Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1950, Page 16

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16 Proceedings of the Forty-First Convention,

The Missionary Board, in keeping with this mandate, set out
on an expansion program. Since no provision had been made for
such a setup in the regular budget, the Board appealed to one
of the constituent Synods of the Conference for a special grant.
More than seventy-five thousand dollars were obtained in this
manner, and new stations could be opened in a few strategic centers
throughout the country.

New Opportunities

New fields are beckoning us to enter now in these last days
of sore distress. Districts that have taken over the supervision of
Negro missions are pleading for special funds to establish new
stations. One District is in need of some sixty thousand dollars;
another District directs our attention to a large area where dwell
more than 800,000 Negroes and requests the sum of twenty-five
thousand dollars in order to erect suitable chapels; a third District
petitions the Missionary Board for thirty thousand dollars in order
to purchase a church and other property for the establishment of
a mission, The reports of the Superintendents of the Alabama and
Gulf Coast fields clearly reveal the need of opening missions in
urban centers. We have no Lutheran churches in Arkansas and
only one small church in the entire State of South Carolina. No
extensive work has been done in Georgia or Florida. The special
reports of District Field Secretaries plainly show the need for a real
expansion program. The Missionary Board in its last plenary
session resolved to memorialize the Synodical Conference for
a special grant of some $150,000 in order to enable the Board to
assist Districts and fields in a program of mission expansion. We
humbly request that this matter be given serious consideration by
the Conference.

Colleges

The Synodical Conference owns and operates two colleges.
The Missionary Board a few years ago appointed a Board of Control
for each college, and this new arrangement has been productive
of much good. Special reports on our colleges at Selma, Ala., and
at Greensboro, N.C., are presented on succeeding pages.

We wish to commend the local boards at our institutions at
Selma and Greensboro for the work which has been accomplished
since the inauguration of this setup.

The local board of control at Immanuel Lutheran College,
Greensboro, is receiving much inspiration from its energetic chair-
man, the Rev. G. E. Hageman. Every member on the board is
giving of his time in order to promote the welfare of the school.

The board of control at Alabama Lutheran College at Selma
has as its chairman the Rev. Wm. Kennell, the Superintendent of
the Gulf Coast area. Under his able leadership members of the
board have endeavored to promote this institution and to make it
serve the church at large and particularly the congregations in
the Southern field.

We suggest that the Synodical Conference Convention take
cognizance of the services of these two boards in some manner.

We cannot refrain in this connection from calling the attention
of the Synodical Conference to the urgent need at Selma for a new
building which will afford classroom, library, and administration
facilities. The Missionary Board, heeding the request of the local