Conquest and Challenge groups are getting noticed nationally, thanks mostly to the organization’s own efforts. Conquest and Challenge recently promoted their programs at a national conference for youth ministers.Todd Brechbill, National Director for Conquest, said he and Nadine McMillan, National Director of Challenge for girls, recently attended the national conference for Catholic youth ministry in New Orleans, Louisiana. “We had a wonderful experience with thousands of youth ministers, diocesan directors and other dedicated people who work in youth ministry and religious education across the US,” said Brechbill. “The conference is sponsored by the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry. Conquest and Challenge had a booth in the Resource exposition hall to get the word out to the dioceses and youth ministers about how they could start groups in their parish or school. It was great to meet so many people working to bring young people closer to Christ.” “We spoke with hundreds of youth ministers and diocesan directors about Conquest and Challenge, who showed great interest in starting up the program. Over 90 people want us to mail them sample materials to show to their pastor or to see for themselves how it works. We learned a lot from their experiences and their testimony about what they are actually looking for and what they want to offer their youth. This will surely help us with some tweaks to the programs this upcoming year.” Brechbill said Conquest and Challenge recently mailed a combined catalog to most dioceses in the US and Canada, and have received feedback from many of these dioceses asking for more information about the program. “We are growing!” said Brechbill. “Last year Conquest participation grew 20 percent, and so far this year we are 9% over the number of participants this same time last year!”
