilies in a local Church on a weekly basis.  What would that transition be like?  What are the challenges, hiccups, and new lessons to learn?

Well, if you’ve ever wondered what that would be like - you are in for a treat today - actually either way you are in for a treat today, as I sit down with the one and only Deacon Bob Rice to discuss his convictions around teaching and preaching, but also a deep dive on what it’s like to begin giving homilies as a Deacon. 

Bob Rice loves being Catholic. He is a husband, father of seven, permanent deacon for the diocese of Steubenville, and Professor of Catechetics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He has a PhD in Theology from Liverpool Hope University where he researched Catholic youth and evangelization. Deacon Bob is a highly sought after presenter, author of many books and articles, and the co-host of a popular weekly podcast called They That Hope with Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR. Bob has recorded numerous CDs (his music can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, and others) and leads worship for over ten thousand people every year, mostly through the Steubenville Adult Conferences. 

Amazon link to the “Heart of the Diaconate” by Dcn James Keating

Connect with Deacon Bob at his website

Check out “They That Hope”, a podcast from Dcn Bob Rice and Fr. Dave Pivonka

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

If you’ve been listening to the Better Preach Podcast, even for just a few episodes, you know that one of my favorite questions to ask is: What is your process for preparing a talk? This one question, actually, is what drove me to start the podcast and to keep going.  I thought - I’d love to know what different speakers do, behind the scenes, to bring great talks to life.  

So, I thought, I’d love to share my process too - again with the help of my favorite trusty occasional co-host, Connor Flanagan.  In this episode we do a deep dive into “my six steps for writing a talk.”

Download PDF Overview of Episode 53: My Six Steps for Writing a Talk

Take a peek at Sample Handwritten Notes from iPad and/or a sample of an Outline or Handout - Dating, It’s Complicated_OL

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Giving a great Catholic talk is hard to do. It takes a lot of practice, grace, life experience, confidence, and knowledge to pull it off.  Now try ratcheting up the degree of difficulty a few notches by also addressing difficult and thorny topics, especially hot-button issues today around sexuality, gender, and marriage.    This is a tall task for anyone.  But every once in a while you hear someone speak on difficult topics and they make it look effortless, almost easy, while also packing a punch.  How do they do it?  My guest today, Sarah Swafford is one such speaker.  With deep conviction, boundless energy, and a love for the people she is speaking to, Sarah is the perfect guest to help us learn how to give talks on the most difficult of topics. 

Sarah Swafford is the founder of Emotional Virtue Ministries. She speaks internationally on a variety of topics including faith, relationships, and interior confidence. Engaging audiences of all ages, Sarah shares her message at school assemblies, retreats, rallies, parishes, and conferences around the world including FOCUS and Steubenville Conferences in the United States and Canada.

Sarah is a well-known author on dating and relationships and is cohost of an EWTN series on the same topic. She is also a contributor to Chosen, Ascension’s Confirmation program, and a co-presenter in What We Believe: The Beauty of the Catholic Faith, together with her husband, Dr. Andrew Swafford, and Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio. Dr. Andrew and Sarah Swafford recently wrote Gift and Grit: How Heroic Virtue Can Change Your Life and Relationships.

Sarah resides in Atchison, Kansas with her wonderful husband and their children: Thomas, Fulton, Cate, Kolbe, John Paul, and Avila Faustina.

Check out Sarah’s Website

Here is a link to Sarah’s talk at SEEK 2023

And the link to buy Sarah’s new book: Gift and Grit

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

I love checklists and systems; doing it once, writing it down and then putting the plan on repeat. Why keep reinventing the wheel? When the routine needs tweaking, make the edit, update it, and put it back on repeat.

This is especially true for me “Day of” for the talks that I give. I have routines and checklists I follow BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER a talk. Again, this is just my routine. What I hope is that it inspires you to make your own! What do you need “Day of”, at the venue and so on, as a speaker, to be most effective? Be intentional. Decide. The consistency and the extra brain space will pay off!

I’m joined again today by the best occasional co-host I know, Connor Flanagan as we run through the BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER routine for every talk I give.  Hope it blesses you and inspires you to nail down Your Routine!

And if you want to follow along as you listen or review afterwards there’s a PDF download linked in the Show Notes that summarizes what we talked about.  Check it out!

Link to “Presentation Timer” in iOS App Store

Download PDF Overview of Episode 55: My “Day of” Routine for a Talk

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

If we aren’t teaching and preaching the gospel to change lives then what in the world are we doing? Right? But heres the thing, no one would  likely suggest any other goal, but at the same time, also not know how to teach and preach in such a way that actually leads to life change.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy, and just saying that’s what you are doing doesn’t make it so, 

In my conversation today with Michael Gormley, aka Gomer, we set our sights on this very thing - how do we actually teach and preach so as to help people, who want to, change their lives.  This conversation was a blast and as we get rolling we jump into the nitty gritty of exactly how this happens. 

