Sam is an ordained pastor serving in the United Methodist Church. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity from United Theological College, Bangalore, India, in 2014, under the Senate of Serampore University, Master of Theology in Biblical Studies from Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, USA, in 2016 and currently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry in pastoral care and counseling in family systems theory at Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia.
He is from India, born to a God-fearing first generation Christian parents as the last child. He was saved, by God’s grace, as a teenager, and God called him for the full-time ministry when he was completing his high school. His call is to serve as a cross-cultural minister into a national and global context. His spiritual growth and ministry foundation got rooted in Christ first at home, next in the church, and at Union of Evangelical Students of India (UESI) in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi in India. The UESI is popularly known as Evangelical Union. He served as a student volunteer in various capacities like Head of the Prayer Wing, and Chairperson of the Inter-Collegiate Evangelical Union (ICEU) of UESI. He waited upon God in prayer and feasting on the Word daily, and with regular monthly fasting prayers, to discern God’s call for more than 3 years. God affirmed his call through Ephesians 4:1-7. He served as a cross-cultural missionary and pastor for 17 years in North and South India. He has a rich experience as a parish minister serving the congregation, children, youth, young adults, and giving pastoral care. He served as the Youth Director at Powhatan United Methodist Church, Powhatan, Virginia, and as a guest preacher at Indian churches, fellowships, and at a family seminar at Boston in Massachusetts, Richmond in Virginia, San Jose in California, Rockville and Silver Spring in Maryland. His father was an ordained pastor of the Church of South India and served in Tamil Nadu, and eldest brother also is an ordained pastor of Church of North India serving in Haryana and Punjab for the last 33 years, in India.
Sam is married to Archana who is in ministry as Director of Children and Family Ministries at Three Chopt Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Virginia. Sam and Archana together are fluent in English, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Malayalam. They are blessed with a son. Soccer is his favorite game and he is at school and recreation teams. Sam plays guitar and a good sportsman from childhood and got many prizes and meritorious awards. He was a basketball player and captain for his high school and college teams and led his team at district level games, an all-rounder cricket player who played for his high school and in recreation teams.