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For the first time in its
156-year history, LCMS President Kieschnick’s interpretation of the
Synodical Constitution may result in every LCMS congregation having to
assume the Synod’s liabilities.
Synodical Treasurer, Dr.
Thomas Kuchta, warns that, "If the Board of Directors does not protect
the Synod's status as a corporation under Missouri law, its members --
chiefly congregations -- would be open to individual liability were the
Synod or any part of it to be sued in court.”
The November 29, 2003, LCMS
News Release NO-140 titled “Board declares 8 CCM opinions ‘of no
effect’” misleads readers to equate the authority of Synod’s
Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM) with the Synod’s Board of
Directors (BOD).
Kieschnick said, “I will be
working with the Board of Directors and the Commission on Constitutional
Matters in an effort to resolve the apparent conflict between these two
important groups of Synodical leaders."
The “conflict,” as
Kieschnick describes it, originated in Kieschnick’s administrative style.
The CCM and the BOD are not
equally empowered entities. The
CCM is not named in the LCMS Constitution, only in the Synod’s By-Laws.
The CCM is a commission whose members are appointed by the Synodical
President. The Board of
Directors is elected by the Convention and, according to the State of
Missouri
in which the Synod is incorporated, must be
legally responsible for the business, finances, and property of the Synod
when the Convention is not in session.
Recent CCM rulings have
attempted to limit the BOD’s constitutional authority.
If CCM rulings have authority over the BOD, the BOD is not
functioning as an elected Board of Directors as required under Missouri Law.
Kieschnick’s appointees to
the CCM, rather than interpreting the Constitution as required,
introduced sweeping new changes that dramatically increased the
authority of the President.
Brad Hewitt, the Synod’s
chief administrative officer, recently resigned from the Synod for another
position.
The “conflict” is not
only limited to the CCM and the BOD. The
Synod’s Board for Communication Services (BCS) has joined in the fray by
slanting news releases in favor of Kieschnick’s administrative innovations
and its own budgetary needs.
For example, David Mahsman
writes that President Kieschnick will be working to resolve the conflicts,
when in fact; the decision of the BOD is final.
Kieschnick has no constitutional authority to do anything about the
“conflict” that he, himself, created.
He wasn’t even present at the meeting when the BOD made its ruling
and where he was entitled to speak and register his vote as a member of the
BOD. Is he going to resolve the
conflict after the fact when he did nothing while events unfolded?
Mahsman lists rulings by the
BOD that limit the Board for Communications Services funds.
The CCM overreached its authority and actually ruled that the BOD
could not limit the Board for Communication’s Services budget.
The BOD in turn declared the CCM rulings null and void.
Mahsman explains that the
Board for Communication Services objects to interference in its business by
the BOD.
We wonder when the CCM and
the Board for Communications Services will issue their own budget for the
Synod and declare the BOD an advisory board.
We also wonder why Mahsman
publishes the names of those who voted against the BOD rulings.
When does Mahsman report the names of those who voted against adopted
resolutions except when he reports about the BOD?
Are all of the rulings by
CCM, Board for Commutations Services, Board for Missions, etc. unanimous
votes? Or is this Mahsman’s
way of publishing the names of those the Board for Communications Services
wants reelected?
The Board for Missions had to cut 19 missionaries from
its budget.
When the Board of Directors attempted to cut
administrative and communication costs, and save missionary jobs, it appears
that the Office of the President and the Board for Communication Services
enlisted support from the CCM to preserve their own funding.
The new Synodical motto for churchmanship may well be “Cover your
budget.”
Rather than accepting the cuts, attempts were made by
the CCM to rewrite the Synodical Constitution and jeopardize the Synod’s
corporate status.
The Synod is already more than 200 million in debt over
its Concordia University System. The
BOD will most likely recommend the sale of two or three of the Synod’s ten
campuses. Will the CCM once
again assume the duties of the BOD?
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