An Important Post on Autism

Dan at Necessary Roughness published a good post on autism.

I keep his blog linked in the left column.

I have no direct experience with autism and I am not well read on the subject. Congregations need to relate to children with special needs, from the gifted to the profoundly handicapped. Autism is a major challenge for parents, so the congregation should be a place where the family experiences love, understanding, and genuine help.

Why speak about the Gospel producing good works among believers when special needs are neglected?

I have had someone disabled in my household ever since 1974, with a few no-problem years in the middle. That experience has brought us into contact with many rare medical conditions, dozens of doctors, and famous medical centers. It is a special privilege to know families dealing with unusual medical conditions. The numbers are much higher than people realize, because they tend to avoid contact.

Instead of saying, "Oh no," people should say, "Here is a chance for me to learn, to see the world from another perspective."

KJV 2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

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JR has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

Jesus Cares (www.jcministries.org) is an organization that provides a worship service especially designed for the developmentally disabled. They have worship services in several WELS/ELS churches.

I was fortunate enough to attend some of these services, and it truly is wonderful to see the Word at work.

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

Thanks for the link to this posting. There are some congregations that have been able to enroll children who are in the Autism spectrum in their schools. I personally know of some cases. We tried to do this with our son, who is now eleven years old. He is in the Autism spectrum, is non-verbal, but is fairly high functioning compared to others. We began the process about one year ago. There were a lot of restrictions placed upon us. My wife and I believe that we were set up for failure from the start. One important point in the post states that the church should listen to the parents. That never happened with us. Here is an interesting coincidence. Yesterday, we received a letter from the Board of Education stating that our son would not be able to be enrolled in the school in the coming school year. My wife's dogged persistence with the Board of Education wore them out. Last week, one of the Board members told my wife that having an Autistic child could most likely shorten the careers of the two new teachers. I knew that the rejection letter would be coming soon when that little tidbit was told to us. There will be others who will come after our son. What will they do then? I will not even begin to list the challenges that many parents face with a special needs child. One of the pastors told my wife and I that he could not even begin to understand the challenges that we have. After I thought about this, I should have said, "maybe you ought to make a feeble attempt to try and understand". We have many members who have tried to give us support. This is so typical of the way WELS laity are. They will be sincere with you, but will cower under the authority of Boards and called workers. I have left the congregation. The way that we were handled with our son's situation speaks volumes about the leadership of this congregation. It is a symptom of a greater problem.

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GJ - The congregation and pastor should not be one more burden for the parents and child.

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Schottey has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

MLC has a class called "Teaching the Exceptional Child" where they cover the entire gamut of learning and developmental disabilities.

However, working in the direct support field (as well as having a mentally challenged and mentally ill adopted brother) I do not believe the run of the mill MLC graduate has the resources to tackle the average "exceptional child"

In my field, I've met many wonderful teachers who have gone to school specifically for the purpose of teaching in a special needs class room. Having a degree based around the situation is a lot better than one class.

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

JR,
First of all, the Jesus Cares Ministries does a great job in assisting parents, congregations, and schools with materials and resources. We have gone to two of their conferences that were in our area. We have also communicated extensively with many of their staff members. I have nothing but praise for JCM. The special worship services that they have formulated are still liturgical in structure.

Also, I agree with you that many schools are too small to take on a special needs child by themselves, especially full time. But that is where the parents and JCM can try to bridge the gap. This Board of Education had little contact with JCM and did the exact opposite of what JCM recommended. As parents, we did a lot of the homework for the Board. All that they would have had to do was follow our lead. We found out that in some of the schools, the Board of Education was barely involved with any of the details. In our situation, the teacher was not even solicited for her input. The Board exercised their authority, and that was it. It was not the outcome that was so distressing. It was more the way in which it was all handled. The comment about the teachers potentially shortening their careers is a fitting example of their attitude.

Nunes Dare Call It Treason

From the LCMS to Lutheran World Relief

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 2, 2009

Worship, Bible Study Leaders for ELCA Churchwide Assembly Named


+ Aug. 22: The Rev. John A. Nunes, president and chief executive officer,
Lutheran World Relief, Baltimore

The murder of an helpless woman and the subsequent cover-up.

