LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 68

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most diligently traced all these articles through the
Scriptures … . I am not drunk or irresponsible. I know what I
am saying, and I well realize what this will mean for me
before the Last Judgment at the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let no one make this out to be a joke or idle talk; I am
in dead earnest, since by the grace of God I have learned to
know a great deal about Satan. If he can twist and pervert
the Word of God and the Scriptures, what will he not be able
to do with my or someone else’s words?” (FC SD VII 30–31).
This kind of God-given depth of confession gives Godgiven depth of joy. Come what may, let us not shrink in the
face of all the world can throw at us. God help us!
The floor committees have, in my view, properly
handed several resolutions dealing with potentially
controversial issues — namely, congregations and districts
sending called workers overseas; ecclesiastical supervision;
and approvals for Licensed Lay Deacon (LLD) exceptions, or
SMP rostering of such men. The Synod is not a federation of
self-governing districts. As a Synod, we have universal
standards for church workers. The Districts have many
duties and great freedom in carrying out their work. But the
training of church workers and their rostering has been
constitutionally reserved to the Synod as a whole. The new
bylaws for LLD exceptions, with approvals made by the
Council of Presidents (COP) as a whole, are working
wonderfully. As promised, not a single ministry has had to
be shut down. By the way, we rejoice that, as a result of the
process led by Vice-President Rev. Dr. Herbert Mueller Jr.,
some 120 LLDs have now been ordained. There have been
celebrations across the Synod! Men who have, in some
cases, served as pastors for decades are now examined,
called, ordained and recognized as such. Congratulations!
And we are back into full conformity with the Scriptures
(Romans 10) and the Augsburg Confession (AC XIV). And we
on the COP have all agreed: “If a man is doing the work of
the office of the ministry, he should be in the office of the
ministry.”
Much folderol has followed the adoption of the bylaws
on ecclesiastical supervision. But let it suffice here to note
that not a single case has arisen, nor even an inquiry. And
the bylaws are designed to avoid the president’s
involvement through a required consultation with the
District president; if the Synod President is involved, all
procedures, access to appeal, etc., remain the same as they
were.
I must say, one of the greatest challenges we’ve had is
working with the Concordia Universities as they deal with a
plethora of issues. They have responded positively to the
church’s desire to see Lutheran Identity increased on
campus. I’m proud of them. Many, many good things are
happening at our schools. The resolutions coming to this
floor will provide information. I assure you, the issues of
gender and sexuality — particularly at Concordia
University, Portland, Ore. — are being addressed. In fact, I
have informed the regents and leadership that I will not
68 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

proceed with prior approval for any candidates for president
until I’m assured that matters have been finally and
adequately addressed. Later, you will consider a resolution
that requires the LCMS Commission on Theology and
Church Relations and the Concordia University System
(CUS) boards to approve any and all gender statements,
offices and policies of any of our schools.
Concordia College Alabama in Selma, Ala., grieves
everyone. Some details are provided in a Selma resolution in
Today’s Business. There is no mystery here. The Synod’s
Board of Directors (BOD) does not run our universities. The
CUS does not run our universities. The schools are governed
by boards of regents. The Selma regents spared no effort.
They believed the school had to expand to survive. The
school came into financial trouble, due in large measure to
enrollment challenges. The CUS, BOD and University
Presidents did what they could in lending dollars,
assistance, etc. In the end, it was not possible to continue.
The school was some $8 million in debt. The regents
requested $12 million over three years from the Synod’s
BOD. The BOD, noting studies by the CUS Presidents that
provided no assurance that the school could survive,
declined the request. That $12 million would have had to be
borrowed and would have placed the Synod twice as far in
debt as we were at the time — raising indebtedness up to
about $25 million or more. The regents spared no effort in
trying to find a buyer for the school as a going concern but
could not do so. For years, there were only a small number
of Lutheran students and barely a handful of church-work
students. Our African American members are grieving. I’m
sorry that we just could not keep the school going. Soon we
will hear of yet one more rose among the thorns, for the
benefit of our African American church-work students. But
you’ll have to wait for the news.
As I stand before you today, I rejoice to inform you that
the Synod owes no creditor any money — for the first time
in more than a century, as far as we can tell. For three
decades, we’ve been servicing what was a $78 million loan
($140 million in today’s dollars). This has been possible
because of a very responsible Synod Board of Directors,
under the able leadership of the Rev. Dr. Michael Kumm. I
cannot thank the members or the BOD enough. They have
dealt with deeply challenging issues and have been a grand
blessing to the Synod. They have worked calmly and in a
very unified fashion. We owe them our heartfelt thanks. An
apartment property we owned in Hong Kong increased in
value from approximately $1.2 million to some $17 million
over the past decade. This was not a mission critical
property. It was never promised to the partner church.
Selling this property was simply wise stewardship, despite
scurrilous and false reporting.
For the first time at a convention, we have a Floor
Committee dealing with the pressing issue of “retention.”
We have conducted numerous studies in the past several
years. Now it’s past time to dig in and go to work on what
we’ve learned about outreach and, just as important,
President’s Report, Part 3