Commissioning Service

Scheduled for June 15, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. CT

Meet the missionaries who will be commissioned on June 15:

Rev. Nathan Wagenknecht – Native Christians Network missionary

Missionary Nathan Wagenknecht accepted the call to serve as Outreach Counselor on the Native Christians mission team in 2024. He will coordinate outreach to the Native American tribes in the Four Corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, working closely with Native members who want to reach out to other Natives with the pure gospel message. He will also lead the expansion of digital outreach and ministry training efforts for the Native Christians Network.

Prior to joining the Native Christians team, Wagenknecht served as a missionary in Latin America from 2000 to 2015, with Multi-Language Productions from 2015 to 2018, and as an associate pastor for English and Spanish ministries at Faith in Anchorage, AK, from 2018 to 2024.

Wagenknecht met his wife Julie in the Dominican Republic when she was serving as a Kingdom Workers volunteer. They were married in 2009 and have been blessed with two children: Mateo and Natalia. The Wagenknechts look forward to making Farmington, N.M., their home and serving the Lord on the Native Christians team.

Rev. Peter Janke – Missionary to Australia

Rev. Peter Janke has served on the Asia One Team since graduating from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2016. His original work included online course development and teaching online classes in conjunction with Asia Lutheran Seminary to equip and train church leaders and pastors throughout Asia.

Janke, along with Asia One Team Missionary Matt Doebler, will be relocating to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in summer 2024 to reach out to the native Australian population with the gospel in conjunction with two of WELS’ partner churches and expand outreach to a large Chinese population that has immigrated to the area. Additionally, Janke will continue to serve as the Asia One Team liaison with church partners in Indonesia and Japan.

Janke is married to Alanna, and they have two sons, Marvin and Jonas.