Friday, June 22nd
The business meeting began at 8:40 a.m. with an opening prayer by Rev. Mark Anderson.
Meeting was adjourned at 10:20am and the business meeting was to be resumed the following morning at 8:30am.
Saturday, June 23rd
General Assembly began at 9:00 am.
1. Nominating Committee Update: The committee was still open for any new nominations before final closing. Introduction of tellers was made: Lester Ahls, Arther Harper, Elmer Francisco and Wayne Bergesser. Two nominations for President-elect stayed the same as the day before - Lee Ann Kotal and Pam Kane. Rev. Mark Anderson came to the floor to make a sincere prayer to be presented to the Lord to help us vote for the right persons. The votes took place for President-elect position.
2. Treasurer Report: Karen Beiter greeted us all in the name of Jesus Christ and thanked us so much for the enriching experience as a treasurer as she was completing her second term. She enjoyed the experience very much but that certainly kept her very busy. She shared the goals for ILDA in the near future and suggestions/ideas for how ILDA could save money. ILDA balance was $19,347.34. For the mission projects we hit $50,000 in '99 which was exciting and now we tried for $55,000 so we were still trying. Before the convention, the total was $30,205.70 in Mission Projects fund. Another amount of $10,391.47 was still in Convocation fund and it was put into a CD to let interest be earned for the future convocation in 2005. The amount of $4,059.66 was in ILDA Publicity Video Project. The Zacharias Fund had $19,255. She updated on ILDA membership dues which was now $20 for a two-year membership. Before the ILDA Convention, there were 204 members and 79 God's 1,000 Club members. She showed the balance sheets, account statements, the list of donations/contributions by the churches over a 4 year period, letters of gratitude, the '99-01 ILDA budget and fundraising ideas on the overhead. (refer to the Treasurer's reports.) James Swalley made a motion to accept the treasurer's reports. Passed.
3. Resolutions Update: Charles Kotal shared that he received several resolutions yet it was still open for any more resolutions. Then he would present the list of resolutions for the general assembly to review and approve.
4. Nominating Update: First female to win for ILDA President-elect was Pam Kane. She came to the floor and thanked us for voting for her. She would make a commitment to the Lord and ILDA to serve us the best as the president-elect. For the secretary position, the motion was brought up to close the nomination so the current candidates were Tim Johnston and Charles Kotal. The voting took place.
5. President's Report: Richard Norton greeted us as brothers and sisters in Christ. He informed that ILDA has existed for 30 years and ILDA has confronted many challenges as in the case of Crossroads direction. He hoped ILDA helped many different deaf ministries and interpreting services to grow - both parts of deaf ministry are very important. He reminded us about Matt 28:18-20: The Great Commission - which is our duty to go and spread the Gospel. He updated us that the Executive Board met early in March. Now we have an ILDA web site which was created by David Brown. Now ILDA Convention minutes and treasurer reports as well as ILDA Handbook could be on the web site. The web site address is www.lcmsdeaf.org/ilda. The next 3rd Convocation that Rev. Mark Seeger is to be chairman of in 2002 was postponed until 2005. W e just completed the first goal out of three goals and we could go by a five-year period basis so it would give us enough time to complete the last two goals (increase the number of deaf-based ministries and size of church membership and believers.) We now have 46 talented Deaf Institute of Theology (DIT) students who would serve as deacons, lay leaders and church leaders in our deaf churches across the nation. He emphasized the importance of continuing communication among the regional presidents and ILDA officers. He informed that Mill Neck Foundation extended the John of Beverley Award to ILDA.
6. Nominating Update: The Secretary position went to Tim Johnston for the second term. Tim came to the stage and thanked for the continuing belief in him to serve as ILDA Secretary. He added that he would continue to look for ways to better serve ILDA as the Secretary. The nomination for the Treasurer was open and then closed. Those who were nominated were Mike Bowman and Jim Sipchen. Each gave comments about what experiences each had. The voting took place.
