MOORHEAD-Theodore Roosevelt was a prodigious worker known for tiring out his staff. He needed two stenographers as he would wear one out dictating letters, according to Joe Wiegand, who himself is prodigious, traveling the country as a reprisor of the nation's 26th president.
Wiegand, of San Diego, recently concluded his fourth season performing as Roosevelt in Medora, N.D., and has signed on for another three summers in the tourist town that celebrates Roosevelt's time in the state.
He brings his Roosevelt to Moorhead on Friday for Concordia College's Lorentzsen Luncheon. Wiegand also took part in a Lorentzsen Luncheon on Wednesday in Bismarck.
Faith Ngunjiri, director of Concordia's Offutt School of Business Lorentzsen Center for Faith and Work, said that with Friday being the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, organizers of the longstanding event wanted somebody who could speak from a historical perspective.
"His focus is going to be around faith and duty," she said of Wiegand.
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The overall goal of the Lorentzsen Luncheons is to "bring people together and talk about issues of ethics, issues of values, and how these connect to the world of leadership today," Ngunjiri said. Attendees of the monthly school-year luncheons largely come from the business community, she said.
"TR was a very entrepreneurial character," Ngunjiri said, "so it's not very hard for (Wiegand) to draw out the values that guided TR's life and how those similar values could drive business people's lives today."
Wiegand said part of the role of president is to provide a moral viewpoint for the American people, and that Roosevelt's morality was strongly based on his own Christian faith.
"Part of my responsibility is to share a little bit of Theodore Roosevelt the man of faith," Wiegand said. "He was a man of deep and abiding Christian faith, though he didn't wear it on his sleeve, though he did coin the phrase 'bully pulpit.' "
Wiegand said Roosevelt also felt a responsibility of being a good steward of natural resources. He often conducted business out in nature, for example, taking associates swimming in the Potomac.
Wiegand said he'll encourage attendees to "make the outdoors part of your boardroom."
The registration deadline has passed for Friday's luncheon. The next Lorentzsen Luncheon will be Oct. 9 and will feature Concordia alumna Leann Wolff, coach and trainer with Great Outcomes Consulting, talking about the role of other religions in forming her viewpoints.
On Nov. 13, Dr. Margaret Benefiel, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Shalem Institute will speak on "The Soul of a Leader." The Dec. 4 Lorentzsen Luncheon features Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., talking about "Values and Political Leadership."
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For more information, visit www.tinyurl.com/lorentzsen .
