wfn.org | Robert Kuhn is new president of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

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The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services

LCMSNews -- No. 33
April 10, 2001

Kuhn is Synod's 12th president

Dr. Robert T. Kuhn, The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod's first vice
president at the time of Synod President A.L. Barry's death (on March 23),
became Synod president at that time.

Kuhn is the Synod's 12th president.

While Barry was the Synod's 11th president, he was the 10th man to hold the
office.  Dr. C.F.W. Walther held the position twice, serving as the Synod's
first president from 1847-50, and as its third president from 1864-78.

A new president is expected to be elected when the Synod holds its 61st
Regular Convention, set for July 14-20 in St. Louis.  Kuhn, who in May 2000
announced plans to retire at the end of his present term, is not expected to
be a candidate for president.  His term will end Aug. 31.  Officers elected
in July take office Sept. 1.

The Synod's Bylaws say that, "The vice presidents shall, in the order in
which they have been ranked, assume the presidency if the office is vacated
or perform the duties of the president if he becomes incapacitated."

Kuhn, 64, of Ballwin, Mo., was elected to serve as The Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod's first vice president at the church body's triennial
convention held in St. Louis in 1995.

Before that, Kuhn served for 10 years as president of the Central Illinois
District.

Following graduation from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1963, Kuhn
served for seven years as pastor of both St. John Lutheran Church, Bath,
Ill., and Salem Lutheran Church, Chandlerville, Ill.  In 1970, he accepted a
call to serve as pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church, Geneseo, Ill., where
he remained until 1977.

Called in 1977 to serve as assistant director of development at Concordia
College, River Forest, Ill., Kuhn worked in that capacity until 1979, when
he once again became a parish pastor, this time at Zion Lutheran Church,
Pleasant Plains, Ill.  He served that congregation until becoming Central
Illinois District president in 1985.

Kuhn and his wife, Judith, a registered nurse, have three grown children.

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