The following letter was sent to the faculty and staff from the President’s Office Aug. 22:

“Dear Members of the Faculty and Staff,

“Rev. Shawn Kumm has resigned as chairman of our Board of Regents, effective September 1. His letter is [below]. Rev. Kumm’s decision has many consequences for the governance of our Seminary. In these past difficult years of governance, I’ve come to respect him as a Christian of integrity, committed to His Lord and the Church. Please remember Pastor Kumm and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Dale Meyer

“In Kumm’s letter to Meyer and the Board of Regents, he wrote:

“Recently I have been pressed to weigh three important areas of responsibility in my life: my vocation as husband and father to my family; the call I have from my congregation in Cody, Wyoming, to serve as her pastor; and my service to the Board of Regents of Concordia Seminary. I have considered many options to try to adequately attend to all three areas at the same time with some semblance of success, but I keep reaching the same conclusion that all three would suffer in some serious way. Though I do not do so lightly, nor do I do so quickly, I resign from the Board of Regents of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO, effective Saturday, September 1, 2018. I realize there are those who may ask what the ‘real reasons’ are behind my resignation. I have stated the reasons above. My love for and vocation to my family, and the call to my congregation are the real reasons. I would ask that people who make inquiries honor those stated reasons as being more than adequate in the kingdom of God.”