Self Introduction By Greg Sanders
I am Greggory Sanders, the son of George and Brenda Sanders. I am originally from Hot Springs, Arkansas. I moved to Dallas, Texas to join the seminary after I graduated high school. I participated in the seminarian program for four years, graduating in May of 2006. By the end of my time at Holy Trinity Seminary, I felt that this was not where God was leading me, so I returned home to Arkansas. I worked for about eight months before returning to Dallas.
During that period, I spent a long time discerning who I really was and where my place was in this world. I returned to Dallas seeking to find that. Most of my close friends lived in Dallas, which made it easier for me to stay.
Not too long after I moved to Dallas, my good friend Reuben called me. He knew that I had been interested in youth ministry before I had left the seminary, and, in his usually persuasive way, asked me to move to Plano to be a youth minister at his parish. I was reluctant at first since I, at the time, lived in Arlington. It was not until two months later after I had move to Irving that I began to actually consider it. I had been looking for a parish to be a part of and one that I could be actively involved with the parish youth.
I went to several different churches but could not find what I was searching for. After speaking with Reuben again, I told myself that I might as well at least go and see. It would not hurt. I then called Mrs. Aileen Chen and told her what day I was coming on. I went to one of the FFF sessions on Friday. It went well. I liked it. But it was not until I came on Mother’s Day and helped the youth prepare food for the fundraiser that I knew that I had finally found my home.
Our community has more than twenty years of history in Dallas. What began as five or six families coming together to study the Bible and pray together, quickly became a community that regularly gathered at nearby churches for Masses and meetings. As the numbers grew, they requested that the Diocese of Dallas help establish a permanent Chinese Catholic community in 1990. In 1992, we put our money together and purchased a small office building in Richardson, Texas. By the end of 1993, we had renovated it to become our sanctuary and activity hall. With the guidance of priests seconded from Taiwan and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, our small community grew stronger in numbers and in faith.