Kieschnick Stops Special Convention
After days of debate; politicking by the LCMS District Presidents; and
parliamentary ramrodding by President Kieschnick; uniformed and confused
2007 Convention delegates voted for a special convention in 2009 to save the
Synod from an unknown constitutional and financial crisis.
Doctor Robert Kuhn, Chairman of the Board of Directors also told the
Convention how important the Board of Directors thought the special
convention was to the Synod, even though the Board never voted for it. The
Synodical Treasurer also told the Convention that the Synod is in a
financial crisis and needs the special convention.
After the 2007 Convention, attorney and LCMS Director, Christian Preus,
wrote to Kieschnick that:
1. the delegates were not informed that they were approving the words
"urgent necessity" for a special convention as stated in the LCMS
Constitution, Article VIII B.2.
2. the delegates didn't know what the "urgent necessity" was that they were
voting for.
In his reply to Preus, Kieschnick wrote: "Be assured that, even if all the
delegates were not then or are not now aware of the referenced
constitutional requirement, the district presidents are certainly well
acquainted with it."
After the 2007 Convention spent nearly half a week of wrangling about the
urgent necessity for a special convention to address the Synod's fiscal and
administrative crisis, suddenly, President Kieschnick says he changed his
mind. He told the Council of District Presidents (COP) the Synod doesn't
need a special convention.
On September 11, 2007, the LCMS Reporter issued the following news release,
"Kieschnick: No special convention to consider restructuring."
http://www.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=12501
Kieschnick has given the LCMS a lesson on how to blow three million dollars
on a useless 2007 LCMS Convention. The real Synodical crisis is the
administrative collapse in the Synodical Headquarters and the COP.
Reclaim News has been told by a number of sources that when Kieschnick
discovered he didn't have the two-thirds majority required for a Special
Convention in 2009 from the COP, he suddenly decided that it was a bad idea.
What about the crisis, the urgent necessity for a special convention to save
the Synod? According to the news release from the "Reporter" there is no
mention of any particular crisis in the LCMS. All need for a special
convention can be handled in 2010. Then why couldn't it have been handled
in 2007?
Why did a Thursday morning, misguided, 2007 lamebrain Convention give a
two-thirds vote for (Res. 8-07S) a special 2009 Convention when they didn't
even know what kind of changes the LCMS Constitution needed? That's right!
They voted that Kieschnick would tell them what the changes should be in
2009.
The answer is that many of Kieschnick's cronies on the COP lied to the
delegates.
Why didn't the COP give Kieschnick the support for a special convention, he
was sure he had during the 2007 Convention?
Perhaps the COP didn't appreciate the way Res. 8-07S was worded, making the
decision for a special convention based on their vote, thus exposing them as
the masters of the Synod that they really are.
Perhaps they found out some particulars of Kieschnick's grand design to
reorganize the Synod and that certain Districts were going to have their
wings clipped. After all the COP support at the 2007 Convention, a
unanimous cancellation vote by the COP covered up all the Synodical fault
lines.
If Kieschnick would cut out all the useless, time wasting farce, he used to
clutter the LCMS 2007 Convention schedule; the delegates wouldn't need 2 or
3 extra days at the 2010 Convention. But of course, how could the 2007
Convention vote for any constitutional changes when they were not presented
the urgent changes Kieschnick says the Synod so desperately needs?
Kieschnick has said, "This is not your grandfather's Synod." How right he
is. Kieschnick is just as bad at administration and finance as he at
doctrine and practice. We can hardly think of any group that is more evenly
matched than Kieschnick and the COP. We have a unanimous vote to prove it.
Deception should not be confused with skillful administration.
--------------------------------------------
. LCMS Reporter writes, "Kieschnick: No special convention to consider
restructuring"
"Kieschnick: No special convention to consider restructuring"
Citing the need for sufficient time, clear communication, proper feedback,
and clear consensus in the Synod, President Gerald B. Kieschnick has
announced that he will not call a special convention in 2009 to consider
recommendations of a task force on structure and governance.
In a presentation to the Council of Presidents (COP) Sept. 9 in St. Louis,
the president instead urged a well-planned process of communicating the task
force recommendations, gathering feedback, revising the recommendations, and
bringing them to the Synod's regular convention in 2010.
"The issue has to be the recommendations of the task force," Kieschnick told
the council. "I don't want the calling of a special convention to be the
issue."
While affirming the urgency of the matters being addressed by the task
force, Kieschnick said, "It is the president's belief, hope, and prayer that
this process would avoid any appearance that recommendations of the task
force are thoughtlessly created, hastily recommended, or in any way forced
upon the Synod."
He said he wanted the result to be "greater understanding, agreement,
consensus, harmony, trust, and lasting peace among us in our beloved Synod
as we continue to fulfill our mission" and added words from the Synod's
mission statement, "vigorously to make known the love of Christ, by word and
deed, within our churches, communities and the world."
The COP responded by unanimously adopting a motion to support the
president's recommendation. Adoption of the motion was followed by extended
applause.
Kieschnick shared his decision in a presentation that described both "pros
and cons" of a special convention.
In its preliminary report to the LCMS convention last July, the Blue Ribbon
Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance said it had identified areas of
overlap, duplication of responsibilities, declining resources, inequitable
representation on elected boards and commissions, and other issues. A
special convention was proposed to deal specifically with Synod Constitution
and Bylaw amendments to deal with structure and governance.
The LCMS convention adopted a resolution noting that the Constitution allows
the Synod president to call a special session with consent of two-thirds of
the district presidents and directed the president to meet with the Council
of Presidents within 90 days to discuss such a session. The resolution also
stated that if a special convention were to be called, the delegates "stand
ready to serve."
The resolution also called on the president to consult with the two seminary
presidents, the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, the Board of
Directors, the vice president--finance/treasurer, other officers, and the
Commission on Constitutional Matters prior to meeting with the Council of
Presidents.
In comments to the Board of Directors a day earlier, Sept. 8, Kieschnick
described feedback from those sources as "frank and varied." There was no
clear-cut support, he said, either for or against the calling of a special
convention, and the general consensus was to leave the decision up to the
president and the COP. He said the primary counsel expressed by those
participating in these consultations was that the work of the task force be
"carefully, completely, and collaboratively conducted."
Kieschnick said the task force on structure and governance will have its
initial report and recommendations prepared for LCMS district conventions,
which begin in January 2009. He suggested ways to gather responses to the
recommendations, including a DVD of the task force report to show at all 35
district conventions, feedback from the district conventions, and regional
caucuses for 2010 convention delegates and district leaders.
Those activities would provide input for the task force in shaping its final
recommendations for the 2010 convention. The task force already has met with
district boards of directors and intends to conduct interviews with district
presidents and meet again with district boards of directors in 2008.
"Every time we get feedback, the task force wrestles with that feedback,"
Kieschnick said. "In my judgment, that give-and-take makes it much more
probable that the sense of ownership and acceptance will be widespread
throughout the Synod." He also repeated his encouragement that pastors,
congregations, seminary and university faculties, and other members of the
Synod thoroughly study and provide feedback to the theological principles
document already produced by the task force, titled
"Congregation-Synod-Church," so that any proposed structural changes are
consistent with what the LCMS believes, teaches, and confesses.
Kieschnick suggested that the 2010 convention will be extended by two to
three days to allow careful consideration of the structure and governance
proposals. He said the convention should consider the task force
recommendations first, since convention decisions on those recommendations
could affect the number and types of officers, boards, and commissions to be
elected, as well as other convention business and decisions.
