Dr. Paul Kelm?

The Appleton Alliance pastor is pictured on the left.

Managing Change - Dr. Paul Kelm

Understand what drives change, why people resist change, and how they process change. Discover key principles for introducing, leading, and institutionalizing change. Realize that Christianity is all about change. Dr. Paul Kelm serves as the discipleship pastor at St. Mark Lutheran in De Pere, WI and served for over six years as a church consultant.

Dare To Lead - 2006 BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Pastor Bill Lenz
What does it take to be the servant leader of a large church in America (350+ weekend attendance)? What can be learned from the ministry pioneering done by the very large teaching churches, a growing variety of para-church organizations, and scores of entrepreneurial individuals? Discover key principles used by large churches in their approach to ministry. Pastor Bill Lenz serves as the senior pastor of Christ The Rock Community Church in Menasha, WI, a church where more than 3000 gather on a weekend.Strategic Planning -

Dr. Janet Moldstad
Why strategic planning for a church? Because a well-wrought strategic plan helps you set priorities and allocate the Kingdom resources needed to achieve your ministry goals. Strategic planning provides a framework for analyzing circumstances and quickly adapting to future challenges. Dr. Janet Moldstad currently serves as Professor of Business at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN.

Are you ready for the next turn?

Leading A Turn-Around Church - Pastor Dennis Episcopo -
85% of all churches today are in plateau or decline! If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got. This breakout group will address leadership changes that can be adapted to our ministry, focusing on the dynamics that can contribute to a turn-around strategy. Pastor Dennis Episcopo serves as lead pastor at Appleton Alliance, which has seen its Sunday attendance climb from 600 to 2200 in the last three years.

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GJ - And people want to argue that WELS is not going to Hell? Holy cow. This confab makes Church and Change look orthodox in comparison.

So where did Paul Kelm earn a doctorate?

Some of you are thinking that Janet Moldstad is the wife of Pope John the Malefactor, but his wife is named Ruth.

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GJ PS - Rev. A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "Dr. Paul Kelm?":

The spin and half-truths never stop, do they, Greg? The way you put this article together, you make it look as if Paul Kelm is the guy in the picture, and that he's the pastor of this Alliance church in Appleton.

Mouse is not very sharp. I captioned the picture as the Appleton Alliance pastor, not as Kelm. Google Blogger is limits my ability to place pictures and captions. The rest of the material is verbatim from Kelm's congregational website.

Confidential to Mouse - Why do you need to leave nasty personal attacks every day? I suggest not reading Ichabod for a few years. Or perhaps you could get more fresh air and sunshine. Prunes would probably improve your mood immensely. Nevertheless, I enjoy your personal validation of my blog each day.

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Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Dr. Paul Kelm?":

It is really Rev. A Nony Mouse? I wish I had someone personally leaving a message on my blog every day!

Anyway...(and I mean this not against you Rev. Jackson) this post has ruined my day. I've heard about such "leadership seminars" before, and the arguement that they aren't ecumenical.

This is apostasy! We have a immutable God but "DR" Kelm would rather believe Christianity is all about change.

We have God's Holy Word made incarnate and the Holy Spirit but no...Pastor Dennis will show us how to grow a church.

Anathemas!

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GJ - The courageous poster always uses Anonymous, so I have tweaked his favorite name a bit. He reminds me of a mouse, popping out of his dark hole to take a bite and leave a deposit.

And yet he had to post again!

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "Dr. Paul Kelm?":

You're right, Greg. I have better things to do than to read and respond to your garbage. I just wish your other 3 or 4 readers would realize that too.

Comment about Church and Change

Pastor Jackson,

I wanted to add a comment to your recent posting, "Church and Change Leading the Sheep". Here is an article taken from a presentation made during the WELS Church Door Symposium in 2004.

http://www.charis.wlc.edu/publications/charis_summer04/wendland.pdf

[GJ - Be sure to read the article by Mrs. Wendland above, especially the ending. You will burn your bra and march against oppression of men after finishing the essay. The illustration is so silly that she destroys any notion she should be taken seriously.]

Paul Kelm and John Parlow were featured speakers from the WELS also. I see from the Charis website that in August of this year they suspended operations. Fortunately most of their information is still online. It details the war they are raging against the Holy Spirit through the promotion of the Church Growth Movement. "Research Update - Effective Evangelistic Churches"

http://www.charis.wlc.edu/research/ResearchUpdate2.pdf

is another example.

