[LCMSNews] Interview with Rev. Matt Harrison


>

>8.5.2010
>       LCMS News

>THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod

August 5, 2010 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 71

Harrison addresses election, future challenges

>By James H. Heine

HOUSTON -- On Tuesday, July 13, Rev. Matthew C. Harrison was elected
president of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. On Friday, July 16,
the Synod's Reporter newspaper sat down with Harrison to talk about his
election and his vision for the future of the Synod. The following is an
edited version of that conversation.

What is your reaction to your election?  You will now serve as the 13th
president of the Synod.  (Dr. C.F.W. Walther having served in the office
twice.)

It was a profound combination of joy and sorrow, of hope and also a
great sense of my own unworthiness and sinfulness. To stand in front of
that great body, a body that directs the future of The Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod, which is, humanly speaking, the most significant
force on the globe for confessional Lutheranism and for the proclamation
of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, was very, very
humbling.

Many times I've been on the losing side of elections, and I've served a
lot of time as a board minority; so I actually thought about the people
who have been supporters of President Kieschnick, and I just knew that a
lot of people would be very sorrowful. And I had actually -- I took a
little time off before the convention and was reading my Bible quite
intensely -- I would come to passages where the Lord gives promises,
like where the Lord gave the promise to the apostles to give them the
words to speak -- I prayed those passages and prayed for wisdom and the
Lord's guidance in being able to speak whatever the circumstance
demanded.

It was an awesome moment. Just before the election, I was prepared to
put my hand quietly around my dear wife and unobtrusively walk out of
the convention hall with her and open the door into the Houston heat and
into the next chapter of my life. We fully expected that could be the
reality, and that would have been OK. The Lord blesses.

So to have a stunning -- it always takes a couple of seconds when you
begin to discern mentally, see visually the results, and then to be able
to discern before anybody says anything -- to see that result was
extraordinary. I just stood up and was overcome with a flood of emotion.

My sons began crying, and then I thought of how this would be for
President Kieschnick, who is certainly the most capable chairman of a
convention we've ever had in the Missouri Synod. For him to have the
dignity and strength to continue despite this was just an extraordinary
thing, and I am in awe of his ability.

I didn't want to say anything in my remarks that would be in any way
divisive. I really believe that -- recognizing the healing that we need
to have -- working toward healing is something that has to begin in each
one of us, including me, as president of the Synod.

What is your assessment of the convention and of the restructuring it
has mandated?

This is the great irony lost on no one. I was not in favor of the
changes. I was not in favor of what I believed was too much authority
moving to the president, with the elimination of the program boards.
That's the deep irony of all this. The profound restructuring
propositions passed. I did not request this authority, and then I end up
getting elected. It is a very humbling reality.

I can only think, "Oh, the depths of the wisdom of the knowledge of God.
How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out."

Going forward, what will be your biggest challenges?

The initial enormous challenge will be to adjust the structure and the
staffing of the International Center. I think I know how the
International Center works, which is a profound advantage. I know the
financial issues of the IC. I know Synod finances are extremely complex,
and it took me, frankly, five or six years to figure out how they
actually worked.

I'm very familiar with the internal policies and programs and how the
programs function. We have some tremendous staff. They know how the
International Center works. So it is going to be a daunting task moving
forward, trying to care for people when the Synod has virtually mandated
the reduction of staff at the IC. To try to do that in a responsible
Christian way while taking care of people is a daunting task.

I've always handled every vocation I've had pastorally. I'm a pastor at
heart. That's who I am. That's where I live. And what does a pastor do?
A pastor listens. A pastor visits. A pastor makes decisions slowly. I
learned long ago as a young pastor never to make a decision without
sleeping on it. In the midst of emotional and challenging circumstances,
one should always sleep on things, because they always look different in
the morning.

And then there are a raft of appointments the president has to make. We
have to make appointments of people who are well-qualified to serve and
have a heart for the church and her life.

The financial challenges are daunting. The Synod right now, if you take
the Concordia University System combined debt plus the internal
borrowing, the Synod's about $45 million in debt, essentially, and so we
have to proceed and figure out how we cope with that debt.

I think there are bright, shining areas in the Synod's life, many, many
bright, shining areas. I think our seminaries are bright, shining lights
in our church. So I look forward to engaging the panoply of issues we
face.

