LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1989, Page 67

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REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT 67

Part Il

~ Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

J am honored and delighted to welcome all of you—the
delegates, advisors, representatives, and friends of The Lu-
theran Church—Missouri Synod who are here to transact
the business of our beloved Synod in this 57th regular
convention.

The Constitution of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod requires the President to “give an accurate report
to the Synod of his administration at all sessions of the
Synod.” In keeping with that constitutional requirement,
Iam pleased to call your attention to two parts of my report
that have already been shared with you in writing.

Part 1 is in the Convention Workbook, pp. 1-6. In that
portion of the report, I have sought to call to the delegates’
attention some of the major areas of activity that have
engaged the President, Vice Presidents, officers, and staffs
of the Synod during the last three years.

The second part of the President’s convention report
was given at the meeting of the Floor Committees in St.
Louis on May 19, 1989. That report is found in Today’s
Business, pp. 24-28. You are wonderful delegates if you
have read all of the pages that have been sent to you in
the official mailings of the convention, including those from
my office. Words, words, words—it sometimes seems that
we're going to strain and crack under the burden of so
many words!

It isn’t only the reports of the President and others in
the Workbook that you’ve had to work your way through!
In the last two weeks you have also received a tremendous
amount of mail from various parts of the Synod. Much of
this has contained misleading information. Some of that
was no doubt unintentional, inasmuch as we many times
see things from different perspectives or don’t have access
to all of the facts and the figures. Although I have avoided
mailing anything to the delegates of this convention that
would appear to be arguing for the programs of this ad-
ministration or defending it against criticisms, I came to
realize in the last few days that much of what was sent to
you affects not only the President of the Synod but the
lives, careers, and activities of many others who serve in
the administration of the Synod. I have therefore prepared
some corrective information and asked the District Pres-
idents to share it with the delegates yesterday. If you were
not able to be present in the caucuses of your respective
Districts, perhaps you did not receive that handout. In that
case, I invite you to see your District President to receive
what I have written by way of response to some of the
misinformation that was sent to you. If the District Pres-
idents no longer have copies, you can get copies from the
President’s staff.

A number of the items treated in that document do not
pertain directly to the President’s office. Those of you who
are familiar with the structure and Constitution of the
Synod know that the Board of Directors has the primary
responsibility for the fiscal and legal management of the
Synod’s affairs; some of the mail you have received deals
with that general area. You should know that the Board
of Directors, like me and other administrators of the

church, take these questions and concerns very seriously.
Yesterday, for example, the Board of Directors took the
initiative and arranged for conversations with some of
those who had expressed criticisms. Perhaps at some point
early in the convention the board can share some of its
thoughts on that with you.

I wish you well as you do your job as a delegate. As I
mentioned to some of you in the orientation meetings yes-
terday, for the next week you are the leaders of The Lu-
theran Church—Missouri Synod. This leadership role will
continue throughout the next three years according to our
Bylaws, as you go back home and share what you did here.
Not only do I wish you well, but even more I pray for the
blessings of the Lord of the church as He leads and guides
you to make decisions on behalf of us all.

Responsibilities of the President

As the delegates review the reports of the President in
part 1 and part 2 (and we're going to do that together for
a few moments in order to highlight certain areas), I be-
lieve it’s also important to remind you of the responsibil-
ities which the Synod in its Constitution lays upon the
office of the President. I quote from Article XI: “The Pres-
ident 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.”

According to the Constitution of the Synod, the Presi-
dent must “see to it that all the aforementioned act in
accordance with the Synod’s Constitution. “What power
does he have to do this? Please read it carefully: he has
the power to “advise, admonish, and reprove.” The Con-
stitution says: “He shall conscientiously use all means at
his command to promote and maintain unity of doctrine
and practice in all the Districts of the Synod,” and he shall
“see to it that the resolutions of the Synod are carried out.”
As many of you know, the Bylaws of the Synod spell out
those responsibilities in greater detail. Please understand
that these important responsibilities of the President were
not placed in the constitution or Bylaws in just the last
few years but have been a part of our way of life since the
Constitution of the Synod was first adopted.

But nothing in the Constitution and Bylaws of the
Synod suggests that this office is an authoritarian, dic-
tatorial, or hierarchical office. It simply is not. Its incum-
bents have understood that its responsibilities and
accountabilities far exceed the actual authority the Synod
has placed into the office. In my judgment, that’s the way
it ought to be—even though it can be quite frustrating at
times. Why do I say that? Because the presidency of our
church body is a spiritual office. It is a ministry, a pastoral
office. To be sure, it’s a specialized ministry. People are in
a different relationship to the President than they are to
their own spiritual leader and pastor in their congrega-
tions, but much of it—like the call to service—is the same.
We nominate people for consideration. We ask the Spirit’s
guidance on our voting, and we truly believe that God has
given us someone in this office to exercise a pastorate, a