Commencement

Christus Vivit Award

Chosen by the faculty – after consideration of personal knowledge and/or recommendations by others – the recipient of the Christus Vivit Award has demonstrated exemplary service to the church.

Dr. Allan and Carol Buckman are passionate in their service to the church, which includes mission work with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and their role in the founding of Christian Friends of New Americans (CFNA), an LCMS ministry dedicated to working with immigrants and refugees in the greater St. Louis area.

Originally from Belfield, N.D., Allan attended Concordia College in Saint Paul, Minn. (now Concordia University, Saint Paul, Minn.). Following his graduation, he enrolled at Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, Ind. (now Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.), where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1961. He earned a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in 1965 followed by a Master of Arts in linguistics and anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968.

Carol grew up on Long Island, N.Y., and graduated from Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., with a Bachelor of Science. While teaching, she earned a Master of Arts from New York University. She enjoyed leading the high school youth group at her church, Trinity in Hicksville, Long Island, N.Y. During a youth event, she met Allan, who was serving as a vicar at the church’s daughter congregation. She and Allan, who goes by Al, were married June 5, 1965, in St. Louis, Mo., at Atonement Lutheran Church and School, where Carol taught.

From 1965–77, the couple served as missionaries in Nigeria while raising their three children. Allan developed a program of direct evangelization among the Yala people and supervised the translation of the New Testament into the Yala language. Carol built friendships with the Yala women. She loved organizing Christian dramas in the villages of the Yala people, teaching Bible stories in cross-cultural ways. She also helped villagers to read. One of these villagers became a lay evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Nigeria.

The young family returned to the United States in the summer of 1976. In 1977, Allan accepted the call to serve with the LCMS Board for Mission Services (BFMS) as secretary for Africa, Europe and the Middle East. One year later, he earned a Doctor of Missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

In 1989, Allan accepted the call to serve BFMS as director of world areas. In that position, he was responsible for the supervision and coordination of BFMS-sponsored mission work around the world. Carol taught in Lutheran schools until 1989 and then began a 20-year career in real estate, which would also prove helpful in laying the groundwork for CFNA.

In 1999, as the Buckmans were looking forward to retirement, something caught Carol’s eye. She became aware that a group of refugees from an area of Nigeria where they had worked as LCMS missionaries had resettled in the St. Louis area. Feeling a burden to help these new Americans, Carol, along with a friend, began teaching computer classes in the basement of Messiah Lutheran Church in St. Louis. Those modest origins marked the beginning of a venture into which the Buckmans would dedicate the next 24 years of their lives: the ministry of CFNA. Carol was elected as board chair in 2002. A full-time missionary was called to CFNA, and the organization moved to the Peace Center in the heart of the refugee resettlement.

In 2003, Allan retired but continued to serve part-time with LCMS World Mission as a consultant through 2007. He also served as an adjunct professor for the Ph.D. Missiology program at Concordia Theological Seminary (1996–2008) and as executive director of the Lutheran Society for Missiology (2004–10).

In 2004, Allan became the CFNA chairman, providing guidance and oversight to the organization. Carol has worked diligently to secure grants to support the work of CFNA, and ensures that grantors, supporters and volunteers are thanked and appreciated. She also taught adult ESL and started several programs. Today, her main service with CFNA is working to reach Muslim women with the message of Jesus. Her greatest joy is the sewing program in which she teaches Bible studies to Muslim women.

“Over the years, through the power of the Holy Spirit, CFNA has grown in many ways,” Carol said. “The challenge will always be to reach the hearts of people and share the Gospel effectively as ‘we love our neighbor as ourselves.’”

Allan and Carol are blessed with three adult children and 11 grandchildren.

Doctor of Laws, honoris causa

Awarded to a qualified person within The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) or one of its partner churches who demonstrates outstanding dedication to the theology and mission of the LCMS and its international partners.

Director of Christian Education Mark “Marcos” Kempff was born in Antigua, Guatemala, to pioneer missionaries of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) to Latin America. The oldest of 10 siblings, Kempff is a Lutheran educator and fourth-generation missionary whose heart remains in Latin America.

Kempff holds a Bachelor of Science from Concordia University Nebraska, Seward (CUNE), formerly Concordia Teachers College (1974); a Bachelor of Arts with certification as a Director of Christian Education (DCE) from Concordia College (now CUNE), Seward, Neb. (1986); and a Master of Social Sciences in family life ministry from CUNE (1996).

