# LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters Minutes_St. Louis Missouri_September 15 1978_S3
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

111. Pastors on District Board of Directors (Ag.1311): The new President of the Kansas District, George
Bruening, had asked whether the designation "four pastors" as members of the District Board of Directors
meant that these pastors would need to be parish pastors or whether they could be anyone on the clergy
roster of the Synod. The Secretary had replied that generally the word is accepted in its wider sense in the
bylaws unless the bylaws themselves limit the designation to parish pastors, but had also suggested that
the remainder of the bylaws be checked very carefully to see whether these four pastors were regarded as
representing the congregations of the District. The Commission ratified this reply.
112. Conflict of Interest (Ag. 1317): President 0'Shoney of Texas had asked whether an individual could
serve both as a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas District and of the Lutheran Social Service
of Texas, or whether this constituted conflict of interest. The Commission felt that not enough
information had been supplied to make a ruling under Bylaw 2.15 and also decided to inform President
0'Shoney that if the matter had not as yet been decided, then under the terms of the bylaw the question
should perhaps be addressed to the synodical President for decision but that more information should be
supplied to Dr. Preus.
113. Quorum for Changing Congregational Constitution (Ag 1319): Rev. Herbert G. Walther of Danville,
Illinois, whose congregation had a one-third quorum rule regarding amending the Constitution and taking
other important actions, had asked whether this referred to one-third of the members present at a meeting
or one-third of the voting members on the books. The Secretary had replied that it obviously referred to
one-third of the total number of voting members on the books of the congregation and that this was not at
all uncommon. He indicated that if a major proposal would not be of sufficient interest to bring one-third
of the voting members to a meeting, it could hardly be regarded as important in the eyes of the
congregation. The Commission ratified the reply.
114. Indemnification of District Officials (Ag. 995): For a long time the Commission had had on its
agenda the request of President Zeile of the New Jersey District for a proposed bylaw draft regarding the
indemnification of District officials. No reply had been received from the Commission's request to legal
counsel Phil Draheim. However, it was reported at this time that Mr. Draheim would make a presentation
to the Council of Presidents regarding this matter at the meeting to be held in the following week. It was
resolved to relay this information to President Zeile and then to remove the item from the docket.
115. Cincinnati Federation of Lutheran Churches (Ag 1205): Since by means of a carbon copy the
Commission has become aware of the fact that this request has now been addressed to the CTCR, as
suggested by the CCM, the Commission resolved to remove the item from its docket.
116. Task Force Report (Ag. 1266): It was stated that the Task Force was meeting at this very time to
draft their final report for the parishes and for the Convention Workbook.
117. Termination of Call to Dual Parish (Ag. 1288, A,B,C): Since the CTCR had now entered into
correspondence with Chairman C. W. Gade of the North Wisconsin Board of Missions regarding this
problem, the Commission resolved to remove the item from its own agenda.
118. Southern District President and Seminex Vicars (Ag. 1296B): Rev. M. H. Lehnhardt had written
another letter complaining with specific details about the Southern District president and his continued
use of Seminex vicars. The Commission took note of this information and decided to remove the matter
from the agenda.