# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2010_S70
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

70

SYNOD REPORTS

—President’s Church Relations Cabinet
—Ablaze! Ambassadors
—American Association of Lutheran Churches
—Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
—Fan into Flame Cabinet
—President’s National Outreach Cabinet
—Blue Ribbon Task Force on Funding the Mission
—Board for Pastoral Education (President’s representative)
—Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance
—Praesidium
—Chapel Advisory Committee
—National Circuit Counselors’ Conference Committee
The Praesidium, which includes the President of the Synod and
the five vice-presidents, met regularly for prayer, Bible study, and discussion of Synod matters. The Praesidium gave counsel on a variety
of matters as requested by the President of the Synod, district presidents, and others.
In the past three years, I had occasion to visit each of our seminaries and Concordia University campuses, attend the LCEF Fall
Leadership Conferences, attend 15 district conventions, speak at various professional church worker conferences, preach at a number of
congregations around the Synod, and address a variety of groups
within the Synod. I regularly attended meetings of the Operations
Committee of the Lutheran Malaria Initiative, mostly via telephone
conference calls with a few face-to-face meetings.
This past triennium, I have worked through Wayne Knollhoff,
Synod stewardship executive, in coordinating stewardship communications throughout the Synod.
The First Vice-President has served this past triennium as chairman of the Colloquy Committee for Pastoral Ministry and the
Colloquy Committee for Commissioned Ministry. Through this process, the Lord has provided to the congregations of our Synod many
qualified commissioned ministers and ordained pastors.
For this past triennium, it has been my distinct privilege to serve
with President Kieschnick, the Praesidium, the other Synod officers
and staff, and the Council of Presidents. The Lord has blessed The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod with rich resources and godly
leadership.
William R. Diekelman, First Vice-President
R4-02

Secretary
Since my election as Secretary of the Synod in 1998, I have
been blessed with the very faithful and proficient assistance of Pearl
Houghton, loyal co-worker and veteran servant of the Synod, who
made it possible for two persons to carry out the considerable responsibilities of this office. When the Board of Directors offered her an
opportunity for retirement in 2009, Pearl accepted the well-deserved
offer and left the Synod’s employment after more than 35 years of
faithful service.
Although most other vacated positions at the International Center
have not been filled, the assistant position in the Secretary’s Office
was granted the rare exception. Since August 2009, I have been
blessed with another very capable assistant, Pam Weeke, who has
brought her considerable International Center skills and experience
to the position. Aided by Pearl’s timely assistance during the transition, the manifold responsibilities associated with the Secretary’s
Office have been carried out without interruption, also during this
very busy pre-convention time.

And speaking of assistance, one of those responsibilities of this
office is the supervision of the ongoing maintenance of the official
roster of the Synod. This is made possible by the faithful and careful work of the Synod’s Rosters and Statistics Department. These
other assistants, although not directly associated with the Secretary’s
Office, receive and handle the constant flow of detailed information
received from the 35 district offices that is essential for maintaining
an official, accurate, and up-to-date roster of the Synod’s membership.
Bylaw Responsibilities
Bylaw 3.3.3 requires the Secretary of the Synod to perform all the
duties of a secretary of a not-for-profit corporation. As such, I have
served as the secretary and a voting member of the Board of Directors,
supervised the use of its seal and lists, and signed its official documents when appropriate. In addition to keeping the board’s minutes,
I have also published Board Briefs, quarterly inserts in the Synod’s
Reporter to keep the Synod at large informed of board decisions and
actions. These board-related duties, however, are only a fraction of
the responsibilities of the Secretary that are detailed in the Bylaws,
beginning with duties associated with the Synod’s conventions.
In the Secretary’s Office, conventions of the Synod are not separated by three years. Preparations begin already two years prior, only
a month or two after matters related to the previous convention have
finally been handled. Bylaw 3.3.3.1 articulates some of the Secretary’s
responsibilities associated with conventions of the Synod, including
managing the nominations process for the Praesidium, assisting the
committees for nominations and elections, developing and maintaining the lists of voting and advisory delegates, making the necessary
official announcements in the Synod’s periodicals, carrying out secretarial duties during the sessions of the convention, conducting the
constitutional amendment ballot following the convention, and editing and publishing all convention materials, including the Convention
Workbook, all issues of Today’s Business, the Proceedings, and a
revised edition of the Handbook of the Synod incorporating the preceding convention’s constitutional and bylaw decisions. This time
around, these considerable responsibilities have been made even more
interesting by the report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod
Structure and Governance.
Bylaw 3.3.3.2 and random bylaws throughout the Handbook add
additional responsibilities to the office, duties that are associated with
many of the core functions of the Synod. Accordingly, during the
past triennium:
• As the secretary and a non-voting member of the CCM, I participated in its discussions, prepared its minutes and other
documents, and disseminated its opinions.
• As administrator of the Synod’s dispute resolution process, I
saw to the selection and training of the Synod’s 140 reconcilers and 25 hearing facilitators, and guided and facilitated the
use of the process throughout the Synod.
• As editor of The Lutheran Annual, I have worked closely with
the Rosters and Statistics Department and with Concordia
Publishing House to provide a timely, accurate, and userfriendly publication that serves as the official public listing of
the official membership and organizations of the Synod. Each
year new features have been added to serve the needs of the
Synod, its members, and those outside the Synod who use the
Annual to locate specific services or ministries.
• As required by bylaw, the Secretary’s Office maintains a file of
all governing instruments of all agencies of the Synod. Much
work has been done in this area during the past triennium as a

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