Four 2024 graduates of the University of Louisville have chosen to become full-time Catholic missionaries with FOCUS Catholic.
After attending missionary training this summer, Luke Verst, Sarah Cullop, Luke Yunker and Randy Royer will head to college campuses around the country to accompany students navigating their faith on the college campus.
All four were involved in the University of Louisville’s Catholic Campus Ministry, located in the university’s Interfaith Center. The ministry is staffed by Dominican Father John Baptist Hoang, the chaplain; campus minister Laura Makin and four FOCUS missionaries.
Gabrielle Krumpelman, who served as a FOCUS missionary at UofL during the 2023-2024 school year, succinctly explained FOCUS’ mission in a recent interview. (Krumpelman now works in digital media at The Record.)
“The mission is to know Christ Jesus and make him known,” she said. “As missionaries, you are entering into relationships with students. … You are in relationship with Christ and bringing people in to encounter him.”
Founded in 1998 at Benedictine College, FOCUS sends missionaries to college campuses to intentionally walk with students in their faith journeys, serving the students on their assigned campus through weekly Bible studies, mentoring and outreach events. They also provide opportunities for mission trips, pilgrimages, retreats and conferences.
Additionally, missionaries fundraise their entire salaries. They cultivate relationships with their mission partners — individuals who support their salary with pre-scheduled monthly donations — through email updates and phone calls.
In teams composed of two females and two males, FOCUS missionaries intend to form other missionary disciples by investing in students’ lives and inviting them into a relationship with Jesus in the Catholic Church.
“It can be easy to get lost (in college years), but it is also a ripe time to encounter the Lord,” said Krumpelman.
In the 2023-2024 school year, FOCUS sent 981 missionaries to 234 locations. In addition to the University of Louisville, FOCUS sends missionaries to three other campuses in Kentucky — the University of Kentucky, Murray State University and Western Kentucky University.
Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Louisville has partnered with FOCUS since 2018. Prior to the 2024 graduating class, one Louisville graduate had become a FOCUS missionary.
Krumpelman said that the class of 2024 was special.
“These students received formation from FOCUS missionaries for a full four years, … not just a few years,” she said. Having missionaries serving them for the entirety of their college experience, along with “Father John and Laura’s investment in the campus ministry” created a class of seniors who “had come to know and love the ministry.”
Krumpelman explained that the graduating class had plenty of opportunities to “choose ministry,” whether that was through mission trips on spring breaks or doing student outreach on the University of Louisville’s campus. “This class had an openness for mission, … they developed a heart for that.”
In addition to having FOCUS present all four years, the class of 2024 had an introduction to undergraduate life unlike any previous class. Entering their first year in 2020, the freshman arrived at the University of Louisville in the midst of the pandemic. Unlike every class before them, they were not met with large-scale welcome events and smiles, as protocols to mitigate the risk of the pandemic, including masking and social distancing, were still in effect.
The first-year class finished their high school experience shut-in at home, many separated from social gatherings and celebrations. In a recent interview, the graduating seniors said they arrived on campus that fall hungry for community.
Luke Verst, a member of the class of 2024, said that many of the groups on campus had difficulty maintaining a sense of regularity during the pandemic. But, he explained, Catholic Campus Ministry found a way to persevere, gathering people for fellowship while still following precautions and maintaining safety.
He noted that many first-year students found a social group in the Catholic ministry because of the lack of offerings from other communities on campus. The group collectively agreed that the time spent together in simple fellowship that first year strengthened their bond.
Krumpelman says she developed a mentoring relationship with Sarah Cullop, the only female graduate to become a FOCUS missionary. Their relationship formed organically, she said, when Cullop attended daily Mass and adoration at the Interfaith Center.
Cullop joined Krumpelman’s Bible study on campus, and the next semester Cullop began leading a Bible study that ministered to non-Catholic students. Krumpelman said she sensed a spark when Cullop began leading the Bible study.
“Sarah has a very natural zeal,” said Krumpelman. Cullop quickly became more involved in the outreach ministry led by the FOCUS missionaries. “She was very eager to come on campus with us,” said Krumpelman.
This is the first in a series of stories about FOCUS missionaries. Next week, meet the four new missionaries who graduated from UofL in 2024.
