"You dare offend the great and terrible Oz?!" Cue smoke and thunder.
I have never met LCMS President Kieschnick. I met Jack Preus and Ralph Bohlmann, and some wannabees. Otten told me that Kieschnick came to New Haven to meet him, sized him up, and said, "So you are the guy who makes and breaks synod presidents?"
Was it accidental that Christian News heaped criticism on a "conservative" candidate while Kieschnick was busy being elected? Not likely. Divide and conquer worked well for the British, and it worked just as well for Kieschnick. People find Kieschnick enormously charming, fit, and dressed to the nines. Even sworn enemies find him very likeable while he is busy deceiving and manipulating.
I am not on the email lists of Mark Jeske or SP Kieschnick, but I will construct what I think happened.
Church and Chicanery, with Mark Jeske as puppet-master and media mogul, found itself hemmed in on every side since Mark Schroeder was elected two years ago. Someone told me that this was emerging even earlier, and that may be so. Mark Schroeder changed everything and won vast amounts of support from clergy and laity alike.
The recent WELS convention revealed the breadth and depth of support for that change when Church and Change was publicly spanked, rebuked, whacked, thumped, and
scolded - with WELS members and pastors cheering.
That was change people could believe in.
I was told there was a secret meeting of the Shrinkers. All I had was an anonymous tip. Maybe these disciples were in a locked room. I learned nothing more.
But now we have Mark Jeske--who never admitted to being Lutheran, let alone WELS--suddenly officially introduced to Missouri, speaking to Missouri, and approved by Missouri for broadcasting on Missouri's radio station.
Somewhere, some time, Jeske was in contact with Kieschnick, charmed by Kieschnick, flattered by Kieschnick, and guided into the LCMS. His Chicanery board buddies, bothered by being de-throned, are itching for affirmation as gurus.
Besides, a number of them are in deep yogurt. Ski and Gunn are allergic to the Means of Grace. Bruce Becker left The Love Shack faster than Ted left the scene of an accident. Paul Calvin Kelm is running out of toner for his Xerox ministry and his grey hair (age 65 in December). In WELS they are has-wuzzes. In Missouri they are heroes. Kieschnick loves, supports, and promotes the Church Growth Movement, which unites all the liberal factions against the odious ideologues of the Right.
As someone pointed out to me, with no lack of glee, "The Boomers are the problem in WELS." But that is also the solution. They are close to retirement. Leaving for Missouri is relatively easy.
Some of Jeske's monied supporters will fund the exit. There is big money but nothing else behind The CORE in Appleton. Ski can say, as a Chicanery board member, "You don't like us? We are Missouri now." Write off 15 members right there.
Ditto the various stealth congregations in WELS, all of them subsized to the eyebrows. Missouri can make a big statement by taking them on, as the LCA did with Seminex congregations. The LCA simply provided LCMS congregations with mission support when they promised to leave.
Many different people have told me how obnoxious the Shrinkers at The Love Shack have been. They pulled their dirty tricks and lied about it, adding false accusations to their chicanery. The Stetzer invite "never happened," so that poor Babtist was called a liar too. (Ed and I are friends on Facebook.) The Kelm hire was "known by the administration in advance," they claimed anonymously, so I had to prove otherwise. Three sources confirmed what I wrote. I am still waiting for the apology and retraction from Anonymous.
At some point the Shrinkers realized their time was up and started making plans, mindful of the Old Adam so they could provide a safe landing for themselves.
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Dan @ Necessary Roughness has left a new comment on your post "Mark Jeske, Leave WELS for Missouri? - No Way":
It gets better. LCMS usually requires that an LCMS pastor be on the board of an Recognized Service Organization, but the Board of Communication Service provided an exception.
See Brothers of John the Steadfast article.
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GJ - Dan and others are making an important point. A WELS pastor does not just fall into this situation by accident. The LCMS bureaucracy is famous for its Byzantine structure and methods of obstruction. Step on a few toes and experience the Left Foot of Fellowship, delivered anonymously but with vigor and power. But Time of Generic Grace emerges suddenly in Missouri, as if parthenogenesis were routine.