Also, a big shout of thanks to Gomer and Ascension who generously offered to also release this interview on one of his podcasts, Every Knee Shall Bow.  It’ll be a bonus episode in that feed this week. Super cool!  I’m so grateful.  

And to that end if you aren’t listening to Every Knee Shall Bow, what are you doing?  For a long time now I think that show has been the pre-eminent place in the podcasting space to discuss everything related to evangelization and catechesis in the Church.  Check it out if you aren’t already following!

Michael Gormley has been leading evangelization and ministry efforts for the past 17 years, both as a full-time parish staff member and as a speaker and consultant for parishes, dioceses, and Catholic campus ministries. He has his Undergraduate Degrees in both Philosophy and Theology, and a Masters in Theology and Christian Ministry, from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He currently serves as the Mission Evangelist for Paradisus Dei, a ministry dedicated to helping men, couples, and families discover the superabundance of God. Michael is also the founder and creative director of LayEvangelist.com, the co-host to two successful Catholic podcasts: Catching Foxes and Every Knee Shall Bow. He is married to his college sweetheart, Shannon, and they have 4 amazing children and get about 3 hours of sleep a night, which is alright by him.

Here’s a link to Gomer’s Website, Lay Evangelist:

And to his two podcasts:  “Every Knee Shall Bow” and “Catching Foxes”

And to his Soundcloud account where he keeps all of his talks.  Check it out!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

“Always be ready to give a reason for your hope.” 1 Peter 3:15.   If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone remind me of this passage, I’d be well really rich, but if I had to pay back every dollar for every time someone explained to me an ‘easy way to always be ready’, well I’d still be rich. :) 

This is one of those verses that Catholic speakers, priests, Catechists like to throw around WITHOUT also equipping us to make it a reality in our lives.  

Well today is that day, my friends!  I want to give you a simple, memorable way to share with others the reason for the hope you have in Christ.  Certainly there are theological and catechetical reasons for that hope, right?, but that often opens things up for debate or disagreement. Which is fine and there’s a time and a place for that  But one thing no one can debate, assuming you are being honest, is the simple story of God’s work in your life boiled down into ONE SENTENCE.  

That’s the goal and in this episode I want to propose an exercise that will help you and others develop ONE-SENTENCE TESTIMONIES. 

Download PDF Overview of Episode 57: How and Why to Write a One-Sentence Testimony

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

God’s Approval, Human Applause, Abundant Affirmation.  I’d be lying if I said these three things DIDN’T factor in deeply to my motivation and experience as a Catholic Speaker over the years.   You want to do an excellent job, that brings God honor, meets the expectations of your boss or whoever has hired you, and you want it to be received well by everybody listening.  

But is that approval, applause, affirmation, solid ground to stand as the motivation and criteria for succuss for people called to preach and teach the Gospel?  

No, it’s not.   

And today in my conversation with Brad Pierron we go right at this question.  And his view and perspective on it was as well articulated as I’ve ever come across. His outlook on this will comfort *and* convict! So look out my friends, we’ve got a hot one today!

Brad Pierron is the Missionary Program Director at Damascus in Centerburg, OH, where he has served since its inception seven year ago. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University and is currently pursuing a master's degree in business administration through Franciscan University of Steubenville. In addition to his service with Damascus, Brad serves as a co-host for Beyond Damascus – a national Catholic radio show and podcast, and he speaks to thousands every year. 

As a missionary formator, he is passionate about bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to life in the Church today, and as a product of Southern Ohio, his ideal day would include a sporting event, a truck bed, and a large glass of sweet tea. He and his lovely wife, Nina, were married in August of 2020, are expecting their first child in January, and currently reside in Lewis Center, OH.

Here’s the link to Damascus where Brad serves, leads, and teaches.

Here’s a link to the Beyond Damascus Podcast 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

I want to give you simple and practical tips to ensure, every time you speak to Catholic audiences, that you absolutely have something to say; something worth listening to and acting on. In this episode I will share four things that need to be true of the words you use when you speak about the Catholic faith.

Download PDF Overview of Episode 59: How to Have Something to Say

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

I can’t tell you how many things I’ve learned how to do by watching video tutorials on YouTube, just for this podcast alone..but it doesn’t stop there - plumbing, drywall, auto repair - you name it!   YouTube is incredible because any one of these  ‘how to’ videos combine all three styles of learning.  You can see and hear and learn exactly the steps you need to take to find a broken piece of glass that might be causing your dishwasher to not drain all the way..  And one of my favorite models of how to deliver great Catholic talks comes from a video library too!  YDisciple.  And in my fascinating conversation with their National Director, Annie Grandell, we dig into a wide range of topics and then land on what I’d call the seven marks of a great Catholic talk. 

After serving with NET Ministries and graduating from the University of St Thomas with a degree in Catholic Studies, Annie Grandell served as a Parish Youth Minister, for over a decade, for a cluster of 3 parishes in the greater Twin Cities metro area.   With a heart for reaching souls with the gospel and teaching the truth of the Catholic faith, she continues to serve the Church as the Director of Y Disciple, a national Catholic leader in training adults to lead small groups of young people that make disciples. 

