LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 117

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Reverend Chairman, Delegates and Friends, Brothers
and Sisters in Christ:
You have bestowed a high honor on me by electing
‘eas your President. And you have been most kind to
iy wife Pat and me in the days since you made your
hoice. We thank you for that, more than we can
ress; and we both invite your prayers for us, even as
e shall pray for you.
«| did not seek the office of the presidency, nor have I
ked or encouraged anyone to elect me to it. There were
so reasons for that. The first is that my position as the
-esident of Concordia Seminary was and is my calling,
and its people were and are my parish. And I have
njoyed that calling very, very much. Secondly, Ihavea
rofound conviction that in the exercise of the office of
eholy ministry, and particularly in the presidency of
‘the Synod, the office should seek the man, and not the
other way around.
In spite of my own overwhelming sense of inade-
-quacy for this office, and in spite of my deep and
continuing attachment to the work of theological
education and the preparation of ministers of the
Gospel, I must regard your election as the will of God for
me, and I therefore accept it with a happy but humble
heart and with a deep sense of excitement.
‘. [am particularly pleased that I was not the preferred
eandidate of any organized political group within the
Synod, for I believe that means you want a President
who is free to represent and serve the whole Synod. And
that is what I intend to do with the help of God and with
your leadership and cooperation. I pray that my
. presidency will serve to promote unity and reconciliation
within our church body. I pray that together we will be
able to forge a new consensus among ourselves at this
convention, and among the nearly three million mem-
bers who share with us the work of Jesus Christ in this
church body. I hope that God will keep us faithful to our
confessional heritage and zealous to do His work in
bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to a world and to
a church that desperately needs Him—but a consensus
that we form together, under the guidance and gift of the
Holy Spirit, one that will make all of us prefer to label
ourselves “disciple of Jesus Christ” rather than con-
servative, moderate, or liberal.

Please do not regard me as some kind of messianic
figure or savior—someone with answers to all our

invest our leaders with far too much savvy, too much
ability. I am not a genius, I am not a miracle worker, I
cannot answer all the problems. But we do have Jesus
Christ as our Messiah, as our Savior, and He does
indeed work miracles, not only in our personal lives but
in the church and on behalf of the world. I hope to make
my initial task as your President that of listening to one
and all in our church body. I hope to ask before I answer.

problems. I oftentimes think we Americans tend to -

OTHER PRESENTATIONS

1. Acceptance Statement of President-Elect

I hope to listen before I act. I believe I must understand
the church’s questions before we offer easy or speedy
answers. That means, it seems to me, that those who
share with me the leadership of the church will be
spending a great deal of time in the coming months
listening to the District Presidents and their Boards of
Directors, getting to know the synodical staff and
boards and commissions of the church, and learning to
understand their hopes and their dreams—becoming
more familiar with and acquainted with the problems
and opportunities of partner churches around the world,
getting to know the colleges and seminaries individually

and personally, getting to become better acquainted in
order to understand the problems and the hurts of the
minorities within our church. I want especially to learn
to relate to the pastors of this church as one of their
colleagues, as brethren in the office of the ministry; and,
of course, to be sensitive to the needs, the hopes, the
aspirations of the laity of this wonderful church body as
we serve together. For it seems to me that only in a
posture of listening, and inviting solutions, and dis-
cussion and study of the Word of God together in a
patient but in a steady and consistent manner, will we
be able, under God, to forge that consensus we spoke ofa
moment ago. We need to build upon the Forward in
Remembrance opportunities that have been given us
through this tremendous gift of God. As we congratulate
the leadership of that effort, and congregations and
pastors of the Synod, for the tremendous response to the
goodness of God, let us also dedicate ourselves to
capitalize upon this organization and to develop
stronger fiscal responsibility in the church—a respon-
sibility that is motivated by the power of the Gospel and
that forever has its roots in that motivation rather than
in some other.

We have spoken already about the fellowship re-
lationships of our church body with other Christians.
We know that this effort to reach deeper understanding
and greater consensus with brothers and sisters in other
Lutheran church bodies requires the utmost in our
patience and understanding—not only of the other
church bodies, but of each other. I hope to ask the
Commission on Theology and Church Relations and
the faculties of our seminaries, the pastoral conferences,
teachers conferences, and study groups throughout the
church to give high priority in this coming biennium to
patience and study of the Word of God in this vital area.
I ask you, as members of this great convention, to be
leaders in this church—pastoral leaders, whether you
are laity or clergy, no matter how you voted on that
sensitive issue—that we might indeed encourage one
another toward both a responsible commitment to this
church body’s confessional position and a recognition
that responsible freedom under the Gospel must obtain
in our midst.