Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Engage Maximum Deniability Drive...Now!":
"GJ - I knew someone would post this about TOF. They were quick to deny TOF was ELS even though an ELS pastor ran it, an ELS/WELS board governed it, and the missionaries were all ELS and commissioned at ELS services by the ELS president. What was it before 2009? - Methodist?"
TOF was, of course, pretty much run by the ELS with token representation by the WELS.
The key here is the Schwan Foundation (SURPRISE!!! SURPRISE!!!)
Schwan requested/suggested/demanded that TOF be officially an entity of the ELS.
As Yul Brynner as Ramses II in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) said a number of times "so let it be written, so let it be done."
The Schwan Foundation spoke - The ELS jumped.
The huge question now is: Now that the ELS has taken on TOF as a mission of its own, will the Schwan Foundation continue to subsidize TOF at the same level it had in the past or will it shut off those funds, forcing the ELS to try to maintain that mission on what Schwan currently gives it?
The financial fact is that the ELS can in no way even hope to maintain TOF without the Schwan funds continued in the same amount as in the past.
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GJ - I was amused to hear ELS people deny TOF was ELS when they raised money as an ELS/WELS entity and commissioned ELS pastors as missionaries at their ELS convention.
Nothing in the economic picture suggests Schwan becoming awash in funds to distribute. Their food is tasty but expensive. Wal-Mart reports that people are not even buying necessities until payday. Imagine the same people ordering up luxury foods delivered to their homes.
3 comments:
I think that it makes good sense for Thoughts of Faith to come under the control of a synod (the ELS, in this case). It is not, I think, good business to have independent church groups doing the Lord's work without the command and control of the church. Yes, the Schwan Foundation did provide the motivation to bring the TOF to the synod.
Command and control also means selecting good managers. The word is that TOF management in recent years was less than adequate. The ELS praised TOF leadership at the time of the transition, but these words were for show purposes only
What about independent church groups? I am not in favor of them. In fact, I have just written a letter to President Moldstad asking him to remove Christian Life Resources from the ELS website. You may read my essay by requesting it from me: norman61@me.com
Norman Teigen
ELS layman
(I am currently running a write-in campaign whereby I seek to be named as an official ELS spokesman)
The Schwan Foundation is separate from the Schwan's business.
The Schwan Foundation I assume is a fund with stocks and bonds, and they collect dividends. The Schwan Foundation may not even have any Schwan stocks, especially if Schwan Foods is a not listed on any stock exchange.
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