There is a passage in the Gospel of John that has always moved me — two disciples following Jesus down a dusty road, and Jesus turning to ask them: What are you looking for? They don't have a tidy answer. They ask instead if they can come along. And He says simply: Come and you will see. That invitation is the heartbeat of everything happening at Saintly Journeys right now.
This ministry is growing — not because it has all the answers, but because the road is wide enough for everyone who is still walking, still seeking, still asking.
There is much to share with you today. I want to walk you through each one with care, because each of these things matters — and each of them belongs to you as much as it belongs to this ministry.
I. A New Home for Formation
One of the most exciting developments here at Saintly Journeys is the launch of a dedicated home for all of our formation training and study courses. We are in the process of moving everything — every Vineyard course, every Mentor Formation guide, every structured study — to a brand-new destination: www.saintlyjourneysfomationcenter.com.
Stay connected here at SaintlyJourneys.com for the official launch date announcement — it's coming soon.
This is a significant step. Having a dedicated space for formation work means that seekers who come looking for a course will find exactly what they need, without distraction. And it means this site, SaintlyJourneys.com, can remain what it was always meant to be: the front porch — the place where the conversation begins and the road opens up.
II. Who We Are: The Door Is Always Open
Saintly Journeys Ministry was founded on a conviction that the invitation of Jesus Christ belongs to everyone — not just those who grew up in the right church, carry the right credentials, or have the right answers. The road is open. The door is always open. And the only requirement to walk through it is the willingness to come.
Whether you come from a non-denominational congregation, a Protestant tradition, a Catholic parish, or no church background at all — you are exactly the kind of person this ministry was built for.
Saintly Journeys does not ask you to change your tradition before you arrive. It simply walks with you wherever the road leads. This is not a parish ministry. It is not a denominational program. It is a companion ministry — rooted in Scripture, shaped by the Come & See spirit of John 1:39, and committed to the conviction that every seeker deserves someone willing to walk alongside them on the road toward Jesus Christ.
III. The Root Ministry: The Vine from Which Every Branch Grows
Saintly Journeys Ministry is The Root Ministry — the vine. It is the parent from which every branch draws its life. Founded in July 2024 and registered as a Soul Center with the Christian Leaders Alliance, Saintly Journeys Ministry exists for a single, unwavering purpose: to walk with people on the road toward Jesus Christ.
The ministry is lay-led, digitally rooted, and ecumenically welcoming. It is not a parish program, a diocesan initiative, or a theological institution. It is a companion ministry — one man answering one call, walking alongside everyone God sends his way, from the first-time seeker to the lifelong believer who has hit a wall of silence.
Everything that grows from this ministry — the blog, the Formation Center, the Substack, the Men of the Vineyard brotherhood — draws its life from this one root. The branches are many. The vine is one.
IV. The Pilgrim's Year: A Sacred Calendar for Every Pilgrim
I have heard it from so many of you: I want structure in my prayer life. I want to know what to read, when to read it, and how to let it actually form me — not just inform me. That longing is holy, and it deserved a real answer.
The Catholic tradition has long used a three-year lectionary cycle that moves through the Gospels and marks the great seasons of the year. I prayed over that structure, sat with it, and heard a quiet question rise up: Why not create something like that — but open to every pilgrim? And so, The Pilgrim's Year was born.
The Pilgrim's Year is a three-year cycle of gospel readings organized around five seasons of the soul's journey with Christ. Drawing from the Come & See architecture of John 1:39, the transforming walk of the Emmaus Road, and the Vineyard imagery at the heart of this ministry, the Pilgrim's Year invites every pilgrim — Catholic, Protestant, and seeker alike — into an unhurried, formational encounter with the Living Word.
The five seasons are: Awakening, Encounter, Formation, Mission, and The Fallow.
Each year follows a primary Gospel evangelist while weaving all four Gospels through the seasons. The readings are not merely texts to study — they are roads to walk, chosen to move souls from awakening all the way through to the holy rest of the Fallow, before the cycle begins again. More details on The Pilgrim's Year are coming soon.
V. Our Patron Saint: St. Philip the Apostle
Every ministry that carries a name also carries a spirit. The spirit of Saintly Journeys Ministry is found in four words across two verses. The first was spoken by Jesus: Come and you will see (John 1:39). The second was spoken by Philip: Come and see (John 1:46).
Philip heard the invitation, believed it immediately, and passed it on — word for word — to a skeptic who doubted whether anything good could come from where Jesus came from. Philip did not argue with Nathanael. He did not present a theological defense or marshal his evidence. He simply said: Come and see. Three words. An open door. A trust that what Nathanael would find at the end of the road would be worth the journey.
That is what Saintly Journeys Ministry says to every seeker, every day. Philip spoke these words first. They are his — and because they are his, the ministry that carries them also carries him.
It is a joy and a grace to name St. Philip the Apostle as the Patron Saint of Saintly Journeys Ministry. May he walk with us on this road, and may every pilgrim we accompany find, at the end of it, exactly what Philip promised Nathanael would be there.
Thank you for walking this road with us. More is coming — and the best of it is still ahead. Stay connected here at SaintlyJourneys.com, watch for the Formation Center launch, and as always: you are welcome here, exactly as you are.
In the Come & See spirit, Randy Lay Evangelist, Saintly Journeys Ministry