+ Here’s the link to YDisciple where Annie serves as Director.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Every talk that I give, I want to make sure that there are three things that are really easy for the audience. I want to make sure that the talk is easy to follow. Easy to remember and thus easy to apply. And while there are a number of factors that go into this, and this podcast is dedicated to the many and varied ways to do all three of these things, there's no magic bullet.  And while there's no magic bullet, I'm convinced that I found, and I'm love to hear your experience too, like a super sneaky back way to help get closer to all three of these things, to make a talk easier to follow, easier to remember,  and easier to apply. And that super sneaky back way is a well crafted handout that accompanies the talks that I give.

Okay, so as I’ve been doing lately I put together a “Handout” for this episode, but today is a special day, because i’ve created it not as a finished product/ overview of the Episode, but just like a Handout I’d make for a talk, ample white space, 2 pages, fill-in-the-blanks and all.  

So, if you want to see an example of what I talk about in this episode and follow along, filling in the blanks, as you go, check the show notes - you can download it there!

Download PDF Handout of Episode 61: Why You Should Use a Handout for Your Next Talk

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

We love to overcomplicate things.  Let me restate that.  I love to over complicate things.  More of a really good thing - like preaching the Gospel - has to be better right?!? Not always.    In my conversation today with Pete Burds he shares how his approach to giving Catholic talks has shifted and developed over the years. And what he chooses to prioritize in a 30 min talk might surprise you.  It did me.  And I’m the better for it!  And ironically, my first title for this podcast was super complicated - my longest one ever.  And then I thought, I’m doing it again, so I actually put Pete’s advice into practice.  You’re welcome! 

Ever since encountering Jesus Christ through a high school youth ministry program, Pete Burds has used his five loaves and two fish for the sake of building the kingdom. Through storytelling, leading retreats, and years of experience in youth and young adult ministry, he has proclaimed the freedom found in Jesus Christ to thousands. Pete currently serves as the Vice President of Mission for NET Ministries. He and his family live in St. Paul, MN.

Connect with Pete at NET Ministries website - netusa.org

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

The way that you improve is to get feedback and to ask people for their input. So often, those of us who are, are speaking or leading, we have just one perspective. It's helpful but I know that I can't see everything that needs to be seen about this podcast. Your perspective is invaluable.

As we prepare for season three, I've put together a very simple listener survey. I'm talking 10 questions, 10 minutes max. Could even be quicker than that. Click the link below!

Here’s a link to the survey!

If you fill it out *AND* would like to do a free 1:1 Coaching Session, check that box (and add your email) on the form!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

What is the interplay, in Catholic preaching and teaching, between the natural gifts of communication and charisma and God’s supernatural power moving through the speaker and audience.  How do these things complement (or cancel out) the other?  

In my far-reaching and fascinating conversation with Deacon Keith Strohm, we jump right into what makes for good and bad homilies, how he prepares for preaching at the Liturgy, and the role of the Spirit and Spiritual Warfare in teaching and preaching.  

Deacon Keith Strohm is the former Director of the Office for the New Evangelization and a deacon for the Archdiocese of Chicago. A well-known international and conference keynote speaker, he has helped tens of thousands of men and women hear the Gospel message and encounter the mercy, love and power of Jesus Christ

He has extensive experience in creating and sustaining processes and programs of evangelization and formation at the group, parish and diocesan level that focus on the making, maturation and missioning of disciples of Jesus Christ. He is the Executive Director of M3 Ministries and a long-time teacher and collaborator with the Catherine of Siena Institute.

As I mentioned last week, I’m looking for your input about the podcast and have created a simple 10 question survey. I promise it won’t take longer than ten minutes. It’s been super helpful to read the responses so far - check out the link in the show notes.  I’d be so grateful to hear from you!

Survey!!

Here’s a link to the survey!

Connect with Deacon Keith

on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Or via email.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

In this week’s episode I sit down, again, with trusty occasional co-host, Connor Flanagan, to discuss the how, why, and how to get better at using vulnerability in talks, particularly through storytelling

- Download PDF Overview of Episode 64: Vulnerability through Storytelling

- Link to “Matt Regitz” episode on Better Preach

- Link to “Craig Groeschel” episode on this leadership podcast.

- Here’s a link to the 2023 Better Preach survey!

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

This is a bonus replay of my original conversation, back in Summer of 2022, with Sarah Kaczmarek. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with new episodes for Season 3. In the meantime, enjoy this powerful conversation with one of the best in the business!

1. How crucial is it that the message you are sharing into a microphone matches up with who you are without a microphone? 

2. What are the challenges and superpowers for Catholic speakers who are introverts? 

3. Is it possible to redeem procrastination once and for all? 

In my conversation with Sarah Kaczmarek, we cover each of these questions and more!

