Nominees announced for LCMS president, VPs

The nominees for LCMS president are, from left, Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, incumbent; Rev. Dr. Dale A. Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; and Rev. Dr. David P.E. Maier, president of the LCMS Michigan District.

LCMS Secretary Rev. Dr. Raymond L. Hartwig today (March 10) announced the names of the nominees for the Synod president, first vice-president and five regional vice-presidents.

The election for president will take place before the Synod’s July 9-14 66^th convention in Milwaukee and the vice-presidents will be elected at the convention.

Those named on the ballots will be the Synod clergymen who received the most nominations from LCMS congregations, and who have agreed to serve, if elected.

Each congregation could nominate two ordained LCMS clergymen as candidates for president and two as candidates for first vice-president.

The three nominees for president, in the order of nominations received, are:

Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, the incumbent Synod president, with 755 nominations.
Rev. Dr. Dale A. Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 442 nominations.
Rev. Dr. David P.E. Maier, president of the LCMS Michigan District, 358.

The presidential election will take place electronically (via the Internet) over the period of June 11-14. Those voting will be each LCMS congregation’s two voting delegates to its 2015 district convention.

Hartwig said that if no candidate receives a majority of votes, the name of the candidate with the least number of votes will be dropped from the ballot and a second vote will occur about a week later.

He added that two weeks before the Synod convention starts — on June 25 — he will share the results of the election for president with the candidates, and afterward with the public. The candidate receiving the majority of votes will become president-elect of the Synod.

The names on the ballot for first vice-president are the following, also in the order of nominations received:

Rev. Dr. Herbert C. Mueller Jr., 601.
Rev. Dr. David P.E. Maier, 274.
Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray, 200.
Rev. Timothy M. Klinkenberg, 152.
Rev. Dr. Jacob A.O. Preus III, 146.
Rev. Eloy Steven Gonzalez, 109.
Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, 108.
Rev. Dr. John L. Mehl, 104.
Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, 43.
Rev. Dr. Daniel Preus, 29.
Rev. Dr. John C. Wohlrabe Jr., 24.
Rev. Clint K. Poppe, 18.
Rev. Dr. Jon T. Diefenthaler, 11.
Rev. Dr. Carl C. Fickenscher, 5.
Rev. Kenneth M. Hennings, 5.
Rev. Dr. Victor J. Belton, 5.
Rev. Bart Day, 4.
Rev. Dr. Dean W. Nadasdy, 4.
Rev. Dr. Lawrence Robert Rast, 4.
Rev. Nabil S. Nour, 3.

Voting delegates to the Synod convention will elect the first vice-president. Before that election, the president-elect will select five candidates from the list above as the slate for the office of first vice-president. (At least two of those selected for the slate must be among the top five nominees, and no additional nominees may be added to the list.)

After the results of the election of first vice-president have been announced, the convention delegates will elect the five regional vice-presidents — vice-presidents two through six.

Each congregation in a particular region could nominate two LCMS clergymen in their region as candidates for the regional vice-president.

Of those receiving the highest number of nominating votes for regional vice-presidents two through six, the following have given their consent to serve if elected:

CENTRAL REGION VICE-PRESIDENT

Rev. Dr. Daniel Preus, 133.
Rev. Luther C. Brunette, 52.
Rev. Dr. Scott K. Seidler, 47.
Rev. Charles K. Neugebauer, 7.
Rev. Dr. Ronald D. Rall, 4.

EAST-SOUTHEAST REGION VICE-PRESIDENT

Rev. Dr. Victor J. Belton, 74.
Rev. Dr. Jeffrey E. Skopak, 64.
Rev. Dr. Jon T. Diefenthaler, 63.
Rev. Dr. Robert E. Hartwell, 59.
Rev. Christopher S. Esget, 57.

GREAT LAKES REGION VICE-PRESIDENT

Rev. Dr. John C. Wohlrabe Jr., 101.
Rev. Dr. C. William Hoesman, 37.
Rev. Greg S. Griffith, 34.
Rev. Keith A. Speaks, 14.
Rev. Randolph H. Raasch, 12.

GREAT PLAINS REGION VICE-PRESIDENT

Rev. Nabil S. Nour, 145.
Rev. Dr. Russell L. Sommerfeld, 44.
Rev. Dr. Luke R. Schnake, 18.
Rev. Thomas J. Pfotenhauer, 13.
Rev. Clint K. Poppe, 12.

WEST-SOUTHWEST REGION VICE-PRESIDENT

Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray, 45.
Rev. Timothy D. Runtsch, 43.
Rev. Jonathan J. Coyne, 34.
Rev. Dr. Michael E. Gibson, 34.
Rev. William H. Tucker, 25.

For more information about the 2016 LCMS convention, visit lcms.org/convention.

Official Notice

Posted March 10, 2016

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Paula Schlueter Ross

Paula Schlueter Ross (1953–2019), former managing editor of Reporter, was a magna cum laude graduate of Webster University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. During her nearly 35-year career with the LCMS, she wrote for both Reporter and The Lutheran Witness and often took photos to accompany her stories. Ross won 17 national writing awards from the Associated Church Press, including seven first-place “Awards of Excellence.”