Early Career
Kieschnick attended Texas A&M University, graduating with a bachelor of science in 1964. He is a 1970 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois (now located in Fort Wayne, Indiana), obtained his Master of Divinity in 1977 at Concordia in Fort Wayne, and received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1996 from Concordia University in Austin, Texas.
After his ordination in 1970, Kieschnick served as pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Biloxi, Mississippi until 1973; at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Beaumont, Texas from 1973–1981; and at Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown, Texas from 1981-1986.
He served the Missouri Synod's Texas District as a circuit counselor from 1978–1981 and as director of public relations from 1977-1986. Kieschnick was director of development at Lutheran Foundation of Texas from 1986–1988 and then served as its executive director from 1988-1991.
In 1991, Kieschnick was elected president of the Synod's Texas District and served in that position until 2001. Under Kieschnick's lead, membership in the Texas District grew by approximately 12 percent, even as LCMS membership numbers slipped nationally.
Read more about this topic: Gerald B. Kieschnick
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