Sarah has served in ministry for the last 18 years and strongly desires to see all of God’s children walk in wholeness and holiness.  She is currently the Director of Pastoral Ministry at Encounter Ministries. 

Sarah holds an MA in Counseling and is currently completing a certificate in Spiritual Direction. She loves teaching and speaking about the heart of the Father, the wholeness He desires for us, and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives.

Here’s the link to her “Power and Purpose Talk” at Franciscan University of Steubenville. 

Click here to get Sarah’s Speaking Notes for the “Power and Purpose Talk” above. 

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started. 

Description

I’ll be back w in a few weeks time, BUT in the meantime I wanted to share, for the next couple of weeks, some of my favorite interviews from early in Season 1.   Last week I re-shared my interview with Sarah Kaczmarek, today I want to share my convo w Dan DeMatte - one of the founders of Damascus and it’s Executive Director of Missions and Advancement.  

++

If you are speaking to Catholic audiences you don’t want to just to pass on correct information, you want to make a deep impact.  But how exactly do you do that?   And are you willing to stay humble and attentive enough to hear the Holy Spirit, over months, maybe even years to allow a specific message - for the Church - to emerge in your life? 

Well, this was the transformational idea that I talked with Dan DeMatte about today.  From his very first talk to his fellow 8th graders to co-founding one of the fastest growing youth and young adult ministry movements in the country, Damascus, he has been a steward of powerful messages for thousands each year. 

He is the author of Catholic bestseller, Holiness Revolution, with the Dynamic Catholic Institute. And recently released a new book called Dream Bigger! He is the co-host of Beyond Damascus, a podcast and radio program carried across the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network And he lives in Ohio with his wife, Amber, and their four children.

Link to Theme Song for the first retreat he lead as an 8th grader, Michael W. Smith’s “My Place in this World.”

Here’s the link to the talk called “Dream Bigger” that we discussed: Dream Bigger by Dan DeMatte

A link to Damascus Ministry

Links:

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook 

Join Ryan’s email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Fr. Alex Colautti is the vocations director for the Companions of the Cross, a religious community of charismatic Catholic priests. He is a co-author of Preaching on Purpose: A Divine Renovation Handbook for Communicating the Gospel Today. Fr Alex lives to see people come into a life-transforming encounter with Jesus in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

And today we…dig into his book and two BIG IDEAS around HOMILIES…

- One church, one message

- Preaching as a Team

And before we start, be sure to stop by and say hi on Instagram at @betterpreach. I’d love to connect!

Connect with Fr. Alex at Companions of the Cross website, on Instagram @fralexcc and Divine Renovation website

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Barbara Heil is a former Protestant Pastor and Minister who is celebrating her 10th year in the Roman Catholic Church.  Barbara speaks nationally and around the world, sharing her passion for the Gospel, and inviting others to encounter God in a deeper way.

God wants to speak HIS MESSAGE through you.  Has that sunk in??  That this isn’t my message, your message, but God’s message.  We go DEEP into this IDEA today on the podcast…WHY we must focus on God’s word and what God wants to say and how to cultivate this conviction and practice in everyday life - for the sake of the people God will lead you to speak to. 

And before we start, be sure to stop by and say hi on Instagram at @betterpreach. I’d love to connect!

Connect with Barbara at her website and through Encounter Ministries. 

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

Today is a special episode, because in the last year, about 12 months to be exact I took the biggest leap of faith of my life. It all came to pass at a four-day silent retreat last summer where Jesus invited me to “feed his sheep”, to leave  SPO and the comfort of a steady paycheck, and GO full-time, preaching and teaching. Here were the words that I believe Jesus spoke to me that put the final nail in the coffin, of my discernment.  “If you love me and for only as long as you love me, and only because you love me, feed my sheep and tend my lambs.” 

Of course this was an invitation to two things, first primarily, was to be in close intimate relationship with JESUS, and then (and only then) would I be able to ‘feed and tend’; to speak, teach, and preach.  But it wasn’t just a call “preach and teach” from a microphone, it was a call to care deeply for people in poverty, to literally feed the hungry, and tend to their very practical needs.  

So today, I talk again with my good friend Connor all about it. Please note:  We recorded this episode last December so if any of the time references seem off - that’s why!

Connect with Ryan’s Speaking page here - ryanohara.org/catholictalks

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

This week’s episode is a dream come true. From the first time I pressed record on the podcast till now, I have hoped to support everyday people working in the Church with giving talks - YMs, DREs, Deacons, Campus Ministers, etc..  And it’s happened! Today is proof positive.  Not long after I started this Podcast, my guest today Nick Longo reached out to share his appreciation for the show and the growth in giving Catholic talks that he was seeing in his ministry. 

And a few months back he said “I’d love to come on the show and talk about the impact it’s had on me!” And I was like - “heck yeah, let’s do it.”  It was a fantastic conversation - in large part because of how honest and real Nick was about his growth as a speaker and digging in to what was really holding him back.  I bet you’ll relate. 

