The Power of Prayer...

It was the summer of 2003, I was in Juarez during my 7 month stay as a missionary.

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One of the groups from the US had come down for a week to build a home. This group I remember was from Arkansas. As one of their nightly activities, they wanted to take a bunch of rosaries around to the neighborhood families and ask them if they wanted to pray.

I decided to take them to a back neighborhood that was filled with cardboard houses, dirt floors and no running water. Specifically I took them to a family who had become special friends to me. Upon each arrival, the mother, Marla, would yell for her 8 year old son, hand him two small coins and off he went to the local store to purchase some Coke to quench their visitor's thirst. This was always such a gift from the family, knowing that they could not afford Coke for the family, and would rather give it as a gift than drink it themselves.

So with a glass of Coke in hand, the 3 group members from Arkansas, myself, Marla and her son all prayed together in 2 languages. After the prayer, in tears, Marla confessed to praying for a new home for her family of 6. This inevitably brought the rest of us to tears as well, as we hugged, thanked her for her time and headed back home.

On the way back, I told the group members that since I met the family it had been a dream of mine to build them a house, but there was no way that would happen as there was a 3 year waiting list before a family could get a house built by the program. It was just a dream...

The night before the group left, two of the members cornered me and asked if they got the $3,500 needed to build a house and the man power to do it, if we could skip to the front of the line to build a house for Marla's family. "Well, I mean, yeah I think so," I replied. "Good, then get us on the calendar, because we want to do it!"

After raising more then $5,000 for the current house, they put their funds together to raise yet another $5,000 just to help make a dream of mine come true. I called some friends from Colorado, and they made the trek down to Juarez to help get the house built.

Only weeks before my departure back to the states, I led a group in the building of Marla's house. Each time I go back to Juarez I make a special trip to see the family. Each time I am greeted with a glass of Coke, hugs and tears from the family. They have a picture of me with the family above their kitchen table and I smile every time I see it.

It was Marla's dream to get a one room cinder-block house for her family, and my dream to build it. But I believe that without the prayer we shared on that hot summer day, neither dream would have come true.

The Man With Nothing...

We had just arrived at the first alburgue, or hostel, in Leon, Spain. This was the first city and starting point for the Camino de Santiago. The alburgues were "host houses" sometimes sponsored by the government, sometimes private and other times by a religious order. This particular one was run by a group of nuns. They had multiple rooms filled with bunk beds for pilgrims top stay the night for only a donation.

The three other guys and myself wearily entered the largest of the rooms with probably more than 50 bunk beds. Because of the vast amount of pilgrims during the summer, each pilgrim reserves his bed by simply placing his pack on the bed. It is then easy to see which beds are taken and which are available. I found a top bunk with a small book on it, and thought someone had just sat it down but had no intention to reserve the bed with a small book. As I has getting up onto the bed, a man with long hair and a beard came walking into the room and yelled politely in Spanish that I was getting onto his bed. He pointed to the next one over and told me that I could sleep there.

That night I went through my bag to see what I could get rid of, because a short walk through the city proved to me that I had well over packed and there was no way I was going to carry all that I had another 200 miles! I noticed this man next to me just lying there reading his book. I asked where his pack was. "I don't have one." What? He is going to do the whole Camino with no pack? No change of clothes? Nothing? Like I said we had 200 miles to go and 12 days of straight walking, and this man had nothing to his name but the clothes he had on his back and a small book.

I grabbed one of the shirts I had decided to get rid of and offered it to him. He politely accepted the humble gift.

The next day we both went on our way, and we did not run into each other the rest of the way.

12 days and 200 miles later in the streets of Santiago, I saw the "Man with Nothing" walking by with the shirt I had given him! Overwhelmed with joy I yelled in his direction and ran after him. In a couple awkward seconds I reminded him who I was and pointed at the shirt that he was wearing. We laughed together, shared a hug and snapped a quick photo.

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It's funny to think that sometimes we just want to get rid of something because we have too much, and that something can sometimes change the life of another, even in a minor way. The "Man with Nothing" taught me a valuable lesson that day. What I may not need, others might.

