News

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Thirty years ago, following several years of growing conviction in prayer, discernment with others, mission work in Poland and Slovakia, and studying at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family Life, I was convinced the Lord and His Church were calling me to practically respond to the mission of evangelization by helping Catholics know and make known the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In response, Leo Rudegeair and I met with Cardinal Keeler to propose establishing a Catholic ministry of evangelization. He was so encouraged that any Catholics—clergy, religious, or laity—were actually evangelizing and wanted to teach others how to share their faith in the Lord, that he established us as an Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Because Leo and I had personally encountered the joy of knowing Jesus as Lord, and knew that the Gospel was truly life-changing good news, we wanted everybody to have the opportunity to turn to the Lord—whether they were in the pews, dropped out, or unbaptized. Initially we taught about evangelization at conferences in dioceses and parishes, but came to a point where we realized we needed to be more focused. Specifically, we wanted to give parishes practical training and resources to help their parishioners personally know the Lord, and to tell anyone and everyone this Good News.

And so, the ChristLife Process of Discovering Christ, Following Christ, and Sharing Christ was developed. It is a way to equip parishes to establish an ongoing process of inviting people to hear the Gospel and provide an opportunity to personally respond to it in a relational context. In addition, participants learn the basics of becoming 24/7 disciples and hopefully embrace the essential mission of all baptized Christians—to share Christ in word and witness of life.

We are amazed by God’s grace at work in over a quarter of a million people who have participated in the ChristLife Process. We continue to hear testimonies of changed lives by the Lord Jesus. Join us in giving praise to the Lord! It’s very humbling to know what the Lord can do when each one of us says yes to Him.

A word of encouragement for all of us:

In the Gospel of Mark 5:19-20, we read about a man who had been delivered from many demons. As Jesus is departing, the man begs to go with Him, but the Lord refuses and says:

‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.”

What a timely word for us. The Lord calls us to go to our family, friends, and those around us to tell them how much the Lord has done for us! The Lord Jesus wants you and me to be His messengers of the Good News to those right where we live.

God’s love, forgiveness, peace, purpose, and power, that we have received and enjoy, are not only for us but for those we relate to. Jesus wants others to personally know Him, and guess what? By the Holy Spirit, He wants to give us timely opportunities to share with others the remarkable news that we know is true.

Now is a critical time in the nations when people desperately need to hear the love of Jesus Christ. And you and I carry His presence and word in us for their sake.

Jesus has changed our lives and He wants to use us to help others know He can change them, too! Let’s be praying for opportunities to share the Lord with others. Please pray for us as we sincerely pray for you.

With love in Christ, I remain your brother,

Dave Nodar
ChristLife Founder and Senior Leader

Dear friends,

In January 1971, a friend invited a few people to get together at his house. We all thought, as was normally the case, it would be to have a ‘good time!’ So, we were quite surprised when he greeted us at his front door, saying, “Praise the Lord!” We were all ‘freaked out’ and thought, ‘What did he just say?!’

Once inside, he shared with great enthusiasm that he had become a Christian. He hadn’t been raised as a Christian, but had now become one. We were sitting there, trying to understand what he was sharing. Even more significant than what he was saying was that he was noticeably different. He was happy, peaceful, and enthusiastically telling us that Jesus was the source of this radical life transformation. Although I didn’t say it then, it was clear to me that he had changed.

Before we left, he offered us his remaining LSD, which he wouldn’t be using anymore. He said, “you can have it, but I want to tell you it’s second best.” He repeated, “It’s second best. It’s not the one thing that will give you life.” Then he looked directly at me and said:

“Dave, Jesus changed my life and he can change yours.”

I tried to dismiss all that just happened, but the redemptive damage was done. The witness of his changed life and his joyful words of hope were convincing and impacted me greatly, although I didn’t say anything at that time.

His obvious change of behavior and the joy he manifested in telling us this good news about Jesus, is an essential part of my own conversion.

A few months later, in March 1971, I returned to my friend ‘s house and told him I wanted what he had, but didn’t know how to get it. He simply told me to get down on my knees and tell Jesus, out loud, what I wanted. Because of my very real sense of personal desperation, I knelt down and simply prayed out loud, “Jesus help me!”

It was my turning to God, knowing I couldn’t do it on my own. It was a turning from the way I’d been going and pleading with God to help me change. It was a turning from my sinful life, doing things the way many people I admired told me was the way to find meaning, love, and happiness. I now knew the way I had been living was entirely bankrupt, a dead end, and leading me further and further into darkness. And so, I cried out to God.