Born and raised in Central New York, Nick is a proud husband and father of three. By day, he is a director of evangelization and youth ministry in the Diocese of Syracuse, NY, and by night he is a Catholic speaker, podcaster, and writer. Listen to Nick’s podcast, This Catholic Life and follow on social @nickjameslongo.

He and his wife are also the founders of “Sent Parish”, a Catholic non-profit aimed at equipping Catholic leaders to make disciples.  In fact, if you want to download his free e-book “Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins of Parish Evangelization”, a link will be included in the show notes. 

Social Handle: @nickjameslongo

Sent Parish Website: sentparish.com

Download the FREE E-Book: “Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins of Parish Evangelization”

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

With every new generation, evangelists, preachers and teachers MUST ADAPT if we hope that this new generation will HEAR THE GOOD NEWS and wholeheartedly RESPOND to it’s promises.   This week I sit down with someone who is serving, teaching, and preaching on the front lines at one of reaching Gen-Z.

Dr. Andrew Swafford is professor of theology at Benedictine College, where he teaches courses on Scripture, St. John Paul II, and the moral and spiritual life. Among his publications are his most recent, Gift and Grit: How Heroic Virtue Can Change Your Life and Relationships, AND A Catholic Guide to the Old Testament, What We Believe: The Beauty of the Catholic Faith, and Spiritual Survival in the Modern World: Insights from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. He is an avid student of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and lives with his wife Sarah and their six children in Atchison, KS.

+ Check out Dr. Swafford's Website

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

This has come up over and over again. You know, talking with people who experience a call and a desire to do more speaking in Catholic settings, either because it's part of their job in ministry with young people or their directors of faith formation, or their priests or deacons or whatever it might be.

But there's also this idea that what if additionally there may be other talks that I might be able to give in particular settings locally, nationally, regionally, again, whatever that might be. And how do I get started? This comes up all of the time. And in fact, it's something that we talk about quite a bit here on the podcast.

And so today I want to share some wisdom that I've learned along the way. This has been a 20 to 25 year journey for me. And just now, let's say like. After 25 years or so, I finally gone pro, like this is my job, podcasting, speaking, all that stuff. And, and so I have a little bit of experience to share about that.

I'd love to talk about my own experience, but I'm also really trying to bring the wisdom that I've encountered from the podcast around this question.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Today is episode 71, Quick Reactions from the Eucharistic Congress with Ennie Hickman.

So I was on the prowl from the moment I landed in Indianapolis until this morning, that was like 10 days ago, I was dead set on connecting with my guest today, my first ever guest on the podcast, any Hickman. And so I brought my stuff to Indianapolis, but that didn't work out to connect up our schedules were.

Wild and we didn't even see each other until the last night at about 11 PM. Um, so then we said, Hey, maybe we'll jump on the phone tomorrow. Can we record a podcast on a phone? Neither of us knew I found out that wasn't going to work very well. And so, and he's like, well, Hey, I'm going to Guatemala, uh, for the pilgrimage to beauty.

I'm like, that sounds amazing. He's like, but I'm not sure about the wifi. I'm like, well, that doesn't sound amazing. But anyway, we figured it out. We made it, there's no YouTube today. But, uh, Annie and I, after like five or six takes and some internet crashes and all of that, , we have cobbled together a great conversation.

And I've titled it quick reactions from the Eucharistic Congress, because it's just the quick reactions. There's nothing definitive here. In fact, I even love Annie's approach to this, this is way too early to begin to assess. And man, I, that's such good . Pushback because I am such a guy trying to analyze in the moment what's going on and what is it all gonna mean.

Maybe that's how you feel too, this was a landmark moment in the church, and I think it's gonna be one of those things that we look back at over many years and count it as. a turning point of sorts, uh, for the church as well in America. So love to hear your thoughts, love to connect on Instagram at Better Preach.

Please reach out to me at my website, ryanohara.org/BetterPreach. If you have any ideas or thoughts about the Congress, I'd love to hear what was your take.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

A powerful theme emerged throughout this conversation which was “how do you know when to pivot” from what’s been planned.  AND HOW EXACTLY do you do it?  This is one of the hardest skills to master for people new to giving talks in Catholic settings…and there are no hard/fast rules.  In each instance…there is a judgment call made, sometimes in just a few seconds to STAY the COURSE or to PIVOT.  

Brian Greenfield and I dig deep into this question.  As you’ll see, it takes a whole lot of prayer, preparation, and humility to be confident in making a bold move in the middle of a talk - to go a different direction.  Stick around..this is a good one. 

Brian Greenfield was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and attended Seton Hall University and then attended Franciscan University of Steubenville. Brian later returned to Seton Hall to finish his studies in theology, receiving his MA in theology and another master’s degree in education leadership. Brian currently lives in Tampa, Florida, with his wife, Genevieve, and three beautiful children. In addition to giving talks around the country at conferences large and small  He serves at Jesuit High School, where he is the assistant principal for Discipline.

