# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2010_S163
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

SYNOD STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE
tors—Concordia Plan Services), including executive sessions .
(the President or his representative serves as a voting member of
the mission boards and serves as a voting member of the Board
of Directors) .
(1) The President’s representative shall normally be a
member of the aAdministrative tTeam .
(2) The President shall, in reasonable time, receive notice of such meetings, the proposed agenda, and minutes
thereof .
(d)(e) He shall engage in consultation with each program
board, commission, and the governing board of each synodwide
corporate entity to reach mutual concurrence on a slate of candidates for the position of chief executive or executive director .
(f) As ecclesiastical supervisor, he shall provide leadership
to all officers, agencies, and national office staff of the Synod .
Through the Chief Mission Officer, he shall
(1) coordinate the content of communications, public
relations, and news and information provided by the Synod .
(2) coordinate and supervise all fund-raising and planned
giving activity by the national Synod and its agencies .
(3) serve the Synod by providing leadership, coordination, and oversight for pre-seminary education programs,
seminary education, and post-seminary continuing education, and by providing advocacy for pastoral education and
health within the Synod .
(e)(g) He shall consult with the vice-presidents, as elected
advisers, whenever important and difficult Synod, inter-Lutheran, and partner church questions arise .
(i)(h) He shall establish the duties and responsibilities of the
First Vice-President in consultation with the First Vice-President .
(g)(i) He shall make an official report at each meeting of the
Synod in convention .
(h)(j) He shall approve the draft of the Convention Proceedings before it is published by the Secretary of the Synod .
(i)(k) He shall have the right to authorize the vice-presidents
to perform the duties of his office and hold them responsible
for their performance . Accountability, however, shall always remain with the President .
(j)(l) He shall exercise executive power when the affairs of
the Synod demand it and when he has been expressly invested
with such power by the Synod in convention .
(k)(m) He shall be authorized, in the event that the affairs of
the Synod require the exercise of executive power for a purpose
for which there is no specific directive of the Synod, to exercise such power after consultation with the vice-presidents, the
Board of Directors of the Synod, or the Council of Presidents,
whichever in his judgment is most appropriate . Any member of
the Synod shall have the right to appeal such action to the Commission on Constitutional Matters and/or the Synod in convention, whichever is appropriate . The Lutheran Church Extension
Fund—Missouri Synod is exempt from this bylaw .
(l)(n) He shall in the interval between meetings of the Synod
in convention appoint special boards or committees whenever
the purpose for which the Synod has been organized requires
or when conditions arising in the course of time demand such
action .

163

and that Bylaw 6 .2, initially printed in Today’s Business, pp .
322-324, be replaced with the following:
6.2 Recognized Service Organizations
6 .2 .1 The granting of recognized service organization status
by the Synod signifies that a service organization, while independent of the Synod, fosters the mission and ministry of the
church, engages in program activity that is in harmony with the
programs of the boards of the Synod, and respects and does not
act contrary to the doctrine and practice of the Synod .
(a) Under the governance and policies of its own board, a
recognized service organization operates with freedom and selfdetermination as a ministry organization independent of the
Synod or districts or member congregations of the Synod in the
establishment and evaluation of its own objectives, activities,
and programs, in organization and administration, and in financial matters .
(b) The Board of Directors of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod shall adopt common policies for granting recognized service organization status .
(c) Each operating other granting office or agency of the
Synod may also adopt policies and criteria approved by the
LCMS Board of Directors to assure that the office or agency’s
unique needs are met .
6 .2 .2 According to policies adopted by the Synod Board of
Directors, recognized service organization status may be granted by the Office of National Mission, the Office of International
Mission, the boards of the synodwide corporate entities, and
other agencies as identified in the Board of Directors’ policy, to
a service organization (other than an auxiliary) that extends the
mission and ministry of the Synod but is not part of the Synod
as defined by its Constitution and Bylaws .
(a) RequestsApplications for recognized service organization status shall be made to the Office of the Secretary of the
Synod for processing according to policies developed by the
Synod’s Board of Directors the board of the Synod to which the
organization desires to relate .
(b) Within the area of its responsibility and in accordance
with the Synod Board of Directors’ policy, each granting office
or agency of the Synod may determine those organizations to
which recognized service organization status will be granted .
6 .2 .3 Each granting agency authorized by the Synod Board
of Directors policy of the Synod shall adopt policies requiring
each recognized service organization to give its assurance in its
governing documents that recognition as a service organization
is not an endorsement by the Synod or a guarantee of financial
responsibility for the debts and obligations of the organization
or for services provided or offered .

Action: Adopted (3)
(During discussion, an amendment was introduced and carried
to insert “who shall be a minister of religion–ordained” after the
word “(CMO)” in the third resolve [Yes: 636; No: 539] . A motion
to amend the third and fourth resolves by replacing “four” with
“three” was accepted by the committee as a friendly amendment .
The committee also agreed to strike the second-last resolve as an
unintentional duplication . When an amendment was introduced
to delete the third resolve advocating changing the title “VicePresident–Finance—Treasurer” to “Chief Financial Officer,” the
2010 Convention Proceedings