LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 23

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MINUTES OF THE CONVENTION 23

President of the Oklahoma District, is undergoing major
surgery. He is being represented at the convention by
Vice-President Walmar Frank.

Parliamentarians for the convention, Mrs. Mabel
Stickel, president of the California State Parliamen-
tarians Association, and Dr. Mark Steege, a member of
the faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary, Spring-
field, were also introduced to the delegates.

Standing Rules

Dr. Charles Mueller, President of the Southeastern
District and chairman of the Convention Format Com-
mittee, presented standing rules to the delegates for
adoption. These rules are on page 8 of Today’s Business.
In his opening remarks he stated that many new things
are being tried at this convention. He also stressed that
there were several principles which were involved in the
formation of the standing rules. Among these principles
were that the majority has the right to make decisions,
the minority has a right to be heard in the hope that it
may be persuasive enough to become the majority, that
the rights of those who are absent need protection, that
the convention has a right to conduct its business in an
amiable way, and that the individual must be given the
right to speak.

After this presentation a motion was made and sec-
onded to adopt the standing rules on page 8 of Today's
Business. A motion to amend Rule 2 to read: “Resolutions
of each floor committee shall be prioritized by number
and shall normally be presented in the numerical se-
quence as published in Today’s Business” was adopted.
After defeating a motion to amend Rule 5, the conven-
tion approved the standing rules as amended.

Registration and Credentials

The Rev. John Zimmermann, chairman of the Com-
mittee on Registration and Credentials, presented the
resolutions of his committee. After eliminating the num-
bers in Res. 12-01 relating to the subject and changing
the subject to read: “To Decline Overtures Challenging
Eligibility of ELIM,” the delegates adopted the resolu-
tion (TB 187). By adopting Res. 12-02, after changing the
subject to read “To Decline Overture 12-04 (Eligibility of
Seminex Instructors),” eliminating the word “respectfully”
in line 48, and changing the resolved to read: “Re-
solved, That we respectfully decline Overture 12-04,” the
convention agreed that Seminex instructors were eligible
to serve as advisory delegates of the Missouri District
(TB 187). Since the Committee on Constitutional Matters
had dealt with the issue, the committee asked that Res.
5-22 (TB 113) be substituted for Res. 12-03 (TB 188). The
convention agreed with this request and by adopting Res.
5-22 accepted a change in Bylaw 1.59 of the synodical
Handbook which deleted the necessity of congregational
certification for lay delegates. It was then stated that the
work of the Committee on Registration and Credentials
was completed.

Greetings

Dr. Herbert Mueller, Secretary of the Synod, read a
letter of greetings from the Lutheran Women’s Mission-

ary League to the convention delegates. The letter in-
cluded a prayer for the blessings of God upon the conven-
tion. A telegram from President Waesa of the Wabag
Lutheran Church, bringing the greetings of that church,
was also read.

Closing Devotion

Dr. Harvey Lehmann led the delegates in the singing
of “Amazing Grace” and prayer to close the first session
of the convention.

Session 2

July 5, Morning

Opening

The opening devotion for the second session of the
convention was conducted by the Rev. Charles Mueller,
President of the Southeastern District. His devotional
thoughts based on John 20 followed the singing of the
hymn “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” and stressed
that Jesus deals with the fear phenomenon which is so
prevalent in the lives of His people. He does this by
coming to them with a declaration of peace rather than
with an accusation, wiping out the past and sending
them out in His name.

Announcement

An announcement was made that material which is to
be distributed must be placed on the table provided in
the convention hall. A city ordinance forbids the handing
out of material in the parking lot without convention
permission. Following this announcement, the conven-
tion granted permission to any special-interest group to
hand out materials in the parking lot.

Constitutional Matters

Dr. Edmund Happel, chairman of the committee on
Constitutional Matters, made a statement to the conven-
tion asking the delegates to deal charitably with prob-
lems in sensitive areas and encouraged them to keep the
total mission of the church in mind as it makes its
decisions, remembering that Jesus Christ is Lord. He
then introduced Res. 5-01A (TB 201) as a substitute for
5-01 (TB 99), which asked for the appointment of a task
force to study and propose revision of the Constitution,
Bylaws, and organization of the Synod. A motion to
amend the resolution to include the statement “that the
confessional basis as stipulated in Article II be pre-
served” between lines 7 and 8 (TB 202) was declined as
was an amendment to delete the words “and its Districts”
from line 39 (TB 201). An amendment to add the words
“from nine separate Districts” after the words “nine lay
persons” on line 42 (TB 201) was also declined. For lack
of time the original motion was not acted on.

Nominations

The floor committee on Convention Nominations pre-
sented its slate of candidates on pages 417423 of the
Convention Workbook after reminding the delegates that
additional nominations must be made in conformity with
Bylaw 2.145 of the synodical Handbook. In addition to