Why I Chose to be a FOCUS Missionary

So many people have asked me why I would leave a salary paying job to become a missionary for a Catholic Organization when I will have to raise my own financial support. From an outside perspective this raises a good point. The comment I get most is, “Do it while you’re young!” The reply I do not give, but think is, “Actually I would it would be awesome if I could do this for life!”

Wait a minute…raise my own support for life? Crazy right? God only knows…

While studying at Colorado State University, I joined a Bible Study led by a FOCUS missionary, and my life began to change. I entered a mentorship, or discipleship, under Adam Ybarra and began to have my own disciples as well. I was being formed and forming others in their lives of how to better live out the Gospel of Jesus. My habits began to change. My desires began to change. My hobbies began to change. My entire life, all that I knew, changed dramatically. The hard question was not “How long will this last?” or “When will this be over?”, rather it was “What do I do with this new change?”

Ali and I got engaged on a beautiful snowy Christmas Eve in 2006. We moved out to Atchison, KS and began working for Benedictine College. “One of the best Catholic colleges in America!” We loved it there. We loved our jobs, our friends and our perfect 3 bedroom and 2 bath house that we rented for a mere $600/month! Our lives were set for success. What else could we want?

The answer to the previously stated question, “What do I do with this?” began to repeat itself in my mind. Is there more to do for Christ and for the faith? FOCUS has been changing lives for years now and has been stated to be the biggest thing to hit the Catholic Church in America in years and possibly ever! I wanted to be a part of something bigger, something like FOCUS!

Since freshman year of high school I have been on a total of 8 mission trips or pilgrimages including: San Antonio, San Francisco, San Diego, Washington DC, Juarez-Mexico for 7 months, Rome, Fatima-Portugal and The Camino de Santiago in Spain. I have always had a desire to serve the poor and needy or to grow in my faith by experiencing historical sites. For almost 3 years now, FOCUS has been sending missionaries and students from across the country, to places all over the world.

I did the Camino de Santiago with FOCUS in the summer of 2006. Now, FOCUS is going to six different countries including: Canada, Spain, France, Mexico, India and Costa Rica. After experiencing a FOCUS pilgrimage, I knew this was precisely the avenue that I wanted to get involved in.

I am now one of two in charge of coordinating, planning and leading all missions/pilgrimages through FOCUS. This really is a dream job! I know that this job is where my heart is. Missions and pilgrimages have been a part of my life for the last 10 years. I know that the Lord has amazing plans to use this program to change the hearts and lives of many college students to come.

Changing hearts, Saving lives...

About 5 years ago I spent 7 months in Juarez, Mexico. During my stay I built 20 houses for poor families. These houses were one room, cinder block houses. Nothing special, and nothing extravagant. Just a roof over their heads. Now, I can go on and on about my time in Juarez, and maybe I will later, but for now I have a story from there that I will never forget.

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I was in El Paso, the border town to Juarez, for the afternoon picking up a fellow missionary from the airport. I was with Frank, a friend from Colorado who had come into Juarez earlier that day for a build that week. We stopped at McDonald's for a quick bite to eat before heading to the airport.

As we were walking into the restaurant, a man came out of the enclosed dumpster area and asked us for a dollar. I took a quick look at him and said, "Sorry man, all I have is pesos." He replied, "I could really use some help." At this he showed me his arm where he was bleeding profusely from cuts he had given himself. In his other hand he held a piece of broken glass. I called out to Frank, "Call 911!"

At this, the homeless man began to cut himself again right in front of us. Only two words screeched from my mouth, "Oh God!"

He began to walk away from us while he continued to cut himself repeatedly. Frank came back and told me that the paramedics were on their way. Frantically, Frank grabbed a flyer from a nearby car to try and distract the man, but he wanted nothing to do with Frank or his effort to distract him.

I walked up to him and asked him his name. "Dave" he reluctantly replied. "Dave, my name is Steve. Do you know the Lord's Prayer?" Dave momentarily stopped his cutting, looked at me and with a gruff replied, "Yeah."

I began, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name..." Dave only said about every other word, but his cutting began to slow down. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." Dave slowly raised his tear soaked eyes towards me. As I began to weep with him, we finished the prayer together. The piece of green broken glass that he had in his hand slowly fell to the ground as we both finished the prayer together, "Amen."

