Rev. Douglas J. Engelbrecht
Northern Wisconsin District President
nwdpwels@sab.wels.net
920-722-6712
Church and Chicaneries do not quite understand the digital age. They brag about themselves on the Internet (websites, Twitter, Facebook) and register shock that everyone knows their nefarious plans. So they think they can erase their footprints on the Net, which they try to do. That only draws attention to their attempts to cover-up what they recently revealed. For instance, Ski erased the link to his Drive 08 brag on his blog. The material was still there, so I copied photos and boasts onto Ichabod. Many times archival technology allows "erased" material to show up again.
Everyone half my age knows twice as much about computers, so I get help from various readers. One person is a diligent researcher, so a lot of material comes from plain old elbow grease and mousing around the public files.
Here is an executive summary of Church and Change operations:
The pioneers of Church Shrinkage in WELS (Bivens, Valleskey, Roth, Olson) used to groove on McGavran, Wagner, Werning, and Arn. But the hipsters of Church and Chicanery love Leonard Sweet, Andy Stanley, Ed Stetzer, Craig Groeschel, and Mark Driscoll.
The white-haired Shrinkers and balding Chicaneries would like to have people think they are successful, but they survive only on massive foundation, Thrivent, and synod grants. Without all the loot they are stealing for their own comfort and luxuries, they are Dead On Arrival. They bankrupted the synod by grabbing designated funds for their empire-building.
Someone like Mark Jeske wants to teach the whole world. He could probably lecture the Holy Spirit if he could find time for Him in his Day-Timer. But Jeske hired Ski and never let him preach, not even as a sub when he was gone. Why didn't Jeske teach Ski how to preach? Instead, he replaced Ski with Steinberg and lobbed Ski up to A-town. The entire CORE debacle has been a Church and Chicanery operation, with Jeske and Ron Ash digging up the money to let Ski and his pricey executive assistant play at church instead of learning to preach.
Ski claims that he has the support of all the bigwigs. My blog traffic and comments suggest otherwise. People are horrified that this circus is being funded in the name of WELS. Ski must have some reason to make his claims. His A-town circuit knew what he was doing long before he leased the theatre with someone else's money. The DP knew he was coming.
Where does one start with doctrinal discipline in A-town?
Plagiarism? Nothing happened to Kelm and Parlow, except Kelm was kicked upstairs to The Love Shack. In spite of St. Mark claims, their plans to create one campus were a complete bust. If you want to learn how to succeed, do not go to Parlow and Kelm. Their capital funds campaign ran at about 50% of their goal. Like their pal Mark Jeske, they need huge foundation and Thrivent grants to stay alive.
Entertainment Evangelism? The ELCA pastor who wrote an editorial in The Lutheran created quite a stir. He subs at Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral now. The A-town circuit is almost completely dominated by Entertainment Evangelism. The best thing about Ski is that he makes them look high church in comparison.
Unionism? The Clown Circuit loves every denomination except their own. Thanks to Ski and some other talkers, we know that groups of WELS pastors troop off to hear Stetzer, Stanley, and whole gatherings of false teachers. Then they sign up the worst of them (like Sweet and Stetzer) to present them to WELS via Church and Chicanery conferences. Wherever false teachers gather, there are Parlow and Kelm in the midst of them, with Ski and other lupine shepherds hoping to take over in the future.
Sermon themes and graphics? If you think Church and Chicanery sermon series and graphics look impressive, Google them and you will find the same titles, graphics, and Biblical verses at Mars Hill, Craig Groeschel, Willow Creek, and other big, anti-confessional sects. I documented Parlow plagiarizing a Hybels email about Willow Creek services and staff. A few words had to be changed to make that theft work! Did these goofballs ever think that people get emails from several false teachers at once?
A-town is simply the most obvious case of careers gone wild. There are WELS pastors cloning Groeschel across the landscape. Others bow before Sweet. So many love Stetzer that their Babtist brother will deliver his broadsides to WELS in November. Mark it in your Day-Timer. Poor innocents of WELS - do you think these people are not in communication with each other and The Love Shack? They respond to the truth within a few hours, erasinig webpages, notifying brothers of threats to their days of luxury and ease.
The Latte Lutheran article in January's FIC was a stinkbomb thrown at WELS, with a message, "We are in charge." Every issue of FIC has two or three known Chicaneries writing articles. Kelm's call to The Love Shack was another stinkbomb. That is how the Shrinker mob works. If they lose soldiers like Wayne Mueller and Peter Kruschel, they will replace them. They protect their own while doing a Sisera on any and all their opponents.
Do I exagerate?
- Go to Ski's theatre and watch him perform.
- Drop by to Rock and Roll in Texas - Doebler's grant-funded, VP Patterson-protected entertainment center. One WELS pastor said, "It made me sick to my stomach."
- Stop in for a latte at St. Andrew's and watch their lovely female pastor "administer the Means of Grace."
- Search out the stealth congregation in Chicago. Borgwardt already went on a pilgrimage to Sweet before C and C brought the New Age gasbag before WELS.
- Visit Arizona's stealth congregation, CrossWalk in Phoenix, and see if you can discover any traces of Lutheran doctrine and worship. C and C loves their Gunn for hire.
- Join Stolzenburg's congregation in Columbus, Ohio. The Michigan District of WELS set him up in that job, after trying to jump-start a stealth congregation for him (Pilgrim). The same confessional heroes (Mueller, Kuske) approved the beginning of CrossRoads in S. Lynons, Michigan, which is now Evangelical Covenant.
