Region: Africa

Peter was born in Plano, Texas and grew up in Hardy, Arkansas. After high school, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he met his wife, Janelle. Following graduation in 2006, Peter served the next 20 years as an army officer, retiring in June of 2026 as a lieutenant colonel. During that time, he studied Arabic, Turkish, and German with varying degrees of success. He spent over two years in Iraq, which he preferred to the four years in New York, because he learned that he tolerated heat far better than cold. Peter and Janelle now have five children and are expecting a sixth in fall of 2026.

Peter’s interest in church work started with his family. His parents, grandparents, brother, and many extended relatives graduated from Concordia, Nebraska, and most of them served in church work. As a lay leader, Peter has served as vice president of Trinity Lutheran Church in Wahiawa, Hawaii, an elder of St. John Lutheran Church in Lawton, Oklahoma and president of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

Peter has been interested in overseas mission work from his childhood. Some of his earliest memories are praying for missionaries and then being amazed with their stories when he got to meet them in person during their stateside visits.  He believes that the Lord equips His servants for their intended tasks, and that his military experiences were intended to prepare him for serving the Lord in austere environments.

Any funds raised that exceed Mission Partner’s Total Cost of Missionary Service may be used to further support Mission Partner in missional activities, or Mission Partner may donate, after consultation with the Executive Director, any excess funds to one or more Mission Partners who are in good standing with MCN or to MCN’s General Fund. The purpose for this is that any funds raised are to support missional activities throughout the world.

Pastor Chris has served churches in Iowa and Wisconsin since 1989. Prior to being led into pastoral ministry, he was a forestry aid with the US Forest Service in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota, and a professional photographer and a multi-image media producer in the Twin Cities. Since becoming a pastor, he enjoys serving in churches with schools. He is also a Chaplain and has served as Manager of Spiritual Services in the Marshfield (WI) Clinic Health System. 

He is originally from Minnesota and attended Concordia College St. Paul where he met Heidi. They have been married forty years and have five children and seven grandchildren. He is an avid curler and golfer, sings in a semi-professional Chamber Chorale, and finds putting Legos together to be therapeutic. He and Heidi have traveled internationally with their favorite destination being anywhere near Switzerland and Germany.

Growing up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood in Minneapolis and then serving a one-year pastoral internship in Houston, Texas, breathed a God-given passion within Chris for cross-cultural mission. Throughout his pastoral ministry, he has organized youth and adults from the Midwest to serve in short-term mission events in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Many of these events he facilitated with the help of Ukandu, a mission outreach of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Texas District, and the Latin American Lutheran Mission in Laredo, Texas.

Any funds raised that exceed Mission Partner’s Total Cost of Missionary Service may be used to further support Mission Partner in missional activities, or Mission Partner may donate, after consultation with the Executive Director, any excess funds to one or more Mission Partners who are in good standing with MCN or to MCN’s General Fund. The purpose for this is that any funds raised are to support missional activities throughout the world.