By David L. Mahsman

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod's president, Dr. A.L. Barry, and the presidents of its districts had a heart to-heart talk here Nov. 19. All those asked about it said it was a positive experience.

"A lot of concerns were expressed and laid on the table," COP Chairman Arleigh Lutz told REPORTER immediately after the session. "I thought it was very good."

The unusual, nearly two-hour discussion took place during the November meeting of the Council of Presidents (COP). The meeting immediately preceded the 1998 Fall Leadership Conference of the Lutheran Church Extension Fund and the LCMS Foundation here.

In pre-meeting correspondence with COP members -- the 35 district presidents, the Synod's five vice presidents and Barry -- Lutz wrote that the time had been set aside "for a discussion of our working relationships with Dr. Barry."

Actions at this year's Synod convention that were aimed at district presidents "and the politicking prior to the convention, beating up on the DPs" provided impetus for scheduling the session, Atlantic District President David Benke told REPORTER. "Secondly, this had to do with building strength of relationships between the DPs and the president's office," he said.

The discussion itself was held in executive session at Barry's request and with the council's approval.

Benke reportedly was among the first to speak. He discussed his participation in a Sept. 9 interfaith prayer service for the poor at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. In an Oct. 22 meeting with the Praesidium, he signed an apology to the Synod for that participation.

"Even the Praesidium acknowledged that I had good intentions," Benke said. "It wasn't meant to be a defense, but I wanted the council to understand my intentions." Benke distributed materials regarding those intentions to the COP. He told REPORTER he would also send the materials to anyone who asks, "then move on."

Benke said he also discussed with the council the procedure followed in his meeting with the Praesidum in October. He said he was presented with a written apology and was told to sign it or be suspended from the Synod's clergy roster. "My question was, what's behind that process? ... I think we need more face-to-face time," he said.

Lutz said that other topics included concerns over a tendency of some congregations and church workers to take problems to Barry rather than to the appropriate district president; what one district president termed the Synod's "galloping isolationism" and a tendency to look "only at the wrongs" of other Lutherans; and the need for members of the council, including Barry, to support one another in their respective responsibilities.

"He made some strong pledges about loving us and supporting us," Lutz said of Barry.

But the discussion apparently wasn't a one-way street. Barry, too, shared hurts he has experienced as a result of comments about him by some district presidents, according to members in the meeting.

Asked his perspective on the session, Barry provided a written statement to REPORTER. In it, he said that "as a result of this time spent together, we found ourselves happily making a mutual commitment to one another to do three things. They are:

* "To walk together with each other in our working relationship;

* "genuinely to help carry each other's load,

* "to uphold one another's arms as together we serve the Lord and our beloved Synod."

"I might add that in visiting with several of our district presidents following this two-hour time slot that we spent together, I heard nothing but positive and appreciative remarks about both the tone and outcome of this portion of our meeting," Barry continued. "For that, I very much thank God and know that the Synod joins me in doing the same."

In other business at its Nov. 18-20 meeting here, the council:

* Ratified the Praesidium's selection of Walter Tesch of Milwaukee and Dr. Albert M. Marcis of Parma, Ohio, to terms on the Synod's Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM). Tesch, an attorney, is an incumbent. Marcis, former president of the SELC District, will be serving his first term on the commission. The Praesidium's selections were made from a list of five candidates for each position adopted by the COP.

* Reported that 493 LCMS congregations currently are calling a sole or senior pastor.

* Placed six pastoral candidates from the Synod's two seminaries into their first calls and assigned five seminary students to the one-year vicarages.

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