Like other WELS groups Charis is involved with political agendas (view their links page) and working with the ELCA and LCMS.
(http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=4005) on funding Lutheran World Relief which is a United Nations supporting operation. The same Satan worshiping UN of which the Antichrist is head and through which they are working to create the New World Order.

Most lay people in the WELS shrug when they see doctrines change. Little do they know just how deep the iceberg goes.

New Poll: Which Synod Is the Most Pastor-Friendly?

Acknowledging the supremacy of the Voters' Assembly--as long as they agree with me--I have published a new scientific poll, at the bottom of the page.

I have only four choices available. Later I may do another one for some of the mini-micro sects.

Poll Results

When is clergy adultery allowed?

Always in WELS. 13 (31%)

Two strikes, you're out. (ELS). 2 (4%)

Not with women (ELCA). 19 (46%)

Everyone is already forgiven (UOJ). 7 (17%)

LCMS Stewardship: Selling at a Loss

I have to admire the genius of the LCMS. They bought the Christian Brothers College a few years ago. Now they are selling it for a $6 million loss. They have to borrow $2 million of that loss to cover the shortfall. The rest of the loss comes from operating funds.

I am still guessing that they had big plans but ran out of money to carry them out. The former owners must have laughed as Missouri borrowed heavily to finance their turkey.

That reminds me of Prairie, the WELS prep school bought in a panic because it failed as a Catholic school. No one knows exactly how much was sunk into that school. It was also sold.

We bought Prairie in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.
We've been talkin' bout Prairie, ever since the fire went out.
I'm sellin' that prep school, I'm gonna lose some dough,
Yeah, I'm goin' to Prairie,
Look out Prairie du Chien.

Orthodox Anglican News

Here is an elaborate conservative Anglican website:

VirtueOnline.

Have you noticed that the mainline denominations get increasingly Left-wing and image conscious and yet hardly make a dent on the public consciousness? When was the last time anyone thought about the National Council of Churches or the United Church of Christ? Ditto, the Episcopal Church.

One conservative website can do more than an entire organization of highly paid professionals.

Spot the Typo

Robert Wilken's education:

Spertus College of Judaica (Modern Hebrew, 1975-1976)
University of Heidelberg, post-doctoral research New Testament (1963-1964)
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1963, History of Christianity
M.A., Univeristy of Chicago, 1961
B.D., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1960
Washington University, St. Louis, 1958-1960 (completed courses for M.A. in Philosophy)
Tulane University, Summer, 1957, 1959 (Philosophy)
B.A., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1957
Concordia College, Austin, Texas, 1955-1957

I love it when someone else has a funny typo.

Otten: Katharine Jefferts Schori Should Read Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant

Katharine Jefferts Schori was briefly bishop of Nevada before becoming Presiding Bishop of the fading, splintering Episcopal Church, USA. She has done everything possible to accerate the decline of the Episcopalians.

Pastor Herman Otten has recommended that all Episcopalian bishops read Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant rather than join Rome.

For almost 20 years I read The Episcopalian newsletter, sent free of charge to me, wherever I lived. They followed me better than a bill collector. I mentioned that fact to the son of an Episcopalian priest and the free subscription stopped. Perhaps they ran out of money. The denomination had about 3 million members in 1978. Now they have 2.4 million, many of them headed for the exit.

But ELCA stepped in to validate the Episcopalians. Now an ordination in ELCA is not valid unless an Episcopalian bishop is present. Please do not ask me to explain. The new rule is connected to the historic episcopacy, which the Episcopalians seem to have and ELCA covets.

Confidential: I was ordained by an Augustana Synod pastor, and Augustana pastors were ordained by bishops from the Church of Sweden, where the historic episcopacy remains. Thus I could rent my historic episcopacy to interested parties, such as the new sects leaving Missouri and WELS. Look for the offer on eBay.

The historic episcopacy means an unbroken link remains between Christ, the apostles, and all ordained ministers. The concept is heart-warming but hardly Biblical. The historic episcopacy should be given proper respect, like pot-luck suppers and greeters at the door (who only greet their friends).

The heart of the ministry is orthodox doctrine, true to Christ and the revelation of Christ in the Holy Scriptures. As Luther taught, if the teaching is orthodox, the fruits of the Gospel will follow.

