I am serving at Auburn University in Auburn, AL, for St. Michael the Archangel Parish as a Collegiate Outreach Missionary and the FOCUS Team Director. I lead our team of three men and three women and do outreach with young men in fraternities.

I came to accept the fullness of my Christian Faith that I was raised with during college at the University of Alabama.

Up until that point, the Christian Faith was a part of my life, but I understood it only vaguely. I believed that God was real. I believed Jesus Christ was real and His Passion and Resurrection were historical events. I believed heaven with God was my true end for which my life was made for. For the most part, many of my peers around me held this vision for their lives as well.

But I began asking myself if I really knew God, when I willingly chose sin and insisted on my own ways. I knew I was missing something, but I was generally okay without coherent answers and managing my own inner conflict.

That changed when someone invited me to a FOCUS Bible study specifically for fraternity men. There, I came to the conviction of my need for a Savior in the first place, an understanding of the person of Jesus in the fullest sense, and a desire to love God reciprocally for the dignity He has given me to share in his blessed life.

I even came to the conviction that God’s grace was offered freely to me in a particular way through the Sacraments. I realized God’s Love was not something for me to earn but to actively receive. I experienced God’s Mercy in Confession for the first time in 6 years and later began attending Mass as often as I could attend.

It was the prayers and efforts of multiple different FOCUS missionaries and students who invited me back to living out my faith and accompanying me that God used instrumentally in my conversion. It came down to legitimate teaching of the Faith lived out in shared life. Jesus prays to the Father in Jn 17:3…

“Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” 

After accepting an invitation to put God at the center of my life, I turned away from the life I had been living and began practicing the Faith and inviting others to follow Him.

As a FOCUS missionary, I get to share my life and the gospel with others. I get to teach why in the midst of the confusion and chaos of the world, God reveals the way that leads to eternal life and peace. I get to unpack how the story of salvation revealed in the Bible is not just a story but their story and my story.

Will you join me in this work to bring more and more young people back to their faith?

When I answered the call to join FOCUS, I made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners to help me through this mission. If you are interested in learning more or partnering in this work, please contact me at [email protected]. Thank you and God bless you.