Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2007 · 63rd Convention, Houston › Page 244
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 244

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

244 PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION

PRESENF/PROPOSED
Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.2 be amended to read:
3.1.2 Voting Delegates

Voting delegates shall consist of one pastor and one layman
from each electoral circuit.

(a) An electoral circuit shall eensistetther-efene-or-twe-adjacent
Meitation-eiteuite-ec-shal be determined by each district and

tatified at a convention of that district. reethe basi of the for

1 n, ni rof del rev -
muni mi I
f recedin: ni Vv n. Fr; n rs
I fo i wi itl
i ir S
ict m: ivide into fewer electoral circui!

than that to which it is entitled.
: North Circuit Forum
Southern Illinois District

7-17

To Amend Bylaws to Restrict Number
of Delegate Exceptions
WHEREAS, Synod conventions are composed of delegates cho-
sen from within the various circuits of the Synod; and
WHEREAS, The Bylaws of the Synod carefully define what shall
constitute an electoral circuit; and

WHEREAS, Provision is made in exceptional circumstances for
circuits that do not meet the requirements to be granted delegates;
and

WHEREAS, It is recognized that the President of the Synod must
have some discretion in this area; and

WHEREAS, Such granting of “exceptional” delegates has become
much more common in recent conventions; and

WHEREAS, At least 65 “exceptional” delegates have been al-
lowed for the 2007 convention; and

WHEREAS, The granting of “exceptional” delegates discourages
circuits from seeking to realign themselves and thus live within the
Bylaws; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Bylaws of the Synod be amended so as to
restrict the number of “exceptional” delegates recognized to less
than 3 percent of the total number of delegates.

Holy Cross
Emma, MO

7-18

To Limit Number of Delegate Exceptions
WHEREAS, In the 2004 LCMS convention 14 percent of the vot-
ing delegates were from circuit exceptions; and
WHEREAS, For the 2007 convention of Synod 10.4 percent of
the voting delegates will be from circuit exceptions; and

WHEREAS, In 2004 and 2007 the majority of these exceptional in
circuits could have easily combined with an adjacent circuit in ac-
cord by Bylaw 3.1.2 (a); therefore be it

Resolved, That at future conventions of the LCMS no more than
3 percent of voting delegates shall be from exceptional circuits.

Reformation, Affton, MO; Bethany, Fairview Heights, IL

7-19

To Revise Bylaw re Exceptions
for Voting Representation at National Conventions

Wuereas, Bylaw 3.1.2 (a) of the Synod Handbook requires each
district to determine electoral delegates to a Synod convention to be
based on the following requirements: “each pair of delegates shall
represent from 7 to 20 member congregations, involving an aggre-
gate communicant membership ranging from 1,500 to 10,000”; and

WHEREAS, Bylaw 3.1.2 (b) allows for exceptions to these
requirements to be made only by the President of the Synod upon
request of a district board of directors; and

WHEREAS, Placing this decision that affects the voting repre-
sentation of a Synod convention into the hands of one person could
create the appearance of partiality; and

WHEREAS, The Synod needs the assurance that delegates to its
convention have been seated fairly and without partiality; therefore
be it

Resolved, That Bylaw 3.1.2 (b) of the Synod Constitution be
amended to read:

(b) Exceptions to these requirements may be made only by the

President Praesidium of the Synod upon request of a district board of

directors.

Southern Illinois District

7-20

To Eliminate Delegate Representation Exceptions

WHEREAS, The requirements set forth in our Synod’s Constitu-
tion and Bylaws for the determination of circuit representation at
Synod conventions of one pastoral delegate and one lay delegate
for every circuit with at least seven congregations and at least an
aggregate of 1,500 communicant members (Bylaw 3.1.2) is rea-
sonable and fair; and

WHEREAS, It is provided for circuits with less than this mini-
mum requirement to have representation at the conventions of our
Synod by jointly being represented with other circuits in their dis-
tricts; and

WHEREAS, The granting of circuit exceptions has been an un-
necessarily divisive factor in our Synod; therefore be it

Resolved, That Synod Bylaw 3.1.2 (b) be amended to read: “No
exceptions shall be granted to circuits not meeting the criteria in
section 3.1.2 (a) above.”

North Kansas City Circuit 11
Missouri District

7-21

To Amend 3.1.6.2 (c) re Rejection
of Convention Overtures

WHEREAS, The 2001 LCMS convention passed Res. 7-04A, “To
Promote Truth and Integrity in Convention Overtures,” which gave
the Synod President the sole discretion to reject any overture that he
deemed “contains information which is materially in error, or con-
tains any apparent misrepresentation of truth or of character”; and

WHEREAS, Bylaw 3.1.6.2 (c), states: “The President of the Synod
shall determine if any overture contains information which is ma-
terially in error or contains any apparent misrepresentation of truth
or of character. He shall not approve inclusion of any such over-
ture in the Convention Workbook and shall refer any such overture
to the district president who has ecclesiastical supervision over the
entity submitting the overture for action. If any published overture
or resolution is found to be materially in error or contains a mis-
representation of truth or of character; it shall be withdrawn from
convention consideration and referred by the President of Synod to
the appropriate district president for action”; and

WHerEAS, The President of the Synod could use this power in
order to refuse to print overtures which in his opinion were simply