LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 40

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

40

MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION

Devotion
After announcements, the Chair called on Rev. John
Mehl, LCMS World Mission Area Director for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Moscow, Russia, to lead
the evening devotion.
Recess
The convention was recessed until eight o’clock Thursday morning.

Session 9
Thursday, A.M., July 19, 2001
Devotion
Dr. Robert King, First Vice-President of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, called the assembly to order and
introduced the morning devotion. Due to the illness of Dr.
Roger Pittelko, Third Vice-President of the Synod and
scheduled devotion leader, Dr. Karl Barth, member of the
Synod’s Board of Directors, provided the sermon. Dr. Paul
Grime, chaplain of the convention, assisted with the
liturgy.
Convention Essay
The Chair introduced the fifth and final convention essayist, Dr. David Mulder, Director of Evangelism Ministry
for LCMS Congregational Services. His essay, “Telling the
Good News about Jesus to Those around You,” was by special request of Dr. A. L. Barry. The essay concluded with
the singing of the hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers.”
Dr. Kuhn assumed the Chair of the convention. He
made several announcements, calling the attention of the
delegates to the order form for videos of convention presentations.
Committee 7: Structure, Planning, and Administration
As Dr. George Wollenburg, President of the Montana
District and chairman of Committee 7, was called to the
podium, a delegate asked that Res. 7-08 (TB, p. 116) be reconsidered. The motion to reconsider was carried (Y:569;
N:419). The delegate then moved to replace the word “or”
with the word “and” on line 24 of the first Resolve. The motion was seconded. The Chair requested that Mr. Brad Hewitt, Executive Director of the Board of Directors, provide
information on the resolution and the proposed amendment. After further discussion, debate was ended on the
amendment and the motion (Y:958; N:82). The amendment
failed (Y:502; N:550). The resolution was again adopted
without amendment (Y:869; N:196).
A delegate called attention to Standing Rule 2, encouraging that Committee 1 be brought back to the floor this
day. The Chair assured the delegate of his interest in doing
so. Another delegate called for the reelection of the members of the Board of Directors. The Chair called the request
out of order and offered explanation. The Chair asked that
Committee 7 proceed with presenting its business to the
convention.
Res. 7-14 (TB, p. 123) was brought forward by the floor
committee for reconsideration. The chairman of the committee read the resolution as printed. After brief discussion,
200l Convention Proceedings

the committee asked that the Synod’s legal counsel, Mr.
Leonard Pranschke, comment on IRS considerations. Debate was ended (Y:1,010; N:80) and the resolution was
adopted as presented (Y:805; N:294).
Discussion on Res. 7-13A (p. 283) was continued from a
previous session. A member of the committee read the reworked resolution. The convention by voice vote supported
the committee’s interest in not reading the entire proposed
Bylaw sections. After discussion, debate was ended (Y:916;
N:169) and the resolution was adopted without amendment
(Y:826; N:270).
Res. 7-18 (TB, p. 125), “To Clarify What Is Included in
the Doctrinal Position of Synod,” was brought forward by
the committee. The question was called but the convention
was not ready to end debate without discussion (Y:380;
N:727). Discussion continued until the question was again
called and debate was ended (Y:1,040; N:86). The resolution was not adopted (Y:139; N:992).
Committee 3: Theology and Church Relations
A delegate questioned the manner in which overtures
addressing the Constitution of the Synod have been handled. The Chair explained that the polity of the Synod has
been followed.
A motion was proposed that the question be called separately on amendments and main motions. The Chair reminded the assembly that simultaneously calling the question on both an amendment and the main motion is
appropriate according to Robert’s Rules of Order. The Chair
asked the convention to vote on the motion to call amendments and main motions separately. The motion failed
(Y:408; N:652).
Discussion resumed on Substitute Resolution 3-08B (TB,
p. 193) in place of the committee’s Res. 3-08B on page 235
of Tuesday’s Today’s Business. The committee spoke
against the substitute resolution and in favor of its own resolution. After discussion and upon request of the Chair, debate was ended on the substitute motion (Y:928; N:177).
The Chair clarified that a two-thirds vote would be necessary since the fourth Resolve rescinds a previous convention action and a simple majority would require “notice” of
the intention to rescind. The substitute motion was declared failed due to a lack of a two-thirds majority (Y:586;
N:526). Discussion continued regarding the requirement for
notice and the need for a two-thirds vote to rescind. A motion was made and seconded to reconsider the substitute
motion, given the new information (Y:646; N:465). After
further discussion, a motion was made and seconded to remove the fourth Resolve from the substitute resolution.
Question was called on the amendment (Y:997; N:116) and
the amendment carried (Y:584; N:539). After the amended
resolution was again debated, it was determined that notice had been given in the original resolution provided by
the floor committee and that the substitute resolution did
not require a two-thirds majority vote. The Chair ruled that
the substitute motion had therefore been adopted and that
all subsequent actions were null and void. From a point of
order it became clear that confusion existed at the time of
the vote. The Chair asked that the assembly revote on Sub-