LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 43

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION 43

criticism of the government of Brazil which had been
made in a previous session.

Closing

After declining to concur with a recommendation
to extend the time of the session for one hour with con-
sideration of further extension at the end of that period,
the session closed with a devotion led by Rev. Theodore
DeLaney. The closing prayer included a petition for
President Nixon who was reported earlier in the session
to have entered a hospital.

Session 15

July 13, Morning

Opening

The morning session began with an opening devotion
of song and prayer led by Mrs. Bernade Capers. Dr.
August Suelflow, convention essayist, in his anniversary
essay which formed a part of the devotion, surveyed
phases in the development of the Missouri Synod. In
these phases the Synod always found its strength in the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, with its watchword:
“God’s Word and Luther’s doctrine pure shall now and
evermore endure.” The essay was closed with a quo-
tation from 1 Thess. 5, a prayer for the church.

Personal Privilege

Dr. John Baumgaertner, President of the English
District, asked that if and when the resolution concern-
ing Dr. Tietjen was brought before the convention he
might be permitted to speak as his District President.
He also asked for the privilege of speaking when Reso-
lution 11-21 would be brought to the floor. Both re-
quests were granted.

Orders of the Day

By a two-thirds majority vote of those present the
delegates agreed to change the orders of the day so
that matters relating to Concordia Seminary, partic-
ularly those dealing with Dr. Tietjen, would be brought
before the convention at 11:00 a.m.

Special and Sundry Matters

Chairman August Bernthal of the floor committee on
Special and Sundry Matters introduced Res. 11-21 (TB
239) calling upon the English District Board of Directors
to correct a wrong against the President of the Synod.
After the motion had been made and seconded, District
President Baumgaertner addressed the convention. He
presented a brief background of the resolution of the
District Board of Directors. The resolution was never
intended to be made public, but through an oversight
was included in other materials and thus was brought
to public attention. He offered his apology to Dr. Preus
for the offense.

Dr. Preus described the action of Dr. Baumgaertner
as courageous and requested that the pending resolu-
tion be withdrawn. The committee withdrew it “with
great joy.”

The delegates then approved the amended Bylaws
relating to the Armed Forces Commission (Res. 11-03,

TB 145) and implementation of Handbook changes re-
lating to the Department of Archives and History, Con-
cordia Historical Institute (Res. 11-04, TB 146). They
acknowledged the loss of Dr. Kent Knutson, former
President of the ALC, to the church militant and ex-
pressed Christian sympathy to the Knutson family (Res.
11-05, TB 146). Taking note of the approaching 200th
anniversary of our country and the blessing of God
upon it, they asked for initiation of procedures which
would enable the Synod to participate in the event with
Christian propriety. (Res. 11-06, TB 146)

A resolution asking the Council of Presidents to
reconsider its repudiation of Christian News was intro-
duced (Res. 11-07, TB 147). No action could be taken
on either the resolution or a proposed amendment when
time for consideration expired and the delegates de-
clined to extend it. The proposed amendment read as
follows:

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod
repudiate the loveless reports often contained in Christian
News and other publications.

Work Program

Chairman Lloyd Goetz, chairman of the floor commit-
tee for Work Program Review, presented Resolution
16-1 (TB 270). By adopting it, the Synod approved a
work program of $28,750,000 for 1974 and a tentative
program of $30,000,000 for 1975. It also asked that a high
priority rating be given to a Synodwide leaders con-
ference on work programs.

Recognition
Dr. Preus asked the assembly to give its recognition
to Dr. Peter Hunt, one of the Synod’s black leaders.

Higher Education

The delegates strongly urged that stress be placed
on the recruitment and training of students from mi-
nority groups (Res. 6-14, TB 39) as well as the
maintenance of the current subsidy level for higher
education (Res. 6-04, TB 35). As a group they ex-
pressed thanks to donors to colleges and seminaries and
urged the institutions individually to express their
thanks (Res. 6-08, TB 37). In other actions they ex-
pressed thanks to God for His blessings on our synod-
ical schools (Res. 6-09, TB 37). They asked for im-
provements of the sabbatical program at schools (Res.
6-19, TB 42) and encouraged parish experience for fac-
ulty members, particularly during sabbatical leaves
(Res. 6-26, TB, 195). Because of changing educational
needs and programs in Brazil they agreed with the floor
committee to close the pretheological school at Sao
Paulo. (Res. 6-32, TB 267)

Charles Manske, acting president of Irvine, spoke to
the convention about the new proposed 4-year college
at that location which will be known as Christ College.
Following his presentation, Res. 6-31 (TB 266) asking
that funds be made available for building Irvine was
introduced. After some discussion, delegates declined
an amendment to delete the second and third resolveds.
Time, however, expired before action could be taken
on the resolution.