rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Pastor Mike, Stealth Pastor":
I still have the image deeply etched in my mind of a very agitated Pastor Carl Otto at a district convention in the early 90's. Pastor Hagedorn had just finished presenting his rather lame conference essay on multi-cultural ministry. Some delegates were lining up behind the microphones to offer their comments. Pastor Otto asked "Why are we ashamed of being Lutherans?" That says it all about the stealth pastors. They are self-loathing Lutherans and are worried that being confessional will offend someone.
Also, they like to be addressed by Pastor (first name). This is the way that is preferred by the seeker sensitive types. My theory is that there is something really insidious going on here. Without getting into the typical WELS/LCMS debate about the OHM, this pastor first name business looks like an effort to diss the pastoral office. It is the flipside of the coin where everyone is a minister. The pastor is just one of us, so we can call him by his first name when we address by his formal title.
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Carl Otto: "Why Are We Ashamed of Being Lutheran?"...":
One of the lines in the multi-cultural essay which really stood out was, "we can no longer just proclaim the Gospel and expect to see results". So much for the efficacy of the Word.
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Biography: Harold Hagedorn
By admin: on January 12, 2005
Position: Home Missions Administrator
Harold J Hagedorn serves as the Administrator of the Board for Home Missions, which presently is tasked with helping establish outreach ministries in the United States, Canada and the English speaking Caribbean. This involves the District Mission Boards, Multi Cultural Ministry Committee and the Campus Ministry Committee. Harry is a 1970 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and served congregations in Douglas and Warren, AZ and Fort Collins, CO.
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GJ - I distinctly remember the multi-cultural fiasco. Multi-cultural ministry began at the Snowbird pan-Lutheran conference, where Carl Mischke posed with the ELCA bishop Herb Chilstrom and LCMS Pope Bohlmann. The photo appeared in The Lutheran but not in The Northwestern Lutheran, so I sent it to Christian News. WELS joined ELCA and Missouri in this effort. I saw the booklet to promote multi-culturalism at the Michigan meeting, and I grabbed a few, which were set out for distribution. The fracas was so great after Hagedorn spoke that the booklets were confiscated. Greg Gibbons got a copy from me and told me about the meeting. The more I was proved right about all these trends, the less WELS pastors talked to me.
I no longer have a copy of that booklet, but I remember the question, "How can we bait the hook?" to get people to join the church. The entire production was so anti-Lutheran and anti-Biblical that anyone could see through it: anyone except someone from The Love Shack.
Carl Otto was also disturbed that his father-in-law was called "senile" for opposing the takeover of Northwestern College by Dr. Martin Luther College.
Gurgel promised a separate curriculum for pastors and a limit of $8 million for the cost. I heard the price tag went to $30 million. Greg Gibbons said, "There will be only one track, for pastors and teachers at MLC. They said the pastor track would remain separate." My only question was, "You believed them?"
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a dozen times, I am WELS.
