Rev. Howard Patten
Pastor and Former President of Kansas District
There''s Power in the Blood (Healing and the Sacraments)
Rev. Howard Patten presently serves in a kind of semi retirement as an Intentional Interim pastor of Zion, an urban congregation in El Paso, Texas after serving four years in a similar capacity for two mission congregations in Northern New Mexico. He served as President of the Kansas District LCMS for nine years and retired in 2003 to return to parish ministry. Prior to his service as District President he served for six years as Executive Director of Missions, Evangelism, and Stewardship for the Kansas District.
Pastor Patten served as campus pastor at Harvard, M.I.T. and other Boston area colleges, and was commissioned an officer as chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. His 25 years of pastoral ministry experience includes service as mission developer and church planter in Colorado, as pastor of cross-cultural congregations in Atlanta, Georgia, as senior pastor of Concordia Conover, North Carolina and as senior pastor of St. Matthew, an urban/inner-city congregation in Houston, Texas.
The author of a variety of devotional articles, worship aids, books and youth resources, Pastor Patten serves the larger church as speaker, congregational consultant, retreat leader, essayist, and study leader for professional leaders’ conferences, district conventions, and other Synodical and ecumnenical gatherings. He has been active throughout his ministry in interdenominational and inter-religious discussion and dialogue. He presently serves on the Board of the Concordia University Seward Center for the Liturgical Arts, as a presenter and resource for the Rocky Mountain District “Conversations of Grace” evangelism initiatives, and as a teacher in the District Lay Leadership program.