LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 98

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

98 SYNODICAL REPORTS

ship I was able to have with Art Haake, President of LCEF. The
Lord in His wisdom chose to call Art to his heavenly reward very
unexpectedly a few weeks ago. Our Synod will miss his leadership
especially because of his churchmanship; he was a model for many
of us and served his Synod with great distinction. I thank God for
Art and the service he rendered so faithfully and lovingly.

It has indeed been an honor and my great joy to serve the con-
gregations, pastors, and people of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod as a constitutionally elected Vice-President-Finance—Trea-
surer for these past 21 years. The Lord of the church has truly been
good to me as I have attempted to dedicate myself to doing that
which was designed to get ready for blessings; and I have indeed
not been disappointed over these 21 years as blessings have surely
come on most everything with which I have been involved. May
this convention serve all of the members of all of the congregations
of our beloved Synod as we adopt changes that are intended to em-
power our boards, committees, synodwide entities—agencies of the
Synod—to be the best possible stewards of all of the gifts that God
gives to us individually and collectively. In the precious name of
Jesus we ask it!

Norman D. Sell, Vice-President~Finance—Treasurer

R7-04
Board of Directors

When the Board of Directors began the revision of its Policy
Manual during the past triennium, in the interest of further imple-
menting policy-based leadership, it spent considerable time in the
development of its purpose statement. As a result, the members
concluded that

The Board, in accordance with Bylaw 3.191, serves to provide lead-
ership in achieving the objectives of The Lutheran Church—Missouri

Synod as stated in Article III of its Constitution and Bylaw 1.01, so that

Christ’s name may be glorified among all people throughout the world

by serving each other in Christ’s name, reaching our communities with

Christ’s love, and claiming the world for Christ's kingdom. _

While recognizing its primary responsibilities for dealing with
fiscal, legal, and property matters affecting the Synod, this state-
ment was intended to reflect also the global character of the
Synod’s mission as it reaches out with the Gospel to the ends of
the earth and the participation of the Board of Directors in that mis-
sion. In its first meeting the members stated that they

were committed to the “big picture” with “Job #1" being the fur-
thering of the Gospel;

were unanimously in support of the fivefold vision statements,
modeling/living them as individuals and as a board, with special
emphasis on being dedicated to being instruments in building
peace and unity;

saw themselves as making a difference by leading in helping to
give glory to God and assisting members to be thankful for the
Synod and proud to be members of it;

intended to operate effectively and efficiently, clearly defining
their responsibilities and relying on competent staff to implement
the program of the Synod.

I. 1995 Resolutions

The 1995 synodical convention adopted several resolutions call-
ing for action by the Board of Directors. Included among these
were
* Res. 2-12A—“To Support Rural Ministry,” which encouraged

the Board to provide funding to the Board for Congregational
Services to support ministry in rural congregations through the
Districts. Under the newly established board which required flex-
ibility in establishing priorities and budget, this matter was given
consideration as the budget was developed by that board.

* Res. 2-13—*“To Commend Support for Concordia Historical In-
stitute” commended CHI to the Board of Directors for increased
funding in future budget consideration. This was provided during
the time of transition to a new director and has been maintained.

* Res. 4-01B—“To Promote Our Walking Together in Biblical
Stewardship” asked the Board to develop a clear and simple sys-
tem which facilitates an orderly yes/yes concept of funding, with
a report on progress at the 1998 convention. Steps have been
taken to develop this system and a report is being provided else-
where.

* Res. 6-05—“To Address Health Care Coverage for Full-Time
Church-Work Students, Vicars, and Interns” instructed the Chair-
man of the Board to convene a task force to address the issue of
providing adequate and affordable insurance coverage for such
persons. The task force was appointed and reported to the Board
that it had not been able to devise a plan to deal with these con-
cers. The Board directed the task force to continue its work, in-
vestigate some areas which might not have been considered, and
report to the Board again when it had done so.

* Res. 7-03B—“To Develop Guidelines for Dispute Resolution
and Review Panels” asked the Board, together with the President,
to approve the documents developed by the Task Force on Con-
flict Resolution. After review, this approval was granted.

Under omnibus Resolution A, the following overtures were re-
ferred to the Board of Directors:
¢ Ov. 1-19—“‘To Approach New Millennium as the International
Lutheran Church” called for a change in the name of the Synod.
This matter was first referred to the Board for Communication
Services and is presently being dealt with by a committee ap-
pointed by the President and Board Chairman, with instructions
to develop a process to deal with this-issue.

° Ov. 2-62—‘To Create New Broadcasting Company for Synod”
asked that radio and broadcasting projects be managed by a new
independent broadcasting corporation. This matter had been dis-
cussed previously, but because of issues involved with an
NAACP/FCC suit against KFUO, action was delayed. The issue
was addressed in meetings between the Board of Directors and
the Board for Communications Services and resulted in the con-
clusion that it was not appropriate to take action on the matter at
the present time.

* Ov. 7-28—*To Facilitate Economy and Implementation of Re-
structuring Goals in Synod” called for all staff, with the excep-
tion of Worker Benefit Plans, to submit their resignations at the
close of the convention, with the President determining which
resignations to accept. The issue of staff terms is dealt with by
the President’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Structure.

* Ov. 7-38—‘To Clarify Administrative and Financial Responsi-
bilities of President” was also placed under the purview of the
Blue Ribbon Committee.

* Ov. 7-39—“To Identify Presidential Priorities” became part of
the Blue Ribbon Committee’s concern.

¢ Ov, 7-40—“To Emphasize Spiritual and Theological Leadership
Expected of Synodical President’ was also dealt with by the Blue
Ribbon Committee.

* Ov. 7-69—‘To Broaden Participation in Nominations Process”
will be referred to a group dealing with District issues and con-
cerns which could not be dealt with by the Blue Ribbon Com-
mittee.

II. Administrative Matters

In carrying out its responsibilities, the Board of Directors took a
number of actions involving administration and oversight. These
include the following:
¢ The appointment of the firm of Pranschke and Holderle as legal

counsel for the Synod.

* Filling vacancies on the Board of Directors brought about by the
resignation of Amold Kuntz and the decision that Dean Bell, a
certified lay minister who had been elected as a layman, was no
longer eligible as a result of convention and congregation action
which placed certified lay ministers in the category of commis-
sioned ministers.

* Appointments to various boards as required by the Bylaws and
filling of vacancies on boards under Bylaw 3.63.