Joel Stepanek
Joel has been actively and passionately involved in ministry for over ten years. What began as a simple internship in a parish youth ministry office evolved into an incredible adventure that led me on numerous middle school lock-ins, high school retreats, and conferences across the United States and the world. He is the VP of Parish Services for Life Teen International, and has formerly created engaging youth ministry resources for middle, high school, and college students as well as parents as the Director of Resource Development. He's the author of two books, “The Greatest Job on Earth: Seven Virtues of an Incredible Youth Minister” and “True North: A Roadmap for Discernment.” He's also a member of the Franciscan University Steubenville Conference Speaking Team.

Joel is an avid Packer fan (and owner) who loves cooking, weightlifting, and reading whatever book he can get his hands on. Most importantly, he loves spending time with his wife, Colleen, and his two children, Elijah Daniel and Sophia Grace. They are his greatest adventure.

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Joel's Website
Video of Joel

Rachel Leininger
Rachel Leininger serves as the Chastity Educator for The REAP Team, a retreat ministry of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, Missouri, where it’s her full-time job to speak to teens and adults about love, sex, marriage, dating, and relationships. She has been a volunteer Core member with her parish's youth ministry program for nearly a decade. She studied Creative Writing and Theology at Saint Louis University and loves Cardinals baseball, Netflix, blogging, terrible puns, and America. She is also the author of “The Next Step: A Catholic Teen's Guide to Surviving High School” and is married to David and mama to Georgie and Alice.

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Video of Rachel

DYC 2020 Diocesan Youth Release & Info Form
**Note: Our parish does not participate in the Sunday boxed lunches, as we have a very short drive home. You can skip that question.

Core/Adults coming with us to DYC, click HERE to fill out the Adult Form. All attendees, teen and adult, must have a form on file.