LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Page 60

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60 REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

versations. Among the topics discussed were: college
presidential vacancies, problems at the Fort Wayne sem-
inary, items on the Council of Presidents’ agenda, joint
worship services, dual memberships, the President’s re-
port to district conventions, women’s issues, the interna-
tional impact of the Synod, continuing education programs,
the Peace in the Parish program, the role of lay ministers,
minority concerns, candidacy of a divorced pastor for a
district presidency, free conferences, the charismatic
movement, the Lutheran Church—Canada, a district res-
ident-theologian program, stewardship materials, circuit
counselor meetings, and numerous cases involving disci-
pline and offense. On separate occasions, the Praesidium
met with two district presidents concerning issues within
their districts. Already in 1982, discussions began within
meetings of the Praesidium on the desirability of devel-
oping a regionalized approach whereby the Vice-Presi-
dents might provide expanded monitoring and support
services for the districts and their leadership. However,
because of the deaths of two Vice-Presidents and the press
of other duties, this plan could not be developed or imple-
mented during the past triennium.

The Bylaws of the Synod provide that the Secretary of
the Synod may also carry out various assignments for the
President’s office. Dr. Rosin has provided a great deal of
assistance with correspondence, constitutional counsel,
representation at various meetings, staff services for the
Council of Administrators and the Council of Presidents,
and in providing support services for a number of special
committees and commissions meeting throughout the
triennium.

Dr. Arthur Kuehnert, former president of the Central
Illinois District, has provided invaluable service as my as-
sistant since October 1985. Ms. Jean Buettner, adminis-
trative assistant, and a team of one full-time secretary and
two part-time clerical helpers handle the many details and
correspondence associated with the President and First
Vice-President.

The St. Louis based officers, together with the admin-
istrative officer of the Board of Directors and the executive
secretaries of the Commission on Theology and Church
Relations and the Board for Communication Services, meet
frequently as the “Officers’ Round Table” to provide mutual
counsel, support, and planning for a number of activities
and issues.

Council of Presidents. The Council of Presidents, con-
sisting of our district presidents together with the syn-
odical President and Vice-Presidents, has continued to
provide excellent leadership, counsel, and support. The
council, chaired by Dr. August Mennicke, not only spends
considerable time and effort in discharging its responsi-
bilities as the Synod’s Board for Assignments for our
professional church workers, but has been involved in a
number of studies dealing with church relations, the min-
istry of women in the church, and the office of the ministry.
During the triennium, it met twice with our seminary fa-
culties in order to consider a number of ways to strengthen
and support pastoral ministry in the Synod.

In the district conventions held in 1985, 13 new district
presidents were elected. A special orientation program was
conducted for them in September 1985. At that time, all

district presidents were presented with a silver pectoral
cross in the form of the synodical logo as a symbol of the
supervisory office that Synod has entrusted to them. The’
costs of the orientation program and of the crosses were
covered by a special non-budget grant to the Synod.

Supervision of Boards and Commissions. Synodical By-
laws provide that the President shall ordinarily carry out
his supervisory responsibilities with reference to the pro-:
gram and support services boards through the adminis.
trative officer of the Board of Directors (cf. Bylaw 2.101 ;'
and 2.193 b 2). In May 1985 the Board of Directors, in an
effort to clarify the responsibilities of the administrative
officer while providing him some relief from his many
pressing duties, requested that I carry out these respon-
sibilities through someone else. I concurred with that re-
quest and delegated such responsibilities to Vice-
Presidents Sauer and Hyatt, and subsequently adjusted
those assignments after the death of Dr. Hyatt. The Bylaws
also provide that the President is ultimately responsible ©
for the day-to-day supervision of the synodical staff in ac-
cordance with the policies of the Synod and the decisions
of the boards and commissions under which the executives
serve (cf. Bylaw 2.101 h). Because of the size of the staff
and also because of the fact that executives are primarily
responsible to their own boards and commissions, such
day-to-day supervision is in practice delegated to the top
unit executives for their subordinates, with the unit ex-
ecutives in turn supervised by the President or those rep-
resenting him. I am extremely grateful for the warm and
collegial relationship enjoyed by the officers and staffs of
the Synod and for their fine cooperation. It must be noted,
however, that there are potential problems in this area,
both because of the lack of sufficient personnel and because
lines of accountability are not as precisely spelled out in
the Bylaws as they might be.

Supervision of Doctrine and Administration. The syn-
odical Constitution provides that the President has the
supervision regarding the doctrine and the administration
of all officers of the Synod, all such as are employed by the
Synod, the individual districts of the Synod, and all district
presidents. The Constitution further states that it is the
President’s duty to see to it that all of the aforementioned
act in accordance with the Synod’s Constitution, to ad-
monish all who in any way depart from it, and if such
admonition is not heeded, to report such cases to the Synod
(Art. XI). While the President always has the power “to
advise, admonish, and reprove,” neither the Constitution
nor the Bylaws confer upon him the authority to remove
people from office. Moreover, the Bylaws clearly assign dis-
trict presidents the responsibility of supervising the doc-
trine, life, and official administration of the pastors and
teachers of each district, as well as inquiring into the pre-
vailing spiritual conditions of each district congregation
(cf. Bylaw 3.73). In other words, the Constitution and By-
laws set before us a highly decentralized approach to the
doctrinal supervision of individual pastors, teachers, and
congregations. With that in mind, the Vice-Presidents and
I are very careful to follow through on every complaint,
question, or reported irregularity by asking the appropri
ate district president to act to make sure that the Synod §
doctrine and policies are being carried out. Similarly, 1"

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