The Board of Regents of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, with the approval of the Board for Pastoral Education, herewith issues a call for the nomination of candidates for the presidency of Concordia Seminary. Nominations must be filed with the undersigned before March 1, 2005 (cf. Bylaws 3.7.1.6.2).
The duties and responsibilities of the seminary president as the “spiritual, academic and administrative head” of the institution are specified in the synodical Handbook (cf. Bylaws 3.7.1.6). The successful discharge of these duties and responsibilities requires that the man called to this office have the following qualifications and experiences:
(1) He should be an ordained clergyman who has consistently and publicly demonstrated his commitment to the Holy Scriptures, his loyalty to the Lutheran confessional writings contained in The Book of Concord, his dedication to the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, and his acceptance of the primacy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
(2) He should exhibit an understanding of the diverse parish and missional needs and contexts of the church, including having personal experience in parish ministry, as these relate to pastoral education and formation.
(3) He should be a churchman, interested in the involvement of the seminary within the wider Christian church and concerned about the church’s relationship to the problems and opportunities of contemporary society.
(4) He should be a proven theologian with the demonstrated ability to understand and to respond creatively and evangelically to the theological issues in the seminary, Synod, and the larger Christian church.
(5) He should possess the ecclesiastical and educational vision to evaluate, assess, develop, and guide an ongoing process to maintain and improve superior theological education within the church.
(6) He should have the appropriate credentials in the form of an earned academic doctorate and faculty experience in an academic institution, to serve as “the academic head of [a] faculty” that teaches and functions at the highest academic levels.
(7) He should have had administrative experience and demonstrated positive leadership, preferably in an academic institution.
(8) He should possess the personal qualities that will elicit the respect, confidence, and cooperation of students, faculty, clergy, academic and ecclesiastical leaders, and benefactors of the seminary, and that will provide a good model for future, faithful pastors.
(9) He should be a competent communicator who is able to articulate the Faith at a variety of levels, and to communicate the mission and needs of the seminary, in both its professional and graduate programs, to its constituencies and communities.
(10) He should be a man who both understands and has demonstrated that our Lord’s Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) is as urgent in today’s world of diverse cultures and traditions as it was in the days of the apostles.
(11) Accordingly, he should wholeheartedly embrace the seminary’s mission statement: “Concordia Seminary serves Church and world by providing theological education and leadership centered in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the formation of pastors, missionaries, and leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.”
Please send nominations before March 1 to James F. Ralls Jr., Chairman, Concordia Seminary Board of Regents, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105.
Posted Dec. 27, 2004
