What brought you to Christ in the City?
I served as a missionary for Christ in the City in the summer of 2024 while I was a seminarian for the Diocese of San Angelo. After a beautiful discernment process, I didn’t feel called to continue pursuing the priesthood. However, one morning during prayer as I wrapped up my last year of seminary, I prayed with Luke 14:13 – “when you host a banquet… invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” – Those words hit me like a brick. I recalled my experience with Christ in the City, and how we have a picnic or a “banquet” every Wednesday at Lunch in the Park with those who cannot repay us. My heart burned to be a missionary with Christ in the City once again!
How has Christ in the City helped you grow?
Christ in the City has changed my life! My first year of mission has brought me extreme joy as I have loved and been loved. I desired very much to experience a life of poverty so that Christ can be the source of my joy. He has brought me that joy in the gift of his love in me, through me, and most especially to me, from all of the wonderful people he’s surrounded me with. The experience of His love through this mission has filled me with starting awareness that – “If I can love and be loved so much, then how great must Jesus’s heart burn for me?”. I want to share this joy!
A little bit about me…
I’m pretty calm, cool, and collected when you first get to know me. After a while, though, you’ll realize I’m wild, weird, and unhinged. I want to be a Saint! But that might not be evident at first glance. Respectare! (That’s a Christ in the City buzzword for “look again”.) I believe God will sanctify me as I allow Him to meet me where I’m at. And He does! He meets me in prayer, relationships, and in the midst of my many passions. Some of those are – rapping, cooking, and cutting hair. I’d do any of these things for you if you’d just ask!
Where is your hometown?
My hometown is Abilene, Texas. Almost smack dab in the middle of Texas, depending on how you look at it.