Reflections on a Long and Blessed Life No. 66: Superintendent of Michigan District Lutheran Schools Part I

 As I was nearing the end of my service on behalf of the EBENEZER Thankoffering I was very unsure as to what my next calling would be. Then suddenly I had two very attractive offers. The first came from Concordia University: Chicago.  It was a professor position in the education department with the quiet understanding that I would immediately complete my Ph.D. studies for which the University would provide funds. The indication was that a long-term assignment envisioned for me was a significant administrative position

The second call was to serve as Director of Christian Education and Superintendent of Lutheran Schools for the Michigan District of the LCMS.

It was a tough decision. I chose the later because I wanted a closer more direct connection with teachers and their schools. It was a good decision. My four years in Michigan were very satisfying and fulfilling.

I succeeded Dr. Sam Roth who had served the District for tens of years. He was great-and it was time for fresh blood and new energy. It was also extremely fortunate that the 2 associate director positions were open-and the District was very open to my in-put on who that would be.

I was blessed to work with three outstanding colleagues. Don Kell had been a very successful principal and his expertise was exactly in those areas where I felt weaker. Roland Boehnke had been a very successful parish pastor with special skills in relating to young adults. And Elinor Donohue continued in her role as Administrative Assistant and she was the best.

The District had 117 schools headed by 116 male and one female principal. They were always responsive and actually appreciated our visit to their schools-which they saw as support and not as threat.

I spent a great deal of time in government relations-always working with The Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools which included Lutheran, Catholic, many Christian and some independent schools. These contacts got me on a special education committee of the State Senate and eventually also an appointment with then President Nixon. Equally unusual was that I was probably the only Lutheran ever invited to attend a national meeting of all the Catholic bishops of the USA. 

The Lutheran schools shared a great diversity-ranging from the incredibly well designed, fully equipped, generously congregation funded, with all Lutheran students school of St. Lorenz in

Frankenmuth to Gethsemane Lutheran School in inner city Detroit with heavy black staff and student body-fully dependent upon tuition. The rest of the schools were everything in between. I had a special love for the urban schools and so it hurts me deeply to report that of the 17 Lutheran schools in Detroit, which we served then-not a single one is still in operation today. 

Another disappointment: We succeeded in getting the State legislature to approve financial subsidy for non-public schools and actually received our first very generous allocation. Then a constitutional amendment (Proposition C) to ban all aid to non-public schools was passed by a

state-wide referendum and we lost all further state funding.

A couple non-district positions, which I held during that time, included serving as the national Vice-Chair for the Citizens for Education Freedom Foundation and Chair of the Conference of Education Executives of the LCMS. There I worked with experts who are still remembered for their competence and dedication including Ben Eggers, Dean Dammann, Wally Hartkopf, Dick Engebrecht, Art Wittmer, Don Rosenberg, Ed Keuer, Eldor Kaiser, Willie Tewes and others.

We served congregations and schools small and large from inner-city Detroit to the smallest towns-and what still amazes me: I usually was there exactly on time-as the state of Michigan Highway Department did an incredible job of keeping the roads open even after a couple feet of snow fell unexpectedly.