News," distributed as a supplement to the Synod's Reporter newspaper. "The work of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance is about improving our ability, in the words of the Synod’s mission statement, 'vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communities, and the world,'" Kieschnick wrote. He added that its work is about "doing everything humanly possible to ensure for the Synod a viable future so that it can continue to carry out this mission for years to come." Two years later, on October 15, 2009, the task force issued its final report in anticipation of the 2010 Synod convention. The report made 21 specific recommendations. One of those recommendations spoke to the structure of the "corporate Synod". When the report was written, the structure included seven program boards and six commissions, most with staff, that carried out functions outlined in the synod's bylaws. The task force said that while the boards and commissions are accountable to the synod convention, they operate independently of each other "to some extent as a series of silos". The task force wrote that this structure lacks accountability to the needs of congregations, is inefficient and expensive, and creates complications in business oversight and legal compliance. It therefore recommended a new structure that would realign national ministries around two "mission commissions", one for national mission and one for international mission. Each commission would have a staff that would be responsible to the president of the LCMS through a "chief mission officer" appointed by the president with the concurrence of the synod's board of directors. Kieschnick issued a response to the 21 task force recommendations, which he generally supported. Regarding the recommendation for major change in the structure of the corporate Synod, its newspaper reported, "Kieschnick supports the recommendation to eliminate the current boards and commissions, stating it would solve the problems of supervision and accountability within the Synod structure. But he also says that having the chief mission officer accountable to him 'could be seen as concentration of excessive authority in the office of the Synod president. That is neither the task force’s intention nor my desire.'” In a pre-convention issue of the Reporter, nominees for president responded to a question about their support for the task force's recommendations. Kieschnick wrote, "For more than four years task force members have addressed challenges in our