Deacon Mike Thoennes and Mary Hagar

Deacon Mike Thoennes and Mary Hagar have founded CORE Ministries in rural Minnesota. The Alpha course is foundational to this ministry and the Holy Spirit is moving in powerful ways to draw people to Jesus and bring denominational walls down. They train and host the Alpha Weekend Away with a ten to twelve other rural churches from a variety of other denominations. Because of the growth of their ministry a local retreat facility which was on the verge of closing, has not only stayed open, but has built a new meeting center to accommodate the large crowds they have for their combined Weekend Away.

Greatest joy:

As Catholic leaders, we are discovering the critical balance between the institutional dimension and the charismatic dimension and the importance of coming to new life in Christ Jesus and being empowered by the Spirit. The ticket is a transformed heart and converted structure, docile to the Holy Spirit and ablaze for Jesus Christ. This is where we get our joy...watching the transforming of lives and churches. We are always awed in how God uses various tools to convert hearts!

Greatest challenge:

It is with utmost trust in the providence of God and His promise that He would provide all the tools His disciples would need to “go out into the world, teach and preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”...and that is our greatest challenge...placing the core message of the Gospel, sometimes obscured by a hierarchical Church, for all to see and claim as their own.

We believe that CORE Ministries has the opportunity to set up environments for the conversion of hearts ordained by God and commissioned through the Church. We do this by using the Alpha Course as a foundational adult education program.

Being connected to others:

Expected results of CORE Ministries activities: a Christ-centered, renewed, revived, anointed, and empowered Catholic community and parish that contributes extensively and positively to the life of the wider church, to society, and to the world. We believe that God continues to send waves upon waves of grace to all Christian Churches to tap into His power! It is remarkable that when the core message of the Gospel is promoted and the denominational barriers are lowered, that Jesus Christ is found and that the power source of the Holy Spirit is the instigator.

We then help others to see that it is “only through the Holy Spirit that anyone can proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord!” We are humbled by seeing the action of God’s hands in all Christian Churches and believe that this is the result of the scales being removed from our eyes so we, too, can see clearly! We also find that those we help have removed their preconceptions about who/what the Catholic Church teaches as they begin to trust that God can work in any denomination!