7. Synodical Representative Report: Rev. Roger Altenberger greeted and introduced himself as our LCMS Deaf Ministry Counselor. There were seven vacancies in the deaf churches. New church workers who have been assigned are Rev. Bill Wrede to Long Island and Mill Neck, NY, Rev. Bruce Hein as MAL to Rocky Mountain District, Rev. Jim Drummond as MAL to Northwest District, Rev. Dennis Konkel as MAL to West Iowa District, Rev. Tom Phillips to Jacksonville, IL, on a part-time basis, and Rev. Fred Leighty as MAL to East Iowa District. Other church workers who have been approved are Deacon John Rushton to continue presiding over services at Alpha Deaf, Rochester, NY, and Charles Kotal as lay ministrer at Pilgrim Deaf, LA, CA. Currently, there are 46 students in DIT program with all pre-seminary courses completed and taped on videos. Two seminary classes have been developed and completed by LCMS Deaf Ministry so far. There are 228 LCMS congregations having interpreted services. Five Fort Wayne Seminary students were studying to become pastors of the deaf and there was none at St. Louis Seminary. New goal as of now is to work with Concordia Universities at Bronxville, Irvine (CA), and St Paul (MN) to train Directors of Christian Education and Directors of Christian Outreach for the work among the Deaf. Why? To involve more young people in reaching out to more young Deaf. Sad news: California/Nevada/Hawaii District has stopped supporting Sacramento/Stockton areas served by Rev. Bob Rowland. Southeastern District Deaf worker, Rev. Mike MacDonald has been working part-time since. Good News: All future videos for LCMS congregations will be fully captioned; Counselor of Deaf Ministry will be involved with the orientation process at both seminaries and will be working to shorten the entire DIT class curriculum. He could still serve and support deaf ministry efforts in other countries including Brazil, Africa, China, etc. We have deaf ministries and programs better focused than other deaf-based religions. Most importantly, there are 3 million deaf in the United States and almost 2 to 5 percent of them know the Lord, leaving almost 2.8 million Deaf going to Hell. Is that satisfactory? Praise the Lord for answering prayers as more are heading into Deaf Ministry service/leadership training. More prayers still are needed to have more church workers and leaders.
8. Nominating Update: The Treasurer postion went to Jim Sipchen. Jim came to the floor and thanked us with a commitment to serve us well with God's and our help.
9. Pastoral Advisor: Rev. Mark Anderson came and mentioned that LCMS Deaf Ministry Counselor took up most of Pastor Advisor's report time so his would be brief. He thanked us for the opportunity to serve us well the past two years. He said he must sit tight and silent and let the deaf churches run. He thanked God for having pastoral advisor's articles added to Deaf Lutheran newsletter so he could say something. But he would not be going to let articles give us mind of serenity but instead he would challenge our faiths to grow well.
10. Nominating Update: Four nominated Pastoral Advisors were still the same: Rev. Mark Anderson, Rev. Bill Wrede, Rev. Tim Eckert, and Rev. John Reinke. Any new nomination was closed. Voting took place.
11. Deaf Lutheran: David Brown greeted and welcomed us to ILDA Convention in Indianapolis, IN. Since then, the Deaf Lutheran (DL) newsletter has processed very successfully with much needed grants received for better production equipment and software. Much gratitude went to Mill Neck Foundation for the generous grant. The DL production has become well stabilized with newsletters going out four times a year. Readers are around 782 to 827 subscribers. Since Feb. 200l, there have been 788 subscribers. Past issues could be found on the web site. DL is now self-supportive but the earnings and expenses have been getting real close and tight. The printing costs keep increasing while the subscription rates remain the same at $7.50/individual and $7.00/blanket rate. The DL would appreciate any kind of donation to help out with increasing expenses. For example, the amount of $2,500 was donated from '99 ILDA Convention in Cleveland, OH. Larry Ginter, Business Manager, thanked us for the continuing support of the Deaf Lutheran. He reminded us to continue sending in the renewed subscriptions or become new subscribers. Charles Kotal came up to the floor with an emphasis on how important DL newsletter has been to the deaf churches as one of the significant communication tools. He requested that we continue to send in more information to the DL to help each other keep abreast of happenings in various deaf churches and regions.
