LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 149

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ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION 149

President(s) and Area Vice Presidents, shall perform such functions
as may be directed from time to time by the Board of Directors, the
President, or any Executive Vice President.

g. The Treasurer, as the chief financial officer, shall be the
custodian of all funds, securities. and financial records of the LCEF.
He shall make such financial reports as the Board of Directors may
require.

h. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the
Members and of the Board of Directors, shall be custodian of the seal
of the LCEF, and shall make such reports as the Board of Directors
may require.

In this same meeting the members adopted the following
nominating process in the preparation ofa slate for the election
of directors by the members:

Resolved, To contact the President of the Synod and all Districts
of the Synod, prior to June 1, in advance of the Annual Meeting, for
the purpose of announcing the election of LCEF Directors (CEF
Board) and the fact that they have the opportunity to place names in
nomination for board membership.

The President of the Synod and the individual Districts may
determine the board or committee to be responsible for nominating
the appropriate individuals. Biographical data and qualifications
on the individuals nominated should be provided.

The names of nominees together with appropriate data should be
submitted by September 1, in advance of the Annual Meeting.

The Board of Directors of the LCEF will serve as the Nominating
Committee.

The Nominating Committee will review the names proposed by
the President of the Synod and Districts, and prepare a slate of
nominees for the Membership consisting of two candidates for each
director position subject to election. The Nominating Committee
may only nominate additional individuals in those situations where
bylaw requirements for either regional directors or roster require
ments could not be satisfied based on nominations received.

Individuals making up the final listing of nominees are to be
contacted in advance of the Annual Meeting to insure a willingness
to serve if elected.

Nominations may also be made from the floor.

In the annual meeting in November 1982 the members
elected the following to serve on the Board of Directors of
Lutheran Church Extension Fund, also serving as the Church
Extension Board of the Synod:

Mr. Karl Abel—Oklahoma District

Mr. Jim Bode—Florida-Georgia District

Mr. Fred A. Forster—English District

Rev. Donald Glass—Mid-South District

Mr. John R. Gossin—Nebraska District

Mr. Ernst Heinecke—North Wisconsin District

Mr. Ken Lien—Northwest District

Rev. Lowell Rusch—Michigan District

Dr. Norman D. Sell as the Treasurer of the Synod is the
ninth member of the Board of Directors.

The officers of Lutheran Church Extension Fund are:

Mr. Arthur C. Haake, president

Rev. John E. Mever, executive vice-president

Dr. Norman D. Sell, treasures (The Treasurer of the Synod is
the treasurer of LCEF.)

Mr. Clair C. Christensen. vice-president—accounting
services

Mr. Fred C. Forster, secretary

Mr. George Adams, assistant secretary

Mr. Fred C. Sticht, assistant treasurer

The area vice-presidents already mentioned elsewhere also
serve as officers of Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

Advance Sites

Presently LCEF holds 85 advance sites located in 18 areas.
These primary areas are:

Atlanta Phoenix

Atlantic County, NJ. Portland

Chicago Riverside County, Calif.
Dallas-Fort Worth San Diego

Denver San Francisco

Detroit Tampa

Houston Toronto, Ont.

Los Angeles Tucson

Miami Washington, D.C.

These sites are purchased after a study of a given com-
munity and projections for growth into certain areas. It is
expected that District sites will be used not sooner than 5 years
or later than 15 years after purchase. In addition the English,
New Jersey, Oklahoma, Minnesota North, Florida-Georgia,
North Dakota, and Wyoming Districts transferred 26 advance
sites into LCEF.

The loan support program is a special “in-house” invest-
ment program. Districts, colleges and seminaries, and agen-
cies of our Synod are encouraged to place their dollars into this
loan support program. They may do so on a demand basis, or
for one-, three-, or five-year terms. The total investment as of
December 1982 stood at $24,975,915. These are the funds which
not only gain a rate of interest for the participants but are
dollars which flow into the “pool” to assist in maintaining a
position of liquidity and from which allocations can be made
for the capital needs of our church. Almost every District now
has investments in the “Support Dollar Fund.” Truly this is
another demonstration of Synod at work—working together in
service to our God.

Various investment opportunities are offered to all our
members. A Flexible Investment Certificate which can be
initiated for as little as $10 and to which the investor can add or
withdraw at any time has become very popular. The interest
rate is 64%. Quarterly statements are furnished each investor
detailing the activities in Church Extension and showing the
accrued interest. A Special Congregation Flexible Investment
Certificate is designed especially for our congregations and its
organizations. One hundred dollars is required to open such a
certificate and the amount of interest changes with the total
amount invested. Financial statements from many congre-
gations show dollars in banks for cemetery funds, scholarship
funds, repair funds, athletic funds, choir funds, etc. If all of our
congregations placed their excess funds or special reserve
funds in LCEF, many, many additional loans could be made.
Remember that dollars can be added to these funds and
withdrawn at any time. Both flexible certificates may requirea
30-day notice for withdrawal.

At its first meeting in 1983 the Board of Directors elected
Mr. Karl Abel as chairman, the Rev. Lowell Rusch as vice-
chairman and Mr. Fred Forster as secretary. The Board also
operates with several committees: executive committee, per-
sonnel committee, finance committee, advance site committee,
and promotion committee.

In an effort to comply with security regulators in all the
States and/or give full disclosure to all who invest in Church
Extension, the Board of Directors resolved to ask all Districts
in the U.S. to have an offering circular prepared by April 1983.
While many Districts already have such a prospectus or
offering circular, those without one are requested to have such
a document with financials, policies. and other vital and
pertinent information.

Canadian Corporation

Fora variety of legal reasons it is no longer practical for the
Lutheran Church Extension Fund (CEB-Synod) to relate to
individual congregations and Districts in Canada. To deal
with this whole question a series of meetings have been held
during the last biennium with representatives of the three
Canadian Districts and with the several U.S. Districts with
congregations located in Canada to develop a program to carry
out Church Extension work in Canada. Initial steps have been
taken to form a separate corporation in Canada to perform
Church Extension work in Canada to properly deal with the
several legal questions and to also be consistent with the
formation of a separate Lutheran Church—Canada.

Two financial reports are appended. One is ‘District
Church Extension Funds... Combined Balance Sheets.” The
other is the most recent audited report of Lutheran Church
Extension Fund as prepared by Ernst & Whinney.

Lutheran Church Extension Fund continues to ask for your
prayers, your suggestions, your support. If investors in Lu-
theran Church Extension Fund could double from 50,000 to
100,000 and then grow by 10% each year, soon the fund would
be large enough to take care of all the capital needs of our
Synod and its congregations. Help the dream become a reality.