Kurt Buchholz

CEO of Lutheran Hour Ministries

Serving as CEO of Lutheran Hour Ministries since 2013, Kurt Buchholz brings a diverse background in international mission outreach and organizational leadership, along with a dedication for using today’s digital media resources to reach more people than ever before with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Leading a worldwide ministry team that today reaches individuals with the Gospel nearly 235 million times each week, Buchholz’s passion for the personal call and vocation of the laity leads to full engagement in boldly proclaiming Christ everywhere.

Buchholz reports to the Board of Directors for the International Lutheran Laymen’s League as LHM’s chief administrative and executive staff member; shapes and implements the ministry’s organizational policies; and spearheads the ministry’s bold global expansion plans by developing and executing global fund development strategies and cultivating the partnerships and relationships necessary for future phases of this initiative.

An accomplished leader who excels in strategic initiatives targeting international programs, constituent engagement, and internal management systems, he was instrumental in engaging the church in mission through his 20 years at LCMS World Mission and leading the Lutheran Malaria Initiative for Lutheran World Relief. Buchholz continues to draw on these strengths as he leads the global movement of LHM into its second century of ministry.

His passion for international missions began when he lived and worked in Taiwan in various leadership roles, including school start-up and management, and he and his wife Jenny served as missionaries there from 1993 until 2001.

A lifelong Lutheran, Buchholz is a graduate of Concordia University in Irvine, California, in the elementary education program and received his Director of Christian Education certification and a Master of Arts in organizational management from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He also received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Concordia College, New York, and was honored in 2022 by the Atlantic District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod as a “Witness in the Public Square” for providing exemplary witness in bringing Christian values to the public square through word and deed.

He and Jenny are blessed to be the parents of two faith-filled adult daughters, Linnéa and Rebekah.

Jeff Craig-Meyer

Global Chief Constituency Officer

Jeff Craig-Meyer joined the Lutheran Hour Ministries staff in 2014 and currently serves as Global Chief Constituency Officer. He provides dedicated leadership to the team as they connect donors to God’s mission through LHM using a variety of means including annual gifts, major leadership gifts, and planned gifts. He also oversees marketing and communications, web development, and ministry engagement (external relations, Lutheran Laymen’s League districts, and congregational relations). Craig-Meyer also holds the title of President of The Lutheran Hour Ministries Foundation.

Craig-Meyer has served with a number of faith-based non-profit organizations, providing leadership and management for fund development activities including annual fund support, grants, major gifts, planned gifts, charitable funds, special events, and constituent relationship management.

He most recently served Open Sky Education (formerly called Educational Enterprises, Inc.), a charter management organization that is rapidly expanding nationally. His primary role was establishing the development function through the creation of specific philanthropic funds to support school planting efforts in multiple regions.

Prior to joining Open Sky, he served in a number of fund development roles at the national level for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. He managed fundraising efforts on behalf of multiple target areas, including the global mission arm, where he led a team of fund development professionals in annually generating $15 million in direct gifts, as well as the regular establishment of planned gifts for the entity. He assisted in a $400 million endowment campaign for the church body’s 10 universities and colleges, oversaw a mission campaign that raised $67 million, and provided direction to a $45 million campaign whose funds helped in the fight to eradicate malaria in Africa.

Craig-Meyer earned a degree in political science from the University of Missouri, Columbia, studied at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and received his Master of Business Administration from Saint Louis University. His extensive community involvement includes serving on a number of local boards in the St. Louis region.

He and his wife, Justine Craig-Meyer, have three sons (Mitchell, Dean, and Shaun) and one daughter (Shay), and they attend Historic Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis.

Lara Heisohn-Sidorski

Global Chief Administrative Officer

Lara Heisohn-Sidorski serves as Global Chief Administrative Officer for Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM). In this position, she works in a collaborative effort with the other members of the executive and senior leadership teams to facilitate strategic planning, organizational success measurement, and systems coordination to optimize strategic initiatives in ministry. She oversees data analytics, project management, board governance support, information technology, finance, human resources, building and office management, and shared services.

She started her LHM career in 2008 within the United States ministries division before being promoted to manager of the executive office, associate director of the executive office & operations, and chief operating officer. Before coming to LHM, Heisohn-Sidorski was a technical editor at industrial control systems integrator Automation & Control Concepts and a graduate assistant in the English department at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Heisohn-Sidorski earned a bachelor’s degree in English Composition from Truman State University, studied Art History and Italian Culture at the American University of Rome, and completed graduate coursework in English at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
She and her husband, Curt, live in St. Louis and have two children.

Rev. Dr. Tony Cook

Global Chief Research & Innovation Officer

Rev. Dr. Anthony (Tony) Cook joined Lutheran Hour Ministries in 2016 and serves as Global Chief Research & Innovation Officer. Cook conducts program research, develops ministry philosophies, oversees the global leadership development process, and creates standard operating procedures for contextualization and ministry strategy and execution.

Cook brings nearly 30 years of ministry experience to LHM, including more than 25 years in curriculum design and development, distance curricula, educational technology, and leadership. His background includes serving as a parish pastor and consulting numerous Christian entities on curriculum design and development, distance learning, internet technologies, and sharing the Gospel through various forms of multimedia.

Cook served as Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, specializing in education, pastoral theology plus leadership, and postmodern studies, including courses on preaching to post moderns, post-liberal theology, and emerging Christianity. He also served as Concordia Seminary’s Director of Curriculum Design and Development. Cook received his Ph. D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Saint Louis University and an M.Div. from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Karin Semler

Global Chief Ministry Officer

Karin L. Semler joined the Lutheran Hour Ministries staff in April 2024 and currently serves as Global Chief Ministry Officer. She oversees ministry staff in all regions around the world and helps lead LHM’s evolving globalization efforts as it transitions to a multidivisional global mission rooted in localized regional leadership.

Prior to joining LHM, Semler served as creative solutions director and senior consultant in Shanghai, China, delivering executive coaching and workshop facilitation to multinational companies, schools, and non-profit organizations both online and in person. She previously spent 10 years in various leadership positions for Concordia International School Shanghai, including director of overseas relations/external relations and partnerships, director of student life, and assistant director of marketing.

Over the years, she has led teams and organizations as a communications director, executive director of an educational association, and in various educational positions. She served the former LCMS World Mission full-time from 1997 to 2002 in several posts, including director of the Mission Information Unit, and served from 1993 to 1997 with the former LCMS Volunteer Youth Ministry program in Japan. While in Japan, she coordinated with LHM to co-author a bilingual Bible Correspondence Course titled, The Jesus Investigation, so students could study Scripture to learn about Jesus and the Christian faith. The book and corresponding CD were published in 1997.

Semler is an accomplished workshop facilitator, consultant, and public speaker and has experience with using ethnographic research in executing projects. She currently volunteers and provided leadership on an NGO board and several councils. She has lived internationally for more than 20 years in four countries-Norway, Japan, Indonesia, and China.

A 1993 graduate of Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, with Director of Christian Education (DCE) certification, Semler also holds a 2013 master’s degree in educational psychology, with gifted/talented certification, from the University of North Texas, Denton. She earned a certificate of marketing strategy from Cornell University and received training in design thinking from Stanford University’s d.school.