Concordia University System names Philp as director

The Rev. Dr. Paul A. Philp has joined the Concordia University System staff (CUS) in St. Louis as the director of Institutional Research and Integrity.

The Rev. Dr. Ray Mirly, president of the LCMS Missouri District, installs the Rev. Dr. Paul A. Philp during a June 18 service at the LCMS International Center in St. Louis. Philp is the new director of Institutional Research and Integrity for the Concordia University System. (LCMS Communications/Frank Kohn)

Philp, who began his new role at the LCMS International Center in May, works collaboratively with CUS institutions in matters related to Lutheran identity, curriculum review and assessment, and coordination of best practices. He also serves as a liaison to various LCMS departments, ministries and entities in their work with CUS institutions. The CUS is comprised of the 10 LCMS colleges across the United States.

Before joining the CUS staff, Philp was director of Academic Programming and Curriculum Assessment at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He currently serves as the vacancy pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Millstadt, Ill.

LCMS Missouri District President Rev. Dr. Ray Mirly installed Philp and CUS President Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe preached the homily for the installation service June 18 at the International Center.

Wenthe preached from Col. 1:15-20. He focused on the words from verse 17 “in Him all things hold together,” explaining how the apostle Paul was writing to the people of Collosae who had a background in philosophy and were obsessed with the question, “What holds everything together?”

“This word from St. Paul, I think, is particularly appropriate for you, Paul, in your call to serve in the Concordia University System,” Wenthe said. “All things hold together in Christ. That is the word that you need to hold before the world, Paul, in your call now on the Concordia University System staff.”

Philp said it is an honor and privilege to join the CUS staff.

“The Lord of the church has richly blessed the LCMS with a well-respected system of higher education institutions,” Philp said. “Serving the system, its institutions, its faculty and particularly its students, is both humbling and invigorating.

“The Concordia University System, through its institutions is uniquely situated to boldly confess Christ in the midst of an otherwise very pluralistic world of higher education,” he said. “In the years ahead, I look forward to assisting in emboldening the proclamation of Christ with a clear Lutheran identity as I serve in collaborative relationships with the system institutions and the staff at the International Center in our joint work of ‘Witness, Mercy, Life Together.’”

A Michigan native, Philp graduated from Concordia College (now Concordia University, Nebraska) in Seward, Neb., in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and preseminary studies. He received a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1999. He returned to Concordia Seminary and completed a Master of Sacred Theology in 2007. Philp was awarded the post-master’s certificate in enrollment management jointly by Capella University in Minneapolis and Noel-Levitz higher education consultants in 2010.

He graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in education with a concentration in Leadership in Higher Education from Capella University in 2013.

Following his ordination in 1999, Philp served as associate pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Faribault, Minn. He also has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Cannon Valley Lutheran High School in Morristown, Minn. In 2003, he was called as the sole pastor of Peace Lutheran Church. Following the completion of his Master of Sacred Theology, Philp served as an admissions counselor at Concordia Seminary.

Philp and his wife, Sharon, have two daughters and live in Woodson Terrace, Mo. They are members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, where Sharon serves as director of music.

Posted June 20, 2014