Dr. Lawrence Rast Jr. Named President-Elect of Concordia Theological Seminary
FORT WAYNE, IN (CTS)—Friends, family and members of the Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, staff and student body gathered as Dr. Lawrence R. Rast Jr. was named as president-elect of CTS.
“This seminary is a gift of God and all the people that serve here are His gifts as well,” offered Dr. Rast. “While we are looking forward to the future and the changes to come, we also look to the one thing that does not change. That is the life-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and our mission to get that message out to a world that is so in need.”
Dr. Rast currently serves as the Academic Dean at Concordia Theological Seminary and Professor of American Christianity and American Lutheranism. Dr. Rast joined the Department of Historical Theology in the fall of 1996 after serving as pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church, Madison, Tennessee (1992-96). He received his B.A. from Concordia College, River Forest, Illinois (1986), and his M.Div. (1990) and S.T.M. (1995) from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. In 2003, he earned his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.
Dr. Rast also serves the seminary as Associate Editor—Book Reviews of Concordia Theological Quarterly and Seminary Archivist. He is a member of the Board of Editorial Advisors for the journal Lutheran Quarterly and of the editorial committee of the Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly. He is a faculty representative on the LCMS’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations (2006-present) and is the Chairman of that commission (2010-present).
He will consult with the Board of Regents and current CTS President, Dr. Dean Wenthe, as to when he will assume his duties as president.
Also present for the announcement were Rev. Matthew Harrison, President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod; Rev. Wayne Graumann, CTS Board of Regents Chairman, Dr. Robert Kuhn, Chairman of the LCMS Board of Directors; and Dr. Wenthe, current CTS President. During their comments each spoke of their great confidence in Dr. Rast’s ability to build on the work that, by God’s grace, has been carried out in the seminary’s 165 year history and their joy in knowing he and the entire seminary community have a bright future as they move forward to form students in Jesus Christ who teach the faithful, reach the lost and care for all.
