[button link=”https://goo.gl/forms/Ggm4qIeWK60secJn1″ size=”xl” color=”red” border=”red” text=”light” window=”yes”]Vote for Patricia Balzer[/button]
Patricia was born in Tawas City, MI but as the daughter of an Air Force officer, was packed up on a regular basis to live in a variety of places. Patricia received a B.A. in Economics/Computer Science from Goucher College and has worked in the IT field for over 30 years. She is a member of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church in Falls Church, VA where she participates at the chanter’s stand and choir, functions as the sacristan, and is on the committee that runs Doxacon Prime, St. Mary’s convention for Orthodox and other Christians who love fantasy and science fiction.
Along with her priest, Fr. David Subu and his wife Preoteasa Stephanie, Patricia developed and now runs a program that uses St. Mary’s rectory, now called St. Nina’s, as a transitional house for women caught in difficult life situations who need a place to land while figuring out what they are going to do next.
St. Nina’s also hosts Sunday school classes and parishioner group meetings, runs a Bible fellowship/study group for young adults, and what she loves to do maintains an open door policy where young women are welcome to come by and discuss whatever issues are on their mind and hearts – from the latest SciFi TV series, through the role of women in the Orthodox church, to how to adhere to the faith once delivered in an increasingly hostile culture. Patricia is also working with other women at St. Mary’s to develop more programs to help little girls up through teenagers to participate in the life of the church and to stay firm in their faith.
Currently, Patricia supports her ministry by working as the IT Manager for The Falls Church Anglican in Falls Church, VA. While her job is developing and maintaining a large computer infrastructure for a large Evangelical church, she also enjoys building bridges and further understanding between evangelical Protestants and Orthodox. Finally, her greatest joy has been being a mother to her son Jordan who has been her inspiration in coming alongside the Millennial generation.
Quote from nominator: “I am nominating her because she is the reason that I became Orthodox. We worked together and I became aware that she was an Orthodox Christian and asked her if she would be willing to talk and answer some questions that I had about Orthodoxy (I was raised Baptist and only knew about Orthodoxy from my study of Russian history and literature). She met with me for coffee several times, invited me to attend Liturgy with her, and never pressured me into anything. Eventually (after more than a year), with her constant help, I decided to convert to Orthodoxy.”