# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1998_S286 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 284 BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEE Wuereas, The report does not seek to change Bylaw 4.71 a and remove the title “chief executive officer” from District Presidents as well; and WuerEas, Removing the title “Chief Executive Officer” from the synodical President while retaining it for District Presidents is inconsistent and confusing, and can prove to become a source of further misunderstanding, confusion, and controversy; therefore be it Resolved, That the Blue Ribbon Committee Report as distrib- uted to the Synod be rejected; and be it further Resolved, That the same Blue Ribbon Committee be charged with making a new report to the Synod that reconciles the incon- sistency between the proposed Bylaw 3.101 a and the existing Bylaw 4.71 a. Hope Akron, OH 8-05 To Retain Present Method of Election of Directors of Entities WHEREAS, The Blue Ribbon Committee on Structure’s proposal in Bylaw 3.55 calls for one-third of the members of the LCEF Board of Directors to be elected by the synodical convention, and WHEREAS, This proposed change would provide a basis for a participating District to initiate the process to remove itself from membership in the LCEF; and WHEREAS, The ability of each participating District in LCEF to influence the policies of LCEF by electing its Board of Directors is what has made LCEF the responsive organization it is today; there- fore be it Resolved, That Synod retain the present procedures in the elec- tion of directors of entities. Board of Directors Lutheran Church Extension Fund 8-06 To Adopt Nov. 14, 1997, Blue Ribbon Committee Proposal on Higher Education WuEREAS, Our Lord has richly blessed the development of our Synod’s colleges and seminaries since the very beginning of our church body; and WHEREAS, Until recent years our colleges were created and maintained primarily for the purpose of preparing young men and women for the teaching ministry, or to prepare young men to be able to enter postgraduate studies in our seminaries with the goal of ordination into the pastoral ministry, and WuerEAS, Under the above system it made much sense for our Synod to establish one umbrella board called the Board for Higher Education, whose task it was to coordinate the colleges and semi- naries in a unified system of higher education; and Wuereas, In recent years our colleges have, under the blessing of God, branched out into a much wider variety of programs of ed- ucation than only that of preparing workers for the pastoral and the teaching ministries of the church, including many vocations which are not intended to be church-related in any sense; and WuerEas, This has resulted in the formation of the Concordia University System and in the addition of more members to both the Board for Higher Education and the respective local boards of re- gents of the colleges and universities, while keeping the member- ship of the seminaries’ boards of regents to nine members each, thus exhibiting the fact that Synod recognizes the differences be- tween pastoral education and other types of education; and WHEREAS, The seminaries, with the exception of their graduate schools, have as their nearly exclusive purpose the training of or- dained pastors and missionaries, a task which is very different from that of training teachers and even more different from that of edu- cating people to serve in non-church-related vocations; and WHEREAS, Among these differences are certain government reg- ulations and requirements connected with student loans and grants, the average ages of the students, the experiences or lack thereof in life, the kinds of housing needed, the kinds of library facilities re- quired, the types of accrediting agencies involved, and many other distinct differences which exist between post-bachelor seminary education and bachelor college-university education; and WHEREAS, The configuration of authority as proposed by the President’s Blue Ribbon Committee in its report of Nov. 14, 1997, would create a CUS (Concordia University System) board and a Seminary board separate from each other but with very adequate liaison between the two boards, thus taking into consideration the above differences in types of education as outlined above; there- fore be it Resolved, That our Synod in convention adopt the proposal for Higher Education in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as recommended by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Nov. 14, 1997. Board of Regents Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, IN 8-07 To Merge Seminary Boards of Regents WHEREAS, Boards of Regents are primarily responsible for poli- cies at synodical educational institutions, and not for administra- tive decisions regarding faculty, curriculum, finance and student affairs; and WHEREAS, It is desirable that policies related to these matters in the preparation of candidates for the pastoral ministry be as uni- form as possible; and Wuereas, The primary concern of the Synod is not where can- didates are prepared, but how well they are prepared in order that the Synod is assured of a quality and quantity of pastoral candi- dates to meet its changing and future needs; and WHEREAS, Administrative issues at our seminaries in recent years have at times negatively impacted the confidence of some in the Synod and its seminaries; and WHEREAS, It is desirable that preparation of pastoral candidates be carried out with as much coordination and as little duplication as possible; and WHEREAS, Individuality and specialization with a single Board of Regents can still be maintained by reason of the character and quality of the faculties and a separate administration at each semi- nary; and WHEREAS, The President’s Blue Ribbon Committee has recom- mended a restructuring of the Board for Higher Education to in- clude a Standing Committee for Pastoral Education, thereby in- creasing the size of the Board; and WHEREAS, The concerns of the President’s Blue Ribbon Com- mittee for pastoral education could be met through a less costly and more direct approach; therefore be it Resolved, That the Boards of Regents of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, be merged into a single Board of Regents responsible to the Synod for these two institutions; and be it further Resolved, That the single Board of Regents consist of eleven members, eight of whom are elected by the convention of Synod (three pastors, one teacher and four laymen), and be it further Resolved, That from among the District Presidents, two are also elected by the convention of the Synod to serve as members of the single seminary Board of Regents; and be it further Resolved, That the remaining member of the Board of Regents shall be the President of the Synod or his representative, and be it further