Oct 18, 2004 Print This Article

Dale A. Meyer Appointed Interim President at Concordia Seminary

The Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Board of Regents has appointed Dr. Dale A. Meyer, professor of practical theology and occupant of the Gregg H. Benidt Memorial Chair of Homiletics and Literature at the Seminary, to serve as its interim president. The Board’s decision was announced following an Oct. 18 meeting on the Seminary’s campus. Meyer will begin his responsibilities on Nov. 4, the day on which the Seminary’s current president, Dr. John F. Johnson, begins serving as president of Concordia University in River Forest, Ill.

“Dr. Meyer’s extensive experience at the Seminary and in the church at large will greatly assist him in his service as the Seminary’s interim president,” commented James F. Ralls Jr., chairman of the Seminary’s Board of Regents. “The Board is confident that he will provide excellent leadership for Concordia Seminary during the process of calling a new president.”

Meyer received his M.Div. degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1973 and holds the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in classics from Washington University, St. Louis. He also received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1993. He is the author of numerous journal articles, essays and published sermons.

“I am humbled to be selected as interim president of Concordia Seminary,” commented Meyer. “Dr. Johnson has provided excellent leadership for this esteemed Seminary over the past 15 years, and the Lord of the church continues to bless it in so many ways. I want to assure the church that this Seminary remains committed to forming pastors who are faithful to God’s Word, have a missionary zeal to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and exercise compassion in their ministry to people.”

Meyer has served on the Seminary’s faculty since 2001 and also from 1981 to 1984. Prior to his current service on the faculty, he served since 1988 at Lutheran Hour Ministries as speaker for the world-renowned “Lutheran Hour” radio program and also hosted its national television show, “On Main Street.”

Meyer served as senior pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Collinsville, Ill., from 1984 to 1988. He also served as pastor of St. Salvator and St. Peter Lutheran Churches, Venedy and New Memphis, Ill., from 1974 to 1981.

Meyer’s service in the church at large includes being secretary and vice president in the Southern Illinois District of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS) from 1977 to 1988; membership on the LCMS Standing Committee on the Pastoral Ministry from 1987 to 1991; and being third vice president of the LCMS from 1995 to 1998.

For more information, contact Seminary Relations, Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105; 314.726.0882; [email protected].