Board of Directors

After a 40-year career in industry and academia, Mike Deaton retired from his role as Professor in the College of Integrated Sciences at James Madison University. He has managed a large manufacturing organization, participated in labor negotiations, and (his first love) taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He first visited Africa in 2012, when he began a multi-year collaborative effort in sustainability education with Maasai communities in Kenya and Tanzania. Since that time, he has made several trips to the region and has many friends and colleagues there. Mike first traveled to Sudan with Bishop Andudu in March, 2020 as part of a 3-person delegation from Church of the Incarnation. During that visit, Mike was deeply impressed with the faith and resilience of the people in the Nuba Mountains. Mike has been a follower of Jesus since his late teen years (a very long time ago)! He and his wife JoEtta have been married for 44 years. They have two children and five wonderful grandchildren. Mike currently serves as the President of Pax Dei for Nuba.

Jack McDonald serves as a Board member (and Treasurer) of Pax Dei for Nuba. He is Chartered Financial Analyst who operates a consulting practice supporting Washington, DC-based international organizations and federal agencies. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Tech, teaching international business. He began his consulting practice after a 25-year career in banking and development finance with a focus on Africa and Latin America. He has lived and worked in Nairobi, Kenya and Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  Jack holds BS and MBA degrees from Vanderbilt University. Jack and his wife, Mary, previously served as missionaries with the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) where Jack advised a Christian microfinance project. Mary, a veterinarian, currently works for SAMS in a livestock health ministry in Uganda as well as in outreach to international students at Virginia Tech. Jack is an ordained deacon at the River Anglican Church in Blacksburg, VA. He and Mary have been married for 31 years. They have two grown children and live on a small farm in Catawba, Virginia.  

Deanna Kozel has served in Bible Study Fellowship leadership for 18 years as a Group Leader, Teaching Leader and currently as Area Personnel. She has known and loved Jesus for as long as she can remember. She got her first taste of international missions at the age of 6 when he family visited missionaries in Swaziland, and Israel. At age 16 Deanna went on a summer mission trip to Papua New Guinea where the Lord put a desire in her to reach the nations with the Word of God and the love of Christ. She is the wife of Nick Kozel and mom of Deacon, Jude and Hadassah. She loves watching her children participate in their passions.  She is excited to be apart of the work God is doing in Sudan through Pax dei for Nuba.

For the past seven years, Martin Rhodes has facilitated mission partnerships in his role as Discipleship Ministries Coach at Virginia Mennonite Missions.  In that role, Martin mobilizes and equips disciples of Jesus for cross-cultural partnerships in the US and abroad focused on sharing the gospel as it touches the whole of life.  Martin looks forward to bringing his discipling, teaching and equipping skills to bear on the growing partnership between the Kadugli Diocese of Sudan and Church of the Incarnation where he is a member. Martin first travelled to Sudan in March of 2020 with Bishop Andudu as part of a delegation from the Church of the Incarnation.  During that trip, Martin experienced the hospitality of brothers and sisters and saw firsthand their resilience and joy despite years of war and persecution.  Martin is married to Sylvia and they have 3 children, Elliot, Vincent and Annaliese.  Martin serves as Vice President and Secretary of Pax Dei for Nuba.