The Praesidium of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod consists of the Synod President, the First Vice-President, and five regional vice-presidents, each of whom represents the geographical region in which he lives. The five regional vice-presidents serve in a part-time capacity and, together with the First Vice-President, are responsible to the President for the performance of their duties (). The First Vice-President is a full-time executive of the Synod (see Report R2). Four members of the Praesidium are full-time parish pastors and two are assistant pastors. The vicepresidents advise the President and, upon his request, represent the President and assist him in discharging his responsibilities ( C 1; ). They are ranked by vote of the Synod convention to determine the order in which they would assume the presidency should that office be vacated ( C 2; ). At present, the Praesidium includes
- Third Vice-President Scott R. Murray, Houston, Texas, representing the West-Southwest Region;
- Fourth Vice-President Nabil S. Nour, Sioux Falls, S.D., representing the Great Plains Region;
- Fifth Vice-President Christopher S. Esget, Alexandria, Va., representing the East-Southeast Region; and
- Sixth Vice-President Benjamin T. Ball, Hamel, Ill., representing the Central Region.
The Praesidium and the 35 district presidents comprise the Council of Presidents (COP) which, in recent years, has met four times per year for three and a half days each time to carry out the duties assigned in –3.10.1.4. During this triennium, due to COVID-19, four consecutive, abbreviated meetings were held via Zoom between April 2020 and April 2021. In addition, beginning in March 2020, there were weekly Zoom “check-ins” of the COP, which decreased in frequency as the months passed. In addition to serving on the COP, the vice-presidents assist the President by attending district conventions to report and advise in fulfillment of B 6 and . Generally, the regional vice-presidents attend the district conventions in their region, together with the President and/or the First Vice-President, as travel schedules allow. At these conventions, the President and/ or vice-presidents preach at the primary worship service, report on the state of the Synod, observe convention sessions, visit with attendees, and install the district president (if not at a later date). During this triennium, President Harrison attended all or part of 26 district conventions, and the vice-presidents attended 34 district conventions. Of the 35 district conventions, 20 of them took place during June 2022. Another duty of the vice-presidents is to assist the President with district visitations as part of the President’s responsibility of ecclesiastical supervision ( [j] and 2013 Res. 7-01A). Normally this visitation is with each district’s board of directors, though occasionally it is in conjunction with a district pastors conference, circuit visitors conference, etc. During this triennium, over the course of all district visitations conducted, the vice-presidents were very active in assisting the President, appearing 45 times. In some cases, two vice-presidents participated in the same visitation. In the case of three district visitations, one vice-president, representing the President, conducted the visitation on his own under the direction and guidance of the President. In total, 10 of the visitations were conducted in person, and 20 by Zoom, with five still to go as of February 2023.
- President Matthew C. Harrison, St. Louis, Mo.;
- First Vice-President Peter K. Lange, Valley Park, Mo.;
Appointed membership to the boards of various agencies of the Synod is another way in which vice-presidents may serve. One vice-president is designated by the President of the Synod for each seminary board of regents ( [2]). This triennium, First Vice-President Lange served as a regent for Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Third Vice-President Murray served as a regent for Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, which board he also chairs. In addition, Fifth Vice-President Esget was appointed by the Praesidium to serve as a regent for Concordia College—New York ( [5]) and Second Vice-President Wohlrabe served as President of the Concordia Historical Institute Board of Governors and Editor in Chief of the Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly.
- Second Vice-President John C. Wohlrabe Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., representing the Great Lakes Region;
Besides these regular and ongoing types of service, there are numerous occasional ways in which vice-presidents represent the
President at his request. This triennium, the vice-presidents participated in • 12 services of installation or inauguration for district presidents, seminary presidents, and university presidents;
- 8 Church Relations visits (four of them international);
- 4 visits to Concordia universities;
- 10 regional meetings of the COP; and
- 5 Marches for Life in Washington, D.C.
In addition, the vice-presidents gave numerous presentations outside of their own congregations and preached many times for congregational or circuit occasions, district conventions, COP meetings, seminary services, and chapel services at the International Center. Lastly, the Praesidium strives to meet in conjunction with each meeting of the COP—ideally during a free evening—to help facilitate the vice-presidents’ role as advisors to the President. When there are more urgent matters to discuss, the Praesidium also meets on an ad hoc basis by Zoom. In all it does, both in pastoral ministry and in assisting the President, the Praesidium strives to serve the Lord and the LCMS in supporting our common effort of extolling the saving work of Christ to all who will hear it. “We Preach Christ Crucified!” Rev. Peter K. Lange, First Vice-President