Henstenberg was a member of Nunes' LCMS congregation. After the murder, Nunes left the congregation, joined ELCA, and became head of the Wheatridge Foundation (liberal Lutheran).


Interview with John Nunes

Nunes - Top Ten Books for the Globally Enlightened

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GJ - These articles show what it takes to get ahead in the Lutheran Church. Nunes was the pastor of a church where the organist, Eric Henstenberg, murdered a defenseless woman and slandered her to justify himself. That same organist, recommended by Nunes, was involved in the worship planning for the upcoming LCMS convention. Instead of being sacked and left in limbo, Nunes was promoted to a posh foundation job and promoted again to head the Lutheran World Relief organization.

Was the LCMS upset about Nunes leaving for ELCA? Not at all. The flattering article about the top ten books was written by: "Travis Scholl, 35, is managing editor of theological publications at Concordia Seminary. A graduate of Yale Divinity School (MDiv), he is an ordained Lutheran minister. Despite some time away, he and his wife are native St. Louisans, as is the child they are now raising."

Beware the DP Two StepPretending To Oppose, Then Supporting False Doctrine

If the laity and clergy celebrate too soon after the WELS convention, they may find DPs using the doctrinal shuffle, Reformed two-step on them. A good example is historical, a matter of record.

Doctrinal Pussycat Robert Mueller Finally Exposes CG
"Several of our brothers have been warning us to be careful about the leaven of The Church Growth Movement and the insidious Reformed doctrine contained within. Not a few of us have heard their warning and have thought to counter the danger by saying we will weed out the erroneous material and use only that which is proper and beneficial to the Lord's work in our congregations. Fellow-shepherds, there is some evidence to show that that is exactly what the devils wants us to think. That seems to be used to lull us and our members into sleep, and without our intending it, the soul-harming false doctrines creep in undetected, under the guise of religious printed materials and programs." Michigan District President Robert Mueller, (WELS), "President's Report to the Conferences, Spring, 1991, p. 2.

A Few Months Later, Another CG Project Is Launched by the same DP
"Since several brothers have asked about the status of Rick Miller, I provide the following information. Rick has asked for a release from his call at Huron Valley Lutheran High School in order to serve a group of people as their pastor and to help organize them as an independent Christian congregation. The group is composed of some former members of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Plymouth, of some former members of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Livonia, and some people who have left LC-MS churches. The group has stated that it has a different philosophy and style of ministry, which includes drama, contemporary music and a thematic form of worship and liturgy, which allows for greater personal participation by its female members. The group has also stated that it would like to retain fellowship relations with our Wisconsin Synod." District President Robert Mueller, President's Report to the Conferences, Fall, 1991 Note: the congregation has women lectors p. 2f.

"As an independent group it does not plan to use the name 'Lutheran' in its title. It will be known as The Crossroads Christian Church...For the present, Rick Miller is still a pastoral member of the WELS...At that time [January 31, 1992, submission of a constitution] the fellowship question will be determined on the basis of the group's doctrinal statements and practices." District President Robert Mueller, President's Report to the Conferences, Fall, 1991 p. 3.

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GJ - Rick Miller was obviously warmed up to Enthusiasm, because he soon began recruiting members with the following siren song:

"Church music doesn't have to sound 'different.' It can sound just like the music people listen to every day. At Crossroads you won't find a pipe organ, but you will find great music appealing to a variety of tastes...Who says church has to be boring? In many of our services the Crossroads Drama Team makes us laugh or cry, and take a hard look at ourselves."
Crossroads Community Church,
Pastor Rick Miller (WELS).

"Would you be interested in a church that offers...Practical and Relevant Messages? Contemporary Music and Drama? Friendly People Who Are Interested in You? A Non-threatening Environment Where You Can Investigate a Relationship with God? Maybe Crossroads Is For You!...Targeted for September, '92, Sunday morning 'seeker' service designed to introduce Christianity in the most practical relevant way possible!"
Crossroads Community Church,
Pastor Rick Miller (WELS).

Do not gasp in amazement, because David Valleskey himself, the Sausage Factory president, promoted Sneaker Services in his epic tome, We Believe, Therefore We Sneak. Any resemblance to The CORE, Rock N Roll, Latte, and Victory of the Movie Screen...purely a coincidence.

