Keith Nester, left, interviews Aaron Gunsaulus on his YouTube channel in November. The two friends, both former Protestant pastors for many years, have become Catholic. Keith and Estelle Nester played a key role in the spiritual journey of Gunsaulus and his wife Cami. The couple served as sponsors when the Gunsauluses joined the Catholic Church in April 2025.
(This is the second part in a series.)
By Dan Russo
The Catholic Messenger
NEWTON — Aaron Gunsaulus’ love of service and Scripture defined his life as a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). After 15 years tending to the spiritual needs of his flock, a series of unusual events led him, his wife Cami and two of their children to enter the Catholic Church at this year’s Easter Vigil.
“As a pastor in a reformed denomination, I was probably the least likely to become Catholic,” he recalled, acknowledging that at one point in his life he had a “pretty significant anti-Catholic streak.”
Gunsaulus’ road into the Church wasn’t easy and didn’t happen overnight, but once the family started walking it, there was a powerful ripple effect. After hearing Aaron and Cami’s witness, four married couples who were members of Gunsaulus’ former church began their own investigations of the faith. In October, they and their children also became Catholic during a Mass at Sacred Heart Parish in Newton.
Tracking the trajectory
Raised a Lutheran, Aaron Gunsaulus had a “dramatic conversion experience” as a young adult in 1992.
“I knew I needed to get my life straight with God through Christ,” he remembered. “I dropped out of college to do just that with the help of some friends. It was at that point I really started reading the Bible on my own. From that point on, any pastor I ever had was encouraging me to go to seminary and be a pastor. That’s what set that trajectory.”
Gunsaulus explored both Methodist and Baptist traditions. Over time, he adopted beliefs based on reformed theology, which focuses on the absolute authority of the Bible and other beliefs expressed by theologians such as John Calvin and the Westminster Assembly in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gunsaulus worked in the secular world while he and his wife raised six children together. They joined the Christian Reformed Church in Newton. In 2009, the congregation asked Gunsaulus to serve as an interim pastor. Several months into the appointment, church leaders asked Gunsaulus if he would like to take on the role permanently. Although he didn’t yet have the academic background necessary for ordination, the church’s leadership allowed him to be pastor while he pursed his master’s degree in divinity.
Gunsaulus completed a program at Reformed Theological Seminary, based in Florida, while also doing ministry full time in Iowa through a combination of remote and in person study. He was ordained in 2019.
“The church took good care of us,” said Gunsaulus. “They were very supportive. We’re very thankful for them still and love them.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the demands of leadership began to weigh more heavily on Gunsaulus.
“I was pretty exhausted emotionally and otherwise from everything that went on in 2020 and into 2021,” revealed Gunsaulus. “For me, for the first time since being a pastor, I was at the point where I would have been very okay not being a pastor. I gave that to the Lord as a prayer request. If you’ll show me the off ramp, I’ll take it. I was convinced if I tried to do it myself, I would really mess things up. Plus, Cami was not on the same page with me. There were ups and downs, but the effect of that year never really went away for me.”
During the same period, Gunsaulus began dealing with family issues, including the death of a loved one and his wife’s responsibility to care for a disabled family member.
“All of that was kind of a crucible,” said Gunsaulus. “Now we have the ability to look back on it and see God was softening us through that. The fire of the forge will purify metals, but it will also soften them and make them able to be worked. That’s what he was doing in us and for us in that time. We became mold-able, docile in a way we wouldn’t have been otherwise.”
Aaron and Cami Gunsaulus entered the Catholic Church together earlier this year with two of their six children.
Down to Earth Catholicism
Roughly 30 years before becoming Catholic, Gunsaulus had started a friendship with Keith Nester. Over time, the two lost touch. Nester went on to become a Methodist pastor. Then, in 2017, the Iowa native converted to Catholicism. He has since become known nationally as a lay evangelist through his Cedar Rapids-based “Down to Earth” ministry. In 2023, Gunsaulus re-connected with Nester through comments on his YouTube videos. Fiery debate online led to the two having lunch for the first time in years.
