We’re Jesus-followers working around the U.S. and across the globe to equip and mobilize Christians to be peacebuilders. Be part of the movement by supporting our team to help Christians be better peacemakers and to partner with our neighbors across lines of difference!

Give to a team member below or donate directly to Peace Catalyst’s main operating fund.

 

U.S. SOUTHWEST

Tim McDonell

Southern California Regional Director

Tim McDonell retired as a captain of the Los Angeles Fire Department after 32 years of service. When not putting out fires, he served as head of international ministry at the local church level. He and his wife Maria led short-term outreaches to Mexico and Indonesia, and more recently, he served as the Administrative Assistant to the Consultant for Christian-Muslim relations for Vineyard, USA. He and his wife now enjoy an excellent relationship with their local Islamic Center and many of its members.

Email Tim at tim.mcdonell@peacecatalyst.org.

Maria McDonell

Program Coordinator

As a first generation immigrant from Mexico, Maria has an understanding of the challenges facing people from other cultures. Maria enjoys serving in her church and her community and is an active member of the Woman’s Interfaith Network in Ventura County, California. Maria believes that building friendships with people of other faiths will help bring understanding that will lead to peace.

Kevin Grable

Program Director (Southern California)

Kevin’s first involvement with the Muslim community involved multi-faith conversations between Christians and Muslims on the campus of California State University. The openness of Muslim students to engage constructively with people of different faiths came as a pleasant surprise, and Kevin came to believe that an engagement with the wider Muslim community was in order. Since then, the Valley Vineyard church, where Kevin is a lay leader, has engaged in relationships with two mosques, with the support of leaders in the Muslim community. Kevin teaches a regular class at the Vineyard on relating to Muslims and understanding Islam from a Christian perspective.

Email Kevin at kevin.grable@peacecatalyst.org.

Kelly & Cameron Perry

Program Coordinators (California)

The Perrys' involvement with Peace Catalyst International began when they walked across the street to meet their new Somali Muslim neighbors, and they now feel a deep calling to initiate practical initiatives to involve the local church with the Muslim community in San Diego.

Email Kelly at kelly.perry@peace-catalyst.net and Cameron at mistercameron@peacecatalyst.org.

 

U.S. NORTHWEST

Bill Clark

Northwest Regional Director

Bill and his wife Julie lived and worked in China for 10 years before moving to Kazakhstan in 1996, where all three of their children graduated from high school. Living and working among Muslims since 1985 has birthed in them the desire to be peacemakers.

Email Bill at bill.clark@peacecatalyst.org.

Julie Clark

Program Coordinator (Washington)

Julie and her husband Bill lived and worked in China for 10 years before moving to Kazakhstan in 1996, where all three of their children graduated from high school. Living and working among Muslims since 1985 has birthed in them the desire to be peacemakers.

Email Julie at julie.clark@peacecatalyst.org.

Nick & Laura Armstrong

Program Coordinators (Idaho)

Nick and his wife Laura have 23 years experience living in Indonesia, Laura working as a primary school educator and principal and Nick in relief and development, peacebuilding work in Sumatera and Central Java, and disaster response management and community development. They have now settled in Boise, Idaho, where they are working as a team to build peace by connecting local church members with refugees from around the world who have settled in their area.

Email Nick at nick.armstrong@peacecatalyst.org.

 

U.S. MIDWEST

Martin Brooks

Program Director, President Emeritus

Martin has consistently promoted understanding and dialogue between people of various faiths based on mutual respect and the teachings of Jesus. He started a holistic educational program for the church leaders of Mozambique, and after the 2000 floods, helped several faith-based NGOs organize their relief projects. Working through the non-profit sector, he has been a catalyst for educational and development projects in Bosnia, Ghana, and Afghanistan. Martin and his wife Susan currently live in Louisville, Kentucky.

Email Martin at martin.brooks@peacecatalyst.org.

Liz Anderson

Program Coordinator (Indiana)

Liz used to think, "Oh, interfaith work, that's…nice. But I hope someone else does it — certainly not me!" What changed her mind? Teenage girls: taking Muslim and Christian teens away for weekend camps, watching them dominate an obstacle course together, paint each others' nails, and share incredibly deep, authentic conversations about faith and spirituality. She's now pretty convinced that helping these young people to talk to each other, disagree respectfully, and make genuine friendships is the future. And if you're up for it, she and her husband Peter want to help you have an equally transformative friendship in your life.

Email Liz at liz.anderson@peacecatalyst.org.

Peter Anderson

Program Coordinator (Indiana)

After working in Chicago as a youth pastor and photographer, Peter and his wife Liz moved to London to minister in a diverse and low-income neighborhood. During their time spent organizing Muslim-Christian community events, training people in peacemaking skills, and spiritually walking with neighbors, they developed passion for helping people actively work toward spiritual and social growth. At the end of their time in London, they moved to Indiana, where Peter is pursuing an MA in Peace Studies to further improve their peacemaking work.

Email Peter at peter.anderson@peacecatalyst.org.

