BY ERIKA ANDERSON

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Many participants in the fifth annual Christ the King Life in the Spirit Seminar ending Feb. 26 have a renewed faith and a new willingness to serve the church.

The seminar is an eight-week program designed to help participants establish or re-establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, learn about and experience the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, become a part of a community of Christians and begin to use effective means of growth in their relationship with Christ.

Participants were divided into groups of about seven or eight people with two facilitators. Each week the session began with charismatic praise and worship, usually through song, as participants raised their hands in celebration of their faith. After the praise, a speaker gave a teaching and personal witness. Topics included: Who is the Holy Spirit?; God's love; salvation; new life; receiving God's gift; growth and transformation in Christ and praying in the Spirit.

At the Feb. 12 session, entitled, "Come Holy Spirit," participants were prayed over by facilitators asking for the release of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This year, the largest for the Cathedral of Christ the King, over 300 participated in the seminar while 50 people planned it and served.

Keri Allen, coordinator of the seminar and director of evangelization and adult education at the parish, said this year's participants were especially eager to learn.

"I think the people this year seemed even more ready and closer to wanting this personal relationship with the Lord," she said. "There was a real hunger there."

This was the fourth seminar for Kelsey Schmidt, team member who gave the talk for the Feb. 12 session. She said the seminar has changed her life.

"Before the seminar, I was more of a traditional Sunday Mass Catholic," she said. "I felt that faith was very personal and something only to be shared with me. I would never dream of sharing my faith."

"I was very closed to other people and had no recollection of the Holy Spirit and what His role was in my life."

Schmidt said that when she went through the seminar, a woman prayed with her and asked her to "make the Lord the love of my life."

"That's when I started to notice that the only time I talked to God was on Sundays and when I was in need," she said. "I started going to daily Mass and doing everything in my life for Him. I continued to want to learn more about the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit."

Schmidt said the seminar shows people the power of God's love.

"The biggest change is that people understand how much God loves them...They see that they have been given these gifts and are called to use them," she said. "They also see that God will meet them right where they are."

Allen said a goal of the seminar is to help participants use the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

"The seminar helps us in becoming aware that we've been given gifts that we haven't even tapped into, haven't even used," she said. "It's like having all these beautifully wrapped packages...The seminar helps us unwrap them and use them, which is ultimately building the kingdom."

Many participants have experienced reconciliation and healing in their lives, Schmidt said.

"We've seen marriages reconciled, people who have been physically healed, people who have been emotionally healed and people who have been called to religious life," she said. "We have just seen miraculous works of the Lord."

Jerry Nasello, a parishioner at the cathedral, said that he went through the seminar for a second time because he was "holding back" during the first seminar he attended.

"I learned that just going to Mass doesn't cut it. As a result, I started reading the Bible," he said. "I never would have even picked up the Bible if it wasn't for the seminar."

Nasello said that his prayer life has increased and, since this past seminar, he has decided to pursue prison ministry as a service to God and the church.

"I have gotten a lot closer to God because I pray every day," he said. "I've learned a lot more about prayer."

Nasello said he often refers to "Jerry before Life in the Spirit and Jerry after Life in the Spirit."

"I feel a lot more open; I feel a lot more love in my life," he said. "I feel closer to God and I feel at peace. I just feel like God has really blessed me."