Newsletter July

Church Directory: (23-24 July 2026) The Church Pictorial Directory is back on track! A church directory helps us put names with faces, encourages meaningful relationships, and builds a stronger sense of belonging within our church family. We need at least 35 families to participate. Photography is scheduled for Friday, July 24th, with signups now available before and after each service. Participating families will receive a free directory and 8x10 photo. Please sign up and help us strengthen connections in our church! For more information contact Anna Haase <annahaase@aol.com>.

A Narrow Victory, A Wide Responsibility: A Call to President-Elect Harrison to Lead All of the LCMS

The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, having received more than 50% of the votes cast in the third ballot for the election of the president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), is the president-elect for the 2026–2029 triennium. It will be his sixth term in office.

The election for the position of Synod president began last fall with an online nominating process that concluded Feb. 18, or five months prior to the start of the Synod convention, with a report to the secretary of the Synod.

The resulting candidates for the office of president were the five ordained ministers who received the highest number of votes in the nominations process and who consented to serve if elected. The voting began, according to Bylaw 3.12.2.4, starting June 6 (six weeks prior to the convention) via Internet balloting provided by YesElections.

The 5,478 pastoral and lay voters validly registered by the congregations and parishes of the Synod (Bylaw 3.12.2.3) before the deadline (electronic registration by March 8) or their substitutes (as validly submitted before May 29) served as the voters for this election. Of those, a total of 5,038 votes were cast in the third round of voting, constituting a vote percentage of 92.0% of the electorate. (The voter percentage was 85.4% in the first round and 88.4% in the second round.)

The results of the third ballot tallied and reported to the secretary of the Synod by YesElections are as follows:
     • Harrison was voted president-elect with 2,524 votes (50.1%);
     • The Rev. Dr. Joel D. Biermann received 2,414 votes (47.9%); and
     • The Rev. Benjamin T. Ball received 100 votes (2.0%).