At this point, the paramedics swooped in, grabbed Dave and began to dress his wounds. The whole time, Dave and I locked eyes. We didn't lose eye contact until after they loaded him into the back of the ambulance and the door slammed shut. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks.

"He did a number to his arm, but he'll live," claimed the paramedic. "He would've died had you not called us."

Frank and I stood frozen in place until the ambulance left our sight.

I returned to Juarez that afternoon for another 4 months, but I will never forget that hot El Paso day in the McDonald's parking lot. I will never forget Dave and the prayer we shared.

God changed my heart that day, and saved Dave's life...

A just wage...

As many of you know it is nearly impossible to work in a ministry job or for the Church and make a wage that is suitable to raise a family. This is a fact and unfortunately, the Church cannot afford the amazing men and women in the world to work for Her efforts.


Fortunately, FOCUS believes in a just wage for the worker (Luke 10:7). FOCUS provides a system that allows anyone the ability to earn an income suitable to raise a family. The system set forth works. From the top down, everyone has Mission Partners who provide their financial support. At the same time we, as missionaries, must not solely seek the gift of the financial support, but instead the partnership in spreading the Gospel (Phil 4:8-20).


Mission Partners are people who invest in the program of FOCUS by financially supporting missionaries in their work (Malachi 3:7-10). By monthly donations, completely tax exempt, missionaries are able to pay for the same bills everyone else has including rent, insurance, food etc. Without the support and partnership of Mission Partners, we at FOCUS could not do the work we do and college students across the nation would not receive the outreach they currently do.

In the beginning...

Twenty plus years ago a college student came to know and love Jesus Christ through the efforts of Campus Crusades for Christ. Men invested into his life and truly helped him understand what a Christian fellowship was all about. Later converting to the Catholic faith, this former student wanted something similar for catholic college students and he dreamt a dream.

Ten years ago, Curtis Martin began the mission of FOCUS (Fellowship Of Catholic University Students). With a similar vision for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ as the Crusaders, FOCUS leads small group Bible studies and large group outreach events at over 35 universities nationwide. FOCUS sends out groups of 4-6 missionaries, recent college grads, to each college to begin a Catholic outreach program. This program, in its short tenure, has helped bring 108 men into the Catholic seminary and 33 women into the religious life.

In my own life FOCUS has also played a huge part in my life. Besides marrying the most wonderful missionary in the history of the program, FOCUS has helped me to come to understand, know and love my faith more than I ever thought imaginable.

Boot Camp

Greetings from “missionary boot camp” in the heart of the Historic Carolinas! It’s only been five short days since I set foot on Belmont Abbey College, for FOCUS New Staff Training, but boy, talk about a change in routine! I’ve quickly gone from home-life to dorm-life, poker to prayer and daily meals to daily Mass…and I’m having a blast! With 196 other fun and exciting missionaries right alongside me, we are preparing ourselves to go out and preach the gospel!

As some of you may know, I recently accepted a full-time position with FOCUS—the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. In past years, my involvement with the FOCUS teams at Colorado State University and Benedictine College have reminded me of the incredible need so many of our nation’s college students have: to see people similar in age committed to the heroic pursuit of strong values and virtues as they search to find their identity.

Two years ago I traveled with a group of FOCUS missionaries and students to northern Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. This walk was almost 300 miles, and I can easily say that it changed my life. Knowing the personal impact that the trip had on my life, I now have the desire to give this same opportunity to other missionaries and students from across the country. For this reason, I have entered FOCUS to work specifically on coordinating the missions and pilgrimages for the entire FOCUS organization.

Today, I can truly say that FOCUS is a front row seat for watching God work miracles in young peoples’ lives. Now, I hope to go and create the same effect through the Mission Programs and Events Department of FOCUS Headquarters as a full-time missionary.

FOCUS takes recent college graduates like myself—trains us, and puts most of us right back onto the college campus where we help bring students closer to Christ and the Church. Sent out in teams, missionaries invest their time in students’ lives through Bible Studies and one-on-one mentorship. The goal of FOCUS is to win students for Jesus Christ through close personal relationships, and then build them up to be peer leaders so that they can do the same for others. Since 1998, FOCUS has helped thousands of students.

Joining Focus

As many of you know I recently joined FOCUS. This is a picture of me two summers ago on the Camino de Santiago with a FOCUS group!