SEEK 2019

Happy new year, friends! Here we are, January 3. Ready or not, 2019, here we come!

First off, thank you for sharing and passing my blog along to your friends! We just hit 41,000 subscribers, and I couldn’t be more excited about that!

Now, before we get into tonight’s post, I have to share with you something that, honestly, has rocked my world recently. With the New Year in full swing, many of you have been reaching about about blogging advice. And my ebook, “My Blogging Tips” goes into full detail and practical advice on blogging. However, I have recently discovered a new strategy that is not yet in the book. And it is this: Pinterest. It’s often mistaken as “social media” in the sense of Facebook or Instagram, but it is actually a search engine, a la Google! So as bloggers, it really behooves us to get our “stuff” on there!

And I’ve discovered, through personal recommendation, a tool to help me do that. And it is called Tailwind. I like to call it the “crock pot” of Pinterest, because you literally “set it and forget it.” Now let me tell you…I started using Tailwind back a little before Christmas. And when I began, I got maaaybe 100 impressions a month. I started using Tailwind…and when I went back on Monday to check how my traffic was doing, and it had grown to 671,400 impressions A MONTH. 671 Thousand! I almost fell out of my chair. And so I just had to share that with you. You can try it for free for 30 posts by clicking here. So there you go – if one of your resolutions is to take your blogging to the next level, read my ebook and sign up for Tailwind!!

Alright – SO! As I’m writing this, I am barreling down the highway on my way to Indianapolis. I mentioned that I was going to a conference this week in Indiana, but I figured, what the heck — why be buttoned-up about it? The fact is…there’s a chance that I could run into some of YOU there, so here we go!

I’m heading to the FOCUS conference: SEEK 2019!! I am so SO excited about it. FOCUS stands for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. I was involved in that organization in college, and after college, and my family is very involved still to this day. SEEK is this huge, gathering of 20,000 young people who want to grow in faith and fellowship together at the conference!

But I’m so excited! Leah Darrow is speaking tonight. And I haven’t spilled the beans on this yet, but I will be on her podcast coming up in early 2019! We recorded back in December, and I am thrilled to see her this evening!

Plus, Cameron Fradd will be in attendance! And if that name rings a bell, it’s because I was on her podcast, Among the Lilies, this past year, too!

There are so many Christian powerhouses that are going to be in attendance — Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jason Evert, Dr. Scott Hahn, Chris Stefanick. Plus, music by NEEDTOBREATHE, Matt Maher, and others. It’s going to be incredible!

SO! If you’re going to be at SEEK, come say hello! I’d love to chat and meet you!

But as I’ve been preparing for SEEK, I’ve been thinking about the role of young people in the propulsion of our faith as followers of Jesus.

Because ask Kylie Jenner – the youngest billionaire and “lip kit” aficionado: young people have a lot of influence and buying power.

So how do we translate that to our faith?

Because whether we like to accept it or not, we are responsible for the health of our community of believers. We can’t just sit by apathetically and say, “someone else take the lead.“

We are the future of our faith. And “closed doors christianity” just isn’t going to cut it anymore. We cannot be secretly Christian and practice our faith in privacy, behind closed doors. We need to live our faith out loud. Let it infiltrate how we live, how we speak, how we purchase, the media we consume. We need to show up in life, as followers of Jesus.

Because the world, much like the farm land outside my car window, is a spiritually barren place.

We need to show up, and breathe life into this broken and hurting world. Starting with our communities. Our spheres of influence. Our own four walls.

I am so inspired by these college kids that are showing up this weekend at SEEK. They are on fire for Christ, and living their faith out loud, in arguably the most inhospitable landscape to be a Christian: college.

We are not on an island. We are a community of believers, and we are not alone on our walk with Christ. We have brothers and sisters beside us, cheering us along the way.

It’s time we take our faith out from behind closed doors, and let the world see His light and His love, living in our hearts.

Let’s make 2019 the year we take our faith to the streets!

Because the world needs it.


