Punk to Friar

Here is a beautiful conversion story of Brother Martin Ervin who went from being a singer in a punk rock bank and the drug lifestyle to joining the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.

Bob Ervin calls his brother’s conversion and vocation to the religious life a “miracle.”

” I’m really proud of him,” he said, adding that he believes the struggles his brother experienced were necessary for him to be the kind of person he is today. “He’s very charismatic. It’s just an absolute miracle.”

One day in the office, Brother Martin overheard his brother talking about vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and he said he felt something stir within him.

” As I was standing there, all of the sudden this little fire kind of burst in my heart and I felt myself say inside my heart, ‘You’re going to do that someday,'” he said.

Bob Ervin credits the Holy Spirit with inspiring his brother.

“I don’t think I was on a mission to change him at all. It was the Holy Spirit. That’s the thing about living the Catholic faith – if you actually live it, you can’t really predict what’s going to happen with it,” he said.

“I do remember one talk we had when he told me he was thinking about his vocation. We talked for like four hours about how awesome it is to live with Christ.”

As they say “read the whole thing.” This also reminds of something that I heard Father Groeschel say once about about seeing a punk rocker with one of those notable haircuts, that you just never know and that they could be the next Saint Paul.