Connect with Brian’s speaking page here - https://willingevents.com/?profile=brian-greenfield

And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mission116/?hl=en

And X: https://x.com/mission116

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

When it comes to speaking to Catholic audiences  where does one BEGIN when preparing a talk?  Where do you begin?  I know too often I begin with: “have I given a talk on this topic before?”  or “whats inspiring me lately?”.  Again, nothing wrong with either of these, but are either of these the most important place to start?  Well my guest today has some convictions around this question, and you’ve got to stick around to hear all about it. 

Chika Anyanwu is a Catholic evangelist, former Confirmation coordinator/youth & young adult minister, and the author of "My Encounter: How I Met Jesus in Prayer" Her love of God and neighbor enthuses her to share the gospel through testimony, scripture, and honest conversations about the difficult realities of faith and life. She’s had the opportunity to evangelize at NCYC, Given, Steubenville youth conferences, FOCUS SEEK conferences, and The Catholic Feminist France pilgrimage. She’s also a contributor to Blessed Is She as well as “Connected” and “Venture: the Bible Timeline” by Ascension Press. Chika is a part of a beautiful Nigerian family, loves her coffee black, and desires sainthood for herself and you, although bad drivers challenge her sanctity! 

Connect with Chika: 

At her website: www.chika.church

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chikasworld?igsh=ZndkMXRycW9odWZo

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

Today’s episode is a new kind of episode. I plan during Season 3 to add Article Reviews and Book Discussions. Today is a solo episode where I share my three main takeaways from an article by Christian Smith, Sociologist at University of Notre Dame, on “Improving Catholic Homilies”.

Here’s a link to the Article: Improving Catholic Homilies, Part 2: Less Moralism, More Gospel

(00:27) Introducing the New Episode Format

(00:53) Discussion on Christian Smith's Article

(02:32) Key Takeaways from the Article

(15:08) Applying the Article to Personal Experience

(19:21) Conclusion and Listener Engagement

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Jim Beckman has seen it all.  From being a part of the onset of Steubenville Conferences spreading nationally to ministering to Columbine High School students in the wake that tragedy to launching Y Disciple and so much more…he truly has had a generational impact on the Catholic Church in America.  But that “impact” has a cost too…and we dig in to the mark that lifelong ministry can have - and the need for new ways of supporting people giving their lives to serve the Church. 

Jim Beckman serves as the Executive Director of ImpactCenter, a Catholic apostolate dedicated to ministering to ministry leaders in the Church. He is the former Executive Director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Jim has been involved with Diocesan and parish ministry, evangelization and leadership development for many years. A graduate of Franciscan University and the Augustine Institute, Jim has served in various roles of leadership for national, regional and local ministry. He is a dynamic and passionate speaker and has a great love for the Catholic Church. He has built solid and thriving ministry programs in numerous parishes and Dioceses over the years. He and his wife, Meg, live in Littleton, CO with their five children.

Connect with Jim: 

At the Impact Center website: https://impactcenter.com/

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

Katie Hartfiel is a ‘speakers speaker’.  She was called to speak, has many years of experience, is a mentor to others *and* works really hard on each talk BEFORE she steps on stage. It was the combination of hours of PREPARATION *and* PRACTICE that I think sets Katie apart.  Her process is inspiring and super practical…something for each of us to learn from and imitate. 

Katie Hartfiel received her theology degree from Franciscan University of Steubenville and spent the following seven years serving as a youth minister in Houston. She now feels blessed to spend her days with her husband, Mark, and their four children, while still getting to travel to speak about Jesus. For more on Katie, her books, and your first chapters free, visit womaninlove.org.

Connect with Katie: 

her website: womaninlove.org

And “She Shall Be Called Woman” - for more info: https://paradisusdei.org/she-registration-opens/

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

Your talks for Catholic audiences are too complicated, And mine are too!.  Ha! 

Whether it’s for teenagers, adults, or little kids we are packing way to much information into too tight spaces.

So, as I’ve been asked to speak to Catholic Leaders about “How to Give a Good Talk”, I’ve developed four principles - CLEAR, COMPELLING, APPLICABLE and ACTIONABLE.  These correspond to four questions every Catholic speaker should ask themselves as they are developing and delivering a talk:  Is it Clear?  Is it Compelling?  Is it Applicable? and Is it Actionable? 

Today I am addressing Principle #1 - “Is it Clear”. And for that question, I’ve come up with an equation:

SIMPLE + VISUAL = MEMORABLE

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

It says in James chapter 3 and I’m gonna paraphrase “If a man is able to control his tongue, he can control his whole life.” 

And in my conversation with OG Catholic podcaster Taylor Schroll, the theme woven throughout is how powerful the spoken word can be - both in a really funny story about one of his ‘worst’ talks, but also in Preaching in general.  And more to the point, which WORDS or WORD do we emphasize when we preach.  And do we bring the most powerful WORD to bear every time we speak to Catholic audiences.  