“I decided on my drive home, to really renew the friendship, I need to at least make an effort to try to understand his world from his perspective,” said Gunsaulus. “I had a Catholic catechism on my book shelf in my office. I decided, okay fine, I’ll read it. 2023 — I marked every article. It was the first time I’d had the Catholic Church tell me what the Catholic Church believes. It was surprising to me how many points of agreement I found … There were lots of things I disagreed with too. At the time, I only acknowledged two sacraments … I had a growing sense that this divide between Protestantism and Catholicism didn’t need to be what it was.”
Gunsaulus grappled with doctrinal differences about Mary, the Communion of Saints and other issues. At the same time, he slowly integrated Catholic ideas and devotions into this prayer life. His wife was staunchly opposed to his stepping down as pastor at first, but his attempt to pursue virtues as he studied Catholicism gradually changed her mind.
“What she saw was that even though I was under so much stress for a few years there, she saw a softening in me,” he said. “I’d been angry for so long. Anger can be a mask and can provide an energy to do things. She saw changes in me … connected with everything I had been practicing … That made her open to that conversation the way no apologetic book would have done.”
A New Direction Together
Aaron and Cami Gunsaulus eventually got on the same spiritual page. They began driving as far as 1.5 hours away to churches in Cedar Rapids or Des Moines to experience the Mass. They had decided to become Catholic together and leave their former life. Gunsaulus’ last day as pastor was on Dec. 31, 2024. Because of the controversy this caused in their former church, the Gunsauluses didn’t immediately start attending Mass in Newton.
“We loved (our Reformed Church members) then and we still love them. We were going to go to an out of town (Catholic) church for a while,” said Gunsaulus. “We knew it was going to be hard for me to resign and still be in the same town. I wasn’t going to leave (Newton). This is our home. We were going to go out of town for church for a while. I needed to just be able to just go to church on Sunday.”
With the help of Nester and his wife Estelle, also a Catholic, the Gunsauluses connected with Father Aaron Junge, pastor of Immaculate Conception and St. Wenceslaus parishes in Cedar Rapids. The couple and two of their grown children eventually began the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA), the process by which those who are not Catholic join the faith.
Although people like the Gunsauluses who go through this process are commonly called “converts,” the Church uses very particular language in these situations. Beginning in November 2023, U.S. bishops approved the National Statutes for the Christian Initiation of Adults. According to a section of Church law that addresses new church members: “The term ‘convert’ is reserved strictly for those converted to Christian belief and never used of those baptized Christians who are received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.”
People who have never been baptized, known as “catechumens” are converting, but because the Gunsauluses were already baptized, they became known as “candidates” coming into full communion. There are national standards for OCIA, but each case and each parish can be handled slightly differently.
“Regarding how OCIA works in our parish, I always have an initial meeting with the inquirer(s) to have a conversation about their faith journey/background,” explained Luke Gregory, director of faith formation at Sacred Heart Parish. “Depending on where they are at and how much formal catechesis they have previously received, will determine how lengthy the process will take. If one has already been baptized, the process can take about four to five months. Classes focus on our statement of faith — the Nicene Creed — that we profess each week at Mass. After working through the Creed, we shift our focus to how we live out that Creed as a Catholic — primarily, through the sacramental life of the Church, including a few sessions on God’s plan for human sexuality and Catholic Social Teaching.”
The Gunsauluses studied with Father Junge in person and on Zoom for a term of months before receiving their sacraments in April. Gunsaulus compared the process to a seminary course.
“We’re very thankful for Keith and Estelle sponsoring us and very thankful for Father Aaron and the heart that he put into our journey and this weird situation we are in,” he said.
By the fall of this year, the Gunsauluses had joined Sacred Heart in their hometown and were serving as sponsors for the others from their former church who became Catholic.
Gunsaulus revealed more details about his journey in a November episode of Nester’s Catholic Feedback show on YouTube.
