Bishop Gray was born in Winston-Salem and grew up in a missionary family with his parents, the Rev. Joe and Lahoma Gray and four siblings, and lived in Nicaragua for 11 years.

 

He graduated from the Stony Brook School (Long Island, NY), attended Moravian College, worked for a year in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, completed studies in Elementary Education at Moravian College, and took additional coursework at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California. For more than 13 years he was a missionary in Honduras as a high school teacher, Director of the Bible Institute, Christian Education Director, as well as organizing pastor of Israel Moravian Church in Tegucigalpa.

 

Sam returned to Moravian Theological Seminary in 1993, earned the Master of Divinity degree in 1996, was ordained and served as the Assistant Pastor of Emmaus Moravian Church and Director of Youth Ministries with the Eastern District of the Moravian Church, Northern Province. He was pastor of the New Hope Moravian Church, Miami, FL from 1998 until joining the staff of the Board of World Mission in 2004. Sam was elected a Bishop of our worldwide Unity by our 2006 Southern Province Synod.

 

Sam and his wife, Lorena, have three sons: Luke, Tim, and Christian David, as well as two grand-daughters, Rachel and Gabriella Marie.