LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 68

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68

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

R1-8-01

Special Report of the President to the 2007
Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod regarding the Lawsuit against the
President and First Vice-President of the Synod
and against the Synod Itself
A notable event that occurred within this past triennium
that has caused much concern in the Synod was a lawsuit
filed Aug. 15, 2005, against the President and First Vice-President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and against
the Synod itself. This special report from the President to the
2007 convention of the Synod attempts to relate, as objectively as is humanly possible, details and actions taken in regard to the issues and resolution of that lawsuit.
To begin, the following news release from the Nov. 1, 2006,
issue of LCMS e-News offers a summary of the essence of the
matter.
****
DISMISSAL OF LAWSUIT
The lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County,
Mo., in August 2005 (known as the “Anderson Lawsuit”) has
now been fully dismissed, with all clerical details and waiting periods satisfied. The lawsuit was filed initially by approximately 80 LCMS members against President Gerald
Kieschnick, First Vice-President William Diekelman, and The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (as a necessary nominal
defendant).
The plaintiffs initiated the lawsuit based upon their belief
that exceptions requested by district boards of directors and
granted by the President of the Synod that allowed circuits
not meeting bylaw criteria to send delegates to the Synod’s
2004 convention were excessive. A second issue in the lawsuit was the plaintiffs’ belief that certain official opinions of
the Commission on Constitutional Matters of the Synod unlawfully restricted the authority of the Synod’s Board of Directors.
In February of 2006, at the initiative of the Board of Directors, a four-member committee of the Board met and conferred with a four-member committee of the plaintiffs. After a
series of meetings, an agreement was reached (see separate
news release, “Anderson Lawsuit Agreement”).
In the weeks after agreement was reached, the Agreement
was signed by a large majority of the plaintiffs. However,
prior to the court date for presenting the Agreement and advocating dismissal of the lawsuit, four members of the Board
of Directors filed a Motion to Intervene as a result of concerns
associated with that portion of the lawsuit pertaining to
Board of Directors and Commission on Constitutional Matters authority issues.
Subsequent discussions resulted in the withdrawing of the
Motion to Intervene, paving the way for a final dismissal of
the Anderson suit.
Additional information of significance is contained in a
public statement titled “Response to Question re 2004 LCMS
Convention Delegates and Other Matters” issued by eight
elected leaders of the Synod on May 6, 2005, which is
reprinted in the following section.
2007 Convention Proceedings

RESPONSE TO QUESTION RE 2004 LCMS
CONVENTION DELEGATES AND OTHER
MATTERS
In recent days, some members and individuals in congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod have contacted Synod and some district headquarters with questions
and concerns regarding a letter that has been circulated to a
number of LCMS congregations. The letter solicits participation in proposed litigation regarding exceptions granted for
electoral circuits for the 2004 Synod convention, the authority
of the Board of the Directors under Missouri law, and the status of related opinions of the Commission on Constitutional
Matters. The purpose of this communication is to provide factual information in response to these questions and concerns.
BYLAW REGARDING VOTING DELEGATES
First, it is important to note the bylaw of the Synod regarding voting delegates and the granting of exceptions to
electoral circuits sending voting delegates to a convention of
the Synod. The applicable bylaw is from the 2001 Handbook
of the Synod, which reads as follows.
Bylaw 3.03 Voting Delegates
Voting delegates shall consist of one pastor and one layman
from each electoral Circuit. An electoral Circuit shall consist
either of one or two adjacent visitation Circuits, as shall be
determined by each District, on the basis of the following requirements: Each pair of delegates shall represent from 7 to 20
member congregations, involving an aggregate communicant
membership ranging from 1,500 to 10,000. Exceptions to these
requirements and limitations can be made only by the President
of the Synod upon request of a District Board of Directors.

SYNOD PRESIDENT’S COMMUNICATIONS
WITH COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS
The following information shared by the Synod President
with the Council of Presidents in their regular meetings (and
subsequently with the Board of Directors) in reference to the
granting of exceptions may also be helpful.
September 2002 Synod President’s Report
to LCMS Council of Presidents
Electoral Circuits
In my initial long range planning and preparation for the
2004 Synodical Convention, I have reviewed the Handbook of
the Synod regarding the matter of Electoral Circuits.
As I recall the practice of previous Synodical Presidents, I
am reminded of the following quote in a letter from President
Barry regarding this subject prior to the 1998 LCMS Convention, in a letter dated April 9, 1998, granting exemption to two
Electoral Circuits in the Texas District. President Barry
wrote:
“Exemptions are made on the basis of a circuit fulfilling one
of two requirements of the Bylaws for an electoral circuit;
namely, either seven congregations or 1500 communicant members.”
In an attempt to provide guidelines for each District that
are consistent with historic practice, I plan to follow a similar
principle, in general, when considering any request that may
come from your District Board of Directors. Specifically, I envision giving positive consideration to requests for “exceptions
to these requirements and limitations” of the definition of a
Circuit that satisfy at least one of the requirements for a min-