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137 responses to “SEEK 2019”

  6. Fantastic! You are right on, we need to take our faith out to the world and live it all the time making sure God has His prime spot in our lives. Wonderful thoughts there, keep it up and I pray you will have a wonderful 2019!
    Steve.

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  7. I honestly don’t get the Christian powerhouse term (I get what it means) I just don’t get when Christians get a following their is only one person we should be following

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  10. I live in Indiana! But I’m up in Lafayette near Purdue University, about an hour away from Indianapolis. I hope you enjoy your time there! Let me know if you have any questions about the area. 🙂

    Also, I see that Tailwind works for both Pinterest and Instagram; is there a reason you chose to use it for Pinterest instead of Instagram? Can you use it for both, or do you have to pick one or the other?

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    • Oh nice!!! Thanks so much Jalena! Yes! I just haven’t explored insta yet! But yes you can do both!! Happy New Year! 🎉

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  14. Tailwind sounds very promising! Did you need to have a Pinterest account and a following there before you started? That conference sounds really good, I wish we had something similar in the UK

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    • It really is! Thanks Ash. Creating a Pinterest profile is not difficult at all! But yes I do believe you need to create one for tailwind. And no! I think i had 38 people or something when I started!! Hugs and love xox

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  15. Thanks for the Pinterest tip. I won’t be at SEEK. But my fellow priests and brothers of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary will be there. Stop by the booth. There will be a powerhouse of saints.

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    • Thanks so much Br. Jonas! Bummer that you won’t be at seek! But I’ll definitely try to stop by your booth!! Hugs and love xox

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  18. Keeping the faith has never been harder in these days of secular propaganda. So thankful for your enthusiasm and dedication to all things Christian. God bless. Have fun.

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    • Thank you Dennis, that means a lot. And gosh you’re right about that! Hugs and love xox

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  20. Enjoy, and soak, in Holy Spirit Blessings this weekend Caralyn. You can’t keep on giving out continually, you need to sit (worship, sing, dance), and absorb what the Lord is saying to you through others, as well as meeting with our Father.
    Jesus went out by Himself often to meet with His Heavenly Father. Also, Jesus, along with Peter, James, and John had times when they ministered to and with one another.
    Even at one time, Elijah and Moses came back to meet with Jesus, Peter, James and John.
    God’s Blessings Caralyn, looking forward to reading some of the nuggets you will mine.
    Luv. 😀❤️🌹😘

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    • Thank you so much George. It really is already such an incredible conference. The speakers were incredible tonight. Yes! You’ve got to refill the bucket!! Thanks for your kindness my friend. Hugs and love xox

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  22. Welcome to Indianapolis! I hope you have a fabulous experience.

    And if you see a tall Dominican student brother named Ben (in a white habit), say hello for me, as he is one of my son’s classmates.

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    • Thanks so much JP! I love Indy! Oh nice! I will keep an eye out for Ben!! Hugs and love xox

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  23. Terrific! All that is going on seems like it is right for you. I feel lucky I get to read what you’re doing with your blog.

    I am curious about your thoughts on Pinterest. One thing is I have the understanding that Pinterest is favored by women. It makes sense as you are often writing for the ladies in the audience.

    I don’t know if you know if there is a male presence on Pinterest, or whether there is a masculine role for gentlemen to play on Pinterest. Great post you’ve written here, and I keep thinking how great it is that everything turned out superb for you! Keep being amazing!

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    • Thank you so much Odell! And oh my gosh what a kind thing to say, thanks for that. Hmm – Pinterest does have a large female user base, but that’s not to say that men don’t or can’t use it. There’s a lot of niche topic areas for the gentlemen for sure!! Hugs and love xox

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    • Hey Victoria! Oh nice!! Would love to say hello!! 🙂 enjoy your time! Hugs and love xox

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  27. Happy New Year and thank your for this post. It reminds me of Darlene Zschech’s song GO. And in line with the post, the lyrics go like….

    We should go
    into all the world we should go
    Into every life
    With your love

    Definitely something to ponder on and include in the years plan. Much love and appreciation

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  28. Love the blog! If you want to see a Canadian organization that is all about faith in action, please check out operationsharing.ca (I’m part of the organization, so I’m biased, but I think it’s awesome!)

