I appreciate the research being done by various readers. Waking up to dozens of comments is fun, for me. Apparently it is agony for those trying to slip all this past the unwary. A layman from St. Peter, Freedom, is unhappy that they are famous on Google for pictures of their pastors and stories about their work. Who posed with the floozies? Who published the photos to Facebook and kept them there?
Learn from Kudu Don Patterson, the next DP in South Central Texas. When his publicly displayed pictures were posted, he locked down his account pronto.
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WELS Pastor Tim Glende featured this photo with Katy Perry
("Ur So Gay" and "I Kissed a Girl")
on his main Facebook page. Try finding it now!
The winsome lass was once a Gospel singer.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Seattle's Mark Driscoll":
Imagine you googled WELS and St Peter and up pops Ichabod.
Can you understand what someone must think when they start reading and seeing pictures of their pastors plastered all over the screen?
Anger, frustration, denial, defensivness...(sic)
Give them a break-- encourage them to critque (sic) the sermons (give them tools to test a good sermon), gently explain the problems.
Love your fellow believer/brother/christian and pray for them.
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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Just As I Warned - WELS Has Women's Ordination Wit...":
Doing a little more browsing in the Resources section of Staff Ministry website, I see two linked resources listed under the "Worship" heading. One of the links is to a "Worship Planning" service: http://www.planningcenteronline.com/
It's got everything a Lutheran Church needs for the arduous task of planning the Divine Service each week. Who needs a hymnal when you've got all these groovy features:
Integrated Stage Layouts
Tracking of Volunteer Availability
Transposition of Chord Charts
Visual Media of various kinds, including integration with Worship House Media
CCM Usage Tracking for CCLI Reporting
And who do you suppose is using this service? Emblazoned on the front page is the full endorsement of North Point Ministries, Granger Community Church, and Saddleback Church. These guys are all reading from the same notebook.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Compare These Ancient Quotations with What Is Happ...":
If the C&C thespians are anything like the LCMS thespians performing skits and dramas, let me tell you it is like that old advertisement, "I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats"! LOL
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Finkelstein on the Notorious WELS Document Support...":
The whole lay ministry program comes across as a new mandate from synod. Have churches been asking for such a program? Will churches be expected to shell out for a lay ministry program whether they want it or not? Is this more mischief from synod personnel who have nothing better to do? I am afraid this is another poorly, thought-through initiative that will get sold with a lot of hype and misleading remarks, including reference to a passage or two. Synod is good at making excuses after having made up their minds.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Finkelstein on the Notorious WELS Document Support...":
http://cumsanctospiritu.blogspot.com/2009/12/mlcs-charlie-chaplain.html
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Finkelstein on the Notorious WELS Document Support...":
From the WELS Women's Ministry Website:
Our History and the Original Brainstorm
The WELS Women's Ministry Committee was spawned from an event that took place in June, 2002. The event, a brainstorming retreat, was a pilot project of the WELS Board for Parish Services. The "think tank" objectives were:
1) to review and reaffirm the Biblical principles of the universal priesthood of all believers and of the role of men and women in the Church,
2) to brainstorm, clarify, and prioritize ideas regarding vehicles and approaches which will foster, encourage, and enhance the personal and corporate ministry of WELS women and,
3) to craft the outline for a document that will present our recommendations to the WELS Board for Parish Services for appropriate action.
Ten WELS women from various walks of life participated in the June task force. Some of these women had full-time ministry positions or had had them at one time. Several women were working professionals, several were retired volunteers. Six WELS pastors representing the Board for Parish Services, Wisconsin Lutheran College, and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, and Martin Luther College also participated. The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday retreat generated a set of "Action Plans". One of the programs that resulted as a key idea from the brainstorming retreat was a Commission or Committee on Women's Ministry in the WELS.
It took a year to get the committee going; nevertheless, the think tank weekend essentially generated the committee. Initially, four women who attended the think tank were appointed to this committee. There were three men on the committee who represented the Board for Parish Services and the seminary.
In October 2008, the committee expanded and now includes an Executive Committee, formed with the initial committee plus two new members, and several Sub Committees totaling 23 gifted women from across the nation and the two pastoral advisors.
http://www.welswomen.net/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=180006131&sec_id=180002756&nc=1262231422796
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Finkelstein on the Notorious WELS Document Support...":
WELS Directory of Staff Ministers.
http://staffministry.net/directory.php
[GJ - The list linked for Staph Ministry is useless because it includes ordained pastors with MDiv degrees - Bruce Becker - and is outdated. Another grant is needed. Doubtless the WELS directory has an actual list. The linked list seem to be - "Everyone who supports us, one way or another."]
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Mentor Under Water":
Rev. Jackson,
I just finished reading all your posts for the week and just thank God for you and your work on this blog exposing these WELS pastors who are NOT Lutheran! I am especially sad about the pastor who left St. Peter. I can feel his pain. Pres. Schroeder where are you?? The DP is obviously useless.
signed,
a confessional WELS lutheran pastor's wife
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Finkelstein on the Notorious WELS Document Support...":
Freddy would like to see the financials for the staff ministry program. I would like to see Larry "O" out -- along with the staff minister program. The WELS convention cut a lot of things that needed cutting. The staff minister program should have been on the top of the list with Parish Assistance second on the list. These are the two programs that most directly influence the WELS ministry and WELS congregations in a negative way. Now with parish assistance on the way out, WELS can now point to Larry "O" and say, "You are the weakest link!"
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GJ - Someone would like the SP to take care of Fox Valley and the weak DP. Most of the DPs are weak, unless someone questions them. Only then is the wrath of God revealed in all its terror. Sorry folks, the DPs are elected and re-elected. They are key to local conditions. If Randy Hunter is rewarded with a vicar and gets a female pastor, that is only because the elected DP allowed it. If Dom Perignon Patterson gets a free vicar for his affluent church, the DP gave that congregation priority.
I see the problem as circuit/district tolerance, apathy, and ignorance. A few of us are working on the ignorance part. If people remain apathetic, the apostates will more of the same. They have been romping without restraint for 30 years and still occupy many positions of influence. Undoing their harm will take patience, courage, and the efficacious Word.
The Columbus apostates taught me the Book of Concord - not that they knew the contents of that book. They forced me into study as they tried to justify their love affair with Deformed doctrine.
The pan-Lutheran sound of shrieking comes from those who are being found out, on the Roman side and the Fuller/Willow Crick side. They are all Enthusiasts, but some prefer one brand over another.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Featured Comments on Recent Posts":
As suggested by a commenter above, I googled: WELS and St Peter. The first Ichabod result was on the 3rd page--result 22.
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GJ - I will work on getting the rank higher. Thanks.
