Board of Directors

Under the guidance of faithful managers

Global Lutheran Outreach (GLO) is governed by a group of dedicated Lutherans who voluntarily offer of their time, expertise, resources and passion for mission in order to provide faithful guidance and oversight to its ministries and missionaries.  Whether meeting in person or virtually (online), the Board convenes three times a year to prayerfully guide, facilitate and further the Gospel mission objectives of GLO. 

Meet our current Board members

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Rev. Dr. David Coles (Ft. Wayne, Indiana) 

Professor Coles combines a wealth of cross-cultural experience with his academic acuity serving as a missionary and theologian in both Latin America and now Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne. Born and raised in Venezuela of American parents, he earned degrees up to the Ph.D. at Yale Universtiy in late medieval, Renaissance and Reformation history. He entered the Lutheran church as a young adult and prepared for Hispanic ministry earning an M.Div at Concordia, Ft. Wayne. He served as an evangelistic missionary in Venezuela for 12 years, taught at the Lutheran seminary in Sao Paulo, Brazil for 5 years, and since 2002 has been at Ft. Wayne teaching seminarians and Ph.D. in missiology students from around the world.

Rev. Dr. James Tino, Founder and Director (Miramar, Florida) 

Rev. Dr. James Tino began his missionary journey upon graduation from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1988, and has served as a missionary (Venezuela, 1988-2001; Chile, 2014 - present); a denominational mission director (2000 - 2003); and church planter (Miami, 2004-2010). As adjunct faculty, Dr. Tino has taught at several institutions in the United States, including Concordia Theological Seminary and Trinity International University, and is a guest professor at universities and seminaries overseas. He is also head of the Evangelism and Discipleship department for online education at Ohio Christian University. Dr. Tino and his family live in Santiago, Chile, where he works as an urban church planting missionary. He and his wife Liisa have four children and one granddaughter.

Rev. Peter Kirby (St. Louis, Missouri) 

Pastor Peter Kirby grew up in Dwight, Illinois and met his wife Carla (nee Mize) at the University of Illinois. He attended Concordia Seminary in St Louis to get his Masters of Divinity. He has worked as an engineer, church planting missionary in Jamaica, parish pastor in Carlinville, Illinois, and Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia with Lutheran Hour Ministries. He now serves as Director of Congregational Services for the LCMS Missouri District since January 2023. He enjoys travel, walking, movies, reading and puzzles. The Kirbys have 2 grown children and two grandsons. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Mr. Wondimu Mathewos Game (Ethiopia) 

Wondimu Mathewos Game is married and has 3 children. After serving as an evangelist in the Mekane Yesus church body of Ethiopia, in 2008 Wondimu was tasked with the formation and development of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus International Mission Society (EECMY-IMS), position which he held for 10 years. Building from the ground up, the EECMY-IMS has mobilized the Mekane Yesus church to send her own sons and daughters as missionaries to the world, sending to date more than 30 cross-border missionaries utilizing Ethiopian resources. Wondimu is currently pursuing advanced studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, USA.

Maira Ferrari de Müller (Brazil/Uruguay) 

Maira is a Lutheran teacher, married to pastor André Müller who is serving in Montevideo, Uruguay. Maira and André have two children, Helena and Martin. They are originally from Brazil. André served his vicarage in Paraguay, where they began to master Spanish. After seminary, they served in Canoas, Brazil for about 7 years, quickly growing a new congregation. In 2013 they accepted the call to Montevideo, and have been serving an active and growing ministry since then. Maira is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, and has a deep passion for God’s mission to seek and to save the lost. She has been teaching at San Pablo Lutheran (bilingual) school in Montevideo, and is active in many different aspects of the ministry there.

Ana Hernández Portillo (Guatemala) 

Ana is a business administrator. She is married to Pastor Esdras Orozco, who serves in Zacapa, Guatemala. She has a son named Agustín. She is originally from Guatemala City. She met her husband while he was doing his vicarage at the Lutheran Church. Before he was called to be a pastor, they got married. Years later, she completed a diploma to be a deaconess. Afterwards, she worked in the church and its missions, serving in Sunday school classes, music, altar guild, among other roles.

Advisory Members

Mr. Brent Friedrichs (Charter Oak, Iowa) 

Brent has extensive mission experience, having served in the Peace Corps for a number of years, and then as a lay missionary/business manager in Nigeria for 14 years. Brent is married to Eugenie, who is from South Africa, and they have two sons.

Rev. Dale Talsma (Africa region facilitator) 

Dale and Cheri, with their five children, had served with the Lutheran Church of Nigeria for 13 years as missionaries of the LCMS (USA) in the 1980s and 1990s. They then served in Guatemala for 7 years under the same mission, where Dale was also responsible for facilitating LCMS mission work in the Caribbean. Cheryl completed a degree in elementary education in 2011 and taught at a Lutheran school in Fort Lauderdale for three years. Dale and Cheri currently live in Nigeria. Cheryl serves as an elementary school teacher at Hillcrest school in Jos, Nigeria. Hillcrest serves the children of missionaries as well as the children of international and Nigerian families, including many non-Christians. As International Missionary Developer, Dale works to help facilitate the joining of resources from around the world in order to multiply the sending of Lutheran missionaries to where there is need.

(Global Lutheran Outreach seeks Lutheran servant-leaders from other nations who are in a position to serve global missions as board members.)