LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 44

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44

1999 500th birth of Katharina Luther;

1999 25th anniversary of the Walkout/Seminex:
2000 20 centuries of Christianity;

2001 75 years of Concordia Seminary at 801 DeMun.

Highlights of Activities and
Significant Accomplishments

Against Hans Wurst, an original manuscript on the nature of the
church by Martin Luther was retumed to the Federal Republic of
Germany, resulting in major media coverage, development of
positive relationships between CHI and a number of German in-
stitutions, and increased, favorable visibility for both CHI and
the LCMS.

A major gift of $40,000 was received for the complete comput-
erization of Concordia Historical Institute.

A series of 26 bulletin inserts observing the 150 years of God’s
grace upon The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod was devel-
oped and was used by many of our congregations.

A major grant of $126,000 was received for a three-year project
engaging a full-time archivist to provide arrangement, descrip-
tion, and finding aids for our collections, with the encouragement
that the CHI board attempt during the three years to build this
new archivist position permanently into its budget. This grant
also provided for a CD recordable drive.

A 150th Anniversary issue of the CHI Quarterly was sent to
every congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod,
with the aid of a generous grant from AAL.

Silver and bronze medallions were coined in commemoration of
the 450th anniversary of Martin Luther’s death and the 500th an-
niversary of Philipp Melanchthon’s birth.

The CHI library catalog is going online.
CHI has developed its own web page.
CHI is receiving research requests on a regular basis via e-mail.

A new significant exhibit on the occasion of the 500th anniver-
sary of Philipp Melanchthon’s birth was created.

Virtual tours of CHI exhibits have been made available on the
Internet.

The CHI slide presentation was completed, transferred to video,
and distributed among all 35 District Presidents. It is now avail-
able for loan or for sale.

CHI’s accounting practices and procedures have been brought
into conformity with new FASB standards.

A thorough evaluation of the entire CHI art collection has been
done. The evaluation provides identification, description of the
condition of both art pieces and all frames, and will greatly fa-
cilitate the creation of future exhibits.

The log cabin replica on Concordia Seminary property has been
restored and will soon be a museum exhibit.

CHI now offers “American Lutheranism Heritage” tours to Ger-
many that focus on LCMS history, offering history of our Synod
in respect to Luther and our immigrant founders.

The first Pieper lectures were held in 1996 with over 90 in atten-
dance. In 1997 the attendance increased by more than 30 percent.

Through the use of volunteer assistance, the CHI photo lab is
now functional. Increased efficiency for researchers and prof-
itability for CHI will result.

CHI received and accessioned additional collections of records
and personal papers, including those of Robert D. Preus, John
Klotz, Ralph A. Bohlmann, and many others.

Significant Resources

. Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, a journal for the
history of Lutheranism in America (vol. 70 completed in
1997).

. Archives and History. Papers of the biennial Conference on
Archives and History; vols. 21 and 22 published in 1995.

SYNODICAL REPORTS

3. “Historical Footnotes,” a newsletter for members on Institute
activities and developments in Lutheran history and archives.

4. “Regional Archivist,” a newsletter for District and congrega-
tional archivists and others that shares information on archival
techniques and collections.

5. Service bulletins on many aspects of archival work, including
a series on establishing and maintaining congregational
archives.

Gerald Birkmann, President

Daniel Preus, Director

R2-06
Board for Communication Services

Introduction

Members of the Board for Communication Services during the
triennium included Dr. John Frahm (chairman), Patricia Beach
Schutte (vice-chairman), Eileen Bishop (secretary), Dr. David Al-
bertin, Mr. Todd Boettcher, Rev. Bertram Lewis, and Mr. Chuck
Winterstein.

Those who, served on the Board’s Standing Committee on
Broadcast during the triennium were Mr. Roland Eggerding (chair-
man), Mr. Albert Grimm (vice-chairman), Dorothy Mansholt (sec-
retary), Mr. Lee Hagan, Rev. Stephen Hower, Joecelyn King, and
Mr. William Lindenberg. Dr. Bryant Clancy served as an advisory
member.

Following are several items related to the work of the Board for
Communication Services during the last triennium that require spe-
cial mention.

Organization

During the past triennium, the BCS has been in conversation
with the Officer Group (President Barry, First Vice-President
Kuhn, Secretary Rosin, Treasurer Sell, and Board of Directors Ex-
ecutive Director Schuelke) and the Synod’s Board of Directors on
the subject of reorganizing the functions of Communication Ser-
vices.

The current BCS was established by convention action in 1981.
It brought together the Synod’s Editorial Commission for Official
Periodicals and the Board for Public Relations. The 1986 conven-
tion of the Synod transferred responsibility for Synod’s broadcast
ministry (KFUO and KFUO-FM) from the Board for Lutheran
Radio to the Board for Communication Services. These efforts
were made to bring about greater cooperation and efficiency in
Synod’s communication ministries.

In 1994, the BCS proposed to Synod’s Board of Directors the
separate incorporation of the Broadcast Ministry of the Synod.
Legal and financial reasons were cited for the proposal. Due to the
FCC litigation (see below), the proposal was tabled. Still, discus-
sions continued and the BCS continued to support consideration of
separate incorporation at some future date. In 1996, the BCS and its
Standing Committee on Broadcast considered submitting a new
proposal on reorganization to the Board of Directors.

In 1997, the Officer Group, aware of the previous recommen-
dation of the BCS to separately incorporate broadcast, thereby es-
tablishing two boards, and aware of BCS discussions, presented a
proposal it had developed for reorganization of the communication
function. The proposal was shared with the BCS in February and
submitted by the Officer Group to the Synod Board of Directors. It
proposed that the BCS be replaced by two boards—one for print
and public relations and one for broadcast. The Board of Directors
adopted a resolution calling for the division into print and public
relations (The Lutheran Witness, Reporter, public relations and the
LCMS Satellite Service) and broadcast (KFUO, KFUO-FM,
KNGN, and The Jubilee Network). The resolution did not include
separate incorporation. The Board of Directors also approved the
Officer Group proposal that LCMS Video be transferred to Synod’s
General Services Department.

Subsequently, the BCS petitioned the Board of Directors to re-
consider the alignment of functions, asking the Directors to keep
all the electronic functions together. In May 1997, the Board of Di-