Bruss to serve as CTSFW president

Bruss

On May 18, during a special prayer service at Kramer Chapel on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), CTSFW Board of Regents Chairman Rev. Dr. Scott Murray announced that the Rev. Dr. Jon S. Bruss, CTSFW associate professor of systematic theology, will serve as the seminary’s 17th president. Murray said Bruss “comes with superb gifts and experience for this leadership challenge. … The board pledges its full support to Dr. Bruss, and we ask for the prayers of the church that Concordia Theological Seminary would continue to be your Christ-centered seminary that teaches the faithful, reaches the lost and cares for all.”

Bruss will succeed the Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Rast Jr., who announced last fall that he would retire from the presidency at the end of the 2023–2024 academic year and return full time to his role as professor of historical theology at CTSFW. Bruss’s installation will take place during the opening service of the academic year on Sunday, Sept. 8.

“I’m both humbled and deeply honored by the electors’ action today,” said Bruss. “After nearly six months of prayerful consideration as a nominee, and with the wise counsel of fellow Christians and brother pastors, I’m moved to accept this call and hereby do. … I ask for your prayers for me, my family, and above all, our seminary, which has been and remains a singularly effective instrument for forming faithful servants of Christ and His church. Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word.”

Bruss joined the CTSFW faculty in 2022 with extensive experience in higher education and pastoral ministry. He earned his Master of Divinity in 1995 from Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary (Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Mankato, Minn. From 1991 through 2002, Bruss taught languages, ancient history and world literature at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, during which time he pursued master’s and doctoral degrees in classics at the University of Minnesota.

After completing his Ph.D. in 2001, Bruss taught classics at his undergraduate alma mater, St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., then taught at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., and the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He colloquized into the LCMS in 2006. In 2013, he took a pastoral call to St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kan., where he served as assistant pastor (2013–2015), then senior pastor (2015–2022) until joining the faculty at CTSFW.

Bruss’s many scholarly contributions include co-editing Brill’s Companion to Hellenistic Epigram (Brill, 2007) and translating various works of Martin Luther, including sermons and the Annotationes in Matthaeum, for Luther’s Works (Concordia Publishing House). From 2019 to 2022, Bruss served on the Concordia University System (CUS) Board of Directors as well as the Synod’s 2019 Resolution 7-03 Task Force, which was charged with proposing a new governance plan for the CUS.

Bruss and his wife, Kristine, CTSFW’s chief communications officer, have one daughter, Ingrid.

“The Lord ascended and gave gifts to men, apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers. The Lord continues to give His gifts. Today that gift is Rev. Dr. Jon Bruss,” said LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, who gave a short homily at the prayer service. “This seminary has a venerable past and a bright future. Thanks be to God.”

The Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Egger, president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, CTSFW’s sister seminary, offered Bruss his congratulations, saying, “The Lord has entrusted a beautiful work to our two seminaries in preparing servants of the Word for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and for confessional Lutheran churches around the world. Our church is blessed when our seminaries approach this sacred task with mutual encouragement and fraternal partnership. … I hold Dr. Bruss in the highest esteem and … look forward to the prospect of working closely with [him] for years to come.”

Outgoing President Rast also expressed confidence in his successor. “Dr. Bruss has been a wonderful addition to our faculty, and I am delighted that he will follow me as president of CTSFW. I have every confidence in his ability to lead our seminary through the joys and challenges of the coming years.”

View the prayer service announcing the results of the election.

Read more about the presidential search process.

Posted May 21, 2024