No Vetting, No Statement: CMPL’s Replatforming of Erik Herrmann Raises New Questions
Executive Director Jeff Kloha’s long-documented friendship with Herrmann makes the silence even more troubling.
In February 2025, attendees of Best Practices in Phoenix, Arizona—a popular conference for church workers in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS)—may have been surprised to see a familiar face back in a teaching role: Dr. Erik Herrmann, the former professor and administrator at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, who quietly resigned in 2023 after I, the woman with whom he engaged in clergy sexual misconduct, came forward with documented evidence.
Now, Herrmann has reappeared as faculty with the newly launched Center for Missional and Pastoral Leadership (CMPL), a theological training initiative affiliated with The Center (formerly Mission Partners Platform) and the Institute of Lutheran Theology (ILT) in South Dakota.
On its website, CMPL boasts a combined “70 years of LCMS teaching experience” among its faculty, an impressive credential at first glance. However, among those years is the name Erik Herrmann, whose departure from Concordia Seminary has never been publicly explained by either the seminary or the LCMS.
The Broader Battle for Pastoral Training
The announcement comes at a time of growing tension within the LCMS. Both Concordia Seminary President Dr. Thomas Egger and Concordia Theological Seminary President Dr. Jon Bruss have released public statements warning LCMS members about CMPL’s legitimacy. They argue that CMPL’s M.Div. program, though marketed to LCMS audiences, does not prepare students for ordination in LCMS congregations. Egger and Bruss have called CMPL an undermining force, drawing students, donors, and attention away from the Synod’s two official seminaries and threatening the LCMS’s commitment to doctrinal unity.
In the words of one analysis from Ad Crucem News, CMPL appears to be part of a wider “off-ramp” movement, advancing the missional wing’s desire to train and ordain pastors independently of LCMS governance. Critics have called this a “slow-motion existential crisis” for Missouri Synod Lutherans, warning that the movement risks fragmenting the denomination in ways not seen since the Seminex crisis of the 1970s.
A Concerning Pattern of Quiet Replatforming
In this already fractured environment, CMPL’s choice to platform Erik Herrmann raises serious questions—not just about pastoral training, but about the integrity of leadership itself.
To date, no public statement has been issued by Concordia Seminary or Herrmann himself explaining his resignation. However, I can confirm—based on my firsthand involvement and preserved written evidence—that his resignation followed clergy sexual misconduct.
This lack of transparency has not prevented Herrmann from being reintroduced as a trusted educator. CMPL’s public announcement offers no acknowledgment of his misconduct, nor does it clarify whether any accountability process was undertaken before granting him a public teaching role once again.
In fact, when I contacted Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt, President of the Institute of Lutheran Theology, he acknowledged in a private message that Herrmann’s appointment as a Distinguished Professor and Research Fellow in 2024 was based solely on his academic work, with no vetting process regarding his personal conduct.
“Dr. Herrmann’s institutional association was not a factor in the selection process. DPRFs are selected solely upon the quality of their theological publications and teaching,” Bielfeldt wrote. “It is unlikely that anybody at ILT knew anything about Dr. Herrmann’s private life. The first I heard about the allegations you raise is through an unsigned email I received about 5-6 weeks ago.”
While ILT admits it did not vet him, it continues to publicly platform Herrmann’s name and reputation to promote its academic credibility, without informing students, donors, or the church about who he actually is or why he quietly left his former post.
Beyond One Man: What’s Really at Stake
When fallen leaders are quietly restored to positions of influence without public accountability, the church risks signaling that reputation matters more than repentance, and institutional preservation matters more than protecting those harmed.
It sends a chilling message to survivors of misconduct and their families: what happens behind closed doors can be swept under the rug, so long as the right people stand to benefit from your silence.
To my knowledge, no effort has been made by Concordia Seminary to invite former students, faculty, or community members, especially women who studied in the Deaconess Studies Program during the five years Herrmann served as Director, to come forward with concerns. While I am not accusing Herrmann of further misconduct, it is widely recognized in both academic research and survivor advocacy that when clergy are caught in one instance of sexual misconduct, it is often not the first or only time.
In our written exchanges, Herrmann admitted to at least two prior experiences of becoming "too emotionally close" to other women—once during his ministry in Nevada, and another during his tenure at Concordia Seminary. In both cases, he described pushing relational boundaries and later being warned by his wife about the emotional risk. These admissions suggest that what happened with me was not an isolated failure but part of a concerning pattern that warrants deeper institutional scrutiny.
A Call to Jeff Kloha and the CMPL Leadership
These questions are not personal. They are public. They go to the heart of whether CMPL is worthy of trust.
This is especially true given that CMPL’s Executive Director, Dr. Jeff Kloha, is not only a former colleague of Herrmann’s from Concordia Seminary but also someone Herrmann personally described to me as a close friend with whom he regularly stayed in touch. In one of our written exchanges, Herrmann wrote:
"Hello again—hope you're having a good evening. Mine has been pretty low-key. The high point: I just had an hour-long conversation with my former colleague, Jeff, who is basically head of the Museum of the Bible. One of our universities (Concordia Texas) has been courting him to come run things down there and we talked through it a bit. I confirmed his inclinations that he should stay put. He has such an impact on a wide range of people and Christians all over the world."
Kloha is no distant administrator. According to Herrmann’s own words, he is a personal friend and former colleague whose career moves and influence Herrmann actively discussed. This relationship raises legitimate concerns about whether Herrmann’s appointment at CMPL reflects a true commitment to accountability or whether it simply extends the protection of familiar networks.
The decision to platform Herrmann again, without any public acknowledgment of his misconduct, demands explanation.
Why does CMPL stand behind Erik Herrmann as a faculty member?
Why was no vetting or accountability process required before platforming him again?
Will CMPL issue a public statement clarifying the nature of his resignation and the justification for his reappointment?
These questions deserve answers.
The church deserves better than silence. It deserves the truth.
Author’s Note
This report is based on firsthand experience, preserved written evidence, and verifiable facts. I have shared this publicly not for personal retaliation, but because I believe Christian leaders should be accountable to the people they serve and the people within their influence in the church and community.
If Jeff Kloha, CMPL, or the Institute of Lutheran Theology wish to provide a public statement correcting or clarifying anything presented here, I invite them to do so. Silence, too, is a statement.