Kempff served as an LCMS educational missionary in Latin America for 34 years: Venezuela (1974–2003) and Panamá (2003–08), and also as a DCE, theological education program developer, professor, church planter and theological education network facilitator. He dedicated his service to the theological formation of Latin American lay leaders and pastors in the mission field, especially in the areas of marriage and family, through the preparation and delivery of countless workshops, retreats, lectures, courses and written materials. His materials were used for institutions such as the Instituto Teológico Juan de Frias of the Iglesia Luterana de Venezuela (ILV) (the Lutheran Church of Venezuela) (1975–2003), where he served as its director (1997–2003), and as professor and director for CoExtensión, a Lutheran theological education by extension program (2003–08) throughout Latin America.

As a production manager for Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones (1986–93), the Lutheran Hour Ministries office in Venezuela, Kempff winsomely articulated the Lutheran faith to broader public audiences through media. He produced countless radio programs, authored more than 55 thematic evangelistic booklets and other resources for the region, and gave numerous presentations on marriage and family-related topics across Latin America — including presentations given in public venues at the invitation of the civil government in Venezuela.

In 2008, Kempff was called to Concordia Seminary, where he served as assistant to the director and an instructor in the Center for Hispanic Studies (CHS). For several years, he also served as assistant to the director for the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT). He dedicated his calling to the theological formation of U.S. Hispanic/Latino lay leaders, deaconesses and pastors for Hispanic ministries in the U.S. mission field, particularly in the areas of marriage and family, youth ministry, and church and mission administration, through the preparation and delivery of countless workshops, lectures, courses, retreats and written materials for the CHS formation programs and continuing education offerings. Kempff has curated numerous resources for Spanish-speaking audiences in collaboration with the Seminary’s library.

In partnership with Concordia Seminary’s Graduate School, Kempff supported and taught for the Master of Arts (M.A.) Program in Spanish, which is the first Spanish-language master’s-level program in theology offered by a confessional Lutheran seminary in the Americas. This program brings U.S. Hispanic and Latin American students together in online classrooms.

Kempff retired in 2022 but remains actively involved in the Seminary’s continuing education courses. He continues to serve as a member of the editorial committee of Lutheran Mission Matters, and collaborates as a writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries’ Hispanic ministry, Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones and Para el camino.

His wife of almost 33 years, Ruth Rivero de Kempff, born in Wetecual, Venezuela, daughter of one of the first Venezuelan Lutheran pastors, died of cancer in March 2011. Kempff has two adult daughters and two grandchildren.

His favorite greeting: Bendiciones de paz y gozo en Cristo (Blessings of peace and joy in Christ).

The Distinguished Alumnus Award

Awarded to a graduate of Concordia Seminary who has rendered exceptional service in at least one of the following areas: parish ministry, mission field, preparation of church workers or Synod service.

Dr. Joel D. Lehenbauer serves as executive director of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR). A graduate of Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Mich., he earned a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary (1984), along with the Hoerber-Hanser award for the highest GPA in his graduating class.

In 1991, Lehenbauer received a Master of Sacred Theology from Concordia Seminary. The late Professor Emeritus Dr. Norman Nagel supervised his thesis, which focused on the eschatology of the Lord’s Supper. He also earned a Doctor of Philosophy (2004) from Concordia Seminary. His dissertation, supervised by President Emeritus Dr. John F. Johnson, explored the theology of Stanley Hauerwas.

Lehenbauer received his first call to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hillsdale, Mich., where he served as sole pastor (1985–90). In 1990, he accepted a call as assistant executive director of the CTCR. He became the associate executive director in 2004 and, since 2008, has served as the executive director. In this capacity, he guides and directs the multifaceted work of the CTCR. Lehenbauer serves as its chief spokesman; contributes to the drafting of multiple reports and opinions; participates in fellowship discussions with dozens of churches around the world leading to the recognition of church fellowship; and plans and organizes national and international theological and ecumenical conferences.

During his 33 years of service with the CTCR, Lehenbauer has provided theological and ecclesial counsel and assistance to five different LCMS presidents and countless other LCMS officers, leaders, pastors and church workers.

A sought-after speaker and presenter at LCMS conferences and gatherings, Lehenbauer also has served as theological adviser for multiple LCMS Youth Gatherings over the years.

His great-grandfather, Johann Konrad Christian Lehenbauer, was the first Lehenbauer to attend Concordia Seminary, and often worked as the buggy driver for Dr. C.F.W. Walther, the Seminary’s and the LCMS’ first president. Many of the Lehenbauer family church workers can be traced to Johann’s son Conrad, Lehenbauer’s grandfather. By birth or marriage, four generations of the Lehenbauer family have produced 24 pastors — more than half of whom attended Concordia Seminary.

Lehenbauer and his wife, Hope, live in Union, Mo., and have four adult children and four grandchildren.

Doctor of Letters, honoris causa

Awarded to a qualified person within the LCMS or one of its partner churches who demonstrates creativity, courage and excellence in the literary articulation of the Christian faith.

