# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_November 1 2 2012_S1
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

MINUTES
COMMISSION ON HANDBOOK
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
International Center
November 1–2, 2012

53. Call to Order / Opening Prayer
Chairman Gordon Tresch called the meeting to order and called on Walter Rosin for an opening prayer.
All members of the commission were present for the meeting.
54. 2013 Overture To Create Staggered Terms for Members of Certain Boards and Commissions
(11-020)
Secretary Raymond Hartwig provided a draft of a 2013 convention overture for proposed bylaw changes
to accomplish staggered terms for the two mission boards and the Commission on Handbook, overlooked
by the 2010 convention. After discussion, the following overture was adopted for submission to the
convention.
Overture to 2013 Convention
To Create Staggered Terms for Members of Certain Boards and Commissions
WHEREAS, The 2010 convention of the Synod created new boards for international and national
mission and changed the composition and appointment process of the Commission on Handbook; and
WHEREAS, The 2010 convention failed to give thought to the advisability of creating staggered
terms for these new board and commission positions, resulting in the election or appointment of all
members for six-year terms; and
WHEREAS, This failure to create staggered terms has created the possibility of a total turnover of
board and commission membership each six years, potentially resulting in a corresponding loss of
continuity; therefore be it
Resolved, In order to enable the 2016 convention to create a staggering of terms by electing onehalf of all mission board members to three-year terms, that Bylaws 3.8.2.2 and 3.8.3.2 be amended as
follows:
PRESENT/PROPOSED WORDING
3.8.2.2 The Board for National Mission shall be comprised of eleven members:
1. Five laypersons and five individual members of the Synod (one of each from each
region of the Synod) elected in the same manner as are all other regional elections
(Bylaws 3.12.1 and 3.12.2.5)
2. The President of the Synod or his representative
In 2016, the laypersons elected from the Great Plains and East/Southeast regions and the
individual members of the Synod elected from the West/Southwest, Central, and Great Lakes
regions shall be elected for three-year terms.