A Gutsy Confessional Move by a District President, by Pr. Rossow

Rocky Mountain District (RMD) President Randy Golter organized his own Task Force to review the work of the synod’s Blue Ribbon Task Force so that the delegates to the RMD convention would be better prepared to respond to the survey put out by the task force. (Click here  to see one of our many posts on this subject. If you use the search feature on the Home Page you can find numerous other posts about the proposals.) You can see the report of the RMD task force by clicking here.

Will President Benke from the Atlantic District call for the banning of this effort from the RMD  as he did the work of the Interested Laymen? Will the Council of Presidents issue statements asking the delegates of the RMD convention to ignore the work of President Golter’s task force?

The review and critique of the RMD committee is not as extensive nor as incisive as the work of the Interested Laymen  but it is nice to see an official entity of the LCMS (the RMD) actually raise questions about another official entity’s work (the BRTFSSG). The RMD study raises important questions about many of the proposals. They question why the synod president should have the ability to appoint one third of the synod board of directors, how much brand identity would   be lost with a synod name change, and other important questions.

We applaud President Golter for establishing this his own district task force and encourage other district presidents to have the same courage to actually raise questions about the proposals from President Kieschnick’s task force.

Up to this point the BRTFSSG has refused to publish any comments that call into question any or all of their proposals. Is there something to hide? Since when has our synod leadership done something as important as suggesting changes to the synod’s structure without transparently involving the members of synod and its member congregations? Sure, the task force is conducting surveys at each district convention but they are not publishing the results of those surveys. Again, is there something to hide? Sure, they have a vehicle for recieving comments but they do not make those commnets public. Again, is there something to hide?

The work of President Golter’s task force is far from scandalous, nor is the work of the Interested Laymen but that’s the impression one gets from President Benke and the Blue Ribbon task force. The survey they have put out at district conventions is nothing more than a push poll. Because the Task Force  only gives its own  rationale for making the changes without any consideration of the down side of each proposal, the survey is heavily slanted in favor of the proposals. It is much like a political party phoning you up to ask questions of you that are worded in such a way that favors the answers they want to hear. Then they announce to the world that a majority of people support their candidate or their positions. The church is a family and not a business. It is unacceptable family behavior to have one family member conduct a push poll on the rest of the family. We need to talk directly and in a straight forward manner to one another as the RMD task force does. The Blue Ribbon task force needs to follow the lead of the Interested Laymen and the Rocky Mountain District and add opposing opinions to their survey. Otherwise the results they announce this fall are  biased, skewed and tainted.

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