Gerald B. Kieschnick

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Kieschnick at the 2004 LCMS National Youth Gathering in Orlando, Florida
Kieschnick at the 2004 LCMS National Youth Gathering in Orlando, Florida

Gerald Bryan Kieschnick (born January 29, 1943 in Houston, Texas) is the current president of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. He was first elected in July 2001, re-elected in July 2004, and re-elected for a third term as synodical president on July 15, 2007 at the LCMS' convention in Houston, Texas. Kieschnick and his wife, Terry, have two grown children and two grandchildren, all of whom live in Texas.

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[edit] Early career

Kieschnick attended Texas A&M University, graduating with a bachelor of science in 1964. He is a 1970 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois (now located in Fort Wayne, Indiana), obtained his Master of Divinity in 1977 at Concordia in Fort Wayne, and received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1996 from Concordia University in Austin, Texas.

After his ordination in 1970, Kieschnick served as pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Biloxi, Mississippi until 1973; at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Beaumont, Texas from 1973-1981; and at Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown, Texas from 1981-1986.

He served the Missouri Synod's Texas District as a circuit counselor from 1978-1981 and as director of public relations from 1977-1986. Kieschnick was director of development at Lutheran Foundation of Texas from 1986-1988 and then served as its executive director from 1988-1991. In 1991, Kieschnick was elected president of the Synod's Texas District and served in that position until 2001. Under Kieschnick's lead, membership in the Texas District grew by approximately 12 percent, even as LCMS membership numbers slipped nationally.

[edit] LCMS presidential election and first term

At the LCMS' 2001 convention in St. Louis, Kieschnick was elected to his first three-year term as president of the church, which has 2.6 million members. He won by 18 votes out of 1,182 total votes in the fourth round of balloting, defeating three conservative candidates and one fellow moderate. One of his leading conservative opponents, Daniel Preus, went on to win the position of first vice president.

Kieschnick's first presidential term was stormy. On many matters, he faced the opposition of more conservative opponents within the church hierarchy, including four out of the five vice-presidents and a majority on the Board of Directors. Polarization in the LCMS dates back at least to the Seminex controversy of the early 1970s, but over the course of the 1990s, members of the LCMS' more conservative wing (who often dub themselves confessional Lutherans) and its more moderate or liberal wing (who sometimes dub themselves "evangelicals") had both established a plethora of internal caucuses, organizations, and news services to promote their viewpoints and to campaign for Synod leadership candidates. Issues of disagreement range across the whole life of the church, including worship style, ecumenical fellowship with other church bodies, the role of women in the church, methods for training leaders and expanding congregations, approaches to scriptural interpretation, the proper relationship of the sacred and secular spheres, and the appropriate division of powers between the Synod and its constituent congregations.

Kieschnick spent much of his time in office under fire for his support of Atlantic District president David Benke. The controversy quickly became an emblem for broader, longstanding disagreements within the church. In September 2001, Benke had taken part in an interfaith prayer event at Yankee Stadium to commemorate the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York. Daniel Preus and others in the Synod's more conservative camp argued that Benke, by participating in a prayer event alongside non-Lutheran clergy and leaders of non-Christian faiths, had engaged in practices that the Synod condemns as "syncretism" and "unionism." Meanwhile, Kieschnick and his supporters in the Synod's moderate or liberal wing replied that Benke had given Christian witness in a permissible manner, and that the event was not a religious service. Along the way, several LCMS ministers moved to have Kieschnick removed as LCMS president, although the matter ended with Kieschnick surviving the ouster attempt and Benke being cleared of the charges against him. For several years, the Benke controversy left many LCMS members speaking of a "crisis in the Synod" and warning openly of the possibilities for a schism.

Displeased that Kieschnick had used the LCMS' Committee on Constitutional Matters (CCM) to overrule them on several occasions, the LCMS Board of Directors hired a law firm in early 2004 to determine its authority within the church under the laws governing not-for-profit entities in the state of Missouri. The Synod's moderate wing responded by engaging its own legal counsel. Several on the Board of Directors considered filing action against the Synod in civil court as a way to re-assert their authority within the church.

[edit] Reelection and second term

During Kieschnick's first term in office, conservative opponents organized diligently, hoping to defeat his reelection bid at the 2004 convention in St. Louis. Conservatives charged that Kieschnick's emphasis on mission work and church growth was merely a smokescreen for the loosening of church doctrine, including perhaps the eventual ordination of women or ecumenical fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

In the end, however, Kieschnick triumphed in a re-match with first vice-president Daniel Preus, winning 53 percent of the vote to Preus' 32 percent, with two other conservative candidates placing third and fourth. A Kieschnick ally, Oklahoma District President William R. Diekelman, then defeated Preus for the first vice-presidential slot in a somewhat narrower vote. Although Kieschnick's allies won control of four out of the five vice-presidential slots, the Board of Directors remained narrowly in the control of Synod conservatives. Some LCMS conservatives have charged that Kieschnick's margin of victory was provided only through votes cast by LCMS circuits that were granted exceptions to standard delegate accreditation rules, suggesting that the vote was "rigged" by the incumbent president. While Kieschnick's allies deny that charge, the interpretation of the 2004 convention results remains controversial within the LCMS.

Kieschnick and his supporters supported an effort to amend the LCMS constitution to address ambiguous language on the authority of the Board of Directors vis-a-vis the Committee on Constitutional Matters (CCM). Proponents of the effort, dubbed Amendment A, claimed it merely "clarified" existing constitutional language; opponents claimed it was part of an attempt to strip the Board of Directors of some of its powers. Amendment A was approved by the 2004 convention but failed to receive ratification by the two-thirds of LCMS congregations necessary for it to take effect.

During Holy Week in 2008, the popular Synod-sponsored, nationally syndicated talk radio program Issues, Etc. was canceled, initially without explanation. Its cancellation, along with the firing of Host Pastor Todd Wilken and Producer Jeff Schwarz, created a firestorm of protest from conservatives within the LCMS, including allegations of mishandling of radio station finances. In an article in The Wall Street Journal, journalist M. Z. Hemingway stated “The program was in all likelihood a pawn in a larger battle for the soul of the Missouri Synod. The church is divided between, on the one hand, traditional Lutherans known for their emphasis on sacraments, liturgical worship and the church's historic confessions and, on the other, those who have embraced pop-culture Christianity and a market-driven approach to church growth. The divide is well known to all confessional Christian denominations struggling to retain their traditional identity.” In a written response, President Kieschnick countered that the article presented a “distorted account of the reason for the discontinuation” and a “misleading picture” of the Synod “as a deeply divided church....” The fallout from the Issues, Etc. cancellation, and President Kieschnick’s denial of discord within Synodical ranks, further widened the gap between conservative and liberal factions, motivating many previously silent conservatives to speak out against perceived Synodical heavy-handedness and doctrinal error.

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Religious titles
Preceded by
Robert T. Kuhn		 Twelfth President
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
2001–		 Succeeded by
Currently serving