Kurt Buchholz began serving Aug. 1 as interim executive director of LCMS 
World Mission.
Buchholz succeeds Dr. Thomas R. Zehnder, who stepped down July 31 after serving 21 months in the post — as interim executive director from November 2008 to May 2009, and most recently as executive director.
Zehnder plans to serve about a year as an intentional interim pastor for Salem Lutheran Church in Springdale, Ark., beginning this month.
Buchholz, 40, joined LCMS World Mission in 1993 as a missionary in Taiwan. He was called to the World Mission staff in 2001 and served as coordinator for volunteer and specialized ministries, director of Personnel (now Recruitment) Services, and since 2006 as associate executive director of Planning and Administration.
He is a graduate of Concordia University, Irvine, Calif., and received his director of Christian education certification and master’s degree in organizational management from Concordia University, St. Paul, Minn.
Among duties in his new position, Buchholz will guide the various national, international and armed forces teams and ministries of LCMS World Mission, including a full-time missionary force of more than 200 people and hundreds of individuals serving on short-term assignments around the world.
Posted Aug. 25, 2010
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