From MK with Janz Team to Senior Leadership with TeachBeyond

“I recall attending Janz Team crusades back in the ‘60s as a young boy, for example, at the Mustermesse in Basel, Switzerland,” shares Phil Peters, now Director of Strategic Development for Open Schools Worldwide. “Back then, my father was involved in the counselor training and follow-up. I remember other outdoor crusades and the smell of the grass in the tents. As a young boy, I would play with the grass under my chair as the messages carried on. Having grown up as a Janz Team missionary kid, these events were part of our world.” 

Phil was born in Frankfurt, Germany to missionary parents. Then in 1962 they joined Janz Team and moved to Basel, Switzerland.  

A look back at Phil’s schooling shows the early years of Janz Team School and what became Black Forest Academy (BFA).  

He shares with us, “My grades 1, 2 & 4 were in an apartment in downtown Basel. There was a makeshift recording studio on the main floor (for the music ministry of the Janz Team Quartet) with the classrooms on the upper floors.  

“For Grade 5, I was in the basement of the new Janz Team office building/studio they built in Lörrach, Germany. Grade 6 was in an apartment next to the Baptist church in Lörrach. Class was actually held in what had been my bedroom the 2 years prior to that. 

“Grades 7 & 8 were in a renovated warehouse in Lörrach. Grades 9 & 12 were at Sitzenkirch, Germany.  I graduated in 1976. For grades 3, 10 & 11 we were on furlough.” 

It was his Grade 9 class that takes credit for choosing the name Black Forest Academy. (However, the school only moved the 3 kilometers/1.8 miles from Sitzenkirch to its current location in Kandern in 1981).  

After graduating from BFA, Phil went on to do a year at Capernwray Bible School in England, then did a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada).  He also completed an M.A. at Wheaton College. In between degrees he worked in Calgary, Alberta and then led wilderness camping programs in Austria, Norway, Sweden and Germany with Capernwray Missionary Fellowship. It was during his time at Wheaton that he married Tamera (Tammy) Stuart, a graduate of BFA and Wheaton College.  

After Wheaton, the couple moved to Austria and Phil was principal of Tauernhof (Capernwray Bible School and Retreat Center). Phil also served as ski instructor, program director and leader of mountain programs. Their 3 children were born in Austria during this time. 

In 1996, Phil and Tammy joined Janz Team and continued working in Austria. In 2003 they moved to Germany to lead a church project.  

From 2010-2012 Phil was the Interim Head of School at BFA in Kandern. “I wanted to see our school and students being more of a light in the community we were placed in. We chose to partner with a local high school and do a Habitat for Humanity build in Romania. My main desire was for our students, staff and school to get connected to our German neighbours and to be a testimony to them.”  

In 2013 he became the Executive Director of Open Schools Worldwide and began regular trips to Africa. 

“My involvement with Habitat for Humanity from 2011-2013 had sensitized me to the vast needs of the poor in the world, and as a result the work of Open Schools had a strong attraction for me.” 

Between 2014 and 2020 Phil continued to lead yearly trips to Romania for Habitat and also led 2 trips to Kenya.  

In 2019 Open Schools Worldwide merged with TeachBeyond and Tammy was appointed Africa Regional Director. She’s now Regional Vice President for Africa with TeachBeyond. Phil and Tammy moved to South Africa in 2021. Currently, Phil is in the Himalya Mountains in Nepal for 2 weeks, “Trekking for Change,” a fundraiser for Open Schools Worldwide.