Missouri has a unique position in world leadership. So we'll get the
restructuring done, take a deep breath and set our face toward the
future and the mission of Christ and begin working on a way to have
profound discussion -- theological discussion -- about the church's
life, and also, in the midst of that, to move forward in mission and
mercy.

How do you believe the national church can best serve the local
congregation, and what implications might the 2010 Synod convention's
actions have for the local congregation, if any?

I believe in good, old bread-and-butter Missouri Synod Lutheranism,
where the common folks are. That kind of Lutheranism is decidedly,
proudly conservative, and at the same time, it's decidedly and lovingly
flexible and sees an opportunity and runs with that opportunity. A local
congregation doesn't need bureaucracy to get its work done, or to get
its permission to go do its work. That's the great thing about the
Missouri Synod. It's both the challenge and the blessing.

My job is not to herd anybody. It'd be like herding cats anyway. I think
a priority in the international office would be to use the resources the
Synod sends in the most effective way, in a way that the people know and
see that their resources are being used wisely, in ways that make them
proud to be part of this body.

 From LCMS World Relief and Human Care, a fundamental principle I've
learned to operate with -- and we've all learned together -- is that we
exist to increase local capacity. Local decisions are made locally.
Local people, whether they're in Sri Lanka or Nigeria or Honduras, local
people have the solutions to their local issues.

What a church can do is come alongside, make the collective capacity
available -- and the Missouri Synod has unbelievable collective
capacity. It can bring that capacity alongside and stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with the people who actually get things done, the
people on the ground.

Church relations: How will you approach that issue in the next couple of
years? There are a lot of questions about our brothers and sisters in
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and whether we can work
effectively with them in externals.

It is a hard issue. It will be difficult to move to resolution in any
way, shape or form, because people are deeply invested, and it's
complex. On the positive side, I've served on the inter-Lutheran boards.
I've spent more time with ELCA leadership and ELCA people than, I think,
virtually anybody else in the Synod over the last 10 years. We know the
agencies. LCMS World Relief has 120 Recognized Service Organizations,
100 of which are inter-Lutheran. We know the constitutional issues they
face; we know the representation, Missouri/ELCA, on those organizations.

I know the ELCA leadership at the inter-Lutheran intersection. I know
many personally and have known them very well. There is not an immediate
one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It's going to be nuanced.

It's going to be virtually impossible to do anything with Higgins Road
[the ELCA's headquarters] -- that is, direct joint administration of an
AIDs task force or those kinds of issues. Higgins Road is deeply and
ideologically committed to their stand on the issues that separate us,
and unless the ELCA is willing and able to bring something new to the
table, it's just going to be very difficult.

On the other hand, a ministry such as LWR Baltimore -- where our friend
John Nunes is doing his best to navigate some difficult waters and be
faithful in an inter-Lutheran organization -- I think our emphasis has
to be on these independent Lutheran entities and how we relate to them.

>Who is Matt Harrison and how did he get here?

I'm a guy who had a very humble childhood, growing up in a very
inauspicious home in a very common, rural-rooted Iowa family.

Through a number of experiences, the Lord grabbed my heart for the
Gospel and has taken me on the most adventuresome and wild ride one
could ever imagine. I've been all over the world and seen everything.

I'm profoundly thankful for my wife of 29 years. I've been married since
I was 19. We grew up together.

I'm the dad of two boys. So this triennium is going to be an intense
challenge because I've got two boys in high school. And I'm certainly
concerned that they continue to love Jesus and their church. I'm not
going to sacrifice my boys on the altar of service to the Church.

And I would just say: My garage is messy, and I need to get home and
clean it up.

>Anything else?

It's kind of interesting: Jesus sees the multitudes, and they are
harassed like sheep without a shepherd, and He doesn't say go, feed
them. He doesn't say go, do this, or act, or make a plan or anything
else.

You know what the first thing He says the Church should do? Pray. Pray
that the Lord of the harvest sends workers.

It was LCMS President Schwan of the 19th century who commented, "Be
careful when you pray for mission, because soon the Lord will get the
financial resources for sending workers from you.  Then be doubly
careful to 'pray the Lord of the harvest' because if you do, you may
well end up the very worker the Lord sends!"

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If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact
Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org
<mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org>  or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter
Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org>  or (314)
996-1230.

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