LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — February 13-14, 1969, Page 2

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Secretary's reply in which he had stated that normally such concerns are presented as an overture on the
part of interested persons and that the Commission usually busies itself with interpreting the Constitution.
It was decided to inform President Happel that this reply had been approved and that no further word had
been received from Dr. Lueking. The latter is to receive a carbon copy of the letter to President Happel.
230. Nominations Challenge: Mr. John Mueller of the Board of Directors had written to the Chairman
challenging the nomination of a Mr. Marty as a lay candidate for a board while he still appears in the
Annual as a teacher. The Chairman had advised Mr. Mueller to take this up with the Board for
Convention Nominations. The Commission approved Kuenne's letter to John Mueller and also went on
record to the effect that the important question is whether a man has actually resigned from the
professional ministry even though the name may still appear in the Annual due to an error or to a time lag
in reporting and publishing. In that connection the Commission ruled for the guidance of the Board for
Convention Nominations that a resignation is to be recognized as valid when the District President has
accepted the resignation and has forwarded notice to proper authorities that the individual concerned is no
longer a candidate for a call into the pastoral or teaching ministry of the church.
231. Presidential Nominating Procedure: The Indiana District has a mandatory full-time Presidency and
also the requirement in its bylaws that the newly elected President must be installed before the close of
the District convention. The District has therefore inquired whether it would be permissible to have the
congregations cast their nominating ballot well in advance of the convention, so that a slate can be
presented to the convention of men who have already agreed to accept the full-time Presidency if elected.
The Commission ruled formally that all business, including all elections, must be conducted in the
convention and that the proposal of the Indiana District would not be in harmony with Article VIII and
Bylaw 3.17. The District is to be given the advice to rescind the requirement of installation before the
close of the convention so that if the man elected President declines, or rather resigns, the position would
be regarded as vacant; the call to the full-time Presidency would then be extended to the First
Vice-President, etc. It was also resolved to send a copy of this ruling and proposal to President Edwin
Weber of the Council of Presidents to share with the other District Presidents if he feels it sufficiently
important.
232. Eligibility for Election to Board of Directors: Pastor Gerhardt Nitz inquired whether, since Pastor
Buege, a member of the Board of Directors, had now moved into the Missouri District, he, Pastor Nitz,
was eligible or ineligible for re-election to the Board of Directors in view of the statement of 2.71: "No
more than one of the three pastors may be elected from any one District." He had been given to
understand that he had not been renominated because the Board for Convention Nominations had felt that
this would be in violation of said sentence. There seems to be a general opinion that this sentence dates
back to the time when all members of the Board were elected at one and the same time for 3-year terms
and that therefore the intended meaning was that not more than one pastor should serve from any one
District; however, the Commission upon investigation discovered that this sentence had been inserted into
the bylaw when the Synod went to a 2-year convention cycle and decided to stagger the elections to the
Board of Directors, with approximately one-half elected every two years. (Detroit Workbook, pp.
143-147; Detroit Proceedings, Res. 4-29, pp. 118-122). In view of that fact the Commission ruled that the
words "be elected" must mean literally "be elected" and not "serve", that an incumbent moving to another
District need not resign but may fill out his present term, that his presence in the second District (from
which he had not been elected) does not prevent someone else from being elected from that second
District, but that the incumbent in that event would not be eligible for re-election at the end of his present
term, Unless (1) he has moved in the interim to still a third District from which no pastor has been elected
to the Board of Directors or (2) the man elected from the second District is no longer a member of the
Board of Directors when said incumbent's term expires. This would mean, as applied to the present case,
1. That Pastor Buege need not resign but may complete his unexpired term, 2. That Pastor Nitz is indeed
eligible for re-election, 3. That if Pastor Buege is still on the Board of Directors at the time of the 1969