12. LCMS Deaf Ministry Counselor: Rev. Roger Altenberger regretted overlooking important news concerning another deaf worker in CA - Denise Manning of Northern California who became deaf two years ago and has since learned sign language. She used to work in Quatemala and Panama with the missionary program. She came back and started working in northern California with the deaf. She has lots of experiences with missionary work. Praise be to the Lord.
13. Finance Committee Report: Karen Beiter came up to the floor to present the upcoming proposed 2001-2003 ILDA budget. The expected income would be $7,800 (ILDA membership dues $4.5k, God's 1000 Club $1.5k, ILA Donations $1k and Interests $0.8k) and the expected expenses (2002 Ex Board $3k, '03 Board/Convention $13k and Misc.$3k) would be $19,000. ILDA still needs to look for ways to reduce the expenses. The membership enrollment has declined due to more members opting for ILDA dues rather than both ILDA and God's 1000 club to help out with ILDA operating expenses. There has been an increased trend in donating more to Mission Projects rather than to ILDA operating expenses. There is a need to cut down the expenses so ILDA donations could be increased.
14. Law Committee: James Swalley, President-elect, greeted us as brothers and sisters in Christ. They had been studying some of the changes and wanted to share what they had done. Carol Ann Pickell, Rev. Mark Anderson, Winona Alter and James were on the committee. The first issue was about allowing a female to run for the ILDA President position. They found a statement in the ILDA Handbook (red book) that any male or female could run for President so no further action was done to revise the handbook. Second issue was about allowing ILDA Convention financial reports to be submitted within 6 months instead of required 90 days but it is now understood that financial reports could come within 100 or 120 days. Thirdly, the new ILDA Endowment proposal has been carried on for several years but never was printed in the constitution or handbook. It was separate from other funds. It would have its own officers and would earn the interests. He didn't have much to suggest so he would pass on the proposal matter to the next committee so they could have full report at the next convention. Once this had been revised and accepted, it would go into the handbook so it would be more or less a guideline to help know what to do with those certain funds. Fourth issue was to encourage each region of ILDA to support up to 1/7th of Mission Projects funds. The fifth was to merge the positions of Publicity and Historian into one and have the duties that were listed in the Handbook (sections K and U) merged and updated. Finally, the amount expected for the Deaf Lutheran (DL) Newsletter to collect up to $1,000 has now been changed to $20,000 (section D of article 25 in the handbook.) This would help DL become flexible and better sustaining with their production and operating budgets.
15. ILDA Publicity Video Project: Alice Hagemeyer greeted us as friends in Christ. She wanted to briefly share her background with us. Previously she knew nothing about ILDA and was astonished to learn how wonderful the ILDA organization was when she joined several years ago. She felt that would be the similar case with many other deaf Lutherans and Christians for not knowing anything about ILDA, so that motivated her to chair the ILDA Publicity Video project with great enthusiasm. Linda Desroisers, Richard Norton, Rev. Mark Anderson and Alice were on the committee. It would be a five-minute video presentation. This video would help increase the ILDA membership with better understanding about the ILDA. She has been very actively involved with public libraries to have ASL Access collections established so ILDA Publicity video could be in these collections so that would increase better publicity as well. She urged each of us to visit a public library to see if there is any ASL Access Collection and then make a request for it if there is none. Each of us has a responsibility as ASL Access Collection provision awareness has been very much underway. The video would cover Deaf Culture, Language and History and ILDA. It has been a dream coming alive to Alice.
16. Mission Projects: Pam Kane came to the floor and thanked us for the enriching experience of working with Mission Projects. Now that she would be going to serve as ILDA President-elect. She was very pleased to announce about how Mission Projects goals have been going well lately. She updated that each deaf church would receive the copies of Mission Projects brochures so each could provide more funding supports. As of now, the amount $33,993.11 had been reached for the Mission Projects, falling short of about $22,000 of the $55,000 Mission target. This target would continue to be the same for the next two years. The new proposed mission projects for 2001 through 2003 would be:
PROPOSED LIST OF MISSION PROJECTS:
1. DIT/Zacharus $11,000
2. ILDA PR Video Project $5,000
3. Sao Paul Lutheran Church of Brazil $2,500
4. Republic of Madagascar Schools for the Deaf $2,500
5. Summer Camps (CA, NE & TX) $9,000 ($3k each)
6. Ghana $2,000
7. Macau (missionary) $2,000
8. New York West Camp $2,000
9. Concordia Special School Ed (Macau) $1,500
10. India House Improvement $3,000
11. Nyandarua School of the Deaf $3,000
12. Pax Natrua Ranch (Canada) $1,000
13. Starfish Learning Center $3,000Total $47,500
The proposed list of mission projects with pledged amounts and priority was approved.
