WELS Financial Reports - Convenient Cuts and Add-ons

The latest WELS financial reports are posted. Click on the link below:

Now You See It - Now You Don't

I am no accountant and therefore not qualified to summarize all the figures. However, any layman can see that millions of dollars are being moved around to suit the purposes of the anti-school administration.

One of the synodical complaints is that they are only receiving $1 million per year in estate gifts. They are spending $2 million on Tetzels, or Planned Giving Counselors. So they would make $1 million net - just by firing the Tetzels and leaving those old people alone. Too much begging is counter-productive.

Why not fire everyone on the money staff? They are obviously doing a poor job.

The Apache mission is being strangled, but there is lots of money for Asia and other exotic places in the world missions budget. There are huge boosts for world missions.

Millions are spent on meetings. Various groups are flown to Milwaukee all the time. Here's a clue for those spending on technology: teleconferencing. It can be done by phone or even with video. By phone it is quite inexpensive. Video would be an enormous savings over flights, food, and motels.

The WELS website is good for $200,000 cost per year. The Ichabod blog is free. Some volunteer could run a blog that has one page, featuring: Lenski, Triglotta, Boxer Shorts. That's an old joke from the late Northwestern College. One professor used to say, "All you need to be an orthodox pastor is Lenski, the Concordia Triglotta, and a pair of boxer shorts." I thought some time ago that the WELS website was a self-perpetuating monstrosity, difficult to navigate, time-consuming to update. Permanent job security.

Note that Michigan has the most to lose this convention. They had tons of material on their part of the WELS website. The others have next to nothing, except for Southeast Wisconsin, with just a little information. A volunteer could put up plenty of useful information for each district. Dull stuff for so much money.

When my wife and I were cutting expenses, we did things like the following. A dinner out at Red Lobster was at least $30. Why not get some fresh fish at Sprouts and grill it? A pound of fresh fish is about $10, sometimes only $5 on sale. We have had salmon, catfish, and flounder from a hickory smoked grill for half the cost of dinner out. Besides, now we are spoiled. Nothing compares to freshly grilled meat. I make pollo asado for $3.50 a pound. The meat is already prepared at Sprouts. I can grill a week's worth of chicken for the cost of one dinner out, so I do that. Synods could improve quality while cutting costs, but they will not.

The trouble with the four-letter synods (ELCA, WELS, LCMS) is the same with the three letter synods (ELS, CLCs, LCR). They consider the money their money. ELCA has had a corrupting influence. I once saw a book at the LCA seminary library - a training manual for bishops. I wish I would have hooked it and xeroxed it. The tips were worth communicating to to others. "Be a hammer, never an anvil." That explains a lot. If the leaders are always pounding someone, they are not being pounded. The result is not a happy one. Pastors with brains go silent or get out.

The money these people waste on themselves is truly sickening. Pope John the Malefactor (ELS) just went to South Korea with another ELS person, to be photographed with someone. The tiny sect is $80,000 short of cash for the current year, so the new budget has to be cut. Is there no shame? WELS is running $900,000 short for the current year, but they sky is filled with traveling DPs.