LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 21

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MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION
Saturday, July 14, 2001
Opening Worship
The opening worship service of the 61st Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod was
hosted by St. Paul Lutheran Church of Columbia, Illinois, in
the America’s Center of St. Louis, Missouri. The Rev.
Steven Theiss, pastor of St. Paul, served as the presiding
minister. He was assisted by Rev. Jon Bischof of Holy Cross
Lutheran Church of Waterloo, Illinois, and Rev. Alan Braun
of Holy Cross Lutheran Church of East Carondelet, Illinois.
The Council of Presidents participated in the distribution
of the Sacrament.
The Rev. Dr. Robert T. Kuhn, President of the Synod,
preached the sermon. Basing his message on Galatians
5:13–25, he referenced a personal visit to a prison to introduce the question, “After those people in prison get out,
what will they do?” and related it to the text, in which St.
Paul proclaims that we have been freed from bondage to sin.
“What will we do?” We are freed, he answered, to be Christlike, possible for us because we are new people in Christ,
freed to serve one another. Dr. Kuhn noted that in our
Synod we haven’t always done this very well, evidenced by
strife, divisions, and envy. But our sins are forgiven, as we
are reassured in the confession and absolution of our sins,
freed to be Christlike.

Secretary Raymond L. Hartwig

ing laypersons were registered, totaling 1,179 voting delegates and constituting a quorum. He also reported that 56
pastoral advisory delegates; 97 teacher advisory delegates;
139 representatives of the Synod’s boards, commissions,
and faculties; 4 youth representatives; and 62 other persons
had registered, totaling 1,537 registrations.

Sunday, July 15, 2001
Sunday Morning Worship
The Rev. Dr. Paul Grime, Executive Director of the
Synod’s Commission on Worship, conducted the Sunday
morning worship service. Rev. Roosevelt Gray, former member of the Board of the Directors of the Synod, preached the
sermon. Preaching on 1 Peter 3:8–15, he reminded the convention of the great task before the convention, reminding
also that the theme of the convention is what makes sense
of it all and is the only reason we as Christians do anything
at all.
He underscored that ours is indeed a “bad news world,”
and he emphasized the importance of a clear proclamation
of the Good News that God has provided forgiveness of sins
in Jesus—the rest of the story and very good news. Just as
Luther reminded that if you take Christ from the Scriptures
you have nothing left, this is also true of this world and even
for our Synod. Peter in this text teaches that, accordingly,
we therefore have something critically important to tell to
this world around us. Now it remains for us to be ready to
tell—tell the Good News about Jesus to a bad-news world.

Convention Gavel
The Rev. Daniel Preus, Director of Concordia Historical
Institute, presented to President Kuhn the ceremonial
gavel for conventions of the Synod first used in 1911 by Dr.
F. Pfotenhauer, fifth President of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod. The gavel, fashioned by a layman from
wood from a beam of the Perry County log cabin that
served as the first seminary of the Synod, has now been
used by seven presidents of the Synod.
Call to Order
Using the historic gavel, the Rev. Dr. Robert T. Kuhn
declared the 61st convention of The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod to be in session “in the name of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. May our
almighty triune God be with us during these days to rejoice
in His salvation and lead us to tell the Good News about
Jesus. Amen.”

Session 1
Sunday A.M., July 15, 2001
Committee 9: Registration, Credentials, Elections

Introductions

President Robert Kuhn called on Rev. C. William Hoesman, President of the Michigan District and chairman of
Committee 9, to provide the initial registration report. He
reported that as of 8:45 A.M., 590 voting pastors and 589 vot-

President Kuhn introduced the Council of Presidents;
the Board of Directors; the Commission on Constitutional
Matters; the parliamentarian, Mrs. Angeline Haines; the
present and former secretaries of the Synod; and platform

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200l Convention Proceedings