WELS President Mark Schroeder led his first full Synodical Council meeting in November.

“What’s most striking is the complexity of the issues that the Synodical Council is responsible for dealing with,” says Schroeder. “What’s also striking is the commitment that these men show in wanting to do what is very best for their synod as it carries out its work. Their faith and their love for the Lord shine through in what they’re doing.”

One of the bigger decisions the council made was to approve a proposal to consolidate the synod’s four debts, totaling $22.4 million, into one single debt.

This consolidation helps reduce confusion over the variety of interest rates and a feeling among some that the Board for Ministerial Education was carrying a disproportionate share, $15.1 million, of the debt. Now the entire debt will be one line item in the synod’s general operating budget and will be repaid over 10 years at four percent interest.

“The convention wanted to see the synod’s finances presented as clearly and as transparently as possible. This gives a clear picture of the debt,” says Schroeder. “This puts it right on the table—this is our debt and this is how we’re going to service it. It also gives us a very clear target as we try with the Lord’s help to eliminate that debt completely.”

The four debts included $7.3 million for costs associated with the amalgamation of Dr. Martin Luther College and Northwestern College, and Martin Luther Prep School and Northwestern Prep in 1995; $7.3 million for operational borrowing for 2001-03; $6.9 million for the boiler house at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn., and the science wing at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Mich.; and $900,000 for a dormitory at Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, Wis.

In other business, the Synodical Council