Rev. Don Leber came to the floor and received warm appreciation from the general assembly for his continuing effort to work for deaf youth Lutheran camp. He expressed the importance of the continuation of financial support for these mission projects including the deaf youth camps. He wanted to see every one of these projects finished early before the next ILDA in Minneapolis, MN. President Norton asked the deaf congregations to strive to take 2%, 5% or 10% of the church offerings to go to the ILDA Mission Projects.17. 1999 ILDA Convention: The convention was very successful in Cleveland, OH, in 1999. The net profit was $16,189.93.
18. Nominating Update: Rev. Mark Anderson would continue to be our Pastoral Advisor for the second two-year term.
19. Scholarship Committee: Lee Ann Kotal came to the floor to present the list of seminarians: Steven Cholak (Akron, OH), Mark Ehrlichman (Minneanapolis, MN), Scott Johnson (Denver, CO), Kurt Klingbeil (New Richmond, WI) and Terry Quick (Fort Wayne, IN.) Each would receive a scholarship of $1,000.
20. Bid for 2007 Convention Host: President Norton informed us that he received no letter of interest to bid for '07 Convention, yet. There was plenty of time. He encouraged any deaf church to consider the bid to be the '07 Convention Host.
21. Resolutions Update: Charles Kotal informed that there were five resolutions. First and most important resolution was in the support of deaf missionaries and missions which had been terminated by certain districts. Carried. The second resolution was the recognition of appreciation for the wonderful service of Rev. Rodney Rynearson as LCMS Counselor of Deaf Ministry and the successful search for the next new successor to the Counselor position. The third resolution was to show the appreciation of the Peace Lutheran Church of the Deaf for the acceptance to host the 2001 ILDA Convention which was very successful when they were asked to host with the short notice. A round of standing applause was given to the Indy Host. Fourth resolution was to show the appreciation to the outgoing ILDA President Richard Norton. Fifth resolution was to show the appreciation to Karen Beiter, ILDA Treasurer for four years.
22. Unfinished Business: President Norton reviewed unfinished business which was already completed.
23. New Business:
- Lester Ahls (Carol Ann Pickell) made a motion to request that copies of previous convention's minutes be provided for all future conventions. Passed.
- Mark Ehrlichman (Martha Malone) made a motion for Christians to have a committee to explore ways in developing/establishing a fund that would provide the monies to cover the interpreting costs for the deaf seminarians. Failed. (Rev. Roger Altenberger made a point that it was the seminary's responsibility to handle the issues of interpreting costs not ILDA's as it had a different focus.)
24. Necrology Update: President Norton informed that Mae Madding resigned from the position as there was no information of any deceased ILDA members since 1999. He requested that any recent news of deceased ILDA members be shared with the General Assembly now. So far there were seven. Arther Anderson (St. Paul, MN died on 6/19/01 - he received the Right Hand Award at ILDA Convention in Portland, OR), Patsy Nadler (Madison WI died last Feb '01), Ruth Cupps (died on 4/4/01), Phyllis Crossen, Harold Nord (Manhattan, KS), Paul Synder, Edna Alder, Lynn Frye Sr., Sam Riege, and Rhonda Rynearson.
25. 2003 ILDA Convention: Mark Johnson, co-chairman of convention, presented the updates of the upcoming ILDA Convention near Minneapolis, MN. The theme will be "Let Thy Holy Angels Be With Us" and the verse is from Psalm 91:11. The host will be Prince of Peace Lutheran Church for the Deaf, Minneapolis, MN during July 3-6, 2003. The powerpoint presentation of the 2003 ILDA Convention preview was shown on the screen.
26. Announcements and closing prayer were shared.
Meeting was adjourned at 2:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Tim Johnston, Secretary