wfn.org | LCMS Elects Kieschnick as President

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Contact: Bruce Kueck (314) 342-5715

Delegates elect Kieschnick 13th president of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

ST. LOUIS -- Delegates to the 61st regular convention of The Lutheran 
Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) elected the Rev. Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick of 
Round Rock, Texas, to his first three-year term as president of the 2.6 
million-member church body.

Kieschnick, 58, was elected on the fourth ballot on Sunday, July 15, the 
opening day of the convention, with 600 (50.8 percent) of the 1,182 votes 
cast. On the final ballot with Kieschnick was the Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, 
president of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., who received 
582 votes, or 49.2 percent.

Other candidates for the presidency included the Rev. Dr. Raymond Hartwig, 
St. Louis; the Rev. Dr. Donald Muchow, Austin, Texas; and the Rev. Daniel 
Preus, St. Louis.

Kieschnick succeeds the Rev. Dr. Robert T. Kuhn, who has served as 
president since March. Kuhn, who did not seek re-election, became president 
after the death of the Rev. Dr. A.L. Barry, the church body's 11th president.

Kieschnick has served as president of the Synod s Texas District since 
1991. He is a graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary (then located in 
Springfield, Ill., now in Fort Wayne, Ind.) and received an honorary doctor 
of laws degree in 1996 from Concordia University, Austin, Texas.

In his remarks to delegates following his election, Kieschnick began with a 
prayer that God would grant him "the gifts of strength, of sensitivity, of 
humility, of boldness, of courage, of faithfulness of vision, as together 
all of those involved in the ministry of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod 
might faithfully proclaim and tell the Good News of Jesus to the world in 
which we live."

"It is a deep privilege and a hugely humbling honor to be standing before 
you this day," Kieschnick told delegates. Acknowledging the other 
candidates for president, he shared with them "a strong word of 
appreciation, love, respect and thanks" and pledged "to work together with 
[them] in the future, closely, for the glory of God and for the benefit and 
growth of His kingdom and of His church."

Kieschnick told the story of a three-year-old boy who nearly drowned as he 
held to an under-water dock post, waiting for his father to rescue him. 
"There is a world of people out there -- 4 billion strong who do not know 
the name of Jesus Christ," he said. "Those people are clinging to every 
pillar and post they can find, falsely hoping that anything less than the 
grace of God in Jesus Christ will provide meaning and value and permanence 
in their lives. That world is waiting ... for the word of reconciliation, 
for the word of hope, for the word of forgiveness, for the word of grace 
provided alone by Jesus Christ our Lord."

Kieschnick and his wife, Terry, have two grown children. His installation, 
and that of other LCMS officers elected during the church body s weeklong 
convention, will take place in September.

Prior to becoming district president, Kieschnick was with the Lutheran 
Foundation of Texas, first as director of development (1986-88) and then as 
executive director (1988-91). He also has served as pastor of three LCMS 
congregations, one in Mississippi and two in Texas.

He has been chairman of the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church 
Relations since 1998.

Other positions held by Kieschnick in the Texas District include director 
of public relations (1977-86), circuit counselor (1978-81) and member of 
the district s Task Force on Campus Ministry (1982-83).

MEDIA PHOTOGRAPHS: Photographs are available at 
www.lcms.org/convention/photos/media/

PHOTOGRAPHS: Photographs of convention coverage are available at 
www.lcms.org/convention/