A little over five years ago, I graduated from Auburn University in Alabama. I served my first two years with FOCUS at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX and my third year at The University of Memphis in TN. Along with my wife, Krysta Ann, I’m now assigned to the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond, OK. Roll Cho’s!

My current team at UCO, on placement day at New Staff Training (June 2024)!

Growing up, my personal relationship with the Lord was anything but thriving. However, to the outside world, and even to my own eyes, life was good. I grew up in Tyler, Texas in a Catholic Christian home with a loving, in-tact family and a supportive community. I started going to Catholic school in the eighth grade and continued on through high school. Though I was surrounded by blessings, I did not posses the interior peace one might expect – living for others’ opinions of me, rather than for my own holiness & happiness. Little did I know how much everything was going to change!

Going into my first year of college at Auburn University, I was very excited. I was looking forward to meeting people in classes, having study parties, going on adventures, and just having a lot of genuine, pure fun. Maybe I was a bit naive, but I was definitely not prepared for the level of drinking, partying, and overall destructive behavior that characterized much of the college scene. Even though I was still far from a personal relationship with Christ, I knew I wanted more than the party scene could offer. I spent many Friday and Saturday nights during my freshman year in my dorm room. After my first semester, I came close to transferring to a university closer to home, where I had many friends from high school. However, the Lord had a much different (and better) plan for my life.

During the following semester, I got connected with a summer FOCUS mission trip to India. There, for the first time in my life, I encountered peers whose happiness didn’t seem to come from their popularity, how others perceived them, or their possessions. Instead, they appeared to be enlivened by their relationship with Jesus – something I thought could only be possible for Saints or the elderly..if at all! This, among many other encounters in India, sparked a fire in me to take my relationship with Jesus more seriously and get involved with the Catholic ministry at Auburn. Over the next three years, the Lord continued to draw me closer to Him and eventually led me to some of the best friends I’ve ever made.

Since then, it has been a wild ride, full of ups and downs, going deeper and deeper into God’s infinite, unquenchable, unchangeable, specific love for me. The crazy good news is that this infinite, personal love is not just for me, but for YOU! I want to spend every last minute of my life in service of this love and to spread its good news, which is the Gospel. Let it begin!

Above is a group picture from my FOCUS mission trip to India during the summer of 2016. Four of the ten students that went on this trip, including myself, went on to become missionaries!

This is my second-year team at the University of North Texas, about to start the Fall Semester of 2020.

Being a missionary with FOCUS, I have the opportunity not only to be on mission with Jesus on the college campus, but ALSO to bring others along through mission partnering. I rely on the spiritual and financial support of these mission partners, and I’ve already been blessed with the most amazing people who have journeyed with me as I serve on campus. I am forever thankful for the wonderful relationships I have gained in my mission partners!

If you are interested in hearing more about this mission, partnering with me, or just visiting about the work we do in FOCUS, please don’t hesitate to reach out (903-363-2263) to schedule an appointment. I would be truly honored to share this adventure toward Heaven with you. You are so loved!