The following are senior members of the Church Growth faction within WELS. I have limited the list to those who have the most influence, so the juniors like Ski and Doebler are not included. The Church and Change board member photos appear and disappear at their websty. Discerning readers can search for them at their leisure, which may help replace the Easter Egg Hunt lacking at liturgical, confessional congregations.
James Tiefel fosters Church Growth and unionism at Mequon. He pioneered the pan-denominational worship conference. His cousin in the CLC (sic) fought to supress knowledge of the Carthage event. His son recently vicared for Kudu Don Patterson.
Forrest Bivens teaches Church Growth at Mequon. He has always been an ally of David Valleskey. Both studied at Fuller Seminary, bragged about it, and also denied it.
David Valleskey is now retired from turning out Fuller Sausages at The Sausage Factory in Mequon. All his work has been aimed at promoting the Church Growth Movement.
Al Sorum suddenly became a Mequon professor after Wendland began worshiping at his church. Sorum also has his own sandbox to play in - an institute for training non-traditional students (no GA?).
Wendland fills the Wendland slot at the seminary, where he carries on the Bivens/ Valleskey tradition of bowing toward Pasadena, spoiling the Egyptians, and immmersing himself in Willow Creek.
Larry Otto Olson, Our Staff Infection, is the proud owner of a Fuller DMin, but "there is no CG in WELS," according to Wayne Mueller. Olson has taught at Martin Luther College for many years, so the annual mission evangelism fest is a glory halleluia chorus of praise for Fuller methods and doctrine, with buddy Paul Kelm as the keynote speaker. Note Wayne Mueller's son in the photo, along with Jeff Gunn. Rev. Jeff has a large but unaffiliated congregation in Phoenix - CrossWalk Lutheran Church. He is a rostered pastor but they do what they want. Gunn got a huge grant so his female staff member could do Welcome Wagon stuff, which Jesus somehow omitted from the Great Commission.
James Aderman was an early leader of Church and Chicanery (board member) and is still a frequent writer for The Northwestern Lutheran FIC.
John Parlow attended the Babtist worship and evangelism conference led by Andy Stanley. Parlow hosted the early C and C conferences. Parlow used to post plagiarized sermons on his website, as if he wrote them. He did preach them, so possession might be seen as nine tenths of the law, using WELS hermaneutics. But when everyone began comparing Parlow's sermons with ones several years old, the websty posting stopped.
James Mattek was once a pastor but is now a CEO. Patterson happens to be on his board - Wisconsin Lutheran Child and Family Services. According to the Witte paper, there are some important connections between Church and Chicanery & WLCFS. This particular agency gets oodles of money from Schwan. I hope to report on that later.
James Huebner has one of those empty titles in the synod structure, so empty that they may eliminate it altogether. Nevertheless, he has studied at Fuller with buddies Kelm and Olson. Doubtless a nod or a wink is sufficient to move money in the right direction and to quash those irritating pastors and laity who mention the Confessions.
Harry Hagedorn has driven American missions schwaermerly for decades now. Just about the entire Love Shack bows before Fuller, Willow Creek, and Trinity Deerfield. Harry genuflects.
Patterson ranks with Jeske and Wayne Mueller in his influence throughout the synod. Drag a grant through a conference meeting and Patterson will follow it out the door. He now has the disgraced ex-Synod Prez working for him and the Sausage Factory president preaching for him. That makes Kudu Don the SP-in-Waiting. He will probably do as well as the last one - Wayne Mueller.
I would grin too if I could get away with half the stuff Gurgel did as DP and SP. In fact, I would probably reside in one of those few countries lacking an extradition treaty with America. You can't be too cautious in these litigious times. Meanwhile, we are all looking forward to an accounting of the Schwan money during the Gurgel-Mueller years.
Ron Roth held various positions at The Love Shack before entering the business world raising money for a percentage of the haul. Roth was the very first editor of TELL, that prestigious journal of Church Growth thought for WELS. He was also stewardship director, which explains why WELS was always in financial hot water.
Mark Jeske has had three staff members on the Church and Change board. His TV show is linked on the WELS website, but he avoids the term Lutheran. Bad for ratings - and giving, unless he is getting $250,000 from the Lutheran insurance company. Then he is a Lutheran again - like that old musical Brigadoon.
Bruce Becker quit as head of Perish Services when the Ad Hoc Commission reported that PS had BO (Babtist Odors). Becker now works for Mark Jeske. Breaking news - Becker is off the Church and Chicanery Board. People, bios, and photos are disappearing faster than the aftermath of a Stalin purge.
Paul Calvin Kelm has openly promoted Reformed doctrine and Church Growth during his entire career, which is strangely light on actual pastoral work. That is why Bruce Becker defied the budget and the sage advice of his former boss, to hire Kelm away from the parish. That may be why Bruce now works for Jeske.
Wayne Mueller's influence may be waning since he quit as Synod First Veep. He pretty much ran the show for Gurgel and probably assumed he would carry the yoke for SP Schroeder as well. Wayne's sunny personality and gift for candor is missed at The Love Shack, but he was able to do what few Church Shrinkers do - actually serve as a parish pastor again. Most of them shun the Means of Grace in favor of the Methods of Disgrace. Wayne's son vicared for Kudu Don Patterson.