Crossroads became an Evangelical Covenant Church sharing the same doctrinal statements with CrossWalk in Phoenix. Is DP Mueller's mission morphing back into WELS - or is CrossWalk morphing into Evangelical Covenant Pietism?

Ski's DP is known for denouncing Church and Chicanery with one audience and purring over it with another group, depending on who is there.

Look for the Union Label

Marketing executives came up with the Edsel, a car no one wanted.
Synod executives fostered the Church Shrinkage Movement, draining the coffers to fund Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield,
and who knows how many other beehives.
In this Photoshop creation, Craig Groeschel is driving the car
that Huebner is trying to sell to everyone.

Ichabodians only need to look for the union label to find the church officials and professors who are indifferent to doctrine.

Spener's Pietism led to the creation of Halle University, the center of Pietism in one generation and a Unitarian school in the next.

Robert Schuller, who considers himself the founder of Church Growth, went from being liberal Reformed to being pan-religious. The only religion he rejects is orthodox Christianity. Schuller invented the entertainment style church with no denominational label in the 1950s, because denominational identification hurts recruitment. "Doctrine divides, but good works unite." WELS is currently aping the Schuller of the 1970s.

The unionist clergy are those who recommend Church Shrinkage materials for their members and underlings. Most of the WELS leadership came through Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield or all three. Since the executives all went for training, everyone else was excused for thinking it was unionism. Besides--and this is the fun part--it became their secret little club and a great way to fellowship with Missouri.

Now they can go to Mequon and get the same training. As I wrote before, the Sausage Factory graduates were loaded up with Reformed books required by their unionistic sem professors. That was true already in the 1980s.

"'Church growth.' I've seen people cringe when they hear those words. I think I know why. They react negatively because they feel 'church growth' implies an obsessive fixation with numbers and statistics."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p. 178.

"We can't do a thing to make his Word more effective. But surely we can detract from its effectiveness by careless errors and poor judgment. It just makes good sense to utilize all of our God-given talents, to scour the field for appropriate ideas, concepts, and material (sic), to implement programs, methods, and techniques so that we do not detract from the effectiveness of the gospel we proclaim. Church growth articles, books, seminars, and conferences can offer such ideas and programs."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p 178.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Look for the Union Label":

Yes, Jay Adams was all the rage in the WELS seminary, and he was and is only one of the Reformed writers that Mequon promote. Here's one of Adam's books I got rid of a while ago:

What to Do on Thursday: A Layman's Guide to the Practical Use of the Scriptures

Pietism Means Doctrinal Indifference and Unionism

Philipp Jakob Spener (1635 - 1705) was the first union theologian.
All the Shrinkers are unionists too.

Spener got his idea of cell groups from Labadie, a Reformed leader. The reason for inventing a method to develop piety is not mysterious. The Reformed do not trust the Means of Grace and often make fun of this basic Scriptural doctrine. They do not trust the Means of Grace because they follow Zwingli and Calvin in separating the Holy Spirit from the Word. That is the definition of Enthusiam, Luther's term. Enthusiasm is the foundation of all doctrinal error.

Schmid (History of Pietism, NPH) is excruciatingly fair with Spener, accepting the Pietist's denial of Reformed influence and giving details about Spener's Lutheran doctrine. However, there is also plenty of evidence that Spener was against or unconcerned about the Real Presence and baptismal regeneration.

WELS, the LCMS, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and ELCA have one thing in common--besides Thrivent--they all emerged out of Pietism and began sinking back into it.

Pietism always looks for results rather than Scriptural faithfulness. Note Bergendoff's motto, below, "Doctrine divides, but service unites." Arguing over doctrine is bad while uniting with anyone over good works is good.

Pietist Shrinkers cannot be convinced that unionism is wrong because their hearts are ablaze with the results they will get. Therefore God has denied them their dreams and delusions, leaving everyone else with the overdue bills.

Pietist/Shriners do not trust the Word, so they sell love as the cause of conversion and growth. This works well for them because any criticism of Pietism/CGM is unloving. They want to accept everyone, they say, but they denounce the orthodox as dead and unloving. After insinuating themselves into every nook and cranny of their synods, they cry out that the orthodox are divisive.

Doctrine divides - it divides the sheep from the goats.

Luther taught clearly, following the Scriptures - that the Word, not love, converts. Love is one of the fruits of the Gospel.

