\u201cToday, men are isolated,\u201d Nieukirk explained. \u201cThey\u2019re leaving their families and struggling with addiction and loneliness. One in three men in the pews don\u2019t have real male friendships in their parish. Brotherhood makes men stronger. It makes families stronger. It makes the Church stronger. That\u2019s why I\u2019m doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nieukirk is the executive director of Summit Men, a Catholic men\u2019s ministry rooted in the Archdiocese of Denver. He stepped into the role after years of active involvement in parish life, leadership development and personal outreach. At a pivotal moment, when the group\u2019s former leader, Dan Donaldson, moved out of state, Summit Men faced a question: should they disband, merge with another group or would someone else step up as leader? When approached with the opportunity, Nieukirk said yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a title I was looking for,\u201d he said. \u201cBut Dan encouraged me. He said, \u2018You\u2019ve done the work. You helped with the conference, you led the leadership training, you\u2019ve got the skills.\u2019 So, I said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those skills come from decades of experience in business leadership, including sales and regional management roles at major technology firms. But for Nieukirk, the work of forming Catholic men isn\u2019t about replicating the corporate world \u2014 it\u2019s about equipping leaders for mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal isn\u2019t just a good conference,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s what comes next. What do we do to form men into missionary disciples in their parishes, in their deaneries and in their families?\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the question Summit Men is working to answer. The ministry has hosted three annual conferences, most recently at Queen of Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Parish, featuring keynote speakers like Dr. Edward Sri, Father Doug Grandon and Andrew McGowan, archdiocesan executive director of evangelization and family ministries.<\/p>\n
But after those conferences, Nieukirk and his team realized that a big event isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s nice to have a big-name speaker,\u201d he said, \u201cbut if there\u2019s no follow-up, what\u2019s the lasting impact?\u201d<\/p>\n
To answer that, Summit Men launched an eight-week leadership formation program this spring in two locations: one led by Nieukirk, and one by Deacon Steve Stemper, a co-founder of the group. The program brought together men from multiple parishes and focused on practical missionary leadership, drawing from the spiritual multiplication model popularized by FOCUS.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a course. It was a relational workshop,\u201d Nieukirk explained. \u201cSome guys were new to men\u2019s ministry, while others were already leading. We created a brotherhood, and that\u2019s how you reach men. That\u2019s how you form leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
The training is just one part of a broader vision: regionalizing ministry across the archdiocese by connecting directly with the 13 regional deaneries. Nieukirk personally visited over a dozen men\u2019s groups across the Boulder and Central West Deaneries, and Summit Men is now working to create leadership for Spanish-speaking communities as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be aligned with the parish and the deanery. That\u2019s where the mission happens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nieukirk sees the growing network not as competition with existing men\u2019s groups, but as a way to unite and strengthen them. Summit Men offers resources, visibility, training and, perhaps most importantly, a nudge toward mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about joining Summit Men,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about joining your parish men\u2019s group and stepping into leadership there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Nieukirk hopes to organize smaller, regional events in addition to the annual conference \u2014 things like father-son hikes, book discussions or informal gatherings like the \u201cspiritual tap-in\u201d he attended with Father Nathan Cromley at a local brewery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt brought in a different crowd,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was approachable. Sometimes men just need an invitation and a space where they feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea of invitation, accompaniment and mission is at the heart of everything Nieukirk is building.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus gave me the skills I used in business. Now I\u2019m using them to reach men, to bring them into deeper discipleship, to create friendships that matter,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is one way we evangelize and build up the Church. It all starts with brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information about Summit Men or to find a Catholic men\u2019s group in your area, visit summitmin.co<\/a>.<\/p>\n In recognition of his leadership and work to facilitate brotherhood, Patrick has been recognized as this month\u2019s Archbishop\u2019s Catholic Appeal Disciple of the Month. His love serves as an inspiring testament to the need for fraternal companionship in our church.[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20px”][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”1″ divider_color=”default” custom_height=”10″][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20px”][vc_column_text]Do you know someone who is an exceptional steward?\u202fNominate them here<\/a>, and they could become the next Disciple of the Month![\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20″][vc_column_text]The Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal supports a wide range of ministries that are sharing the Gospel every day.[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20″][nectar_btn size=”large” button_style=”regular” button_color_2=”Accent-Color” color_override=”#f58320″ icon_family=”none” text=”NOMINATE A DISCIPLE” url=”\/give\/nominate”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Friendship to Faith: Behold Your Mother Ministry travels northern Colorado. Through a chance meeting at a Prayer in the Square event, Mike Phelan and Tom Morrini formed a friendship and ministry that has profoundly impacted Northern Colorado. United in their devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, they encourage deeper prayer in parishes and communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","content-type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-everydaydisciples"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9829"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9853,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions\/9853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archden.org\/give\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}