Live Convention Coverage

Members of our CFLM convention team are at the convention and have set up a Twitter account so that you can follow the convention with us.  You can read the “tweets” as we post them over on the right of the page, or above.  You may also watch live video from the convention at the synodical site.  More helpful information is available at the 2010 Convention site, which provides a balance to the official coverage.

New Harrison Video

Rev. Matthew Harrison addressed the Black Ministry Family Convocation in Houston on 9 July 2010. He discusses origins of Black Ministry and the effects of restructuring on the program boards of the Synod. Must see!

Rev Harrison Addresses Black Ministry Convocation 2010 from It's Time on Vimeo.

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The Chorus of Support for Rev. Harrison

We reached out to some of the voices of support for Rev. Matthew Harrison we’ve been hearing, and asked them to offer their personal perspectives with our readers. Some inspiring testimonies were sent in. Click on any of the photographs below to read what people who know Rev. Harrison have to say about him.

Don’t forget also to check out the links in the box on the right.  In addition to the helpful ideas for delegates we’ve had up for some time, we also have new articles of interest to all.  The link, “A Pastoral Heart”, helps you get to know Rev. Harrison beyond his administrative record and various achievements on his résumé.  The article it leads you to, “Harrison the Pastor”, provides an excellent view into the heart of the man many are saying will be our next synodical president.  And the link on the top, “Matt Harrison Can NOT Unify the Synod”, reminds us what church leaders can and cannot do.   

Welcome to Cross-Focused Leadership 

Welcome to Cross-Focused Leadership.  We are promoting a “new vision” for walking together as a church family that is actually rooted in an old one:  the way of the founders of our synod.  You see, walking together as a church body is about more than doctrine, more than structure and bylaws, and more than claiming common cultural roots.  It is about love.  Our church fathers understood this. It is what made the great age of unity and growth of the LCMS possible. However, today we have become so institutionalized that we are losing the essence of being one body in Christ.

That there is division among us has been known for quite some time.  Like a dysfunctional family, we have often ignored it.  At other times we have tried to legislate our problems away.  Currently, our synod is adapting much from the world of sociology and psychology in an effort to “transform” our “organization” to have greater “effectiveness” and “impact”.  Such things will reunite our church family no more than a new constitution would heal a divided congregation or a new ministry emphasis bring peace to a parish that has families at odds with one another.  Certainly the social sciences are a gift of God and we can learn from them, but they are not the answer.

So what is the answer?  To realize that the church is a family, not a business, and return to the that which made our synod strong in the first place: our common focus on the cross of Christ, which alone brings unity in the Gospel and by which we have the faith, hope, and love we need to live and work together as a church family.  This love means submitting to one another (Gal. 6:2).  It means being able to embrace and work through conflict together.  (Matt 18:15-20)  It means working together for the sake of the Gospel.  (Phil. 1:3-11)

So what is the paradox here?  It is that “Cross-Focused Leadership” means that we don’t lead.  You don’t lead.  Synod Presidents don’t lead.  The convention doesn’t lead.  Christ leads.  All of us must decrease, that Christ may increase.

That the synod has fallen on hard times this past decade is not the issue.  We all know the numbers.  Declining attendance, financial hardship, missionaries pulled from the field, seminaries in peril.  The question before is: what shall we do about this?

Our Intro Letter to Delegates

 Click here to view additional letters.

Dear LCMS Delegate,

Congratulations on being selected as a delegate to the 2010 convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod! This is a great privilege and an even greater responsibility. We all pray that you accomplish significant things for our Lord and His church.

We are a group that is working to promote good churchmanship in the LCMS. We would like to send you occasional e-mails over the course of the next couple of months, so that you have some resources to work with prior to your receipt of the Convention Workbook and other mailings from the national office. We hope this will assist you in your deliberations, as we all work toward “being united in the same mind and the same judgment” (I Corinthians 1:10) in the Holy Scriptures and our Lutheran confessions.

The main issue for you this week is the upcoming regional gathering. The main purpose of these gatherings is for delegates to review the final report of the “President’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synodical Structure and Governance.” If you don’t have that already, you may obtain it here: http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=15930

This subject will consume a good bit of time at the convention. The last time the synod considered such sweeping changes to its structure and governance was in 1962. President Kieschnick asked his task force to do “a thorough, zero-based assessment of the entirety of the system of governance and organizational structure” of the LCMS. As a result, they are asking you, the voting delegate, to push the voting-pad button that will redo our synodical-congregational system of governance that has safely housed the Gospel and our Lutheran family for over 160 years.

What can you do? First, you should see this as an opportunity for effecting positive change. Second, talk about what concerns and excites you, since these are “deliberative assemblies.” Third, take time to get to know people around you. Share with them your passion for being a member of the LCMS and the things you feel are our strengths and weaknesses. Fourth, if you feel a change in leadership and direction is needed, these are the times and places to make your contribution toward those goals.

Here are some resources available online that we have found:

1. A response by Pastor Matthew Harrison to the task force proposal, known as “It’s Time,” along with other resources at: http://itistime.org
2. A response by interested laymen to the initial task force proposal, with comments and survey, at: http://blueribbonsurvey.org
3. An audio file of a response by layman Christian Preus, former member of the LCMS Board of Directors, to the task force proposal at: http://concordtx.org/tcl/07-23-2009
4. A response by layman Scott Diekmann to the task force proposal, in a continuing series, at: http://stand-firm.blogspot.com/2009/11/bursting-brtfssg-bubble-part-1.html
5. A response by Pastor Martin Noland to the task force proposal, in a five part series, at: http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=7964
6. The Synodical President’s Job by Cross-Focused Leadership for Missouri: http://crossfocusedleadership.org/2009/12/synodical-presidents-job/

We hope to send you more resources and analyses as they become available.

We hope to hear from you and encourage you to join in our conversation. So please share any questions, comments, or concerns. All the delegates have a lot to do to get ready for this summer’s convention in Houston. We hope to meet you there and pray that our Lord will bless your own preparation for our work together as a synod!

Your servants in Christ,

Cross-Focused Leadership for Missouri
Phillip Magness
Stephen R. Johnson
Jenny Jordan
Lindsay Umayam
Pastor Tony Sikora
Pastor Tom Chryst
Pastor Paul Schlueter
Pastor Clint Poppe
Rev. Paul Cain