About the Second - Fifth Vice-Presidents

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The Rev. Dr. John C. Wohlrabe Jr. is serving as second vice-president, and member of the Praesidium, of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a position to which he was elected to in 2010. He is the pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Geneseo, Ill.

Previously, Wohlrabe served as third vice-president of the LCMS (2007-2010). He also was regional chaplain for Naval District Washington (2007 to 2009). He retired with the rank of captain in May 2009, having been an active duty U.S. Navy chaplain for 22 years. Prior to that, he was in the Naval Reserves and served as an enlisted sailor on active duty. His tours of duty in the Navy included the USS John F. Kennedy (1973 to 1976); various Naval Reserve units (1976 to 1987); Naval Mobile Construction Battalion FORTY (1987 to 1990); Naval Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme, Calif. (1990 to 1992); Naval Facility Brawdy, Wales, U. K. (1992 to 1995); Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill., (1995 to 1998); USS Blue Ridge and Commander SEVENTH Fleet (1998 to 2001); Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine (2001 to 2004); and First Naval Construction Division and Naval Construction Force (2005 to 2007). He has received numerous military awards.

Also, Wohlrabe served as pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Fort Lupton, Colo. (1982 to 1984); guest instructor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (1984 to 1986); and assistant director of the Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis (1986 to 1987).

A native of Mankato, Minn., Wohlrabe received a bachelor's degree from Concordia College, Ann Arbor in 1978. He also received a Master of Divinity degree in 1981, Master of Sacred Theology degree in 1982, and Doctor of Theology degree in 1987, all from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has published numerous articles for theological journals, church and military publications, and books including Ministry in Missouri (1992) and “Walther's Doctrine of the Ministry: A Distinctly Mediating Position,” Soli Deo Gloria: Essays on C.F.W. Walther in Memory of August R. Suelflow (2000).

Wohlrabe and his wife, Julie, live in Geneseo, Ill. They have one daughter and two sons.

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The Rev. Dr. Paul L. Maier is serving as third vice-president, and member of the Praesidium of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a position to which he was elected in 2010. He previously served as second vice-president (2004-2010) and fourth vice-president (2001-2004).

A history professor at Western Michigan University, Maier is a specialist in correlating data from the ancient world with the New Testament. He is the author of some 16 Christian-themed books and 250 scholarly articles. All of his books are now in print in 18 languages. Maier's first documentary novel, Pontius Pilate, was published by Doubleday in 1968. He also is the author of a best-selling trilogy of books on the life of Jesus Christ and earliest Christianity called In the Fullness of Time. Other titles include The Flames of Rome (1981), A Skeleton in God's Closet (1994) and More Than a Skeleton (2003). Maier's biography of his late father, Dr. Walter A. Maier, founding speaker of The Lutheran Hour radio broadcast, entitled A Man Spoke, a World Listened, was published in 1963.

Maier also is the author of seven children's books including The Very First Christmas, which received the Gold Medallion Award in 1999. Six videos he has produced for use in congregational Bible study have been widely used.

In addition to his professorial role, Maier was also Lutheran campus chaplain at Western Michigan University from 1958 to 1999. He has served the Synod in numerous offices. He was the chairman of the Commission on Church Literature (1980-81) and a member of the Board of Regents of the Concordia University System (1989-2001) and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (2001-2010).

Maier attended Harvard College, later receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1954 from Harvard University. After studying also at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, he graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 1955, as well as a Ph.D., graduating summa cum laude from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1957.

Maier and his wife Joan live in Kalamazoo, Mich., and are members of Zion Lutheran Church. They have four daughters.

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The Rev. Daniel Preus is serving as the fourth vice-president, and member of the Praesidium, of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a position to which he was elected to in 2010.

A native of Mayville, N.D., Preus served congregations in Hobart, Ind.; Truman, Minn.; Oak Park, Ill.; and Colorado Springs, Colo., from 1975 to 1995. Beginning in 1995, he served as the LCMS director of Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis until 2001.

From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Synod's first vice-president. Since 2005, he has served as director of Luther Academy in St. Louis, an organization devoted to promoting confessional Lutheran theology. Preus also has served on the LCMS Board for Parish Services, and on the Board of Directors of the LCMS and Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

In other areas of church leadership, Preus served in 2003 to 2004 as a leader in discussions resulting in the declaration of Church Fellowship between the LCMS and the ELCK (Kenya) and was a liaison between Concordia Historical Institute and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1995 to 1996, where he worked for the return of the Luther Manuscript Wider Hanswurst.

Preus graduated from Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1971, and Concordia Theological Seminary in 1975 when it was located in Springfield, Ill. He also holds a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, which he received in 1989.

Preus and his wife, Linda, live in St. Louis, Mo., and are members of Hope Lutheran Church. They have three sons and two daughters.

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The Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray is serving as the fifth vice-president, and a member of the praesidium, of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a position to which he was elected to in 2010.

Murray has served three pastorates from 1983 to the present: St. Paul Lutheran Church, Cobourg, Ontario, Canada; Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, La.; and Memorial Lutheran Church and School in Houston, a position he has held since 1996. He served on the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations—as a member from 1995 to 2001 and as a vice chair from 1998 to 2001. He was formerly an editorial associate for Logia, a journal of Lutheran theology; a board member of the Lutheran Education Association in Houston; and vice-president of Luther Academy, an organization that promotes confessional Lutheran theology. He also served on the board of the Lutheran Education Association of Houston from 2001 to 2007.

A native of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Murray graduated with a bachelor's degree from Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1983. He also holds a master's degree from Loyola University and a doctorate from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Murray writes a daily devotion called “Memorial Moment,” which is based on the church fathers, and is distributed to an international list of more than 1,400 subscribers. He is the host of the weekly radio program “Dying to Live,” which is broadcast in Houston and available on the Web. He is working on a devotional companion to the Treasury of Daily Prayer for Concordia Publishing House and a book on the doctrine of Holy Scripture in the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics Series for Luther Academy. He is also the author of Law, Life, and the Living God, a book published by Concordia Publishing House in 2001, and numerous journal articles.

Murray and his wife, Maryann, live in Houston. They have two daughters.