Matthew Carl Harrison (born March 14, 1962 in

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

) is the 13th and current president of the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.8 million members, it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States. The LC ...

. He was first elected to the presidency on July 13, 2010 at the synod's 64th regular convention in Houston, Texas. Harrison officially took office on September 1, 2010, and was formally installed in a service on September 11, 2010, at

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. He was elected by a 54 - 45% margin on the first ballot. He was elected to a second three-year term following a first ballot victory in the church body's first online presidential election in July 2013 . He was elected to a third three-year term in June 2016, having received 56.96 percent of the vote on the first ballot. In June 2019, Harrison was elected to a fourth three-year term with 51.76 percent of the vote on the first ballot. Harrison had previously served as the Executive Director of the Department of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, and as founding president of the LCMS Housing Corporation (also known as Lutheran Housing Support).

Early years

Harrison was born in

, on March 14, 1962. He was baptized at Bethel Lutheran Church in

Lawton, Iowa Lawton is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area. The population was 943 at the time of the 2020 census. History Lawton was platted in 1901. It was named for J. C. Law, an early settle ...

, and grew up in Sioux City, where his family belonged to Redeemer Lutheran Church. He graduated from

Sioux City East High School East High School, or Sioux City East High School, is a public high school located in Sioux City, Iowa. It is one of three high schools in the Sioux City Community School District, and is fed by East Middle School, Nodland Elementary School, Su ...

in 1980 and

Morningside College Morningside University is a private university affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Sioux City, Iowa. Founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Morningside University has 21 buildings on a campus in Sioux City (ar ...

in 1987. Harrison then attended

Concordia Theological Seminary The Concordia Theological Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It offers professional, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees affiliated with training clergy and deaconesses for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). His ...

in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from which he earned a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...

in 1989 and a

Master of Sacred Theology The Master of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Magister; abbreviated STM) is a graduate-level, North American, academic degree in theology equivalent to ThM. The Roman Catholic equivalent is the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). An ho ...

degree in 1991. In 2011, he received honorary doctorates from

and from

Concordia University Ann Arbor Concordia University Ann Arbor (CUAA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a campus of Concordia University Wisconsin, a private Lutheran university in Mequon, Wisconsin. Its campus sits on the banks of the Huron River, about ten minutes outside downtow ...

in Michigan.

Ministry

Harrison's first parish was at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in

Westgate, Iowa Westgate is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 192 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 234 in 2000. History Westgate celebrated "Westgate Days" on July 16, 2011, in honor of its 125th anniversary. Geography ...

, where he served from 1991 to 1995. Harrison served as pastor of Zion Lutheran Church of

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, from 1995 to 2001. During his ministry at Zion, the urban decay around the church moved him to join with St. Peter Catholic Church and community leaders to revitalize the Hanna-Creighton neighborhood. This joint effort recruited investors to clear many dilapidated homes, restore others, and build new ones in the ten block area. The effort was a success and led to the construction of a new branch of the

Allen County Public Library The Allen County Public Library (ACPL) is a public library system located in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1895 as the Fort Wayne Public Library, the library served residents with 3,606 books out of a single room ...

and an office for the Fort Wayne Urban League in the neighborhood. This initiative continues in the City of Fort Wayne's Renaissance Pointe project. In Harrison's role as head of LCMS World Relief beginning in 2001, he made several trips to work with those in need among the slums of

Kibera Kibera (Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa.http://www.dominionpa ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, and in other East African countries. He worked in Asia following the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

and in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

in 2005 following

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. He also spent several months in early 2010 coordinating LCMS aid in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

following the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. On February 16, 2012, Harrison

testified In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. La ...

in front of the

United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

in opposition to contraceptive mandates imposed upon

parachurch organizations Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that indivi ...

by the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

Works

As author

*''Christ Have Mercy: How to Put Your Faith in Action''. St. Louis, MO:

Concordia Publishing House Concordia Publishing House (CPH), founded in 1869, is the official publishing arm of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Headquartered in St Louis, Missouri, at 3558 S. Jefferson Avenue, CPH publishes the synod's official monthly magaz ...

, 2008. *''In the Beginning: A Collection of Essays and Bible Studies on the Sanctity of Early Human Life''. With Charles P. Arand and James Lamb. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2007. *
It's Time: LCMS Unity and Mission: the Real Problem We Face and How to Solve It
'. n.p., 2008. *''A Little Book on Joy: the Secret of Living a Good News Life in a Bad News World''. Lutheran Legacy, 2009. Re-published by Concordia Publishing House, 2011. *''Sanctification and Charitable Works in Lutheran Theology''. Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Board of World Relief and Human Care, 2006
Sermon on John 14:1-14
at

's Kramer Chapel, April 30, 2010. *''Letters from a Pastor's Heart''. St. Louis, MO:

, 2016. *''Why Am I Joy:fully Lutheran?: Instruction, Meditation, and Prayers on Luther's Small Catechism''. St. Louis, MO:

, 2018.

As translator and editor

*Gerhard, Johann. ''Meditations on Divine Mercy: A Classic Treasury of Devotional Prayers''. Saint Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 2003. *Löhe, Wilhelm, Holger Sonntag, Adriane Dorr, and Philip Hendrickson. ''Löhe on Mercy: Six Chapters for Everyone, the Seventh for the Servants of Mercy, 1858-1860.'' ercy insights series St. Louis: Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, World Relief and Human Care, 2006. *Sasse, Hermann. ''Christ and His Church: Essays by Hermann Sasse.'' With Ronald R. Feuerhahn and Paul T. McCain. Office of the President of the LCMS, 1997. *Sasse, Hermann, ''Letters to Lutheran Pastors.'' Ed. With Charles Evanson, W. Gawrisch, Ralph Gehrke, Fred Kramer, Rachel Mumme, Norman Nagel, Paul Peters, Peter Petzling, E. Reim, J. Michael Reu, David P. Scaer, Charles Schaum, Andrew Smith, Holgar Sonntag, Paul Strawn, W. Wegner, trans. 3 vols. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2013-15. *Sasse, Hermann. ''The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters.'' With Ronald R. Feuerhahn, eds. and trans. 2 vols. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2001. *Sasse, Hermann. ''Union and Confession''. With Ronald R. Feuerhahn and Paul T. McCain. Office of the President of the LCMS, 1997. *Walther, C.F.W., Friedrich Wyneken, H. C. Schwan, Franz Pieper, Friedrich Pfotenhauer, W. Sihler, and Theodor Julius Brohm. ''At Home in the House of My Fathers: Presidential Sermons, Essays, Letters, and Addresses from the Missouri Synod's Great Era of Unity and Growth''. ort Wayne, IN Lutheran Legacy, 2009. *''Women Pastors?: The Ordination of Women in Biblical Lutheran Perspective: a Collection of Essays''. With John T. Pless, eds. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2009. *''Closed Communion?: Admission to the Lord's Supper in Biblical Lutheran Perspective''. With John T. Pless, eds. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2017.

References

External links

Lutheran Housing Support

LCMS World Relief and Human Care
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Matthew C. 1962 births Living people People from Sioux City, Iowa 21st-century American Lutheran clergy Presidents of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Morningside University alumni Concordia Theological Seminary alumni 20th-century American Lutheran clergy