Meet Pastor and His Family
Brandon Martin’s Biography
Brandon’s enthusiasm for cross-cultural ministry grew as a result of living in Latin America for five years. After graduating from Appalachian State University in 1998, he taught at international schools in Mexico and Guatemala. He then moved to Bolivia, South America where he served as a missionary for three years. It was during the trials and joys of this mission work that God led him to dedicate his life to cross-cultural ministry. In 2008, Brandon graduated with a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. His first call was to serve as Associate Pastor for Mission Development at St. Stephens Lutheran Church in Hickory, NC. He worked with local Lutheran congregations to develop The Bridge, a mission that connects local Hispanic families to Christ and community.
Brandon met his wonderful wife, Joy, in 2004 at their best friends’ wedding. At the time, Joy was serving as a mission-ary in Macedonia. They were married in November of 2005. God has blessed them with four delightful children: Joshua, Abigail, Selah, and Daniel. Brandon and Joy love traveling, coffee, meals with friends, visiting wineries, hiking, exercising, and having fun with their children.
Interesting facts:
Brandon and Joy are in competition to visit the most countries. Joy is currently winning with 24 countries (on six continents)!
The Martin family memorizes a Bible verse together each week and discusses it at dinner.
Brandon’s favorite book of the Bible is Psalms, because they are the faith-filled cries of God’s people in all circumstances and emotions of life. They show us how to bring every struggle and joy before our loving God.