Tim Feltneeds (see Ichaslang) said on Bailing Water...
I would be happy to post that sermon in our sermon library...well except for the problems with copying sermons you all have. Any pastor at a "C&C" church would agree and say "Amen" to that sermon. That's because any one of them would be happy to echo the warnings against church growth as it was described in that sermon. It echos all the problems with the evangelical's understanding of worship and seeker services and all that.
Tim - this is the problem:
John Parlow and Paul Kelm posted sermons on their church website which were copied from false teachers. They claimed the sermons as their own and posted them as their own. Similarly, Parlow and one of his assistants sent out an email from Hybels (Willow Creek) in their own names, as if they had the same thoughts and emotions expressed only a few hours earlier by Hybels. Of course, Kelm and Parlow are both members of the Willow Creek Ministerium, so they probably think they have a license.
Posting a link is not plagiarism. Copying a sermon and citing the source is not plagiarism.
Using the original words from another person and claiming them as original - that is plagiarism. Changing just a few words (a typical college student trick) is proof that the plagiarist knows exactly what he is doing.
Copying a series of sermons and the graphics - that is dishonest and lazy. Rock and Roll does that. I am not sure if Doebler uses the same words or not. I wonder about a pastor highly trained in the Biblical languages relying on the Mars Hill preacher who wears a Mickey Mouse t-shirt in the pulpit.
Plagiarism is against the law. When pastors plagiarize, they prove themselves lazy, dishonest, and sneaky. They are wolves who fleece, bite and devour the sheep, not shepherds leading the flock.
Walther said - The closer to Luther, the better the theologian. Clearly a bunch of WELS pastors have a great need to copy someone. Who is better than Luther? The great Reformer only gets attention when students make a funny video of his statue tossing the Bible into a snowdrift at Martin Luther Collge.
