Leadership - The Church of The Incarnation

Staff

Get to know a little bit about the members of our staff, clergy and lay leadership at The Church of the Incarnation.

Rector’s Warden

Mike Deaton

Mike is a retired professor from James Madison University’s School of Integrated Sciences. Prior to his 25 years at JMU, he worked at Dupont as a consulting statistician, and then as a manager in research and manufacturing. Mike and JoEtta have been members of Incarnation since late 2011 and are deeply grateful for this community of Christians. Mike is President of Pax Dei for Nuba, a non-profit that works in partnership with the persecuted church in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. He and JoEtta live next to the JMU campus (their second home!). They currently host the Maplehurst small group.

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ASSOCIATE RECTOR

KEITH BREAULT

As the son of an Air Force pilot, Keith grew up all over the United States. Keith and his wife, Joanna, met at the College of William and Mary, were married in 1998, and have five children (two in college, and three still at home). They lived in Charlottesville from 2011 to 2022. After pastoring two churches over the course of 17 years, Keith began exploring ordination in the Anglican tradition. In the fall of 2016, Keith began a curacy at The Church of the Incarnation, then transferred to Church of the Holy Cross in Crozet where he served as an associate pastor. Since transitioning from full-time ministry, Keith worked as vice president for business development with Commonwise Homecare. The Breaults are delighted at the opportunity to worship, grow, and serve within the Incarnation family.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

LAURA LOWE

Laura grew up in the church world, with her father, uncle, and grandfather all pastors in various church traditions. Laura attended James Madison University where she met her husband, grew to love Harrisonburg, and discovered her calling to serve the church. She has held various roles at Incarnation through the years from the first fellow, children’s director, and the Executive Director for the past few years. Laura graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with a Master’s in Biblical Studies in 2022. She has two young sons, Timothy and Matthew, and alongside her husband loves serving the church and the Harrisonburg community. In her rare moments of free time when she is not chasing her sons, she enjoys reading just about anything, cooking, and eating out with her husband and friends.

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PASToR FOR YOUTH AND Worship

WILSON WEST

Wilson West serves as our Pastor for Youth and Evangelism as well as heading up our music direction. He and his wife Callie have two young sons. Wilson received a BA from Mississippi State University, and his MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. Before coming to Incarnation, he served at a church in New Orleans for two years. Wilson’s loves are his family, music: discovering, listening to, and playing it; reading, traveling, and spending good time with people.

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DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

SUSANNAH ODA

Susannah has been attending Incarnation with her husband, Aaron, since 2018. She holds a Masters of Teaching in Education with a concentration in Elementary Education from James Madison University. In the past ten years, Susannah has worked in a variety of educational settings including public schools, forest schools, outdoor education programs, and higher education. She enjoys creating spaces for children to experience the presence of God through engaging scripture reading and contemplative work. She and her husband host the Westover small group. In her free time, Susannah enjoys going on walks, playing music, beekeeping, and cozying up with a good book.

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PARISH ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

BETH NEALON

Beth is our parish administrative assistant. She grew up in Richmond. She met her husband Dave at UVA. They raised three daughters in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Lacey Spring since 1999. She considers herself an honorary member of COTI, as she has completed our Essentials course, and has fond memories of the Episcopal liturgy of her childhood church. She enjoys playing folk music, hiking, birding, watching British TV, and hugging trees.

Email Beth.

CURATE (PASTORAL RESIDENT)

ERIC CODDING

Eric is our Curate. Eric and his family moved to the Valley in 2011 for Eric’s position of Associate Dean of Students at EMU. In 2017, Eric began working at Blue Ridge Christian School where until recently he served as the Director of Advancement and the Dean of Christian formation. Eric has a deep interest in Christian spiritual formation and appreciates how solid biblical teaching and preaching at COTI thoughtfully engage challenging cultural realities. He is married to Heather who works locally as a nurse practitioner. Eric and Heather have one adult child, Caleb, one college-bound child, Caitlyn, and two high school boys, Joseph and Matthew.

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FACILITIES DIRECTOR

Charity Brubaker

Charity was born in Puerto Rico but has lived most of her life in the Shenandoah Valley. She met her husband, Benjamin, at the church where they stayed for over 20 years. She has been a full time homemaker for most of nearly 20 years of marriage. They live just north of Harrisonburg in an off-grid home with their 5 children—Catherine, Anna, Tanner, Madeline, and Scott.

Charity has provided childcare, cleaned commercial and residential properties, and taught in a homeschool community. Whether at home, in a business, at a school, or a church, she finds joy in creating a clean, attractive environment for children and adults alike to rest and grow. She enjoys wheel throwing pottery, running, kickboxing, reading or listening to books and podcasts, and learning to know new people.

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Non-Stipend Pastor in Residence

Martin Rhodes

Martin was baptized in the Mennonite church in Dayton, VA as a teenager. He received a Master of Theological Studies from Duke University Divinity School in 2007.

Martin pastored and helped to lead three congregations before coming to Incarnation in 2018.

In addition to his priestly work, Martin is the Discipleship Ministries Coach at VMMissions and serves on the board of Pax Dei for Nuba and on the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Christ our Hope.

Martin has been married to Sylvia since 1999 and they have 3 children: Elliot, Vincent and Annaliese.

Martin enjoys international travel with his family, body surfing in the Atlantic Ocean, baseball, motorcycling, and cutting and splitting wood.

Email Martin

Parish Council

Within the Anglican tradition, the Parish Council (also known as the Vestry) provides counsel to the rector (senior pastor) and manages the church’s property and finances to support the vision and mission of the congregation. Incarnation’s Parish Council is comprised of eight lay leaders, the assistant rector, and the rector. Lay members are elected during the annual celebration to represent the larger membership of the church. Lay members can serve up to two consecutive three-year terms.

Our Parish Council members are: Alvin Chao, Nell-Marie Colman, Mike Deaton, Molly Hollingsworth, Nick Kozel, Stephanie Layman, and Kenlyn Miller.

Rector’s Warden

Mike Deaton

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PEOPLE’S WARDEN

NELL-MARIE COLMAN

Nell-Marie has lived in Harrisonburg since 1994 — falling in love with Harrisonburg as a JMU student and deciding to make it her home. She is the Director of Content for a global technology company. Nell-Marie and Gil have two children, Daniel and Anna, and they have been a part of the Incarnation community since early 2012. During that time, she’s served as a small group leader and prayer team member. She and her family belong to the Summit Avenue small group.

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TREASURER

NICK KOZEL

Nick has lived in Harrisonburg since 1991. He is a CPA and currently provides financial accounting services to several local businesses. He and Deanna have been married 25 years and have three children, Deacon, Jude, and Hadassah. They have been attending Incarnation since the fall of 2017. Nick has served on and directed the security team as well as serving as a Lay Eucharist Minister. Nick and Deanna enjoy hosting the Monte Vista small group.

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