Our Missionaries

The Rev. Dr. David and Jennifer Preus serve the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) in Eurasia, based in Romania. As regional director for Eurasia, David directs and supports the work to spread the Gospel, plant Lutheran churches and train church workers, and show mercy throughout the continent. He also directs and facilitates communication and the appropriation of resources for strengthening ministry and communion among missionaries, pastors, and congregations of the region.

David was born in Fort Wayne, Ind. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn. He received his Master of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Before taking a call to the mission field, David served as a pastor at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Billings, Mont. (2011–2015).

Jennifer was born in Lake Forest, Ill. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn., as well. In addition, she received a master’s degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato. David and Jennifer have nine beautiful children — Hans, Rebekah, Rolf, Lena, Søren, Leif, Andreas, Lars and Sylvi — who are with them on the mission field.

Pastor James May & Lutherans In Africa: Forming African Lutherans to Be Teachers of the Faith

Founded in 2010, Lutherans in Africa (LIA) equips Africans to be teachers of the saving faith in Christ Jesus. This is done through training pastors, evangelists, deaconesses, and Sunday school teachers in the pure doctrine of the Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions as contained in the Book of Concord, and the liturgy and hymnody of the historic Church. LIA also translates key doctrinal resources into African languages. By training Africans to be teachers of the faith, Lutherans in Africa (LIA) is able to help fill the need for pastors and further spread the Gospel, allowing God to work through His Word. Lutherans in Africa does that work all over Africa. When we bought our new property in 2015, students showed up immediately asking to be taught even though we had not announced classes nor constructed any buildings. They are still coming. "All that is needed in Africa to teach the faith is a nice shady spot under a tree. Christians in Africa are hungry to be taught the Word of God." (Rev. James May, Executive Director of Lutherans in Africa) We began by teaching under a tree but, thanks be to God, many people joined in the building project of the Lutheran School of Theology. They helped with their prayers, volunteer work, and donations. We now have a more secure and sanitary mission center, offices, library, dormitories, cafeteria, seminary, classroom building, staff housing, and animal shelters. We have laid a foundation for generations to come as we are teaching even more students effectively. That was the vision of our Director, Rev. May, more than a decade ago. Thanks to your generosity, the first three of five phases of the building project are complete. It is now time to take the next step in forming African Lutherans to be teachers of the faith and move on to the construction of a sanctuary. The plan is to build a chapel that will serve not only the Lutheran School of Theology, but also the Maasai community around us. Training pastors at the Lutheran School of Theology (LST) is the primary vision of Lutherans in Africa right now. We are still doing seminars around the whole continent in addition to conducting classes on the seminary campus. We also have a few buildings yet to build. God has been richly blessing us with your gifts to make this vision a reality.