Delegates to the 22nd Regular Convention of the LCMS Minnesota North District, meeting April 13-15 in Brainerd, Minn., re-elected the Rev. Dr. Donald J. Fondow of Park Rapids, Minn., to his fifth three-year term as the district’s president.
Fondow, who has been serving in the position since 2003, was re-elected on the first ballot. The district does not impose a limit on how many consecutive terms its president can serve.
Others elected at the convention include:
- Rev. Dr. Karl A. Weber, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Ottertail, Minn., and St. Paul Lutheran Church, Richville, Minn. — first vice-president, from the Park Region Conference (first term);
- Rev. Paul E. Cloeter, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Sauk Rapids, Minn. — second vice-president, Arrowhead Conference (fifth term); and
- Rev. Kirk Lee, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Parkers Prairie, Minn. — third vice-president, Lake-Land Conference (sixth term).
The theme for the convention was “Word of Truth, To All Truth Lead Us.”
The convention put an emphasis on missions, and delegates adopted two mission-oriented resolutions: “To Encourage Planting New Congregations and Ministries” and “To Investigate Strategies and Resources for Ethnic Ministries.”
They voted overwhelmingly to encourage individuals, congregations, pastors and the district to find ways to start congregations and to reach out through ethnic ministries to share the Gospel with more people.
Another significant area of concern for the convention was increasing and improving ministry to children, and four related resolutions were passed. The first resolution, “To Identify the Year of Our Lord 2015 [as] the Year of Ministry to Children,” encourages congregations to place a special emphasis on ministering to children, with more information and resources to come out of Parish Life and Nurture (PLaN) to help people carry out this focus.
Two other resolutions were adopted to encourage Lutheran Island Camp and Christ Serve Ranch, which both primarily minister to children, and to continue to support Lutheran education through the CROSS (Congregations Reaching Out to Support Schools) Appeal.
The fourth resolution encourages the State of Minnesota to release education funds to parents to allow them more choice in their children’s education.
Posted May 4, 2015
