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• Dallas Uptown team leader and Senior Regional Missionary • With SPSE since 2015 Randy has been leading the Dallas Uptown Team since 2015 after taking the Basic Evangelization Training and other SPSE courses online. The team consists of 4 steady evangelists and 3 others who jump in when available. They have a great outing spot in downtown Dallas on a broad sidewalk that leads into the Dallas Museum of Art and a beautiful park complete with food trucks. It's a great tourist draw, and it's close to the Cathedral! The team likes to go out every other Saturday from about noon to 2:30. Randy is also a SPSE Senior Regional Missionary who teaches the Basic Evangelization Training and has become a valuable part of our SPSE national team. Randy joined our missionary team to Lagos Nigeria in 2019 and is scheduled to teach for the St. Paul School of Evangelization in the Dallas area next fall. What motivates you to evangelize? I have a tremendous passion for the salvation of poor souls. I am not out to win arguments, but to “instruct the ignorant and admonish the sinner.” I recognize that God’s mercy is his most vital attribute as far as we are concerned. I want to use whatever means I can to encourage people to trust in God absolutely, depend on His mercy confidently, and put God’s will first foremost in their lives. As we trust in God’s mercy, we become more confirmed to Him. Jesus gave us the Catholic Church to enable us to be and remain reconciled to God. I have learned so much from other team leaders that I am amazed at their passion, creativity, energy, and love for this great work we are happily called to engage in. I am forever indebted to them. My contributions are really quite small, but I am always open to ways to be a better evangelist. Is there an obstacle you have overcome while leading your team? The greatest obstacle to leading a team is to have people show up to evangelize. It's important to have clear and regular communications with the team and to encourage them to participate. But it's also important to be understanding when other responsibilities get in the way to prevent them from coming out. It's also important to help team members advance in their study of the skills that make someone a great evangelist., especially the spiritual life of the evangelist, having an active prayer life, and studying our faith through reading catechisms (not just one). What is the relationship between evangelization, the spiritual life, and prayer? Evangelization is the whole point of my spiritual life. Someone once said that the chief business of life is the glory of God through the salvation of souls. That statement stuck with me, and I see its truth reflected in the lives of the saints, most especially Mary and, of course Jesus. So, unless I am focused on evangelism and reconciling people with God, I feel spiritually out of synch. Without prayer there is no evangelization. I always ask the Immaculata to help me lead souls with her to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I also ask my Guardian Angel to assist me by enlisting the aid of the other person's guardian angel to open the other person's mind to the truth of the Gospel. What strategies and scripture do you incorporate when evangelizing? The thing that I especially like in evangelism is to have different strategies using prayer, the Miraculous Medal, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy, and the Four Last Things complete with a skull, Crucifix, and hourglass to rivet the other person's attention and excite spiritual curiosity. All these strategies depend on the four things we stress at SPSE: Listen Befriend, Proclaim, and Invite. Prayer is also a big part of that. And in connection with prayer, I have lately been enjoying praying and talking to the Sick and the Poor, who are most open to the Gospel. My favorite scripture passages dealing with evangelism are Jesus's encounter with the woman at the well, Paul talking to the Athenians, and Jesus's parable of the prodigal son. Each of these paint part of the overall picture of the evangelist that I keep in mind. There are many others, too, but these stand out most prominently. I would be remiss if I failed to mention my frequent use of the Four Last Things to draw the other person's attention to the finiteness of this life and the length of eternity and the two ultimate destinations for souls that will be their destiny as long as God is God. I also use the Image of Divine Mercy to explain God’s mercy and encourage people to trust in Jesus.

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