I was born to Kevin and Kathy Gibson on March 28, 1991 in Lufkin, Texas. I have one older brother, Wesley Gibson. From the beginning, I was taught to love the Lord Jesus at Woodridge Baptist Church in Kingwood, Texas. I had my first encounter with the Lord in a living and personal way around the age of seven while praying with my mom at night and soon after I was baptized in water. After that moment, I had a passion for the Lord and even would play being a preacher of the Gospel. During middle school I grew a bit distant from the Lord and fell in love with learning and aviation. A major turning point in his life occurred when my family decided to attend Lakewood Church my junior year of high school. At one of Lakewood’s youth camps the summer before my senior year, I had an intense encounter with the Lord when I stood up to acknowledge the Lord was calling him to full-time ministry and evangelization. After this encounter, I began to serve in Lakewood’s youth group and changed my college plans, deciding to study theology at Oral Roberts University (ORU) in order to become a pastor. While at ORU, I encountered different cultures and perspectives on the Christian faith. Eventually, thanks to reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the powerful witness of a Catholic professor, I went through major paradigm shifts that led me to become Catholic. Through Eucharistic Adoration in particular I realized that the same Jesus he knew as a child was made truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. I entered into full communion with the Catholic Church during the 2011 Easter Vigil at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church in Tulsa, OK. I immediately considered priesthood, but I realized it takes time to discern such a vocation. Because several professors at Franciscan University helped me intellectually in becoming Catholic and because of its Charismatic spirituality, I decided to pursue an M.A. in Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. Priesthood still was part of his discernment at that stage, but upon graduation I was counseled by a professor I admired to grow in self-knowledge, self-possession and self-giving as a high school teacher. I first taught for three years at St. John Paul II High School in Corpus Christi, Texas and then five years at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston, Texas. The summer before my last year working at Strake Jesuit, I had a renewed encounter with the Lord while reading a book focused especially on the priesthood and Eucharist; my heart was set on fire. Soon after, I reached out to the vocation’s director for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and I began an intentional discernment process that confirmed his call to the priesthood. 

I have completed one year of philosophical studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas and a summer parish experience at St. Martha’s Catholic Church in Kingwood, Texas. Through much Jacob-like wrestling with God, especially since Holy Week of 2023, I have decided to apply to enter the Catholic Mission Society of America (Maryknoll). I realized that I have a strong desire to reach out to the “peripheries,” to be with the poor, and get my hands dirty as a missionary.

This is part of the story where things get a bit messier. I spent September 2023 discerning with Maryknoll, and the Vocations Director did not think I was a good fit then or in the future. God opened the door for me to be a missionary volunteer in North Dakota with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) teaching at St. Ann’s Catholic School. I taught 5th and 6th graders math and religion and was a co-teacher for most of their other classes from November 2023 to May 2024. I did several Come and See events and discerned that I would commit to applying to the Jesuits, whenever they felt it was the right time. In the meantime, I got a great job teaching theology at Frassati Catholic High School in Spring, Texas. I will start there this Fall. Please keep me in your prayers!