Dr. Darius Petkūnas is a world-class scholar, researcher and writer on the history, theology and liturgy of Lutheran churches in the Baltics, Germany and the Russian Empire. He is a Lutheran pastor and member of the praesidium in the consistory of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania (ELCL).

In 1991, Petkūnas was ordained as the Soviet Union was disintegrating and Lithuania and the Baltics were experiencing a renaissance of religious freedom. As a theologian, historian and pastor, Petkūnas documented and published important historical accounts of church life under the communist regime. His research also focused on the church’s struggle to preserve its confessional identity during the Second Reformation in Germany (1563–1618) and the eras of Pietism and Enlightenment. He is the author of nine monographs and 30 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. His four-volume opus magnum, “Prussian Liturgies: From the Reformation to the Prussian Union,” is comprehensive and without peer.

After graduating from Kaunas Technological University in Kaunas, Lithuania, with a telemechanical engineering degree (1993), Petkūnas earned a Bachelor of Divinity at the Institute of Theology in Tallinn, Estonia (1994). He also earned a Master of Theology from the University of Tartu, Estonia (1998), and a Doctor of Theology (2004) and a Docent of Theology (2010) from the University of Helsinki in Finland. In 2013, he received the Habilitated Doctor, the highest degree possible at the University of Leipzig in Germany. He writes and publishes scholarly works in English and Lithuanian and has working knowledge of several other languages.

Petkūnas faithfully serves as pastor of the Lutheran parishes in Palanga and Kretinga, Lithuania (ELCL). He was instrumental in reclaiming church property in the Klaipėda Region in western Lithuania after the Soviet period and managed the construction of a magnificent sanctuary, fellowship hall, meeting spaces and guest apartments for visiting groups in Palanga. Since 1995, Petkūnas has served as a member of the consistory of the ELCL and has been chairman of the committee for the Lithuanian hymnal (2000–07) and chairman of the liturgical committee (since 2023).

Petkūnas has an extensive history of service in academia that includes more than 25 years at the University of Klaipėda (KU), Lithuania. At KU, he served as a lecturer in the Department of Theology (1996–2008), a senior research fellow at the Center for Baltic Studies (2010–16), a senior research fellow in the Department of Baltic Philology (2016–19) and, since 2019, has worked as a senior research fellow at the John Paul II Center for Christian Studies. His achievements are many, including:

• Actively participating in the establishment of the Center for Evangelical Theology at the University of Klaipėda (1992)
• Receiving a Letter of Gratitude from the Faculty of Humanities from the University of Klaipėda for good and sincere work with students (2000)
• Receiving a Letter of Gratitude from the Rector of the University of Klaipėda for Scholarly Publications (2012)
• Receiving a Letter of Honor for Authentic Works in the Field of Humanities (KLASCO) (2015)
• Being awarded the Guido Michelini Prize as the Most Productive Researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of Klaipėda (2018–22, 2023)

Petkūnas and his wife, Inga Petkūnienė, have two adult children.

Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa

Awarded to clergy who have rendered outstanding service in church life.

Rev. James Wiggins Sr. is a native of Camden, Ala. Raised in Lutheran grade schools, he earned a high school diploma from Alabama Lutheran Academy and College (Concordia College) in Selma, Ala. He then attended Immanuel Lutheran College in Greensboro, N.C., where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1955.

In 1959, Wiggins graduated from Immanuel Lutheran Theological Seminary in Greensboro, N.C., and took further extension courses from Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Ill. He also took graduate courses in the area of sociology at Miles College in Birmingham, Ala.

He has served as the pastor of several congregations in Alabama including St. James Lutheran Church in Buena Vista, Ala.; Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Hybert, Ala.; and St. Andrews Lutheran in Sedan, Ala. (Those three congregations merged into Immanuel Lutheran in Vredenburgh, Ala., in 1969.) He also served as the vacancy pastor at St. Paul Lutheran in Oak Hill, Ala. (1965–76); Zion Lutheran in Bessemer, Ala. (1976–83); and Trinity Lutheran in Montgomery, Ala. (1984–97). He retired in 1995 and in 1997 relocated to Pensacola, Fla., where he is a faithful member of St. Matthews Lutheran Church.

In addition to his pastoral calls, Wiggins has served in numerous Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod district-level positions including circuit counselor, circuit youth adviser, adjudication commission member and treasurer of the District Black Churchmen Conference. He currently serves as the chairman of the Rosebud Memorial Project, which is designed to celebrate and continue the legacy of Dr. Rosa J. Young, a pioneer Lutheran educator and missionary who helped plant dozens of historically black Lutheran schools and chapels in the American South.

Throughout his life, Wiggins has directly influenced more than 20 different Lutheran pastors and educators.

Wiggins and his late wife, Katie G. Wiggins, are the proud parents of four children. He has nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.