The fruitlessness of the Pietist/Shrinkers is shown in their hatefulness toward others, their relentless plagiarizing of the Reformed, and their burning desire to end Lutheran worship, doctrine, and practice.

Is it any wonder that the WELS Chicaneries--and LCMS Shrinkers--want to hear the wisdom of Babtists Ed Stetzer and C. Peter Wagner? Is anyone shocked that Shrinkers substitute gimmicks for the Word? Are Shrinkers not flattering, deceiving belly-servers, as Paul described in Romans 16?

Their movements--often renamed for marketing purposes--are foul and disgusting. The Church Growth Movement has ravaged Protestantism and withered the Lutheran Church. Warren made it Purpose Driven, even worse in doctrine. Someone came up with Contagious Churches (getting close to honesty, if we think of the Swine Flu). Now they are selling BMs (Becoming Missional) and the Emerging Church.

Spener's Reformed doctrine and his cell groups are at the center of it all.

Overspending Presby Seminary Piled Up Debt, Bailing Out on LSTC

Conrad Bergendoff's vision for ecumenism
included seminary mergers.
His motto: "Doctrine divides, but service unites."

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 2, 2009

ELCA Seminary Measuring Effect of Mccormick Decision to 'Disengage'


CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)asked a special finance task force to assess the impact of a decision by the board of neighboring McCormick Theological Seminary. McCormick will initiate a process to "disengage" from a real estate arrangement with LSTC as early as June 2010.

LSTC is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). McCormick is one of 10 seminaries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which became a full-communion partner of the ELCA in 1997.

"LSTC will always give thanks for the partnership of the two schools in the ministry of theological education," said the Rev. James Kenneth Echols, LSTC president. "The seminary also regrets the strained financial circumstances that have led McCormick to make its decision," to pursue an "orderly disengagement" from the real estate portion of its relationship with LSTC, he said.

LSTC's board appointed the special finance task force in 2008. The task force is considering plans that include potential building reconfigurations and new campus partners.

In 1975 McCormick moved its campus alongside LSTC in the Hyde Park area of Chicago, and the seminaries began sharing academic, library and housing facilities. In 2003 McCormick constructed its own administration building on the campus, but now that building will be put up for sale.

A report in Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily said McCormick's capital program, which included construction of its administration building, left the seminary $30 million in debt with annual bond payments of $1 million.

"We are simply spending a disproportionate and, unfortunately, growing share of our resources on occupancy-related costs," said the Rev. Cynthia M. Campbell, McCormick president, on the seminary's Web site. In addition, McCormick funds 70 percent of its budget from the school's endowment, which recently lost about 30 percent of its value, she said.

David Crawford, McCormick vice president for administration and finance, told Crain's the seminary's decision to sell the administration building is part of a long-term plan to meet its financial challenges.


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GJ - Conrad Bergendoff was the Boy Wonder of the Augustana Synod, earning a PhD at the U. of Chicago long ago. He favored merger of the Swedish Augustana Synod with the ULCA, so his wish came true in 1960. Here is more information about Bergendoff.

I remember when the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago was built, created from merging the Augustana Seminary in Rock Island, a small seminary in Midland, and Maywood in Chicago. They built in Hyde Park (Chicago), near the U. of Chicago campus built overnight with Rockefeller money.

In a few years the Jesuit school came to the new campus, which was way overbuilt, a white elephant. Next the Presbyterian McCormick seminary moved to the campus. All three libraries were merged and students could take classes in three schools at once: Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian - a panoply of doctrines, much like WELS and Missouri today.

Presbyterian schools are well endowed, but McCormick apparently spent its money on a fancy admin building and soon took an endowment hit with equity meltdown. The Ivy League schools are reporting a 30% one-year loss in endowment, so everyone is scrambling to stay afloat.

Three Lutheran seminaries and three other schools merged in some fashion to form a union which is now dissolving in some way.

LSTC is a green zone. My bosom heaved with emotion when I read about them recycling ink cartridges and using recycled paper. Mother Earth must be pleased.

PS - Kent Hunter, LCMS, got his ThD at LSTC before getting a drive-by DMin from Fuller Seminary. Hunter and Waldo Werning were going to do a seminar for WELS together, years ago, but that got canceled, leading to all kinds of hissing and yowling from Church and Chicaneries.