Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is pleased to announce that Dr. David R. Schmitt has been appointed The Gregg H. Benidt Memorial Endowed Chair in Homiletics and Literature. Former Seminary faculty member Dr. Dean Nadasdy was the first occupant of the chair, followed by Dr. Dale A. Meyer, president and professor of practical theology at Concordia Seminary.

Established by a $1.5 million gift, the endowed chair supports a full-time faculty member who teaches courses in homiletics, literature and related disciplines, and acts as a resource for the church at-large through writing, speaking, and conducting workshops and symposia. The Gregg H. Benidt Memorial Endowed Chair in Homiletics and Literature is one of three endowed chairs at Concordia Seminary. The endowments that fund these chairs provide salary and other benefits to the chairs’ occupants and alleviate tuition costs to students.

“I am honored by the appointment and deeply grateful to Dean Nadasdy and Dale Meyer, who held this chair before me,” commented Schmitt. “In different ways, they have opened the door to several exciting projects and demonstrated the creative and engaging ways in which this position can foster preaching and the literary arts both in the Seminary community and in the church at-large. I pray that I will be given God's wisdom as I go about building upon their work.”

Dr. David R. Schmitt has served as assistant professor of practical theology at Concordia Seminary since 1995. He also serves on the advisory board for Concordia Pulpit Resources, and previously served as pastor at St. John the Divine Lutheran Church, Chicago, Ill. He received the B.A. degree (1984) from Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Mich.; the M.Div. degree (1988) from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, the M.A. degree (1990) from University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., and the Ph.D. degree (2005) from Washington University, St. Louis.

For more information, contact Communications, Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105; (314) 505-7374; communications@csl.edu.