prior to 1839, a group of lutherans of the evangelical lutheran tennessee synod moved from western north carolina and eastern tennessee to southeast missouri. in 1872, a free conference was held in gravelton, missouri, with participants from that group, the lcms, the holston synod, and the norwegian synod. the lcms president, c. f. w. walther, urged the tennessee synod members to organize themselves as a conference of the tennessee synod, the english (evangelical) lutheran conference of missouri.