LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 23, 2013, Page 1

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MINUTES
COMMISSION ON HANDBOOK
St. Louis Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel
February 23, 2013

72. Call to Order/Opening Devotion
Chairman Gordon Tresch called the meeting to order with all commission members present except Walter
Rosin (absent with excuse). He called on Wilbert Sohns, who served as devotion leader for the meeting,
to provide an opening devotion.
73. Task Force on District Reconfiguration Report
Wilbert Sohns summarized the recommendations of the Res. 8-07 Task Force upon completion of its
work. Its final report will highlight visitation as the primary function of districts and offer numerous
recommendations in that regard. The task force report will also include a restatement of the “general
principles of viability” adopted decades ago.
74. Background Checks
The commission will include this on its agenda of the first meeting of the next triennium for further
consideration.
75. 2010 Resolutions 8-30B and 8-32B
Follow-up to these resolutions, if any, has not progressed to the point where the commission is required to
be involved.
76. Commission on Handbook Report to the 2013 Convention
Chairman Tresch called attention to the report he drafted. A motion was introduced and carried “to
approve the report as provided by the chairman.”
77. Minor Handbook Changes
Secretary Raymond Hartwig explained that a process has now been developed to enable the commission’s
non-substantive changes to the 2010 Handbook to be incorporated into the electronic version of the
Handbook posted on the Synod’s Web site. He will meet with staff from the communications department
to make the corrections decided upon during the triennium. The electronic version on the Web site will
then be the official version of the 2010 Handbook going into the 2013 convention.
The non-substantive changes made by the commission during this meeting are the following:
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Bylaw 3.2.1: Change the beginning phrase from “The officers of the Synod elected by the
convention shall be…” to “The elected officers of the Synod shall be…”
Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (c): Delete the word “and” in the fourth line following the words “fellowship
with the Synod…”
Bylaw 3.10.3.2: Add a new paragraph (d) to Bylaw 3.10.3.2 to mirror the content of paragraph (c)
of Bylaw 3.10.2 earlier on the page: “Every applicant whom the committee declares qualified