The Spanish translation of this product is coming soon.
The Leader's Guide is a comprehensive, spiral-bound guide that fully equips any leader, no matter their experience level. Each lesson is designed to carry you from personal preparation through confident, faithfully grounded teaching.
Each lesson in the Leader's Guide is presented in three parts: Getting Ready, Preparing the Content, and Presenting the Lesson.
Getting Ready
This part gives you a chance to collect what you need, both spiritually and practically, before you dive into the lesson content.
Preparing the Content
This section allows you to understand and become comfortable with the lesson content before you share it with your group.
Presenting the Lesson
In this section, you will find lesson teaching tips, which is the heart of the Leader’s Guide. This section is designed to help you lead with confidence, creativity, and theological integrity.
Much of the content appears in comment boxes keyed closely to the pages of the embedded Participant’s Guide. This allows you to follow the Participant’s Guide as you present the lesson.
The teaching tips include practical suggestions for leading the group meeting effectively, a home-preparation check-in, and discussion prompts as well as reminders and announcements to share with the group.
Supplemental content for a Traditions and Treasures section round out the lesson and help participants connect Church teaching to the broader life of worship and devotion.
Kara Kardell has been serving in Catholic ministry since 2014, with experience in diocesan ministry, youth ministry, adult faith formation, and the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). She is co-founder of Draw Near, a ministry dedicated to helping people encounter the love of God through speaking, music, podcasts, and written resources and retreats (www.drawnear.me). Along with co-hosting the Draw Near Podcast, Kara helped establish Small Ember, a non-profit dedicated to helping lay people deepen their spirituality. Through apprenticeship and formation, it equips each person to live the Church’s mission in the unique way God has called them.
She holds bachelor’s degrees in Business and Communications, and a Master’s degree in Catholic Theology from the Augustine Institute. Her work emphasizes community, pastoral care, prayer, and the centrality of Scripture. Kara and her husband, Bruce, live in the Midwest, where they are raising their family and serving God.
With over twenty years of ministry experience, Fred Shellabarger has dedicated his life to helping others encounter the redeeming love of Christ. For more than eight years, he served the Diocese of Sioux City as Director of Evangelization, Catechesis, and Family Life, supporting pastors and parish leaders in forming disciples and strengthening parish life. He now serves at Mater Dei Parish in Sioux City, where he helps others grow in faith and deepen their relationship with Christ. As co-founder of Draw Near and co-host of its podcast, Fred strives to create spaces where people feel loved, valued, and seen; to help ignite hearts with the love of God.
He and his wife of twenty years are the proud parents of seven children whose joy, creativity, and faith continually remind him of God’s goodness. Fred’s life and ministry are shaped by one conviction: no wound is too deep, no situation too broken, and no heart too distant for the transforming love of Christ.
