The pair spoke with EWTN News about how their faith inspires them to be men who make it their mission to love as Jesus loves, and about how they hope to inspire others to do the same.
In a time when the meaning of masculinity is often misunderstood and undervalued, Joe Soltis and his 15-year-old son, Jake, are a father/son pair from Cleveland, Ohio, who have made service to others the focus of their lives.
After his mother’s serious illness, Jake, almost entirely by himself, built her a sauna and exercise room in the family’s basement in order to help her recover.
Joe, the CEO of a marketing company, serves on the board of an ecumenical project that unites Catholics and Protestants called Prayer At The Heart, with the aim of igniting “a great spiritual awakening out of a national movement of unified, humble, desperate prayer, unity and evangelism.”
The pair spoke with EWTN News about how their Catholic faith inspires them to be men who make it their mission to love as Jesus loves, and about how they hope to inspire others to do the same.
‘There’s a good chance Mom won’t be coming home’
In 2020, Joe’s wife and Jake’s mom, Becky, almost died after multiple medical issues led doctors to estimate she had only a 10% chance of survival. Joe said she was diagnosed with lupus, Lyme disease, a burst gall bladder, sepsis, and pancreatitis.
“We weren’t allowed to see her in the hospital because it was during Covid,” said Joe, the father of five boys and one daughter, who had to tell his kids “there’s a good chance Mom won’t be coming home.”
After weeks in the hospital, Becky began to recover, Joe said, and “by the grace of God, she pulled through.”
“Out of that hardship, I have found a woman who is incredibly holy,” Joe said of his wife, who, though mostly recovered, still suffers ongoing symptoms from lupus. “She is an incredible mom and an incredible wife. I couldn’t ask for anyone better. She is a blessing to all of us.”
Joe said that time “brought our family tremendously closer together.”
A plan to ‘mobilize Christians’
As Becky recovered from her health crisis, Joe watched the race riots that erupted all over the country that summer, leading him to conclude that “there are evil forces” at work leading to such division between Americans.
“That’s not what Christ wants,” he said, and he wondered whether such division was “manufactured and intentional.” He read Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, which he called “diabolically brilliant.”
On July 4, 2020, between his work, family, and other responsibilities, Joe “happened to be free to sit down and think.” He felt inspired to write out a plan that would address how to “mobilize Christians” in a “Catholic, Christian, biblical manner.”
Becky helped him fine tune the plan, which Joe then sent to various Christian leaders. Tom Phillips, vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called him back and put him in touch with Doug Small, a Pentecostal leader with a similar vision who also lives in Ohio.
Together, the men came up with Prayer at the Heart, an evangelistic endeavor with the goal of “one million Christians praying for one million friends to know Christ.”
“The early apostles didn’t just stay in their church and pray,” Joe said. “They went out and evangelized. It’s time for Christians to get out of their homes and churches and bring Jesus to people.”
Of the ecumenical nature of their ministry, he said there is “great unity among” the team. “We can all unite around Christ.”
“Each congregation-denomination-ministry would brand the effort calling their constituents to prayer, evangelism-mission in their own way,” reads the website.
Christians can sign up to pray for unbelievers on the website.
The ministry’s strategy also involves other practical initiatives, such as the organization of local gatherings and outdoor prayer meetings, as well as a prayer request line available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In addition, the ministry is organizing neighborhood prayer walks, weekly groups of Christians praying for coworkers, and a new missionary and mentorship program to train young adults in prayer and evangelism.
“There’s no person or political party that’s going to save us. The only thing that’s going to save us is the love of Jesus Christ and the love of others,” Joe said.
A message to fathers: ‘Love your wife’
This Father’s Day, Joe has encouraging words for fathers: “Strive to love like Christ and know you’ll fall short.”
“Love your wife and kids the way Christ loved the Church,” he continued. “Sacrifice, be willing to lay your life down. Go to church every Sunday. Your kids wonʼt know faith is important if you don’t show it. Pray every day with your kids.”
The Soltis’ say a rosary once a week as a family, as well as on road trips. “Every night we say the Seven Sorrows of Mary, the St. Michael prayer, and the Angel of God prayer … Then we say what we’re thankful for, and this is what we’d like God to help us with.”
“If your family is going through a difficult time, strongly follow the lead of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and consecrate your family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” Joe said.
“One of the promises of that consecration is peace within your family. Ours didn’t have peace for a while but it does now, thank the Lord.”
‘If I start, God will help me and guide me through it’
Jake told EWTN News that “my dad and mom have always shown what love is. It’s a choice, You choose to love others, to love your enemy. Love is a choice and not an emotional feeling.”
When he decided to build the sauna and exercise room for his mother in the family’s basement, he said he had “no idea what I was getting into.”
Before beginning the basement renovation, Jake said he only “knew how to build a sub par table.” During the work, he said he “was just inspired. I just wanted to help my mom.”
Joe said his son “put a lot of pressure on himself because his mom’s health was at stake.” Becky had a grand mal seizure in 2025, which Joe called “scary.”
“I have based the majority of my life on the saying ‘I will figure it out,’” Jake said. “I know that if I start something, and use the gifts I was given from God, I will be able to figure it out. I’m not wasting my ability, and I trust that if I start, God will help me and guide me through it.”
His father said Jake “looked at two Google images” before starting the project. “He has the knack and ability to do this stuff.”
“As an 8th grader, he took an unfinished basement, and now we have a fitness center, sauna, theater room, and theyʼre beautiful! They look professional. He did it all himself,” Joe said.
He would come home from school and work “for thousands of hours,” Jake’s father said.
“The only thing I did was I loaded the stuff in the back of the Chevy Tahoe at the hardware store. Every now and then I helped him out.”
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