Leadership

Serving the Lord to further our Mission & Vision

Meet our Leadership

Richard Barber

President

Richard, raised in southern Ohio, first served on a Teen Missions team as a 17-year-old team member on the Washington DC Dial-A-Teen team in 1973. (Jim Person, a TMI founder, and his wife Judy were his trip leaders!) In 1985, Rich joined Teen Missions staff together with his wife Gina and served as head of the Maintenance Department while also leading summer teams to Mexico, Philippines, Norway, and Papua New Guinea. He also ran the national Boot Camp in Brazil for three years. After leaving TMI in 1991, Richard pastored several churches in Ohio and also was involved in mission projects in Brazil, Mexico, and Haiti. Richard returned to Teen Missions full-time in 2014 and has been serving as Teen Missions President since 2018.

Steve Petersen

Vice President of Operations

Steve first experienced missions as a 15-year-old teen helping to build a church in the Virgin Island in 1979 with Teen Missions. He graduated from Christ For The Nations Institue (Dallas, Texas) in 1984 and joined Teen Missions staff that Fall. During his early years on staff, Steve served in the Video Department and helped with the production and editing of dramatic evangelistic films written by Ken Anderson. From 1992 to 2000 Steve coordinated national Boot Camps in Tanzania, Philippines, Jordan, and Lebanon. He's served as a summer trip leader on 34 teams and has been serving as Vice President of Operations since 2018.

Meet our Board

Major decisions regarding Teen Missions are decided by the Governing Board. The Governing Board is composed of professionals and lay people, as well as some members of Teen Missions staff, with a heart for God and a love for youth.