LutheranPundit reported on this situation a while back, but a whole new development has come to light with the listing of a property that the wife of Concordia President Tom Ries purchased from Concordia St. Paul for $330,000. Two years later the property is now for sale by Ries for $1,200,000. The secular press is starting to report on this. This does not speak well for Pres. Ries or reflect well on Concordia, St. Paul, or the LCMS either.
Perhaps It’s Time to start reviewing just how much business our leaders are doing while also making the salaries they are making (adding the word “President” to a title in the LCMS seems to add a large amount of money to the annual salary). It makes the Lutheran Church look bad for the wrong reasons.
UPDATE – here are two more articles from back in August on this situation: