The Rev Dr. Justin White, 41, has begun his ministry as pastor of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Daleville. He and his family have come from Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church at Chantilly in the Northern Virginia county of Loudoun.

White is a native of Michigan, but has spent much of his life in Northern Virginia. He took undergraduate study at the University of Evansville in Indiana and moved on to Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington from which he earned his divinity degree in 2004 and a doctorate in 2012.

Meanwhile, he served for five years as an associate pastor at Herndon United Methodist Church, and since 2009 has been at the Pleasant Valley parish.

There, outreach to people in the burgeoning suburbs of the national capital caused the congregation to open a clothing closet and carry on a ministry of teaching English as a second language to the many persons coming to the area from other countries

White is married to the former Katy Holland, who is employed by a non-profit agency which arranges mentoring for those in need of it. In the age of technology, the pastor noted, she is able to carry on her work at home with their daughters, Avery, 5, and Ellie, 2.

White said he’s excited to come to St. Mark’s, a relatively new congregation brought about by the union of three tiny rural churches a generation ago. With its large family activities center and many human outreach programs, it has become a leader in the growing southern Botetourt area.

— Frances Stebbins