Our

STORY

Mission Nation Publishing, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, was established in 2016 to help churches include new ethnic groups in their membership. We began by printing books, sharing stories of immigrants, who endured hardship and danger to become missionaries to America. These stories were meant to sensitize churches to the opportunities for reaching new immigrants. Since then we have evolved into a communications ministry that encourages and inspires diversity in the church using multimedia resources including print, audio, video and digital.

Our books are now printed in braille for the blind and visually impaired by Lutheran Braille Workers. Our missionary biography books are being used in classrooms in Lutheran schools to reach middle and high school students. Mission Nation books are also part of Christian book club discussions.

Our vision is to energize and equip churches to reach new ethnic groups in America with the gospel of Jesus. Mission Nation is unique in that it gives a voice and support to immigrant missionaries to America. Our mission is to increase multi-ethnic ministries and increase support for the missionaries.

MNP Interim Team

Founder and Emeritus
Robert Scudieri

Dr. Robert Scudieri, President and Publisher: a Lutheran pastor for thirty eight years, as a parish pastor, the Mission Executive for the English District and for eighteen years in his last call, the head of missions in North America for his denomination, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Many Korean, Indian, Chinese, Hispanic, African, Japanese, blind, deaf, Jewish, Pakistani and Hmong leaders and congregations owe their membership in the Synod to the work of Dr. Scudieri.

Interim Transition Team

Interim Co-Executive Directors
Rev. Keith Haney and Rev. Keith
Kohlmeier

Interim Co-Directors of Operations
Melodie Bostic and Melissa Salomon

MNP Board Members

Wondimu Game

Wondimu served as Director of Mekane Yesus International Mission Society (MYIMS-EECMY) and Evangelist and church planting leader, at Tabor Congregation Hawassa, Ethiopia (EECMY) before becoming a Ph.D. student at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (CSL) with an area of focus in Theology and Culture. His Dissertation will be on “The Role of African Churches in Twenty-First Global Mission.” He completed his MA from CSL in May of 2021, a BA in Biblical and Intercultural study from All Nations Christian College, UK, June 2013 and his BA in Development and Management was at Mekane Yesus Leadership and Management College.

Janis McDaniels

Janis Mc Daniels: Member of Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Current member of the LCMS Board for National Mission. Carolinas District LWML Public Relations Director.

Ben Haupt

Ben has been on the MNP board since 2015 and joined PLI as the Global Executive Director in 2024. Prior Ben served as Associate Provost and Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He also served as the pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Boca Raton, FL and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gainesville, GA. A few of Ben’s interests are the history of the New Testament and the early church pre-Constantine, the intersection of church and society, and pastoral/congregational leadership. Ben and his wife Celina, who works in elementary education, have two sons and make their home in St, Louis, MO.

Sarah Seying

Sarah Seying previously served as an Admissions Officer at Concordia Seminary St. Louis and has recently completed her M.A. in Organizational Leadership. Sarah hosted several episodes of MNP’s podcast, “That Could Work on a Mission Field!”

Chris Knepper

Chris Knepper serves as Pastor of Community Engagement of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, an inner city congregation on the north side of St. Louis. Over the last decade, Chris has focused on serving predominantly multi-ethnic congregations ranging from New York City to Dallas. On top of serving a church, Chris also serves as a Chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Terrence Chan

Board Chairman, Rev. Dr. Terry Chan serves as Pastor and Lead Missionary at Christ for All Nations Lutheran Church in San Francisco. The ministry is a merging of two legacy LCMS congregations into one multiethnic parish of multiple congregations, languages, locations, and ministries (English, Spanish Amharic, and Chinese on two campuses). He is the founder of the LCMS Multi Asian Gathering, which meets annually in conjunction with the Multiethnic Symposium at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Terry is passionate about developing intercultural leaders, multiethnic ministries, and is building a Multi Asian Initiative Network (MAIN).

Dan Gilbert

Dan was born and raised in Kansas City, MO, graduated from Concordia Nebraska and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis with an MDiv in 1977. He began his ministry in the parish and in 1983 to 2006 he served as district president in the Northern Illinois District of the LCMS from 2006 to 2018. His extensive short-term missions include in Peru, Argentina, Honduras, Ghana and Norway, He currently serves as the part-time interim campus chaplain at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and serves part-time with LCEF Ministry Solutions, also serving on several boards, including Mission Nation Publishing since 2018. He and his wife Jan now live in St. Louis. They have two married daughters and two married sons and 21 grandkids.

Allen Dass

Allen Dass serves as Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church & Preschool, in a diverse and multicultural setting in northern New Jersey. In the past decade, Allen has focused primarily in inner city multi-ethnic congregations in New York City, focusing on sharing the Gospel to immigrants who have come to the United States from diverse religious backgrounds. Allen has supported the start of many Indian and other Asian language ministries and continues to support the start of various other ethnic ministries in the east coast and across America. .

Melissa Salomon

Melissa Salomon. Melissa is a missionary in SW California and in Tijuana, Mexico with Mil Generaciones. She was instrumental in beginning the LWML's national "Heart to Heart" ministry that brings women from different immigrant groups to the LWML for leadership development. She has two grandchildren, ages 2 and 3 and is enjoying the blessings that life with family brings.

Keith Haney

Rev. Keith Haney serves as Secretary. He serves the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Iowa District West as the Assistant to the President for Missions, Human Care, and Stewardship. He has been an ordained pastor for 27 years and has served multi-ethnic urban congregations in Detroit, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. Rev. Haney is the author of numerous devotionals, including One Nation Under God: Healing Racial Divides in America. He is also the author of the blog, The Light Breaks Through, where he writes on his study of God's Word. He is married to Miriam (Bickel) Haney and they have six children and one grandchild.

Nancy Graf Peters

Nancy Graf Peters serves on the Marketing Committee. Nancy works as an adult education instructor for bilingual GED classes. She served for many years as editor-in-chief of the Lutheran Women’s Quarterly Magazine for the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the LCMS - Atlantic District and the Lutheran Care Center Nursing Home. Nancy acted as a Spanish translator on seven MOST Ministries mission trips to Latin America. Nancy and her husband, Richard, attend Our Savior Lutheran Church, Fishkill, New York, where she teaches Sunday school and is a lay reader.

Melodie Bostic

Melodie Bostic is the manager of alumni relations at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. She serves the organization’s alumni by helping to cultivate and strengthen alumni relationships and affinity. Bostic joined the Seminary part-time in 2002, in 2008 she joined the Advancement staff full-time and has served in her current role since 2016. For over twenty years her career has been devoted to her faith and the Seminary.

Ross Stroh, Treasurer -Ross Stroh is a life long Lutheran. He served in Panama as a missionary. After working in the mission department for the LCMS for several years he moved to accounting. He was Executive Director of accounting before his retirement in 2023. He is active at Trinity in St Louis. Ross also serves as treasurer for Lutherans in Medical Missions and Concordia Historical Institute.