LVCCM News November 2026

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LVCCM News

November 2026

FROM THE LVCCM LAY DIRECTOR

Greetings LVCCM community!

In our October Secretariat meeting, we had the pleasure of having Laura Hollingsworth and Mike Denno attend our meeting to share with us their experience serving as Rectora and Rector for Weekend 103. What a joy it was to hear how serving the Lord in this way was a true blessing to both of them. They also shared some very good ideas on how we can improve the experience for future Rectors and Rectoras, as well as for team members and candidates. The Secretariat will evaluate these ideas and move towards making these improvements. We’re so very thankful for our Weekend 103 Men’s and Women’s teams and LVCCM community members who shared their time, treasure, and talents in nurturing and developing 21 candidates in their walk with Christ!

After Mike agreed to serve as Rector, I soon got a call back from Mike where he asked me to join the Weekend 103 men’s team. Once I received my wife’s blessing, I quickly told Mike I would be honored to serve on team. Just as Laura and Mike did, I would like to also share my Weekend 103 experience.

I was thrilled to learn that my brother Gene and my nephew Jon were going to serve on team as well. What a blessing it is to serve with family members and have the opportunity to catch up with the other brothers serving on team that I hadn’t seen in a while. Our team meetings allow for great instruction but also the opportunity to bond with new friendships and renew old ones. The Via de Cristo movement offers us a unique opportunity to grow our circle of brothers and sisters, creating lifelong friendships we wouldn’t have if not for having the opportunity to serve in LVCCM movement.

One special moment was how the community showed up for the send-off. It was truly standing room only in the dining room as De Colores was sung to us. It was loud; it was special. The weekend kick-off was official when “Rooster Bill” gave his trademark rooster call!

I was very blessed to be called to give the Leaders rollo. I hadn’t given a rollo in some time, so I was excited to participate in the rollo room throughout the weekend. Being inspired by the Holy Spirit in writing and presenting this rollo was a very special experience. As I wrote this rollo, I became more aware of what it means to be called to be a Christian leader. I found that I was receiving a growth experience in my faith as much as those who I hope were experiencing growth in understanding Christian leadership as they listened to the Leaders message.

There were many special moments at our table, but one really stands out as a God moment. I was introduced to one of our candidates, Mike, at the send-off and soon found out He was experiencing a similar life event that I had in my past. It was clear we would have more discussion as the weekend progressed. On Friday morning, we were all placed at our tables. I was called to our table, and then two candidates were called along with our silent professor. There was one more candidate to call. Mike had still not been called to a table, and I remember saying to God, “It will be pretty special if you place Mike in the chair next to me,” and right then, Mike’s name was called. God always has a plan, and we had awesome conversations at our table!

It was so much fun to sing for our food and have Kris Zastrow and Nathan Striebel entertain us with creative skits that were reflective of the type of meal we were going to experience. The conversations while eating and being served by community members were very special. The food served was awesome as well.

Community involvement never disappoints. The support at set-up and tear-down, the dining room table decorations were very creative, the serenade was amazing, the palanca and chapel participation mean more than you know. It truly takes a village!

I’ll always remember feeling the Holy Spirit’s presence in Apostolic hour. Seeing the candidates’ faces as they were about to receive their crosses. The soft music playing. The atmosphere was amazing to experience. The closing ceremony is such a wonderful opportunity for team and community to witness from our new cursillistas how their weekend experience will impact their walk with Christ. It was confirming to hear from their comments that all the time, expense, and effort in providing this opportunity for them was all very worthwhile. The last activity of the closing ceremony is when we come together as one to sing the prayer, Bind Us Together. How appropriate to end our weekend, joining hands and singing, “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together in love.” We always want our candidates to experience a personal encounter with our Lord at our weekends, but as a team member, I experienced Him in a personal way as well. I saw Him in my team members and my LVCCM family.

As you may know, our Secretariat asked six of our community members to provide testimonials, asking them to share their weekend experience. We recently put small excerpts of their testimonials on our website and Facebook page that you may have seen. We’re about to release their full testimonials. If you ever question whether sharing your time, talents, and treasure in this movement is worth it, I enthusiastically encourage you to take 30 minutes to view all six testimonials. If the Lord is placing on your heart someone to sponsor for our next Weekend 104, please share these testimonials with them. It may be the difference between a yes or a no.

I hope you’ve had the chance to view the tour of the Saginaw Diocese Center for Ministry. It’s going to be an exciting weekend, and I’ll look forward to serving with you at Weekend 104!

God loves you and so do I!

Brian Pickelman, Lay Director