Minnesota South elects Nadasdy as new president

The Rev. Dr. Dean W. Nadasdy is the new president of the LCMS Minnesota South District. Delegates to the district’s 76th convention, meeting June 14-16 at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., elected him president on the second ballot.

As district president, Nadasdy succeeds the Rev. Dr. Lane R. Seitz, who announced prior to the convention that he was retiring from the post in which he had served seven three-year terms.

Nadasdy, 64, has been senior pastor of Woodbury Lutheran Church, Woodbury, Minn., since 2000. A 1973 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, he held the Benidt Memorial Chair in Homiletics and Literature at that seminary before his pastorate in Woodbury. And previously, he was pastor of congregations in Eugene, Ore., and Edina, Minn.

He also previously served as a vice-president in the district and the LCMS.

Nadasdy received an honorary doctorate from Concordia University Nebraska in 1996.

An author and presenter for numerous church events and conferences through the years, he has developed curricula for children, youth and adults, as well as a number of worship and preaching resources.

He and his wife, Susan, have three children.

Nadasdy and others elected were installed during the convention, which had as its theme “Free and Focused,” based on 1 Cor. 9:19-23.

Delegates elected the following to district vice-presidencies:

the Rev. Gerhard H. Bode, senior pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Hutchinson, Minn., first vice-president;

the Rev. Robert J. Gehrke, senior pastor of South Shore Trinity Lutheran Church, White Bear Lake, Minn., second vice-president;

the Rev. Mark W. Rosenau, senior pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Owatonna, Minn., third vice-president; and

the Rev. Mark S. Tewes, senior pastor of Living Christ Lutheran Church, Chanhassen, Minn., fourth vice-president.

Of the four vice-presidents, Rosenau is the only one who had not previously served as a district vice-president.

The delegates adopted several resolutions having to do with campus ministry in the district — a topic of particular interest in the district and the Synod.

Last year, the district’s board of directors decided to sell the district-owned property of two campus ministries in Minneapolis and Mankato. The board took that action to leverage the value of its assets for a new campus-ministry endowment fund it established to support campus ministries not only in those two cities, but also at a number of other possible sites throughout the district. University Lutheran Chapel (ULC) — a self-governing LCMS congregation — rented the Minneapolis facility and Campus Lutheran Chapel — a district-funded ministry — occupied the Mankato facility.

One of the campus ministry-related resolutions, titled “To Provide Funds for ULC,” authorizes the district to provide $2 million from the sale proceeds of the ULC property toward its relocation, to continue campus ministry at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. This substitute motion, which came after a previous substitute motion was ruled and supported by delegates’ vote as “out of order,” was adopted by a 52 percent “yes” vote.

The original resolution presented on this matter proposed assisting ULC in relocating to a new site by providing a $250,000 gift from the net proceeds of the sale of the property owned by the district. It also proposed that the remainder of the net proceeds from that sale would be invested in the district’s Campus Ministry Endowment Fund.

The first substitute motion that was ruled out of order (with a 58-percent “yes” vote in favor of that ruling) called for withdrawing from the sale of the property and deeding it to the ULC congregation.

A related campus-ministry resolution that delegates adopted by an 82-percent margin calls for the district and University Lutheran Chapel, Minneapolis, to cease all legal actions and lawsuits and work toward reconciliation and peace.

Another adopted resolution (by a “yes” margin of 54 percent) directs the district to “equally bless” campus ministry in Mankato, Minn., by either reducing the purchase price for Hosanna Lutheran Church to purchase the Mankato campus property for $500,000, or to make a gift to Hosanna of $400,000.

Among some 15 other resolutions adopted by convention delegates are those that:

support marriage between a man and a woman. This action reaffirms the biblical understanding of marriage as a lifelong relationship between a man and a woman; encourages pastors, congregations and members to actively pray for, support and promote passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot in Minnesota; and calls for the grace of God and the Gospel of Jesus to continue to be extended to all people, “including those who struggle with homosexual inclinations.”

commend the Roman Catholic Church for its stance on religious freedoms and defense of the rights of the unborn. The resolution also calls for continued prayer for the preservation of religious freedoms enjoyed by American citizens and the sanctity of human life “as a gift from God.”

call for assisting and encouraging members to intentionally speak of Jesus, including training and equipping members and families “to share their faith and the hope they have in Christ with confidence and courage.”

encourage “church multiplication” as a means of making new disciples. This measure urges congregations and circuits to multiply churches locally; to support such efforts of the district with prayers, offerings and other means; and asks congregations to seek out and use resources for church multiplication that are available from the district, the Center for U.S. Missions and Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

affirm the goal of revitalizing 50 churches in the district by 2017.

Posted June 19, 2012