By Cheryl Magness
“[Jesus] gives exactly what is needed, and it is sufficient for the day.”
So preached the Rev. Michael Meyer, managing director of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Office of National Mission (ONM), during daily chapel on Aug. 20 at the LCMS International Center (IC) in St. Louis. Later in the service, ONM Executive Director Rev. Daniel Galchutt installed the Rev. Dr. Quintin Cundiff as director of LCMS Church Planting.
Asked to reflect on his new role, Cundiff echoed Meyer in emphasizing, above all, the sufficiency of Christ.
“My primary goal right now,” Cundiff said, “is to continue building on the wonderful foundation established by the Rev. Dr. Mark Wood’s efforts with the ‘Church Planting Simplified’ program. We are looking to build additional opportunities for education and formation — not only for the pastors who are and will be involved in church planting, but … for the laypeople who are on the forefront of many church planting endeavors throughout the country.
“An additional goal that we have is to facilitate communication and conversation among church planting groups because this can be very lonely and difficult work. It is good for people to know that they are not alone in this task. Not only is Christ with them, but their brothers and sisters in the church are also with them.”
From Eurasia to America
Cundiff grew up in Kansas and attended Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward, Neb., where he received his B.A. in history. He went on to Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, for his M.Div. and was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry in 2011. He received his D.Min. from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), in 2022, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in missiology, also at CTSFW.
Before coming to the IC, Cundiff served as a theological educator and missionary for the LCMS Office of International Mission’s Eurasia region, where he helped to establish the English-speaking program at Lutera Akadēmija in Riga, Latvia. The program serves students in numerous countries, many of whom are or will be church planters themselves. He said the international mission field was good training for directing church planting efforts in the U.S.
“While serving in Latvia,” he shared, “I was working to train and support church planters in about 15 different countries. I often had conversations with them and encouraged them in the ministry that they were doing. I even had opportunities to go and see what they were doing in a few instances.
“Additionally, I was part of the English-language church planting efforts in Riga, and I learned a lot from what we did and experienced in that context. I hope to bring the experience that I gained from interacting with and training church planters to bear in this new role and to support the efforts of planting new churches here in the United States.”
Cundiff has also served as a parish pastor in the United States, including in Oregon, New Mexico and Nebraska. He is married to Lindsay, a registered nurse, and they have one son in high school. “It has been a great month of starting to build relationships with districts and church planting teams in numerous parts of the country as well as learning the operations of the Office of National Mission. There has certainly been a learning curve, but the work is exciting,” he said.
The appointed text on the date of Cundiff’s installation was Luke 16, in which Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their love of money. In his sermon, Meyer said that, while earthly tools such as human reason and money are helpful in the work of church planting, they should not be allowed to supplant trust in God’s promises.
Turning to Cundiff, Meyer said, “As you know, there is no magic bullet, no guarantee. … So, plant. Train. Raise up. Guide to the best of your ability. And then commend everything to Jesus. Whatever the result, it will be marvelous in the sight of God. Jesus is faithful, and He will surely do it.”
Posted Sept. 26, 2025
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