LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1962, Page 4

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FOREWORD

The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod met for its
forty-fifth regular convention in Cleveland, Ohio, from
Wednesday, June 20, to Friday noon, June 29, 1962.
Twenty-seven years had elapsed since the Synod last
convened in this delightful and hospitable metropolis
of Ohio, where two former Presidents of the Synod held
pastorates — Friedrich Konrad Dietrich Wyneken and
Heinrich Christian Schwan.

The Central and English District congregations of the
Greater Cleveland area were hosts to the convention
and, through their Convention Committee, made thor-
ough and painstaking preparations to assure a smooth-
functioning convention. Ample accommodations for
committee meetings had been arranged, and all of the
delegates were housed in hotels and motels.

Many of the floor committees met several days. prior
to the convention, notably Floor Committee 3 (Doctrinal
and Intersynodical Matters), which, in addition to
meetings on May 14—16 and June 14—16, had arranged
for two days of open hearings on Monday and Tuesday
prior to the convention, to provide sufficient time and
opportunity for a full and frank expression on the
various doctrinal issues brought to the attention of the
Synod in Reports and Memorials. Dr. Theodore Nickel,
chairman of Floor Committee 3, presided at the five
sessions of these open hearings, held in the ballroom of
the Cleveland Sheraton Hotel and attended by about
900 persons.

On the evening before the convention opened, a two-
hour briefing session was held to acquaint all delegates
with convention procedure and synodical operations.
Dr. J. W. Behnken and Dr. Oliver R. Harms addressed
the group, as did also two lay members of the Synod’s
Board of Directors — Mr. William F. Fenske and
Mr. Jay Pfotenhauer. After the close of the formal
meeting, the Lutheran Laymen’s League served as
hosts during a fellowship hour.

The sessions of the convention were held in Cleve-
land’s Public Auditorium, which was sufficiently large
to continue the arrangement of having all voting and
advisory delegates seated at tables on the main floor.
Interesting and instructive exhibits were presented by
official boards and committees, by church-affiliated
groups, and by commercial concerns dealing in ecclesi-
astical wares. These were placed on the lower floor of
the Public Auditorium. Here also a caterer served daily
noon luncheons to approximately 1,600 delegates and
visitors.

The opening service was held in the Public Audi-
torium and included celebration of the Holy Communion
with the mother church of Cleveland’s Lutheranism,
Zion Lutheran Congregation, assuming the role of host
congregation. Her pastor, the Reverend Clarence
Schuknecht, served as officiant, and Pastor Werner
Jurgens, chairman of the Convention Committee, as

celebrant, assisted by 19 clergymen of the area. Dr. E. T.
Bernthal delivered the confessional address, and Vice-
President Roland Wiederaenders preached the conven-
tion sermon, on the basis of 1 Corinthians 15:58, on the
theme “Stand Fast, but Do Not Stand Still.”

President J. W. Behnken, who told the convention:
“I shall . . . be grateful if you. elect another man to
the presidency,” presided at the sessions with an occa-
sional “assist” from the Vice-Presidents. Good order
prevailed at all of the nineteen sessions (which included
four evening sessions), also during the long hours de-
voted to the discussions on doctrine and church rela-
tions. Under the gracious guidance of the Head of the
church, the convention, which had been described as
the “crisis convention” by apprehensive members of
the Synod in preconvention days, resolved many of the
issues, through an evangelical approach, in a spirit of
loyalty to the Scripture and the Confessions. It closed
on a high note of gratitude to the Lord and confidence
in His continued guidance in the face of a challenging
future.

Morning and afternoon sessions were opened with
a devotional service which included, in the morning,
a 30-minute essay delivered by four professors, one
from each of our terminal schools. These essays have
been made part of the Procreprncs, as has also a com-
plete set of the minutes, prepared by Assistant Sec-
retary Pastor Herbert Mueller. Key statements by
Honorary President Behnken and newly elected Presi-
dent Harms have also been made a part of the printed
record.

Music for the convention was in charge of Edgar V.
Tassler, who scheduled various instrumental and choral
groups for the special services and the daily. morning
devotions. For the opening Communion service Frank-
lin O. Seboldt was at the organ, and William H. Arnholt
directed the Cleveland Lutheran Chorus and Orchestra.
A girls’ sextet from Lutheran High School West sang
at the Tuesday afternoon memorial service. At the
service for the installation of all elected synodical offi-
cers and board members, held on the evening of June 28,
Mr. Tassler directed the Cleveland Lutheran a Cappella
Choir.

Instrumental and choral groups for the morning
devotions, with their directors, included Lutheran High
School trumpeters (John Katt), combined Lutheran
High School choirs (Arnold Lehmann), combined Lu-
theran High School orchestras (Katt and Erwin
Witzke), combined Lutheran High School bands (Katt),
Lutheran Male Chorus (Donald Rousch), combined
bands of West Side Lutheran elementary schools (Katt),
Lutheran High School West Choir (Lehmann), Con-
vention Treble Choir (Tassler), and combined bands
of East Side Lutheran elementary schools (Witzke).

The pulpits of the congregations in the Greater
Cleveland area were filled on Convention Sunday,