Contact:
Vicki Biggs
Director, Integrated Communications
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
www.lcms.org
314-996-1236
314-556-3829 (cell)

ST. LOUIS—April 13, 2012—The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) will be accompanying Concordia Publishing House (CPH) officials this weekend to Washington, D.C., as the LCMS publisher accepts the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

In November, CPH received news that it had won the award, which recognizes organizations that show consistent excellence in the areas of leadership; customer and market focus; strategic planning; process management; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; and results.

Harrison is a guest of CPH President and CEO Dr. Bruce G. Kintz at the award ceremony and

reception Sunday, April 15, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The award ceremony precedes The Quest for Excellence 2012, the 24th Annual Conference of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, April 16-18.

“The whole Missouri Synod and countless Lutherans around the world rejoice today for the blessing of Concordia Publishing House,” Harrison said. “We rejoice and give thanks for the long line of faithful servants who have worked tirelessly that the Gospel go forth in the printed word, ever revealed anew in its countless and unending facets from age to age. CPH, its CEO Bruce Kintz, and publisher Rev. Paul McCain and all its staff, have shown us all that it is possible— yes, even necessary—to use the highest quality non-profit business standards in service to the Gospel. And this has been done, by God’s grace, while producing the highest quality and quantity of confessional Lutheran material in the history of this blessed institution.”

During the event, all 2010 and 2011 recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will showcase their best practices. The organizations include seven 2010 winners (including another St. Louis-based company, Nestle Purina) and the four 2011 recipients, which include three health care organizations and CPH, the only non-profit represented at the 2012 event.

“Quality performance isn’t really about the award; it is what we are called to give in service to the Gospel of Christ,” Kintz said. “This award testifies to that spirit at CPH.”

Concordia Publishing House, founded in 1869 and based in St. Louis, is a not-for-profit publishing company and the official publishing arm of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The company offers more than 8,000 products for use in Christian congregations, schools and homes. Visit CPH on the web at www.cph.org.

About The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), is a mission-oriented, Bible-based, confessional Christian denomination headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Founded in 1847, the LCMS has about 2.3 million baptized members in more than 6,000 congregations and more than 9,000 pastors. Two seminaries and 10 colleges and universities operate under the auspices of the LCMS, and its congregations operate the largest Protestant parochial school system in America. The church broadcasts the saving message of Jesus Christ over KFUO Radio, and it has relationships and active mission work in 89 countries around the world. In the last five years, the LCMS has awarded more than $35 million through more than 900 domestic and international grants for emergency response and disaster relief. Today, the LCMS is in full doctrinal fellowship with 33 other confessional Lutheran church bodies worldwide and is a founding partner of Lutheran Services in America, a social ministry organization serving one in every 50 Americans. For more information, visit www.lcms.org.