This past year saw “Districts” changing to “Regions” and amending their constitutions to reflect the amendments to the CLB constitution that were adopted a year ago at the 2009 Annual Convention. The following are overviews of what took place at each regional meeting.

New beginnings are exciting. New beginnings speak of hope, and more. New beginnings come with an optimism that enables us to stretch beyond our perceived limitations, and gives us a chance to explore new parameters that would enhance and encourage mission and ministry.

A number of years ago a group of parishioners throughout our synod met to share ideas that would foster this. Out of the discussion came the recommendation that we need to flatten the structure of our synod. We need to bring the synod to the people. Through further discussion came the proposal to create the position of Regional Pastor. This RP will live in the area he is called to serve, and will be a facilitator for the local congregations. He is called to be a pastor to our pastors, and an encourager to our churches.

At our annual meeting this spring, the Church of the Lutheran Brethren of Canada accepted this position into our constitution. We as a body affirmed Pastor Art Hundeby as our new Regional Pastor, a task that Pastor Art, by God's grace, is well qualified to fill. I feel a sense of excitement as I consider what this office, along with the giftedness of Pastor Art, will bring to our churches. Pastor Hundeby will be filling this position beginning September 1, 2010.

We need to pray that God will lead and guide Pastor Art, and strengthen and uphold him through this office of service to the ministry of the church. In addition to prayer, we need to encourage him. This is a new venture, with brand new expectations. I am grateful to God for calling Pastor Art into this office, and we as a board of the CLBC look forward to working alongside him as God uses us to extend his awesome grace.

Pastor Jon Overland

We billed our February 20th district gathering The 25th (and Final) Annual Meeting of the CLB Pacific Southwest District. With no district officers to elect or budgets to set, the business worth mentioning (and I hope worth traveling all the way to Pasadena for) was foreseeing a constitution for the Pacific Region, now midway through the birth process, seeking to incorporate the best of our Southwest District constitution into that of the Northwest District, and to adjust them both to the new realities of the CLB synod (the role of the Regional Pastor, the move to a biennial convention, things like that). Three work groups pondered the two constitutions in parallel edition with the synodical constitution ready at hand, proposing modifications to the Northwest constitution for attention at their April annual meeting.

We hadn’t realized, when we asked our incoming Regional Pastor Stan Olsen to be our speaker, that we were also getting a marvelous resource person for our work sessions, especially in the uncharted waters of how the roles of Regional Pastor and Regional Chairman would inter-relate. What could have been little more than the last gasp of an expiring district was in fact a great time of fellowship (we always have that) and an anticipation of new working relationships and ministry opportunities in the Pacific Region.

One of the final official actions of the Pacific Southwest District was to establish a committee of two (President, Steve Lazicki and Secretary, Jim Erickson) to meet with members of the Pacific Northwest District Executive Board to compose a Pacific Region constitution. This was presented to the Pacific Northwest District meeting and was subsequently adopted by that meeting contingent on the constitution being approved/accepted by the CLB Council of Directors. This new constitution establishes that within the Pacific Region there will exist a Pacific Region North and a Pacific Region South, both with Executive Committees and distinct financial budgets within the unified Regional budget. It also establishes a Regional Executive Board composed of the Regional Pastor, the North and South Regional Chairmen, and one additional member from the executive committees of the Pacific North and Pacific South. It also allows a Pacific Region Biennial meeting to be composed of a Pacific North and Pacific South meeting or a combined meeting. The goal in composing this constitution was to allow some distinctiveness for Pacific North and South, while also maintaining an overarching unity for the whole Region.

Pastor Steve Lazicki & Pastor Stan Olsen

The Western Region meeting was held at the new church facilities of Living Word Fellowship in Dickinson, North Dakota. The primary focus of the business meeting was to deal with constitutional amendments to harmonize the Western Region constitution with the new CLB constitution particularly regarding changes from district to region and annual to biennial meetings. We also had a worship service in which the new Regional Pastor, Gary Witkop, gave the message. Presentations were also given from the LB Seminary, CLB main offices and Inspiration Point Bible Camp.

The main topic of discussion at the business session was how the constitutional changes for the CLB as a whole will affect the Western Region and its ministries. The changes will affect the way church plants are dealt with. In the Western Region a new church plant is just forming in Watford City, ND. Two men from the Watford City work were at the meeting and gave a presentation on the work there. They were Dan Bundy and Barry Schmal. The work in Watford City originated with the help of Lutheran Brethren Fellowship Church in Williston, ND. The new church in Watford City will be called Living Faith LBC.
Other business included a report from the church in Aurora, Colorado that was considering closing. (Living Word Church of Aurora did officially close a couple of months later.)

Pastor Gary Witkop

The annual meeting of the Central Region of the CLB, hosted by Community of Joy LBC in Eagan, Minnesota, was marked by adjustment and anticipation – adjusting to the constitutional changes of the CLB, and anticipating what living under our new constitution might look like. Much of the meeting was spent fine-tuning the amendments to our proposed constitution, which would bring us into harmony with the new constitution of the CLB.

As we worked together on this task there was a sense of unity and curiosity as to what these new changes would bring. We discussed what it might look like for churches in the Central Region to work together and how the Regional Pastor might serve to facilitate these relationships and to spread thoughts and ideas among the churches. In light of these changes, we also discussed and considered new ideas for the biennial meeting of the Central Region.

Our former District President, Rev. Aage Larsen of Menomonie, Wisconsin, was elected to the newly formed position of Regional Chairman. Rev. Adam Berge of Westby, WI was elected Secretary, and LaWayne Rogness of Fergus Falls, MN was elected as our Central Region nominee for Layperson representative on the CLB Council of Directors.

Pastor Adam Berge

The Eastern Region held its annual meeting on April 24th at Hillside LBC in Succasunna, New Jersey, chaired by Rev. Kevin Foss. Rev. Richard Bridston, the new Regional Pastor, talked about his position and shared an encouraging word from God’s Word. Much of our time was then spent finalizing our new constitution, which we were seeking to bring into alignment with the newly adopted synodical constitution. This was a long process, but one in which we were able to feel the weight of what it really means to be united together in ministry as a collection of congregations in the Eastern Region.

Pastor Roger Viksnes

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