|
After reviewing
all of the nominees, for the first time in its history, the LCMS Synodical
Nominations Committee (SNC) has refused to re-nominate a member of the LCMS
Board of Directors. Reverend Ed
Balfour is also the first convert from Orthodox Judaism elected to the LCMS
Board of Directs.
Balfour was
elected by the Board of Directors (BOD) to fill the vacancy left by Rev.
Roosevelt Gray, an LCMS Pastor of African American descent.
The Board of Directors filled the vacancy with another LCMS pastor
from an ethic minority.
Some have
argued that Balfour was not elected by the Convention and the Board itself
has no right to assume he will be re-nominated by the SNC.
However, as
recently at 2001, the SNC re-nominated two other LCMS BOD members to the BOD
who were filling two vacancies. In
the past, re-nomination by the SNC to the BOD was automatic.
In 2001, Reverend Donald Muchow and Mr. Richard Peters were
re-nominated by the SNC to the BOD for re-election by the LCMS Convention.
Judaism is more
than a religion; it is also a race of people.
Israel
will not allow citizenship unless an immigrant can prove that his or her
mother is Jewish.
The SNC gives
no reason for not re-nominating Balfour.
There have been no substantiated charges or allegations of
malfeasance, incompetence, immorality, or false doctrine.
Rather, Balfour has proven to be an ardent, knowledgeable, capable,
and diligent servant of the church. He
has proven to be particularly perceptive in financial and legal matters as
he seeks to balance the Synodical Budget over the objection of a majority of
the Council of District Presidents (COP).
According to
the 2004 Lutheran Annual on page 723, the Council of District Presidents is
only sending 23 million of the 117 million the Districts collected in 2002
to the LCMS, or 20 cents on the dollar.
The COP keeps hiring more staff and creating large bureaucracies.
The LCMS is more than 200 million in the red.
As of this time, the LCMS is the only religious body in
America
that does not budget any funds for its own Seminaries.
Politics must
rule where faith is lacking. The SNC nominations have become little more
than a tool to control the Synod for the financial benefit of the COP
majority.
Information for
this article was obtained from http://www.crisisinthelcms.org
operated by Rev. Marcus Zill.
Zill’s
“CRISIS UPDATE,”
29 January 2004
(Post 1) reads in apart as follows:
“Synodical
Nominations Committee (SNC): . . . there were actually “two” individuals
who were appointed by the LCMS Board of
Directors between 1995 and 2001 to fill vacancies on the board, Mr.
Richard Peters (NW) and Rev.
Donald Muchow (SE). According to the 2001 Biographical Synopsis - Statement
of Nominees, given to all convention delegates (pp.15-16), both men were put
forth by the 2001 Synodical Nominations Committee (SNC) for consideration by
the Synod in Convention, even though they, like Rev. Balfour, had not been
elected. Thus, the immediate and applicable precedent is actually stronger
than previously realized.
Neither man was
elected at the 2001 convention. Incidentally, Richard Peters has been
nominated once again by the 2004 SNC for the LCMS Board of Directors. Thus,
though he was never elected to the term he originally filled, he has been
brought forth for consideration a second consecutive time by the SNC.
Hopefully this
will help clear everything up. Again I am sorry for the confusion. I am also
sorry that this present SNC has chosen to not follow the above precedent and
thereby give the Synod, duly gathered in convention, the opportunity to
decide whether or not incumbents should be elected anew, regardless of how
they made it on to the Board in the first place.
In Christ,
Pastor Marcus
Zill
P.S. As noted
yesterday, this also is the case in terms of two incumbents on the CPH Board
of Director's as well, one who had been appointed (Rev. Peter Cage) and one
who had been elected (Mrs. Delores Bruncke). The SNC has likewise chosen to
leave them off the slate as well.”
|