Maranatha Remembers - and Watertown

The comments about Maranatha College have been interesting. Apparently this strict Baptist group bought a Catholic college in Watertown, Wisconsin and began going door to door to evangelize. WELS pastors complained that Maranatha picked up all kinds of members from WELS. That does not surprise me at all. WELS is good at preparing people to join the Baptists. Secondly, a typical WELS reaction would be anger toward Maranatha for picking up neglected or quasi-Baptist members.

The Northwestern Lutheran (before it was FIC) ran a story on NWC, complaining about the alcoholism fostered there. That was just before the Anschluss, when DMLC absorbed NWC and Luther lost his doctorate. Dr. Martin Luther College became Martin Luther College.

MLC really ignored educational trends. Now most schools have significant online programs, something pioneered by the University of Phoenix (300,000 students). MLC's enrollment has been trending down, its figures worsened by the accurate rumors that it will close. Yes, MLC will close in a few years. Not right away. WELS is propping up too many buildings with too much of an aging population. Things could be different, but the momentum would have to shift dramatically toward sound doctrine and honesty, unappetizing prospects for The Love Shack Curia.