The Rev. Matthew Heise — an LCMS theological educator to former Soviet republics for the past 12 years — has accepted the call to become executive director of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF).
LHF is an LCMS Recognized Service Organization that translates and publishes Lutheran books such as Luther’s Small Catechism, hymnals and devotions for churches worldwide.
Heise is set to join the LHF staff at its Macomb, Mich., offices April 1 and his installation is set for April 6 at Guardian Lutheran Church in Dearborn, Mich.
As the LHF’s executive director, he succeeds the Rev. James E. Fandrey, who left the position in June 2013 to return to parish ministry.
Most recently based in former-Soviet Georgia, Heise has served as an LCMS theological educator there and in Russia, Ukraine and Mongolia. During his service in Eurasia, he helped coordinate production of Luther’s Small Catechism into the Kyrgyz language in Kyrgyzstan.
Heise is a 2003 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. In the period before he joins the LHF staff at its offices in Macomb, Mich., he plans to complete work on the dissertation for a doctorate from that seminary.
For more information about Lutheran Heritage Foundation, visit its website at lhfmissions.org.