Call WELS headquarters at 414-256-3888 if you do not want more of the same. Or write a letter to: Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)
2929 N Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI 53222.
Read Charlie Chaplain.
"WLC to call a second campus pastor." Some brief highlights:
"Now, WLC has grown to the equivalent of a congregation of 850 people. Strobel [the current campus pastor] commented that because of this development, 'the WLC student body is becoming hungry for spiritual growth,' and he is struggling trying to meet the spiritual needs of WLC."
"He feels that there is much more that he and his staff should be doing to serve the students, especially small group Bible studies."
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GJ - They tried to rescue Jeff Gunn from his failing non-WELS congregation, but that was nixed.
Apparently the students are so spiritually starved from their own congregations that they need cell groups to tide them over during the week.
Should WLC determine if they are Lutheran before adding insult to injury? They started Church and Change through Charis. They tried a Werning/Hunter seminar, which was canceled amid great pouting by its leaders. They had ELCA theologian Martin Marty speak at the campus. Are they Roman Catholic, Babto-Pentecostal CG, or High Church Unitarian (ELCA)?
actually part of a long-running joke.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is "Our Valpo" A Congregation? - Ripped from the P...":
You just read whatever you want into anything you want, don't you Mr. Jackson?
If a college is growing, do they not need more physical and intellectual resources, such as classroom space and faculty?
Why would a growing institution such as WLC not need more spiritual resources as well?
"Apparently the students are so spiritually starved from their own congregations that they need cell groups to tide them over during the week."
You may be the first pastor I have seen that frowns upon Christians spending time with the Lord and with each other outside the confines of their own congregations.
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GJ - I am a pastor? The Chicaneries are always telling me I am not. In fact, this anonymous, brave soul addressed his message "Mr. Jackson." I get a chuckle from people changing titles when they disagree with my Biblical, Confessional posts. One wit favored "pastorless," which means "without a pastor." Am I without a pastor? In fact, I have a number of friends who are pastors, and I value their judgment.
This story illustrates what another person observed, that bureaucrats grow their kingdoms, not by being more productive, but by building layers under them. The current campus pastor already has a staff, and now he needs an assistant to generate more cell groups. Wayne Mueller did the same thing, building up a core of loyal and obedient Shrinkers who marched to the mike at every convention and voted for additional loyal and obedient staffers.
Wisconsin Lutheran College (Brigadoon WELS, joining the synod during fund drives, then disappearing again) needs more Lutheran staff. WLC needs to boot the Chicaneries from the board. I am sure the new prez is a fine fellow, but he should head up a Babtist school since he came from Jeff Gunn's CrossWalk.
The rumor I heard is that the current campus pastor cannot get any interest going in his bee-bop whoopee services. Would another attendant at the beehive help? They should try a high church (for WELS) pastor, someone edified and inspired by the Book of Concord. College students favor real worship services, so WLC should be cutting edge with the liturgy, creeds, Gerhardt hymns, Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhardt, Jacobs, Krauth.
There are many reasons why WLC is called "Our Valpo."
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4 comments:
You just read whatever you want into anything you want, don't you Mr. Jackson?
If a college is growing, do they not need more physical and intellectual resources, such as classroom space and faculty?
Why would a growing institution such as WLC not need more spiritual resources as well?
"Apparently the students are so spiritually starved from their own congregations that they need cell groups to tide them over during the week."
You may be the first pastor I have seen that frowns upon Christians spending time with the Lord and with each other outside the confines of their own congregations.
Hi Professor,
Your description of layers made me think: Amway.
When I've been accosted by Amway people in the past they really do use the same kind of 'cute' and clever ways of speaking that Kelm used to at WLC. Was Kelm an Amway salesman before he went into the ministry? Maybe Fuller has a secret Amway training facility.
As usual, I sense you could take that simile and run with it a little better than me...
So now you're spreading rumors? Hmmm... awfully suspicious. Just like a drug addict, you cannot get enough of a fix on what you can proclaim as truth.
I'm curious, professor, what you would say about a Pastor who used contemporary Christian music in a chapel service but who used the Book of Concord exclusively as the material for the service and sermon. (assuming that the CCM had words that were Orthodx. Say, like a Luther hymn set to rock music)
You and I personally might despise the music and call it "Whoopee worship", but I don't think there's any legitimate Scriptural/Confessional criticism for such an arrangement. Sadly many of your readers would condemn that hypothetical pastor as if he were teaching false doctrine (without even hearing what he had to say).
The only criticism that would be possible is accusing the hypothetical Pastor of pandering to populism, making worship 'entertainment' rather than worship.
This argument is valid, but it's valid for both sides of the equation. Just as many folks who end up in churches of your preferred flavor do so because of the style and feel. And there are just as many "High Churches" that teach dreck as there are Happy-Clappies. Both sides, Liturgicals and happy clappies, are just operating on their preferred set of cultural memes--not actually drawing on Biblical commands. But if the doctrine is correct, you cannot say a thing.
That being said, I don't think you should criticize Pastor Strobel in the way that you did. I'm not implying that he's teaching the Lutheran Confessions in his Contemporary services. I think not. But I happen to know that he's the kind of person who'd be very interested in hearing that suggestion. Yes, I know that CCM is the smoke of the Enthusiastic fire, but real Confessional Lutherans also need to distance themselves from the idiots who claim that the Western Rite is the only proper way to worship. Your bland criticism of any and all CCM gives the Liturgical Nazis confidence in their misunderstanding. (and a righteously stiff and austere upper lip)
This ain't some generic cry "8th commandment, 8th commandment". I don't think you have or do break it.
It's just a credibility issue.
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