LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 57

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studied by this commission, and since the remaining
questions were not of a nature to cause serious or
widespread concern in the Synod at this time. Res. 3-17
(TB 74) reaffirmed Res. 3-01 of the 1977 convention of
the Synod and resolved that for the sake of unity and
peace all members of the Synod be urged to observe
proper procedures of dissent. This resolution was
adopted. In adopting Res. 3-18 (TB 74) the Synod’s
position of opposition to membership in anti-Christian/
un-Christian groups was reaffirmed, and congregations
"were urged to instruct all members in this matter so that
~ they would not compromise their Christian faith and
witness. Since the Constitution of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod uses the terms “President” and “Vice-
President” for officials of the Synod and its Districts,
and since there seemed to be no compelling reason to
change, the delegates agreed with the floor committee
that these titles should be retained and adopted Res.
-. 319 (TB 74), which the floor committee had offered.
~ With the adoption of this resolution the work of the
Floor Committee on Theology and Church Relations
was declared completed, and the committee was dis-
missed with thanks.

Minutes

The Minutes for Sessions 10 and 11 were approved
after the word “made” was substituted for “vote” on line
45 (TB 348).

Treasurer’s Report

Dr. Norman Sell, Treasurer of the Synod, was called
on to present a brief report to the delegates. He called
their attention to the report found on page 325 of
Today’s Business, which indicates the position of the
Synod as of May 31, 1981.

Registration and Credentials

Chairman Kollmann of the Floor Committee on
Registration and Credentials presented the final report
of the committee, subject to audit. The report showed the
following registrations: Voting Pastoral Delegates—

The final gavel

MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION 57

565, Voting Lay Delegates—562, Advisory Pastors—65,
Teacher Delegates—149, Youth Representatives—41,
Official Representatives—293. The report indicated that
there were thus 1,127 voting delegates who had attended
the convention. Since this completed the work of the
committee, it was dismissed with thanks.

Closing Devotion

In his closing devotion Dr. Preus first read a section
of the Letter to the Philippians to the delegates, a letter
which he described as Paul’s love letter to a church
which has been in existence since about 50 A.D. Follow-
ing this reading he briefly reviewed some of the conven-
tions which he had been privileged to chair over the past
12 years. Because of the intricacy of the matters dis-
cussed, he described this as the most difficult conven-
tion of all over which to preside. He stated that the
convention would probably go down in history as a
reorganization convention. In his remarks he referred
to his pleasure over the election of Dr. Bohlmann as the
next President of the Synod, a man whom he described
as an honorable, honest, excellent-minded, theologian,
and a diplomat. He also cited the election of Dr. Joseph
Lavalais, a very qualified man, as a historic election
since heis the first Black pastor in the Synod to hold the
high position ofa Vice-President. Dr. Preus thanked the
church which had honored him more than any human
being deserves to be honored and expressed his grati-
tude to God and to the good and loving people of the
Synod. He concluded by pointing out that we haveanew
President, a new day, a new beginning, and a new
structure. The church is ready to roll and is a moving
giant, and the basic underlying cause is God, who has
given us his dear Son and who has poured out His Spirit
upon us.

Closing

President Preus then declared the convention closed
in the same way in which it had been begun, in the name
of the triune God.

Walter Rosin, Assistant Secretary