The Rev. Dr. C.F.W. Walther (Oct. 25, 1811 – May 7, 1887) served as the first president of the church body. As a young pastor, Walther joined the Saxon Germans who immigrated to the United States in 1839, and, at only 27 years old, he was the leader of the group that settled in Perry County, Mo.

Dr. Walther played a key role in the founding of the LCMS in 1847, and he served as the church body’s first president, holding office from 1847 to 1850 and again from 1864 to 1878.

Walther presided over the young Synod, leading its growth through the years of the great migration of German immigrants. He served as president of Concordia Seminary from 1850 to 1887, and he was editor of Der Lutheraner, a leading magazine of the day that reached Confessional Lutherans across the country.

Today, Walther is revered as the leading Lutheran theologian of his time, and he’s fondly known as the “Father of the Missouri Synod.”