Good Shepherd Institute 2026

Kola Owolabi
University of Notre Dame

Bach Cantata 136, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"
-Seminary Schola Cantorum and soloists
-Kantor Kevin Hildebrand, director

On the heels of the publication of The Lutheran Hymnal in 1941, Walter Buszin emerged as a leading voice promoting a recovery of the treasures of Lutheran hymnody and church music. Far from a mere appeal to aesthetics, he insisted on a solid theological foundation and thus set the LCMS on a trajectory that we are still traveling today.

See brochure below for topics. Descriptions will be provided at the conference.

Quite often, Professor Nagel reminded his students never to make the Lord's Supper anything less than what our Lord Jesus has given in His mandate and institution. Rather than trying to "run the verbs" that belong to our Lord, we are to remember, as Nagel so famously wrote, that "our Lord speaks and we listen."

Celebrating the Hymns of Paul Gerhardt (on the 350th anniversary of his death) and Others
-Seminary Kantorei
-Jacob Weber, organist
-Kantor Kevin Hildebrand, director

A confessional maverick, Kenneth Korby shaped a generation of pastors by restoring private absolution, disciplined evangelical prayer, and faithful Lutheran catechesis to the center of parish life. His recovery of the Small Catechism as both prayerbook and handbook has revived pastoral care, liturgical practice, and the place of hymnody in the life of the church today.

Two early musicians in the LCMS, Karl Brauer (1831–1907) and Walter Wismar (1881–1969), are great examples of the type of sacred musician the Missouri Synod sought to produce in its first century. Both demonstrate the importance of rigorous training in church music within both the parish and the academy, offering lessons for the church today.