2024 ADULT RALLY - MEET THE SPEAKERS
Father Mathias Thelen, S.T.L. is the Co-Founder and President of Encounter Ministries and Pastor of St. Patrick Church in Brighton, MI. Being passionate for preaching and teaching the Gospel, his ministry has not only been accompanied by incredible verified healings, but he has also garnered a reputation of leading people into the loving arms of the Father. Recently, Father Mathias has been selected as a Eucharistic Preacher for the National Eucharistic Revival. He is the author of Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing and was featured in both the Fearless (2017) and Revive (2020) documentaries.
Peter Herbeck is the Executive Vice President and Director of Missions for Renewal Ministries. For more than thirty years, he has been actively involved in evangelization and Catholic renewal throughout the US, Canada, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Peter is the co-host of the weekly television show, The Choices We Face. He hosts the daily radio show Fire on the Earth. He is a frequent conference speaker. He co-authored his most recent book, Lessons From the School of Love: Cultivating a Christ-Centered Marriage, with his wife, Debbie. He has also authored When the Spirit Comes in Power, When the Spirit Speaks, and numerous booklets, and is a frequent contributor to Renewal Ministries’ popular YouTube channel. Peter and his wife, Debbie, have four children and eleven grandchildren, and reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Debbie Herbeck has shared with many her personal journey of faith from Judaism to Christianity and subsequent entrance into the Catholic Church. For the past forty years, Debbie has worked extensively in youth and women’s ministry, speaking, leading mission trips, and mentoring high school and college age women. She has spoken at Franciscan University Conferences, Legatus chapters, and women’s events throughout the world. She is the founder and executive director of Pine Hills Girls Camp. Debbie is also the founder and director of the Be Love Revolution, a ministry that exists to help young women encounter Christ and be His love to all they meet.
She co-authored her most recent book, Lessons From the School of Love: Cultivating a Christ-Centered Marriage, with her husband, Peter. She has also written Safely Through the Storm: 120 Reflections on Hope, Firmly on the Rock: 120 Reflections on Faith, and Love Never Fails: 120 Reflections on Love. She and her husband Peter have co-authored a book entitled When the Spirit Speaks: Touched by God’s Word. Debbie is a frequent author and speaker for Blessed is She and contributing writer for Undone: Freeing your Feminine Heart from the Knots of Fear and Shame.
Debbie and her husband Peter live in Ann Arbor, Michigan and have four adult children and eleven grandchildren.
Fr Alex Colautti, CC is a Canuck who originally hails from Windsor Ontario which is (not so) often called the “Florida of Canada” as the southernmost city in the Great White North. He was ordained a Catholic priest on May 5, 2018 as a member of the religious community, The Companions of the Cross. His deepest passion is to see people’s lives transformed through an encounter with Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and this passion informs his approach to preaching and ministry. Fr Alex currently serves as the vocations director for his religious community from Detroit, MI. When he’s not priesting it up, Fr Alex enjoys doing regular human-being type things like reading books, watching movies, playing soccer, and traveling. Once he was foolish enough to run a marathon, but try not to hold that against him, he really is a nice guy most of the time.
Pete Burak is the vice president of Renewal Ministries, a ministry dedicated to Catholic renewal and evangelization around the world. He is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and has a master’s degree in theology from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. Pete is a frequent speaker on discipleship and evangelization and the co-director of Pine Hills Boys’ Camp. He is a monthly columnist for Faith Magazine and the host of two podcasts: Spirit-filled Leadership and The Hour. Pete and his wife, Cait, have five children.