His conviction in this area has stuck with me like a pebble in my shoe…ever since we talked!  I hope it has the same impact for you!

Taylor Schroll is the President of the evangelization and media ministry, Forte Catholic. He is a highly regarded speaker, worship leader, podcaster and producer. He has traveled the country the share the joy of the gospel through his speaking and worship leading for retreats, diocesan conferences and more. He hosts one of the top Catholic podcasts in the world and has helped over 20 other creators launch their podcasts to share the good news online. He lives in Bryan, Tx with his lovely wife Sam and their three children.

Connect with Taylor: 

his website: fortecatholic.com

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

In Dostoevsky’s novel, the Idiot, the character Prince Myshkin declares “Beauty will save the world”, This truth and goodness behind this compelling statement has animated such prominent Catholic theologians as Cardinal Hans urs von Balthasar, Bishop Robert Barron, and many others in our day. 

And if can be so bold “beauty” might just save our talks too. And in my conversation today with Jimmy Mitchell we not only consider the ways in which this may be true in our preparation AND delivery of talks, but also the unique way beauty transforms us and invites us to be all that God has created us to be. 

BELIEVING DEEPLY IN the power of beauty to evangelize culture, Jimmy Mitchell’s gifts of storytelling and piano-playing have brought him to every corner of the world. On top of being the founder of Love Good, he’s the director of campus ministry at Jesuit High School in Tampa, FL, which has repeatedly made national news for its growing culture of conversion.

Between his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and his masters in moral theology, Jimmy has always enjoyed the cross section between faith, artistry, and entrepreneurship. Whether he’s mentoring young people in virtue or interviewing award-winning artists in his studio, he loves nothing more than helping others fall in love with God.

Connect with Jimmy and his book “Let Beauty Speak”: 

www.letbeautyspeak.com

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

You want a surefire way to look like a prideful unprofessional punk as a speaker: BLOW THROUGH THE ALLOTTED TIME GIVEN. :) That'll do it, for sure!

In this episode Ryan discusses "why this happens", "why it matters", and "what we can do about it."

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Should’ve seen this one coming, but didn’t.  From discussing “why do we sing?” to how to break down invisible barriers with audiences -  that all leads to “owning the hell out of talks.” In this fantastically unique conversation Abe Gross shares his unique perspective on teaching and preaching from the perspective of a super gifted worship leader (and speaker too!).  

Abe Gross is the Music Director for Saint Paul’s Outreach.  After serving for 10 years as a Missionary and Leader in SPO, he is now building a team of worship leaders to serve the Church and SPO ministry, locally and nationally.  A graduate of Benedictine College in Atchison, KS, Abe and his wife Lizzie live in South Saint Paul, MN with their four beautiful children.  

Connect on Instagram @abegross_music

https://www.instagram.com/abegross_music/

Listen to his Music on Spotify 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/39Jyznb6CXmjQG3ddCbFge

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

It turns out that hip-hop and preaching have a lot more in common than one might think.  In fact, at the core of both of them is an incredible (and surprising) overlap.  My guest today, Oscar Rivera, taught me so much about the beauty, authenticity, and creativity of hip-hop culture and how, in him, (and you too) these same gifts need to shine through our ministry of preaching and teaching in Catholic settings.  Stick around.  This is an unforgettable conversation. 

Oscar Rivera Jr. (a.k.a. “Two Ten”) lives in Fall River, Massachusetts, with his wife. He serves as the director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Fall River. He grew up in the inner city of Waterbury, Connecticut, where his method of avoiding “the hood’s” promises was God and hip-hop. For over a decade, he has been an international speaker and performer. Oscar’s life is devoted to the new evangelization, and his upbeat urban approach has made his message entertaining and easy to understand. Our faith is not boring, and neither is Oscar.

Connect online at Oscar’s Website

https://oscartwoten.com/

Listen and Subscribe to his New Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ave-spotlight/id1525458086

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

When you're handed a microphone in front of a group of people, I’m guessing you have a plan for what you're going to say.

But I don't think we always plan on preparing for what will be heard.

In this episode Ryan continues his four part series on “Four Pillars of Great Talk”. Today’s episode is on the third pillar, “Make it Applicable” on knowing your audience. The other two that have been covered in the podcast are:

“Make it Compelling”, episode 59, “How to Have Something to Say”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-preach/id1619852636?i=1000633799273

and “Make it Clear”, episode 77, “Simple + Visual = Memorable”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-preach/id1619852636?i=1000669646421

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

We’ve got a hot one here folks! So many people are asking the question nowadays “How do I get into Catholic speaking?”  or “How do I become a Catholic speaker?” and so often the line from Jeff Goldblum’s character in Jurassic Park comes to mind in response. He famously says to the owner of Jurassic Park - "your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should”

And that’s where my conversation with Marcel LeJeune goes right at the question of whether or not you OUGHT to pursue a career as a Catholic Speaker.  

