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Colby and his wife Annie have been married since 2001 and have four daughters: Haley, Darcy, Gracie and Penelope. Colby serves as pastor of Pillar Church of Dumfries, VA. Before coming to Pillar, Colby served as an associate pastor at Stafford Baptist Church (the church that planted Pillar Dumfries) and served in Iceland with the International Mission Board.
Upon returning from Iceland in 2010, Colby was instrumental in the formulation of the Praetorian Project as he re-entered pastoral ministry at Pillar Dumfries and prepared the church to send out the first two church plants in the Project. Colby saved our work together from the title, “Ooh-rah Initiative” by providing the name, “Praetorian Project”.
Colby holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies (Liberty University) and an M.A. in Christian Apologetics (Biola University).
Trace Martinez and his wife, Kristy, have been married since 1997 and have two children: Adrian and Kiki. Trace proudly served as a U.S. Marine for 20 years and retired in 2016, and Kristy is a veteran Marine of 4 years. Before planting with Pillar Church of Oceanside, Trace has been involved in ministry in a number of churches all over the country, including various worship settings, youth pastor, men’s ministry leader, and teaching pastor.
Trace holds a B.A. in Music (Thomas Edison State University) and an M.A. in Music Education (Boston University).
Thomas Hudson lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Amanda, and their four children J.T., Elizabeth, Victoria, and Truett. Thomas has been involved with the Praetorian Project since 2014 and was sent out by Pillar Dumfries to plant Pillar DC. Before coming to Pillar, Thomas and Amanda served Calvary Chapel in New Orleans and Thomas worked for a geotechnical engineering firm. Thomas received a BS in civil engineering from Georgia Southern University in 2006 and a Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2009. He was ordained into ministry in August of 2014. In addition to his work at Pillar Church, Thomas enjoys playing golf, duck hunting, and biking around the District.
Brian lives in Jacksonville, NC with his wife, Kelli, and five children: Dani, Kristlyn, Trey, Nate, and Ameena. Brian served for nearly 10 years as an active duty Marine that included deployments to fifteen countries including Iraq and Afghanistan. While stationed in Quantico, VA in 2010 and attending Pillar Church of Dumfries, Brian was called to plant Pillar Church of Jacksonville. During this time, the idea for the Praetorian Project began in the minds of several of our pastors.
In May of 2019, Brian began a transition from full-time pastoring with Pillar Jax to the role of Executive Director of The Praetorian Project.
Brian holds an M.Div. in Biblical Counseling (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020). He has a passion for preaching God’s Word, leadership, and Biblical counseling.
Jennifer and her husband, Jared, have been in the ministry of church planting since 2015. Their first calling was to Ontario, Canada where they labored alongside other North American Mission Board church plants to reach the unreached in the Greater Toronto Area. She used her gifts in graphic design, media, and communications to help establish that network. In 2019 they moved back to the States to join the Praetorian Project and replant Pillar Church of Washington DC. The Praetorian Project was also looking for someone to help streamline communications and help tell the stories of what God was doing through the Project. She happily accepted the offer to become the Communications Director in 2021 and a year later they moved to San Antonio to plant again! She is grateful to the Lord for their 4 children as their family has grown along this journey.
Elyse’s connection to the Praetorian Project began in 2018 when her family moved to North Carolina and began attending Pillar Church of Jacksonville. Her husband, Chris, is an active duty Marine, and Jacksonville was their first duty station after bouncing around from place to place for two years for training. At Pillar they were encouraged and discipled through multiple deployments and found deep community with others who understood the unique challenges of military life. In 2022, their family moved to Okinawa, Japan where they were able to smoothly transition from one local church family to another at Pillar Church of Okinawa. In October of 2023, she had the opportunity to join the Praetorian Project staff as the Connections Coordinator. In this role, she helps to ensure that our church planting families are encouraged and connected to the Project through planning and coordinating our annual events for our pastors and their families. She believes it is an honor to be able to support our church planting families in this way, knowing how deeply her husband, three kids, and she have been impacted by their work!
One of our founding Board Members, Clint Clifton, passed away on January 12, 2023 as a result of a small plane crash. The impact of his years of leadership and dedication remain as a continual influence on the Praetorian Project. He and his wife Jennifer had been married since 2000 and have five children: Noah, Ruthe, Isaiah, Betchina and Moses. Clint served in several ministry positions throughout the Southeast before planting the first Pillar Church, Pillar Church of Dumfries. He completed a B.A. from The Baptist College of Florida and an M.A. from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Clint oversaw the fruitful church planting efforts of Pillar Church and the Praetorian Project and served as Sr. Director of Resource and Research Strategy for the North American Mission Board. You can watch a video of Clint and Colby talking about the early days of the Praetorian Project here.