Apr 17, 2023 Print This Article

Rev. Paul Flo accepts call to join Seminary academic staff

Will serve Center for Hispanic Studies

Rev. Paul Flo has accepted a call to serve as the assistant to the director of the Center for Hispanic Studies (CHS) at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis beginning June 1. He will be formally installed Aug. 25 during the Opening Service of the 2023-24 academic year.

Flo succeeds Director of Christian Education Mark Kempff, who retired in November after a long and fruitful tenure.

Since 2019, Flo has been serving as a missionary pastor at Iglesia Luterana Esperanza, a Spanish-language outreach ministry in South Sioux City, Neb., where his ministry has centered around bilingual church planting and serving among first-, second- and third-generation Hispanics.

“Paul has a great love for and commitment to our U.S. Hispanic neighbors and Gospel outreach among Hispanic communities,” said Seminary President Dr. Thomas J. Egger. “His background in education, cross-cultural settings and Hispanic ministry situates him to thrive in this position. I have a high level of confidence in his capacity to serve our Center for Hispanic Studies and our CHS students well.”

Flo’s commitment to education was ignited through his work with Teach for America, where he taught math and science for upper elementary grade school students in Hawaii (2010-12). He also taught in Malaysia with Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms (2012-13).

Flo earned a Master of Divinity in 2019 at Concordia Seminary. As a student, he served a two-year vicarage in the Dominican Republic (2016-18), where he became fluent in Spanish. Also, he was a 2016 recipient of the prestigious Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE). He also holds a Master of Education from Chaminade University of Honolulu (2012) and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Missouri (2010).

“With a grateful heart I have accepted Concordia Seminary’s call to serve as the assistant to the director of the Center for Hispanic Studies,” Flo said. “What a joy to contribute to the theological education and formation of Hispanic/Latino pastors, deaconesses and others as we work together to extend the Good News of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone!”

To learn more about CHS, visit csl.edu/chs.

About Concordia Seminary

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To learn more, visit csl.edu.