Marcel LeJeune is the President and Founder of Catholic Missionary Disciples.

As a Catholic evangelist, international speaker, and award-winning author, Marcel loves to share his greatest passion - helping others come to know the love of Jesus and how to share that love with others.

Previously Marcel served as the Associate Director of Campus Ministry at St. Mary's Catholic Center at Texas A&M University for 11 years, and before that he was the Director of Campus Ministry at St. Elizabeth's University Parish at Texas Tech University. He holds a Master of Theological Studies, specializing in Pastoral Theology.

The most important part of his life, and his vocation, is being a husband and father. Marcel and his wife, Kristy, have five children. 

Check out “Catholic Missionary Disciples” here: https://catholicmissionarydisciples.com/

And his article: “Why You Probably Don’t Want to Be a Catholic Speaker”  

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

You may not realize it, but the truth is, inside of you are an unlimited number of great stories to tell.  For some people, a rare few actually, this is self-evident - stories just seem to flow out as easily as the next breath.  For most, though, it’s a slog - we either keep coming back to the same stories over and over OR we try to come up with new ones, but just can’t seem to recall anything worth sharing.  This is a pain point for people giving talks on a regular basis - BECAUSE stories can often make or break the talks we give.  

And today, I brought in two expert storytellers, Chris Kostelc and Kory LaCroix.  Each have served in ministry at the Parish level for the last 15 years.  Legends really, around here in the Twin Cities Catholic world. And they started a podcast over a year ago called “STORYDRAM” - telling stories to lead others to THE story of what God has done for us in Christ.  

Link to Storydram Podcast: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-storydram/id1688617049

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

Description

I've got a great episode today with my trusty, occasional cohost, Connor Flanagan, and we talk about a “seven day spiritual prep plan” that you can do ahead of the SEEK conference or ahead of any conference or retreat that you're getting ready to go into.

So seven days of different spiritual activities before the conference starts so that your conference experience, the spiritual moment in your life. can really, kind of be maximized so as to make a transformation and a change in your life after the conference. So the work we're putting in now is really for our future selves.

So that's what we're diving into today.

Here’s a link to the PDF Overview of the “Seven Day Spiritual Prep Plan for SEEK”

And this episode is, is also being released on the Seek podcast. So please check that out.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-seek-podcast/id1598918591

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Many talks in Catholic settings. inspire. But do they transform? Do they have a life changing impact on the people who are listening to them? It's true that not every time you listen to a Catholic talk, it's gonna lead, you know, to life transformation. But what if None of the talks that you listen to lead to any change in your life.

Something's missing.

Today I want to talk about this, this all important step of making our talks actionable, something that the people who are listening to them can act upon and thus see some change and transformation in their life.

This is the fourth in a 4 Part Series on “The Four Pillars of Great Talks”. The other three that have been covered in the podcast are:

1) Make it Clear”, episode 77, “Simple + Visual = Memorable”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-preach/id1619852636?i=1000669646421

2) “Make it Compelling”, episode 59, “How to Have Something to Say”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-preach/id1619852636?i=1000633799273

3) “Make it Applicable” episode 83, “You Better Know Your Audience”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-preach/id1619852636?i=1000674655542

Also, here’s the link to Michael Gormley’s episode, number 56, “Teaching to Change Lives”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-preach/id1619852636?i=1000631420942

Link to PDF Overview of Episode

Here’s a link to the PDF Overview of this Episode “Are Your Talks Actionable?”

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

By the end of this episode, you'll have a simple way to get good feedback from Catholic leaders who hire you to speak and or anyone else that you'd like to receive feedback from.

As an example, here’s a link to my feedback form: ryanohara.org/feedback

Link to PDF Overview of Episode

Here’s a link to the PDF Overview of this Episode “How to Get Good Feedback, Easily”, which includes a sample email template you can adapt for your purposes, in asking others you trust (or who have hired you to speak) for feedback.

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.

Description

Today I'm excited to share with you, three things that I've been asked to do at SEEK 25 in Salt Lake City.

And I'm looking today both to bring you up to speed on some of those things, because it relates to what we talk about here on Better Preach, but I'm also looking for your input and your prayer. Are you down for one or both of those things?

Secondly, this is the last episode of Season 3. We're kind of at a good stopping point and I have some really exciting Interviews coming up that have already been recorded actually that will release in Season 4.

If you’d like to give INPUT on questions for Fr. John Burns and/or let me know you’ll PRAY for SEEK, please reach out here :

https://www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach. (The contact form is in the middle of the page as you scroll down!)

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

Better Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here’s a link to the channel.

Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke Street, a Catholic Podcast Network that amplifies the voice of the Creator through fostering content that invites. 

Check out Ryan’s FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”

Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook

Join the Better Preach email list.  

I made this podcast with help from Riverside FM. Want to try it out for your podcast? Here’s a link to get you started.