Greetings and welcome to our website! I’m Pastor Bryan and I am excited to be the Mission Developer and Pastor for Peace and Hope, a community for faith and worship where people across geographic boundaries can gather to hear and share the good news of Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I discerned God’s call to ministry by imagining ways that the church can serve the world beyond physical church meeting spaces and so when the opportunity presented itself to lead a digital ministry, I realized that the Holy Spirit was at work and felt called to lead this exciting opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I grew up in Haymarket, Virginia and my faith and formative years were spent as an active participant at Haymarket Baptist Church. I am an alum of Virginia Tech in Civil Engineering (Go Hokies!) and have been a Professor in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech since 2007, currently as an Associate Professor of Practice. In addition, I am the President of a small family-owned consulting firm, Toxcel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My wife, Katie, and I were married in 2006. Katie introduced me to Lutheranism, the ELCA, and Lutheridge (a Lutheran Camp in Arden, North Carolina), where Katie was a camper, camp counselor, and senior staff member. From then on, I was hooked!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I currently also serve as the Pastor at New Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Blacksburg. I previously served as the Campus Minister for Lutheran Campus Ministry at Virginia Tech (The Well) and continues to serve in a Synod Leadership role as the Synodical Coordinator for Campus Ministry. Before coming to New Mt. Zion as their Pastor, I previously served as the Vicar at both Shiloh and New Mt. Zion Lutheran Churches in Blacksburg and served as an intern at St. Philip Lutheran Church in Roanoke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I completed my Master\u2019s of Arts in Religion and Pastoral Ministry Certificate at the Institute of Lutheran Theology and I completed coursework through Luther Seminary, all through distance learning. The digital world is definitely not new to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My wife, Katie, is a Professor in the School of Nursing at Radford University. Katie and I are blessed with two children, Emily and Ethan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Grace Robinson, Director of Connecting Ministries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Hey All and welcome! I am so excited to assist in Mission Development as Director of Connecting Ministries for Peace and Hope. I am filled with joy at developing and promoting this all-inclusive community of Christ that breaks the walls of geography to hear God’s good news for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When discerning God’s call for my life, I know I was called to create safe and welcoming spaces for ALL people in new and healing ways. When Pastor Bryan approached me with this idea, I could hear the Holy Spirit whispering “this is it!” I had to answer the call. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am from outside Charlotte, North Carolina and grew up in an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation. I was an active participant in youth group, church council, statewide youth bands, and went to a church camp in Asheville, North Carolina (Lutheridge) which all played major roles in my faith development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am a current student at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia studying Christian Studies and Psychology. I am discerning a call to attend seminary after finishing my undergraduate degree. I am involved with various Young Adult ministries and networks in the VA area and around the Southeastern Region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While this is my first official role serving on a church staff, I have served in various ways in the church growing up; whether it was playing guitar, leading youth Sunday, or planning worship for on-campus chapel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am excited to get to know each and every one of you and serve this new amazing community! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rev. Dr. Bryan J. Katz, Pastor Greetings and welcome to our website! I’m Pastor Bryan and I am excited to be the Mission Developer and Pastor for Peace and Hope, a community for faith and worship where people across geographic boundaries can gather to hear and share the good news of Jesus Christ! I discerned God’s call to ministry by imagining ways that the church can serve the world beyond physical church meeting spaces and so when the opportunity presented itself to lead a digital ministry, I realized that the Holy Spirit was at work and felt called to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-parts\/page-template-no-sidebar.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259,"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127\/revisions\/259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/peacehopeva.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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