My lovely wife Rachel and I live in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I currently serve as an Alumni Relations Missionary throughout the South Area.

When I was sixteen, I encountered Jesus Christ for the first time in my life. Despite not ever having believed in Him, I knew He was calling me to follow Him for the rest of my life. I quickly developed an unexpected evangelical zeal that launched me into college searching for a deeper life with the Lord.

In 2016, I entered the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Go Blazers!) and soon met a man named Jarred. A mentor to many, Jarred modeled the cost of discipleship to an unreal degree. He inspired me to ask the Lord to purify my heart of everything that hindered love —  so, I began to regularly offer God my ambitions, desires, and aspirations. As prayer became more central to my life, the Lord began to lead me further and further into His Heart, and He ultimately led me to explore the faith and history of the Catholic Church.

As a highly reformed evangelical Christian, I didn’t have many good things to say about Catholicism. Realistically, though, I just didn’t know much of the history behind the Catholic Church and the beauty present throughout Catholic theology. For the most part, I was pretty content living this way – that is, until I befriended a FOCUS missionary on my campus. Over the course of several meetings and encounters, Ben helped me discover how deeply the love of Christ permeates the Catholic way of life. He redeemed my skewed perception of Catholicism and ultimately walked with me through the most difficult transition of my life – in April of 2019, I became Catholic and entered into the deepest intimacy with Christ I have ever known.

After receiving my degree in Neuroscience, I decided to join FOCUS as a full-time missionary so I could spend everything I had bringing the message of salvation to the yearning hearts of our modern culture. I served three years at the University of Tulsa and am awestruck at the miraculous work of the Lord I witnessed in the lives of my students.

After my mission on campus, I married my former teammate Rachel and moved to the beautiful state of Tennessee. Leaving Tulsa was difficult, but I took on an amazing role serving former FOCUS missionaries and students, i.e. FOCUS Alumni. I communicate daily with Alumni and travel to several cities throughout the South to host retreats, evangelization trainings, confession nights, huge family picnics, and whatever else is necessary to bring people together for Christ. Our goal as Alumni missionaries is to facilitate deeper Divine intimacy and missionary zeal among men and women striving to follow the Lord in their marriages, workplaces, neighborhoods, and parish communities.

If you’re ever interested in connecting with me or another alumni missionary in your area, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Christ is doing incredible things through our ministry, yet He has chosen to do so only through the great generosity of mission partners throughout the world. Rachel and I trust the Lord to provide entirely for our family through the spiritual and financial support of our community, and we would be honored to invite you into our life as missionaries of the Gospel. If you are interested in partnering with us, please let me know of the best way to reach you and I will schedule an appointment to share our vision with you.

You can always call me at (256) 689-0304 or email me at samue[email protected]. Thank you so much, and please pray for us!