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Minnesota North re-elects Fondow

Delegates to the LCMS Minnesota North District convention, April 27-29 in Brainerd, Minn., re-elected on the first ballot Dr. Donald J. Fondow of Park Rapids, Minn., to his third three-year term as district president.

They also re-elected Rev. Paul Cloeter of Sauk Rapids, Minn., first vice president; Rev. Kirk Lee, Parkers Prairie, Minn., second vice president; and Rev. Dan Abrahams, Detroit Lakes, Minn., third vice president.

Fondow and the vice presidents were installed to their new terms during the convention.

The theme of the convention was “Make a World for Christ My Goal” — from the fourth stanza of the hymn ” ‘How Shall They Hear,’ Who Have Not Heard” (LSB 831).

Reflecting that theme, delegates adopted resolutions urging the district’s 204 congregations to intentionally:

set aside Reformation Day offerings for districtwide missions;

develop plans to plant two new congregations each year in the district; and

“spiritually and financially support the local district campus ministry” in circuits where such ministries are located.

Also adopted was a resolution that calls for providing resources and education on domestic violence and abuse. The action specifies that the resources — including material from the LCMS Board for Human Care Ministries — be made “available to congregations, clergy [and other] professional church workers, parish nurses, and other health ministries” in the district.

Convention delegates passed a resolution that calls for setting aside budgeted district dollars for a “Sowers Fund” for the district president to assist church workers in emergency situations. That resolution also encourages Minnesota North District congregations to observe a “Sowers Fund Sunday” to heighten awareness of the importance of supporting church workers who face need and crises.

Term limits for all district officers were eliminated with the convention’s adoption of Resolution 3-6. Previously, term limits applied to positions including the district president, mission and ministry facilitators, and lay members of the board of directors, while others had no term limits.

Delegates adopted three resolutions addressing the work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance. Those actions followed a report of the task force to the convention.

Two of them request the task force to:

“judiciously balance its employment of the concepts of God’s mission, maintenance of doctrinal unity, and support of the Body of Christ.” This includes asking the task force to “prevent confusion and revise any imprecise language and phraseology in its documents that, in regard to the overarching purpose of the Synod, ‘God’s Mission’ holds primacy.”

“provide full and timely disclosure of proposed revisions to the Synod’s Constitution and Bylaws.” The action calls on the task force to make public by Jan. 15 “specific wording for all proposed revisions” to the Constitution and Bylaws, and to post its “full and final report” on the Synod’s Web site as soon as it is submitted for publication in the 2010 Convention Workbook.

The third task-force-related resolution adopted by delegates resolves that the district “respectfully request that the Blue Ribbon Task Force not propose revisions to the Synod’s Constitution and Bylaws that would implement the formation of visitation circuits on the basis of anything other than geographic groupings.”

Posted May 5, 2009

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