FLGA District Convention speakers will inspire, encourage, and challenge attendees in faith, witness, and mission to foster a sense of greater community among attendees. They will lead with Scripture and Lutheran doctrine to help navigate challenges, issues, and opportunities.
This year, two very gifted speakers will help attendees grow personally and live as those who are “Compelled by Christ’s love!” The convention is more than overtures and elections; it is an inspirational event, and these speakers are crucial to helping to connect faith and everyday life to see Christ’s Kingdom grow.
Bible Study Leader | Lucas Woodford
Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford (MDiv, STM, DMin), is President of the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and Associate Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Farmington, MN. He is the author of Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession? (Wipf & Stock, 2012). He is co-author with Harold Senkbeil of Pastoral Leadership: for the Care of Souls (2nd ed Lexham Press, 2021) and their book on contextual mission, Culture of the Word, is forthcoming from Lexham. He has written numerous articles published in The Lutheran Witness, Logia, and Seelsorger, including a monograph What does this mean? Responding to Social Justice and Critical Race Theory (2021).
Woodford is a member of the Board of Regents of Concordia University, St. Paul, MN. He has served as an adjunct instructor for Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN and the Institute of Lutheran Theology in Brookings, SD. Dr. Woodford is a Fellow in the Collegium of DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel, charged with research, writing, and speaking regarding the care of souls in the contemporary context. He frequently presents on matters related to soul care, missiology, marriage, sex and gender issues, as well as critical race theory. He is a husband to Becca and father to their seven children, five girls and two boys: Isabella (married to Zach), Thaddaeus, Aletheia, Ekklacia, Soteria, Titus, Basileia.
Essayist | Bill Harmon
Rev. Dr. Bill Harmon is the 14th President of the Southeastern District (SED) of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), elected in May 2022. With deep roots in Baltimore, Maryland, he is a graduate of Emmanuel Lutheran School, Baltimore
Lutheran (now Concordia Preparatory School), Concordia College, New York, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, where he earned a Doctor of Ministry in leadership, renewal, and coaching. President Harmon is married, and he and his wife, Gayle, have three sons.
As President, his focus is the theme of “Immeasurably More,” inspired by Ephesians 3:20-21, emphasizing God’s ability to do far more than we can ask or imagine. The mission and vision of the SED is to connect people with Jesus so that lives are transformed as God’s Kingdom grows. The Southeastern District encompasses 214 churches and 71 schools across York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Bristol, Tennessee.