2012 Texas District Results and Thoughts

The following is a bit of rambling and thoughts concerning the 2012 Convention of the Texas District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

The main election results were as follows: President, reelected, Rev. Ken Hennings; First Vice President (area D, which is our area), Rev. Ralph Hobratschk; Second Vice President (area A), Rev. Dale Snyder; Third Vice President (area B), Rev. Eloy Gonzalez; Fourth Vice President (area C), Rev. Mark Barz.

Not only do we do business, we also have someone called an essayist who leads us in a Bible Study of sorts, more like a lecture. All I can say about the essayist was that his theology left a lot to be desired and that is putting the best construction on everything.

Our Synod President,Rev. Matt Harrison presented matters in synod such as what was going on with the changes voted in at the last synodical convention. Following his presentation, unlike previous years when delegates were allowed to submit questions for the former president to answer, this year the President simply entertained questions from the floor.

Some telling points of the convention came in the form of two wonderful questions from the floor, again, questions not submitted, nor scripted but simply asked by delegates. One question asked of President Harrison had to do with the fact that he has decided to accept a call to a local congregation in order to continue to serve as a pastor, which is considered the highest calling in our church. Even President Harrison understands that he took a step down in taking the role as the President of Synod. Anyway the question was asked if he sought the call as opposed to our understanding that the office of the pastor seeks the man, not the man seeking the office. The answer our president gave was an answer of a theologian, not a pragmatist. Rev. Harrision explained from CFW Walther and Martin Luther that when a man has the gifts and abilities to serve he may offer those gifts and abilities and a congregation may call him to serve.

A second and what I think is a more telling question was asked; “When it comes to selecting people to serve in various positions in the Synod, are you giving preference to confessional pastors?” This question seems to deny that this goes on with presidents on both sides of the discussion and has only pertained to our current president, but more importantly, this question is an admission that the one asking the questions and others are not confessional, which has been the contention by many for some time.

Finally, unlike years past, the convention this year was rather calm. The reason for this calmness, in my thinking, is that the confessional Lutherans of Texas have simply decided that the battle is best taken on at the Synod level at this time rather than the district level which has been a losing proposition over the past number of years. The votes spoke the divide about 65% to 35%.