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| Paul McCain, awards dinner, 2019 |
The Rev. Paul Timothy McCain, publisher and executive editor at Concordia Publishing House (CPH), died in Ballwin, Mo., on Nov. 25. He was 58.
McCain was born on Feb. 12, 1962, in Pensacola, Fla., to the Rev. Paul B. and Jean (Geipel) McCain and received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism on Feb. 25, 1962. He married Lynn Grunow in 1983. He graduated from Concordia University, River Forest, Ill., with a Bachelor of Arts (1984) in Biblical Languages and from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), with a Master of Divinity (1988) in Systematic Theology.
McCain served as assistant to Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) President Rev. Dr. A.L. Barry from 1992 until Barry’s death in March 2001, and as assistant to Interim Synod President Rev. Robert Kuhn until the Rev. Dr. Gerald Kieschnick’s installation as president in September 2001. Prior to becoming Barry’s assistant, McCain served as communications director for Iowa District East; pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (Artesian) in Waverly, Iowa; and guest instructor at CTSFW.
After his years assisting two Synod presidents, McCain served briefly as interim director of Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis. In January 2002, following the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Carter as CPH president and CEO, McCain began serving as interim CPH president and CEO, a position he held until the installation of Dr. Bruce Kintz on Oct. 31, 2006. In a statement released after McCain’s death, Kintz said the CPH family was “deeply saddened by the news of Rev. Paul T. McCain’s passing. He was a close friend and co-worker and will be sorely missed.”
During his time at CPH, McCain was general editor of Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, A Reader’s Edition and also played pivotal roles in the publication of Lutheran Service Book, The Lutheran Study Bible and Treasury of Daily Prayer. He was a frequent guest on KFUO and other programs and podcasts and the author of numerous articles. As word of his death spread across the Synod on Thanksgiving Day, the Rev. Todd Wilken, host of the radio program “Issues, Etc.,” credited McCain for putting the Book of Concord “back into the hands of the laity. For that, and for all the other gifts God gave through Paul, every confessional Lutheran should give thanks today.”
The Rev. Robert Bugbee, former president of Lutheran Church—Canada, said, “My beloved friend, Paul McCain, was a source of support, not only to Missouri Synod people, but also to us within the Synod’s wider family. I will always treasure the brotherly encouragement he provided in my early days as the leader of a partner church. I trust God to use the many publications Paul made possible like seeds going into the ground … to bring forth a harvest to life everlasting! The sharp pain we feel at losing him is just the measure of how much he came to mean during the years the Lord shared him with us.”
In a statement shared widely on social media, LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison wrote, “Our Lord Jesus has called to Himself our brother and fellow servant in Christ … to await the blessed resurrection unto life everlasting. … The Lord blessed Paul with a passionate zeal for the Gospel as taught in the Scriptures and confessed in the Book of Concord. Join us in prayer for Paul’s wife and children, and his CPH family. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!”
McCain is survived by his mother, Jean; his wife, Lynn; his children Paul Jerome (Kirsten) McCain, John Augustine McCain and Mary Ann McCain; and his granddaughter, Anna Jean McCain.
A funeral service is set for 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where he is lying in state, with a private burial following the service. The service will be livestreamed. Viewing will begin one hour before the service at 12 p.m. in the chapel narthex. Clergy are invited to process.
In order to comply with COVID guidelines, anyone who plans to attend the funeral or to participate in the procession will be asked to sign up. Additional details about the service sign-up and livestream are forthcoming and will be provided here when available. Please check back for more information.
Posted Nov. 27, 2020
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GJ
Commentary
Paul McCain introduced himself to me in 1989, when he and Jay Webber were graduating from Concordia, Ft. Wayne. Soon he was writing letters to me about how much he enjoyed my articles against Church Growth, published in Christian News. Webber said the same thing, though neither one published anything (as far as I know) against that passion and addiction in LCMS and WELS.
Soon I was in St. Louis - and so was McCain. He and Otten worked together to get DP Al Barry's materials in Christian News before anyone else got them. He was working at the Purple Palace for Al Barry (!) and I was tent-making. He and Otten both told me how they worked together on the project to elect Al Barry. I imagine something similar happened with Matt Harrison, since Harrison sang an ode to Otten in New Haven and became Synod President. When Otten was dying, Harrison sang a song (to others) about Otten being crazy.
Otten and McCain denied working together secretly. McCain gave me a tour of the Purple Palace and said he would be fired if anyone knew he was talking to Otten (who called while we were in the palatial office of the Synod President).
McCain earned the nickname "McNasty" and demanded that anyone who offended him had to apologize. I remember Wilken saying he would not apologize to McCain and then apologizing to him - both times on Facebook. I do not think McCain was one bit nastier than Bohlmann, Barry, Harrison, Mischke, Gurgle, or Mirthless Mark Schroeder, DP Robert Mueller, DP John Seifert, Paul Kuske, Floyd Luther Stolzenburg, and a few dozen Church Growth experts.
I was Facebook friends with Who's Who in Church Growth Waldo Werning. His last message to me was, "Are you staying out of trouble?" I wrote back, "No."
The litmus test must be one about doctrine, not popularity. What does he believe, teach, and confess?
Plagiarism of Roman Catholic Propaganda
McCain betrayed his office by dishonestly promoting the Roman Catholic Church, through his own blog, Cyberbrethren, and also with the help of clueless Jack Cascione, yet another Ft. Wayne graduate.
As I revealed time after time, McCain copied and pasted verbatim the various saint fantasies of The Catholic Encyclopedia on his blog, omitting the dead give-aways like "nilhil obstat" and "imprimatur" with Catholic officials' names. His less-than-discerning readers thanked him for his great posts. He modestly published their comments and responded favorably to their praise. He also copied the material of his friends' blogs and barely hinted at their origins.
Jack Cascione, guardian of the galaxy, kept publishing McCain's posts by letting him write something like "Today is St. Hoodwink's Day. We pray..." and there followed a link to McCain's plagiarism from The Catholic Encyclopedia. His CPH boss unfriended me and refused to do anything for a long time. Cascione kept publishing McCain until repeated posts from me seemed to reach his gallery.
One plagiarism example is posted here. The man who demanded apologies never apologized for his plagiarism of Catholic and Lutheran sources, but we all know the LCMS is infallible.
Forgiveness without Faith - Objective Justification
Even worse - if that is possible - was McCain's posturing about Lutheran doctrine while repudiating Justification by Faith.
As one LCMS couple wrote, and I paraphrase, "How can someone go through seminary and not know we are justified by faith? OJ is a tangle of contradictions."
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| Is it ironic or logical that Edward Preuss, a Concordia professor, became a Roman Catholic editor after publishing his essay, which LCMS OJists adore? And also - Robert Preus repudiated OJ in his last book, Justification and Rome. |