A Missouri Synod pastor just wrote: "It was with great enthusiasm I received your recent mailing regarding the book Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. I have greatly appreciated your previous works in particular I find myself going back to Thy Strong Word again and again."

Slippery Labels

Father Richard J. Neuhaus, a graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, often used the term Evangelical Catholic when he was writing for the Lutheran Forum Letter. The Evangelical label slipped right off and he became Catholic.

Robert Wilken, (pictured above) another graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, a dear friend of Neuhaus, is now a Roman Catholic as well. Wilken was head of the graduate program in theology at Notre Dame when I was there. I never had him as a teacher. He left a distinct, negative impression on me.

The term Evangelical Catholic is still in vogue among Lutherans. Pastor John Berg uses it on his church website. There seems to be an entire ecosystem feeding people into the Church of Rome. Wait, I am not saying Berg is ever going to join Rome. However, with so many Lutheran and Protestant ministers embracing the whole smells, bells, and fancy clothing fad, some are bound to tip over and join Rome, listening to the enchantments emanating from His Holiness, the Antichrist, and all the little antichrists who partake in his murder of souls.

Avoiding the Foundation - Efficacy of the Word

I was directed to the website of the Motley Magpie. I read a fairly good summary of Receptionism in the ELS and WELS. The term Receptionism refers to the odd notion of the elements of Holy Communion being mere bread and wine until they are received by the communicant. That was taught and believed in the Synodical Conference and is still held (dishonestly) by the Little Sect on the Prairie and its big, Reformed Universalistic brother, the Wisconsin Synod.

Pastor John Berg is the editor of the Motley Magpie. District Pope Jahnke defenestrated him, but Berg's congregation left with him. His brother, another WELS pastor, was also pushed out of WELS. The Berg brothers are the sons of Norm Berg, former Michigan District Pope and former head of the synodical mission board. Norm Berg was trained at Fuller Seminary, as he confessed in a threatening letter to me, but his sons de-converted.

Norm Berg constantly promoted the Church Growth Movement, which is the engine running The Love Shack known as WELS headquarters. Not everyone feels the love. Anyone opposed to Church Growth experiences the Left Foot of Fellowship, even if they are well-connected sons of synodical officials.

I have a collection of Eighth Commandment letters from various WELS nabobs: Norm Berg, Paul Kelm, Lawrence Otto Olson, District Pope Nitz, etc. What do they have in common? Oh yes - all thoroughly brainwashed at Fuller Seminary.

Back to the main point - the efficacy of the Word. Berg's essay about Receptionism runs through the normal Book of Concord citations, all valid. The entire debate can be shortened to the foundational doctrine uniting all of the Scriptures - the efficacy of the Word.

The efficacy of the Word has become so strange and new to Lutherans that an older Lutheran layman just phoned me to say he was reading Thy Strong Word over again. He was fascinated by the first chapter. He also donated a copy to his brother, another active Lutheran layman. A WELS layman ordered the book as well. The entire book is linked on the main page of Ichabod, under links.

If God's Word accomplishes His will at all times, then there is nothing to debate about Holy Communion. The Words of Institution are Scripture. Christ is present, in both natures, because the Word has consecrated them.

To say that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ when they touch the hands of the communicants is hardly worth debating.

Citing the Book of Concord is not a good use of scholarship when the vast majority of clergy and laity are so ignorant of the Biblical, Christian doctrine of the Word. No one was clearer about this than Luther, the greatest of all Biblical expositors. The distinguishing mark of all the favorite Lutheran theologians people respect is that reliance on the Word.

WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie cling to Receptionism because they utterly reject the efficacy of the Word. Rev. Mouse: "That's absurd! You are a bad person for saying that." Am I? WELS excommunicated a fine pastor for emphasizing the efficacy of the Word alone. First they ran Norm Festerling out of his mission congregation. Then they banned him from communion. He was one of three WELS pastors in Toledo pushed out the ministry. But if a pastor is having an affair with his music director at church, hey, who cares?

WELS and the Little Sect are confused about the ministry for two reasons. One is that Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek do all their thinking for them. Another is their rejection of the efficacy of the Word. If they studied the Lutheran doctrine of the Word, a host of problems would be solved. Look for an emphasis on everything except the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. Yes, the words might be used, but the main thrust will be threatening and lashing with the Law.