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  32. On Christmas Eve as we all stood in church holding up our candles, the pastor encourage us to look around the sanctuary. He closed the service saying “imagine if we all, unabashedly, took our light out into this dark world..what a difference it would make!” — He’s right of course.

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  33. Thank you for the lovely reminder to “…live our faith out loud.” It is so true!!! I have a hard time speaking to others because of my personality. I CAN demonstrate God’s love through actions though. Happy New Year! Enjoy your time in IN 🙂

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    • Thank you so much Jackie 🙂 yes!! And God gave you your exact personality. It was perfectly created! 🙂 Happy New Year! 🎉

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    • Thank you! Yeah I’m so excited about that talk! And my mom is actually a personal friend of his! Thanks for joining along! Hugs and love xox

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  36. This sounds like Passion in Atlanta GA this week for the non denomination section of Christianity. My oldest went twice and I always wanted to go but I’m too old. Enjoy yourself!!

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    • Oh nice!!! Yeah it is so invigorating to experience the energy! Thanks so much! Hugs and love xox

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  37. Congrats! You deserve all of us as followers and more! Hope the SEEK experience will be amazing. And that your year will bring you a lot of joy and be blessed! You have a great energy about you and I love how you write. 🙂 Keep it up and can’t wait to hear more from you 🙂

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  38. Caralyn, there is some great information with this post. You are always helping without condition. I will SEEK you for 2019 as you will inspire me to keep my idiocy going. Thank you for being you.

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  39. You have many followers because you are giving hope to so many. Sharing your faith is unusual in these times and I’m clearly seeing with your blog that yound folks are interested in hearing more about God…Many blessings your way

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    • Thank you so much for your prayers!! They’re greatly appreciated 🤗 Hugs and love xox

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    • Thank you so much Jeff, that truly means a lot. Yeah a lot of hours for sure! Haha Hugs and love xox

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  49. This made me think back to your post about the night you went to mass and there were NO young people in the church. It is also funny because the post I am sitting down to write has the same thread running through it. Downloaded your book and look forward to reading it. Awesome to hear and see you putting your faith to action this year. May He noticeably be in every step you take this year. Shalom

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    • Thank you so much Tim! You’re so right – this is so inspiring and encouraging to see 20,000 young people on fire for Jesus!!! Thanks for that 🙂 Hugs and love xox

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    • Oh awesome! Thanks so much! Yeah Pinterest is pretty fabulous for sure! Hugs and love xox

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  52. I’d definitely go if I lived in the USA!! Some of my favorite people speak there, and I think the atmosphere must be magic. I hope you’ve had a great time there, I can’t wait to read your impressions and reflections.

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    • Oh amazing! Yeah it was such a moving conference. Thank you Paola! And there were actually 12 different countries represented there! It was amazing. To be in a room full of 20,000 people all worshiping Jesus – it was downright flabbergasting. Haha Hugs and love xox

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  55. I am hoping more of my generation will begin to see the importance of living out our Christianity loudly just as Christ did. That we will ALL – from across generations – become His eyes, ears, hands, feet, and mouth. We are the only reflection of Jesus some will see; the only Bible some will read. When we understand this, it becomes so important to love like Jesus and treat people as He did instead of as we have become accustomed to based upon religious practice and judgment. I am excited for the people being raised up and mantles being passed to a new generation of young folks willing to stand up and say “This is the Jesus I know. Come meet Him!” Bless you!!

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    • Hello again Shell!! Amen to that! That is my favorite thought: that we can be Jesus’ hands and feet and eyes and mouth to others. Such important work! Hugs and love xox

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  56. Glad to see an outreach ministry in young Catholics. Thanks for this post. I’ve learned a lot just looking at your blog posts. My blog just went absolutely nuts yesterday and part of it was looking at what you do, part was the WordPress blog for pumping your blog for 2019.

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    • Thank you so much Bruce! Oooh yeah, FOCUS is doing huge things with college kids! Oh gosh that’s kind of you to say 🙂 thank you Hugs and love xox

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