In that moment of surrender, I experienced the very personal love of God for me (Romans 5:5); I knew that I was forgiven for my sins (Romans 4:25), later I would go to confession.
I now knew that I had power to change. This was not in my own strength, but given to me in the Holy Spirit  (John 1:12; Acts 1:81).

When I said yes to Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit given in baptism was released in power! As we say in the Creed, I now said personally, “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ!”

Because it was such incredibly good news to me personally, I wanted to tell everyone—if the Lord Jesus would do this for me, he could do it for anyone!

Now many years later, ChristLife provides a way to help others to personally encounter Jesus as Lord Jesus; follow him as disciples and make him known to the enormous number of people who don’t know him.

We’re producing a new edition of the Sharing Christ course!

This model of a friend sharing their experience of the Lord with another friend is the model that we employ in Sharing Christ.

This fall we are producing a new edition of Sharing Christ! The Sharing Christ course is an essential part of what is needed for Catholics to fulfill our mission of proclaiming Christ to all.

In this new version, Pete Ascosi, ChristLife’s Assistant Director, will take my place as a speaker on the course. Pete is a great teacher who lives what we are all called to be and do in sharing Jesus with others!  He will be joined by Fr. Erik Arnold and Dianne Davis, who you know from the current edition.

Christ entrusted the Church with the essential mission to, “Go make disciples… baptizing them…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20). The Father longs for all to be saved in and through his Son Jesus Christ and,
we, his children, are called to make
him known!

Please join us and continue to pray for the ChristLife process to help many come to know the Lord and to follow him as members of his Church.

Your brother, in the saving love of our Lord Jesus,

Dave Nodar
ChristLife’s Founder & Senior Leader

The Lord be with you! I’m Colin Reitmeyer, a High School student, a convert to Catholicism from Atheism, and passionate about sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with everyone.

I’m very excited to intern at ChristLife because I believe ChristLife is the best tool in our time to share God’s love with the lost. It’s truly an honor to serve the Lord in this ministry, and I can’t wait to see how God transforms our culture through it.

Please join us in welcoming Colin!

Recently we held our Equip training conference. Based on the evaluations, for many it was a time of encouragement, equipping, and renewal in the Holy Spirit.

After the conference, as I reflected and spent time in prayer, I felt the Lord draw my attention to Mark’s account of the multiplication of the loaves. Specifically, to observe that afterwards the Lord went up into the mountain to pray (Mark 6:45-46). This struck me in a new way. I realized that after major events, the Lord frequently went off and spent time in prayer interceding.

It reminded me of a privilege I had when I used to lead a renewal community and Pastor Richard Wurmbrand spoke to us. His story is recounted in the book Tortured for Christ. Immediately after speaking, Pastor Wurmbrand went off to a separate room and prayed before spending time talking to people. He recognized how important it was to spend time interceding for fruitfulness for the teaching that he had presented to us.

After Equip, I experienced the Holy Spirit convincing me of the importance of intercession, not only before events or meetings, as we already practice, but also to follow on afterwards with committed intercession, praying that the Lord produce lasting fruit in the lives of those who participated.

Through intercession we can partner with the Holy Spirit to bear fruit, “far more abundantly than all we could ever ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Brothers and sisters, if we are to continue to grow as disciples of our Lord Jesus, let us enter more fully into the life of prayer that he offers us in the Holy Spirit!

Lord, teach us to pray!
Dave Nodar
ChristLife’s Founder and Senior Leader

Read the Summer 2024 Newsletter

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am writing to share a wonderful update with you. The new website our team has been working on is now available!

Our goal is, first and foremost, to sincerely honor the Lord by providing a practical way of helping Catholics learn how to be and make missionary disciples. The website provides an entirely new way of delivering our ChristLife content as an important way to accomplish that goal, including an All Access Pass for parishes and ministries and free access for anyone to the ChristLife course videos.

I want to personally thank our entire ChristLife team, and in a special way Jennifer King and Aster Evenson, who have invested enormous amounts of time and expertise to bring the website to fruition. In addition we couldn’t have done it without the work of Fuzati, our developer.

Once again, thank you for all of your encouragement and financial support in the development and launch of the website. May many more be encouraged, equipped and empowered in the Holy Spirit to make disciples for our Lord Jesus! To God be the glory!

Your brother in Him,

Dave Nodar
Founder and Senior Leader