Rev. Dr. Thomas Egger

Dr. Thomas J. Egger is president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He also is a professor of Exegetical Theology.

Before being named as the 11th president of Concordia Seminary in 2021, Egger was the Gustav and Sophie Butterbach Professor of Exegetical Theology, chairman of the Department of Exegetical Theology, associate professor of Exegetical Theology and the academic adviser for first-year students. He has been a faculty member at the Seminary since 2005.

Egger served as pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, Iowa, from 2000–05. He previously served as a guest instructor at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1999.

Egger earned his Master of Divinity at Concordia Seminary (1997), and received his Bachelor of Arts in English and German from Central College in Pella, Iowa (1993). He completed his Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia Seminary in 2019. His dissertation focused on the phrase “visiting iniquity of fathers upon sons” from the book of Exodus.

His areas of interest and expertise include biblical Hebrew, the books of Genesis and Exodus, Old Testament theology, Old Testament Christ-typology, divine justice, narrative and rhetorical analysis, the nature and authority of Scripture, and “objectionable” texts in the Bible (those often raising criticisms of divine violence and accusations of divine immorality).

He has made contributions in the area of American Lutheran history, especially the history of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and its first president, Dr. C.F.W. Walther. Another area of special interest is the theology of Luther’s catechisms and the intersection of the catechism and the Bible in Lutheran teaching and piety.

He has written pieces for a number of publications, including Concordia Journal, Modern Reformation, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Concordia Pulpit Resources and The Lutheran Witness, and for the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR).

Egger currently serves on the Concordia Historical Institute (CHI) Awards Committee. He previously served on the Board of Regents for Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill. He served three terms on the CTCR and was part of the seven-member LCMS Catechism Revision Committee, which prepared the 2017 revision of the Synod’s explanation of Luther’s Small Catechism. For 10 years, he served on the Board of Directors of Providence Classical Christian Academy, a K–12 school in St. Louis, Mo.

His favorite pastimes are running, Cardinals baseball, birdwatching, hiking, golf, reading stories and poetry to his children, and singing hymns with his family. He and his wife, Victoria, have been blessed with six children: Andrew, Stacey, Abram, Bonnie, Ellen and Mary.

Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast

The Rev. Dr. Lawrence R. Rast Jr. serves as the sixteenth president of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and professor of American Christianity and American Lutheranism. Dr. Rast joined the Department of Historical Theology in the fall of 1996. Previous to his seminary service, he was the pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church, Madison, Tennessee (1992-1996).

He received his B.A. in Theological Languages with a minor in Theology from Concordia College (now University), River Forest, Illinois (1986), and his M.Div. (1990) and S.T.M. (1995), both with a major in Historical Theology and a minor in Systematic Theology, from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. In 2000 he received the M.A. degree and in 2003 he successfully defended his dissertation, “Joseph A. Seiss and the Lutheran Church in America,” earning his Ph.D. in American Church History from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Rast is the chairman of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) on which he has served since 2006. The CTCR provides guidance and leadership in the areas of theology and church relations. This includes doctrinal issues as well as social concerns such as divorce, gender identity, and immigration. He also serves as president and member of the Board of Directors for the journal Lutheran Quarterly.

He has authored numerous articles on a wide range of topics with special interest in the growth and expansion of Lutheranism in the United States in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Dr. Rast is currently writing a comprehensive history of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod for Concordia Publishing House and continues work on an oral history project chronicling the rich and varied stories of African-American pastors in both the LCMS and the old Synodical Conference.

As President of CTSFW, Dr. Rast launched a significant strategic planning process that has resulted in the funding and completion of a new library, the doubling of the Seminary’s endowment, successful audits of all business practices, the provision of a 100% tuition guarantee for all residential students, and steady enrollment in the face of significant demographic challenges. Dr. Rast has worked to ensure that the Seminary upholds its core values and vision in all it does so that it can continue to form servants in Jesus Christ who teach the faithful, reach the lost, and care for all.

In addition to serving at the Seminary, Dr. Rast regularly presents at district and congregational workshops, retreats, and conferences around the United States.  He has represented the Seminary and Synod at numerous international conferences and by teaching in Argentina, Brazil, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere throughout the world.

When not teaching or traveling, Dr. Rast still enjoys the delving into history, especially from the Civil War era. He is a music enthusiast and his iPod playlist includes genres from Classical to Bluegrass—the more obscure the better. But perhaps his favorite pastime is all things pertaining to railroads. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of locomotives, train stations, and routes.  He is a long-time member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society and models the Pennsy in HO scale from the year 1948.

The greatest joy of his life, however, comes from the time he spends with his family. He and his wife, Amy, have three children:  Lawrence III, Karl, and Joanna.

Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler

Speaker of The Lutheran Hour

Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler began serving with LHM as Speaker of The Lutheran Hour in October 2018. Prior to that, he served as pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church (2014-2018) and assistant pastor at Timothy Lutheran Church (2012-2014), both in St. Louis. Before becoming a pastor, he served as an aircraft maintenance officer in the Air Force.

Michael grew up in a military family, living throughout the U.S., from North Dakota to Alabama, Virginia to Colorado. His family moved eleven times before he finished high school in Springfield, Missouri. He graduated from the U. S. Air Force Academy in 2001 with a general engineering degree and served 5 years in the Air Force. He left active duty in 2006 to prepare to be a pastor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, completing a Master of Divinity in 2010 and a Ph.D. in 2014.

He continues to serve part-time as an Air Force Reserve officer at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and as a guest instructor at Concordia Seminary.

Michael and his wife, Amy, have four children. Amy enjoys being a home-school and Sunday school teacher, cooking, crafting, and being a catalyst for events aimed at strengthening bonds between family and friends.