LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 136

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4. ADMINISTRATION

4-01
The President’s Report

Report of First Vice-President

The convention at New Orleans, July 6-13, 1973, elected a
number of officials, some to take office Sept. 23, 1973, and others
Jan. 1, 1974.

The Vice-Presidents were among such officials and were
duly installed Sept. 23, 1973. Doctor Wiederaenders functioned
in the office of First Vice-President until that date, and then
became advisory for 4 more months.

The First Vice-President is full-time, and the other Vice-
Presidents serve as pastors in their parishes or other duties at
home and function from there as they accept assignments of
various kinds from the President and other officials of the
Synod. They’re very useful in the operation of the Synod as
liaison for the President and in accepting commitments as non-
voting members of the Board of Directors, covering meetings,
serving on committees, taking the place of the President where
there is a conflict in dates, leading discussions on synodical
matters in District conventions, and generally making them-
selves useful to the President while still serving their parishes
and home areas.

Among the duties of the First Vice-President are those
mentioned for all Vice-Presidents, plus many others, since he
spends all of his time without parish duties in the fulfillment of
his obligations.

The question is often asked, ‘What does the full-time First
Vice-President ‘do’?”” The most comprehensive answer would
be, ‘‘He makes himself useful to the President, to function in his
place whenever and wherever the President assigns him.”
This leads to various activities in many areas.

He's the chairman of the Division of Theology and Church
Relations. In this division falls the Commission on Theology and
Church Relations and its auxiliary committees—Staff, Bible
Versions, Exchange Study, and Social Concerns. Also included
are the Commission on Organizations, on Worship, and on
Mission and Ministry in the Church.

He served as the President's representative to the Church
Extension Board, Editorial Commission on Periodicals, Board
for Missions, and the Board of Social Ministry and World Relief;
is a member of the Committee for Reorganization and a member
of the Committee to Study the Relationship of Deaconesses to
the Synod (Milwaukee 11-17). He was an official voting repre-
sentative to the Lutheran Council in the U.S. A. and attended
the annual meetings for 1974 and 1975. The Vice-President also
serves as amember of Committee No. 3 of the Board of Directors
and as a member of the Council of Administrators.

Another important function of the office is the colloquy
program of the Synod. This board consists of the undersigned
and the presidents of our two seminaries. A complete report
of their activities during the past biennium can be found under
“Report of Committee on Colloquies,”’ found under the “Report
of Board for Higher Education.”

The President of the Synod appointed the undersigned to
the Board of Control of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1969.
Much of the present disturbance in the Synod originated at this
seminary. While the news media have faithfully recounted one
side of events, the other side has been kept quiet by the rule of
Christian conduct and by the observance of confidentiality.

The suspension and termination of the president of the semi-
nary was a subject of much discussion by the news media from
time to time, and the Board of Control kept silence in order not
to jeopardize the rights of those involved if an appeal was to be
made. Finally, the board wanted to publish the true version of
what had happened, after the 90 days of the appeal time had
been exhausted on Jan. 15, 1975. Now the Commission on Con-
stitutional Matters has ruled on the basis of Bylaw 5.31 j that the
board must await the final conclusion and determination
through the office of the President of the Missouri District, the
adjudicatory process of the District, and the synodical Board of
Appeals if this should become necessary.

137

In this connection the undersigned has also been a part of
the meetings of the Committee of Twenty and the meetings of
the Board of Directors Committee with representatives of the
Board of Directors of ELIM.

Another assignment has been to sit with the Board for
Missions and to live through the controversy there. This will be
reported elsewhere in this book.

The undersigned represented the President's office at seven
District conventions, including those in Brazil and Argentina.
In Brazil, Doctor Carpenter, the Treasurer of the Synod, and
the First Vice-President represented the President’s office in
pouring oil on the troubled waters of the financial situation there.
We finally succeeded in bringing about a more or less smooth
transition from one administration to another.

In Argentina the finances are ina bad way politically and this
has affected the work of our church to a degree and the 100%
inflation rate this past year has also hampered the growth of the
work of our brethren in that troubled country.

Many speaking engagements occupied us happily during the
biennium so that about 80% of our weekends and some week-
days were fruitfully employed in this activity around the country.

We thank the Lord for opportunity for service in His kingdom
supporting the ministry of His Word wherever possible.

E. C. Weber, First Vice-President
4-03

Report of Secretary of the Synod

Since 1969 the position of synodical Secretary has been
full time, as suggested by the Survey Commission in 1962.

To put it in very simple terms, the Secretary of the Synod
serves primarily as a secretary. By Bylaw prescription he fills
four such positions which were described in an earlier conven-
tion report as follows:

1. Secretary of the Synod. This involves all of the customary duties
of a corporation secretary with respect to the development and
custody of documents and the handling of much corporate corre-
spondence, as well as a constant stream of telephone calls. In-
volved here also are the extremely detailed responsibilities with
reference to the biennial convention. The Secretary has charge
of all pre-convention registration procedures, edits the convention
Workbook. functions as manager editor of Today's Business.
serves in the customary capacity of a secretary during the conven-
tion, takes care of letters of notification and other correspondence
made necessary by convention action, and edits the convention
Proceedings.

2. Secretary of the Board of Directors. The Board meets every other
month. Its agenda fills to overflowing a large-sized ring binder.
Minutes are extensive. At least 75 letters must be sent following
each meeting together with several hundred carbon copies to
those who might be most directly affected by certain actions taken
by the Board.

3. Secretary of the Commission on Consitutional Matters. In some
respects this is perhaps the most important and the most logical
of the additional assignments given by the Synod in the Handbook.
The work of this commission has multiplied extensively just over
the past 10 years. Much correspondence and drafting and re-
drafting of opinions is involved and in this process the Secretary
is asked to play a major role within the Commission.

4. Secretary of the Council of Administrators. The Handbook stated
that this obligation was to be imposed as soon as the position of
synodical Secretary would be filled on a full-time basis. The
Council consists of the top administrators at headquarters. In
addition to the minutes, the principle factor here is that of long
and frequent meetings.

In addition the Board of Directors has made much use of the
Executive Committee device during the past 2 years. The
Secretary is a member and secretary also of that committee.
As detailed elsewhere, many hours were devoted by this com-
mittee to the problems of the Synod during the past 2 years.

The Secretary during this biennium was again a member
of Committee 2 (Organization, Policy, and Personnel) of the
Board of Directors.

Furthermore, the Bylaws also prescribe to the Secretary
duties with reference to the convention committee, make him
responsible for a manual on elections, and give him specific