When God says jump, you don’t ask how far. You trust and leap.
Kevin Phillips gave up everything to light up other men’s souls.
A former insurance agent, seasoned missionary, and founder of ‘Made for Greatness’, Kevin Phillips is a man who left everything safe and stable to follow a deeper call. Kevin believes Catholic men today aren’t made for safety. They’re made for fire.
And he’s spent decades proving that when you burn the boats, there’s only one direction left: forward.
When asked which story of heroism lights him up, Kevin didn’t hesitate. “Horatius at the bridge,” he said.
The tale comes from an old Roman poem by Thomas Macaulay. In it, a single man holds off a massive invading army while his fellow soldiers destroy the bridge behind him. “There’s no logical reason he should have survived,” Kevin said. “But there’s something in his spirit, this grit, this ‘dynamis’, that makes him stand.”
‘Dynamis’. The word caught in the air like a spark. It’s Greek, Kevin explained, for the miraculous power God places in a man’s soul. Power waiting to be used. And in Horatius, Kevin sees what Catholic men are called to tap into: not passive belief, but warrior courage.
Kevin didn’t always run a thriving men’s ministry. In fact, most of his early attempts fizzled.
“I’ve started multiple groups over the years—some totally flopped,” he admitted. “And I needed that. I needed to learn that this isn’t about ego. This is about Jesus.” But something shifted in 2022.
Kevin had spent 13 years working for the Knights of Columbus, earning steady income as a field agent. He was the sole provider for his family. Walking away would be unthinkable. But God whispered: burn the boats.
So Kevin did. No nest egg. No fallback. No plan B. Just a conviction that he was called to bring men together, light their hearts on fire, and set something loose in the Church that had been gathering dust for too long.
“I’m tired of the dust,” he said. Now, every second Friday of the month, 50 men gather in Saskatchewan for a meal, a testimony, and an hour before the Blessed Sacrament.
The highlight? The line for confession. “I love seeing those lineups. That’s when I know God’s really working.”
Kevin’s biggest leap was a real one. Years ago, while leading youth in the Canadian Rockies for Catholic Adventure Ministries, he found himself stranded atop a sheer cliff. His leader casually pointed to a drop and said, “We’re going down that way.”
Kevin froze. “I was furious. I thought we were going to die.”But he asked God for help—and jumped.”
That moment, Kevin says, taught him the most important spiritual lesson of his life: God gives courage on the edge—not before. You don’t need certainty. You need faith that moves your feet.
Who is Kevin trying to reach? The man in the pew. The everyday guy. The one showing up to Mass because his wife told him to. The one who flips pancakes with the Knights but hasn’t felt his soul stir in years.
“these men are like firewood,” Kevin said. “They’re dry. Ready. They just need a spark.”
Kevin’s spark is made of three things: testimony, brotherhood, and a relentless pursuit of Jesus.
His ministry isn’t about building a brand. It’s about offering men a chance to feel seen, known, and called higher.
When he meets a man after Mass, he keeps it simple: “Hey, I’m Kevin. What do you do?”
Then comes the invite: “Come check out Made for Greatness. You’ll find other men just like you. You’ll hear a story. You’ll get time to pray. And you might just find what you didn’t know you were missing.”
Kevin’s dream is for his life to become a torch that lights others. That’s why he and his wife founded their second ministry, Boats on Fire, as a tribute to saints like Brendan of Ireland—who burned their vessels so they’d never look back.
That’s what Catholic men are being invited into.