Steve Lied

Program Coordinator (Wisconsin)

Steve and Karen lived in the Balkans from 1991-2012, co-starting a small IT company in Macedonia and directing Millennium Relief and Development Services’ Macedonia office. Since 2012, Steve and Karen have been based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they encourage Christians and Muslims to follow the way of the Messiah Jesus to love God and neighbor with their whole hearts, minds and strength.

Email Steve at steve.lied@peacecatalyst.org.

 

U.S. SOUTHEAST

Neal Foster

Program Coordinator (Raleigh-Durham)

Coming from an evangelical/charismatic upbringing in Oklahoma, Neal has been vocationally involved in intercultural research and experiences since 2003. He spent a significant portion of that time in ten different countries in Africa, focusing on Muslim-Christian relations. He sees peacemaking and reconciliation as the primary expression of the Kingdom of God and the primary work of the church. Besides his family, his interests include basketball, theology, and heavy metal guitar solos.

Email Neal at neal.foster@peacecatalyst.org.

David Chavez

Program Coordinator

David grew up in South America, where he led outreach and ministries both in the city and in the Andean countryside. However, his heart grew for the Middle Eastern community after teaching English to refugees in Athens, Greece. In South Florida, he started Bridges Language Academy, an ESL school that assists large numbers of Middle Eastern refugees with immersion in the English Language and other aspects of their resettlement. David encourages local Christian students and churches to build lasting and meaningful friendships with these new immigrants in their community as well as with the rest of the local Muslim community.

Email David at david.chavez@peacecatalyst.org.

 

INTERNATIONAL PEACEMAKERS AND CONSULTANTS

Bryan Carey

Peacemaker | Consultant (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

Bryan has a persistent habit of immersing himself in cross-cultural relationships and enjoys inviting friends and acquaintances to interact with those who are different from them. He has worked in various capacities alongside pastors in Peru, members of the homeless community in Houston, Muslim refugees in Roanoke and Atlanta, and the African-American community in Atlanta. Most recently, he spent a year in Kosovo with his wife Stephanie and son Jack learning about ethno-religious tensions and current practices being utilized to promote peace.

Email Bryan at bryan.carey@peacecatalyst.org.

 

Jaime Harris

International Peacemaker & Educator

Jaime and his family live in Indonesia, where for the past 20 years they’ve promoted peace and reconciliation through education, serving the poor, organizing interfaith events, establishing a Peace Café, and inviting Muslims and Christians to pray together in a unique House of Prayer. As an author, Jaime has written books promoting peace in both Indonesian and English. He’s been blessed to speak on issues of peacemaking and prayer in several nations.

Email Jaime at jaime.harris@peacecatalyst.org.

 
 
 

NEW STAFF

 
 

OUR BOARD

 

David Katibah


David Katibah is Director of Communications and Christian Engagement at The Telos Group, a DC-based international peacemaking nonprofit. As an American of Syrian descent, David is passionate about conflict transformation in the Middle East and the transformative potential of Christians participating in peacebuilding around the globe. He has spent time living and working in East Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East, and writes about peace, poetry, and compassion on his substack, “Awakenings.” He has degrees in Economics, Political Science, and Philosophy, graduating with highest distinction from the Honors College of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
 

Michael Ly


Michael was born and raised in a Chinese-Cambodian refugee home after his parents escaped the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. Growing up in a Christian and Ancestral-Buddhist home, Michael started following the teachings of Jesus at a young age. He is a serial entrepreneur and accounting professional, currently serving as CEO of Reconciled It. Michael has served in a variety of ministry capacities for churches and non-profits.
 

Saji Oommen


Saji’s roots come from Kerala, India. He was born in Dallas, grew up in California, and attended college at Biola University. He moved to Philadelphia to do his MBA at Eastern University and then worked in inner-city Philadelphia for three years, during which time he met his wife Bindu. They relocated to California in 1997 to work with Southeast Asian refugees. They then moved to India, where they started a bakery business (redmoonbakery.com) and after burnout relocated to Turkey, where they worked with Syrian refugees and started Building Leaders 4 Peace (bl4p.com), all under the auspices of the Mennonite Brethren. Saji then worked as the Executive Director of Kidstown International, an organization working with orphans and vulnerable children in India, Nepal, and Romania. He now serves as the Director for Global Engagement with Five and Two Network (fiveandtwonetwork.org). He lives in Lynden, Washington with Bindu, and they have four wonderful children named Isaiah, Karis, Alexander, and JZ, and a crazy golden retriever named Cleo.
 
 

Anna Stamborski


Anna Stamborski is a national organizer and trainer for CrossRoads Antiracism, former Director for Faith and Prejudice, and former public educator. She is a certified Restorative Justice educator, licensed mediator, Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Inventory Development, and trained in ethnography and qualitative research. Anna holds a Master of Divinity and certificate in Black Church Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary and degrees in Education and Spanish (BS) from the University of Wisconsin.
 

Drew Strait


Drew J. Strait is a dad, pastor theologian, speaker, and professor. His writing and teaching focuses on political idolatry and peacemaking in early Christianity. Strait is a popular speaker on how faith communities can challenge Christian nationalism, violent extremism, and Christian supremacy with strategic nonviolence.