HOUSTON — At the start of the only scheduled evening session for the 63rd Regular LCMS Convention here July 17, delegates rather adopted three resolutions offered by the Floor Committee for District and Congregational Services.
They voted to support National Youth Gatherings, create the position of director for Strategic Development of Hispanic Ministries, and celebrate upcoming anniversaries of three Synod forefathers.
The resolution (Res. 2-05) calling for continued support for national LCMS Youth Gatherings notes that “more than 200,000 people have been blessed by God …and impacted … by these events [in the past 30 years], and thousands more have been touched through the stories and experiences … shared through their congregations back home.” It calls on the Synod to “give thanks to God” for those Gatherings and continue its support for them. It also expressed appreciation to the LCMS Board for District and Congregational Services and the National Youth Gathering executive team/steering committee.
Res. 2-04A authorizes the Synod president, working with the Board for Mission Services and the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Hispanic Ministry and in consultation with the National Hispanic Lutheran Convention, to appoint a director for Strategic Development of Hispanic Ministries.
The resolution notes that calling and placing this director was the top recommendation from the National Hispanic Summit in January as it sought ways to invigorate and give focus and direction to Synod efforts in Hispanic ministry and outreach.
A final “resolved” of the adopted resolution states that “the most appropriate organizational location for this position in the area of domestic cross-cultural ministry will be determined by the [Synod] Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synodical Structure and Governance.”
The significant anniversaries to be celebrated in the Synod – called for by Res. 2-08 – are the 200th birthdays of Wilhelm Loehe in 2008, Friedrich Wyneken in 2010, and C.F.W. Walther in 2011 – “highly significant individuals for the foundation of our Synod in 1847,” as stated in the resolution.
The adopted measure calls for Concordia Historical Institute (CHI) to prepare “a short historical monograph” on the three men by later this year, to be used mainly in Lutheran schools. It requests Concordia Publishing House to consider an electronic “anniversary edition of Walther’s works.” It also encourages CHI to prepare and administer a national conference “to analyze the impact and relevance of Walther, Wyneken, and Loehe for Lutheranism in the United States today,” possibly coordinated with the opening of its museum at the Synod’s International Center in St. Louis.
The theme of the July 14-19 Synod convention is “One Mission – Christ! His Love is Here for You!
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