Sounds Like a Replay of the Stetzer Invitation

My researcher, a doctor of divinity, wrote:

If Jeske did not speak, who did? I would think the Bethesda website would have that piece of information.

Perhaps there is someone that attended this that will come forward and give witness.

The idea was to attack me for inventing information by citing a source I did not use.

This is exactly the way the Chicaneries played the Ed Stetzer invitation to their malodorous conference. At first, they denied Stetzer was invited, but I knew the Conference of Pussycats was discussing the invitation. By searching on the Internet, my specialty, I found:
1. The Church and Change conference on Stetzer's own calendar.
2. His earlier Tweet where he bragged about getting the invitation.
3. His blog, where he made fun of confessional Lutherans while bragging again about the invitation.
4. The Church and Change website, which said nothing about the speaker. The only source lying about the Chicanery Stetzer invitation was the Chicanery website.

The Chicaneries began saying, "How do you know we haven't canceled Stetzer?" That is one, twisted, deceptive way to avoid the real topic - inviting a Babtist to speak to a Lutheran conference. One pastor was so brow-beaten by these liars that he thought I perhaps had the information wrong. I am only guessing, but I think the invitation was made after Patterson took a bunch of WELS workers to the Exponential Conference where Stetzer spoke. "When Babtists speak, Chicaneries listen," according to a recent poll by George Barna. (I made up the poll.)

So the minders immediately began attacking my veracity again when the union service came up - Jeske and the LCMS leader uniting the Synodical Conference on their own. The Watertown newspaper printed and kept on their website the information that Jeske was the featured speaker, without naming his alleged WELS affiliation. (The LCMS guy was identified by synod - rather lopsided coverage.) Jeske's name was omitted from the Bethesda notice.

The issue is not whether Jeske participated in yet another union worship service. He clearly promotes that, judging from his Church Growth network and such graduates as Ski and Bishop Katie. Jeske now produces a TV show for two synods at once, ever loyal to WELS (fifth generation) and yet pledging to promote LCMS doctrine, practices, and churchgrowthiness. He had to put some LCMS person on his board, too, in order to obtain RSO status in Missouri - the golden ticket for money-raising. Jeske is now a regular speaker at Missouri events.

The issue concerns Chicaneries jumping in to accuse when all the information is verified and linked.

First they said I added information, making it up.

Secondly, without apologizing for their false accusation--an obligation they demand from everyone--they began insisting that Jeske never spoke. He also never spoke at an LCMS district meeting. And he never spoke at Concordia, Mequon (the only school in Mequon he will ever teach at).

The ELS defense for a Roman Catholic bishop marching in procession, with the Little School on the Prairie sem faculty robed, was:
1. He was married and no longer a bishop! (No longer Roman Catholic?)
2. It was not a religious service. (So why did the seminary faculty robe and march in procession? It was clearly a religious dedication service where a Roman Catholic addressed the Lutheran audience.)
3. "Erling Teigen does not have an ecumenical bone in his body, and Greg Jackson knows it." - Rolf Preus. Rolf reads minds while defending the indefensible, proving once again he never comprehended Rome and Justification.
4. The ELS bragged about this Roman Catholic leader in the Mankato Free Press and hid vital details (papist bishop) in their own school annual. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."

The prosecution wishes to close with humorous but edifying comments on the Church and Change board:

1. Jeff Davis, who raises money for a commission, has a photo and no bio. The bio went missing after gaining notice on Ichabod. He is always promoting himself. Why hide his vocation? Stealthy!
   
   
2. Brian Arthur Lampe, CEO Ministries, which is pan-denominational, no longer has his photo and also lacks a bio. Stealthy or perhaps his way of smacking Satan in the jaw.
   
   
3. Ski is no longer listed on the board. Super-stealthy!
   
4. Bruce Becker is no longer listed on the board. Super-stealthy!
   
5. Mark Jeske has three staff who have served on this board, but his name never comes up on the website. Super-max stealthy!

Don't miss the Church and Change conference in November. This brochure will introduce you to the awesomeness of the gathering.

Church Growth's Last Big Push in WELS

Everyone knows who the chief Church Growth advocates in WELS are. If not, just read the Fisher paper linked below. He has named a good share of them. Supposedly Brug took him apart afterwards and the reaction to the paper was negative. However, I have to question the extent of the reaction, given that David Valleskey based his career on Fuller's Pietistic and Unionistic doctrines. Far from being hurt by this, Valleskey found himself promoted to president of The Sausage Factory, even though he spilled his guts about CG in his infamous Quarterly article and his book, which was even worse.

Worse than "The Church Growth Movement: An Evaluation?"

Yes, the book should have been titled - Church Growth, A Glory H alleluia Chorus.

Even worse than his FIC article, "The Church Growth Movement: Just Gathering People or Building the Church?"

Yes, even worse than that.

 The good news is this - I see a frantic effort by the entire Chicanery network to win at all costs, to saturate the synod with skirmish victories:

1. Keeping Kelm on the payroll for now, even though he never should have been hired.
   
2. Inviting Kelm to be the featured speaker at Willow Creek Chapel this weekend. What better way to celebrate a WELS congregation joining the Willow Creek Association and getting away with it?
   


3. Sending Kelm out with his expensive boilerplate solutions for poor, innocent First German in Manitowoc.
   
4. Putting Kelm in charge of seeding the symposium paper with his spin, the most hilarious being his worry about Reformed doctrine and quoting Focus on the Family!
   



5. Regurgitating the same old bilge in the Fischer symposium paper.
   



6. Promoting Jeske in the Missouri Synod as a warning where he and his rich followers will go, hiding the fact that he is desperate for funds with Thrivent and the foundations out of cash.
   



7. Putting three CrossWalkers in leadership positions at Wisconsin Lutheran College: the president and two board members, all from a non-WELS Emerging Church experiment, which looks like everything else being done far better by the Enthusiasts of other denominations.
   



8. Printing FIC articles lavishly praising Chicanery churches - like the stealth node in Chicago, and Hunter's Latte Lutheran Church Lounge, which got a vicar (a sign of DP favor).
   



9. Giving Kudu Don Patterson a free vicar in the midst of the Great Obama Depression.
   
   
   

Divide and Conquer - The WELS Church and Change Method

DIVIDE
Someone alerted me to a dreadful essay given at the Sausage Factory 2009 Symposium. Here it is.

Pastor Ken Fischer clearly favors the Shrinkers and often quotes Professor of Chicanery at Mequon, Richard Gurgle. Wayne Mueller is another source. And Elton Stroh. And George Barna. Guilty as charged.

I hear the essay was warmly received, as in "tar and feathers." Nevertheless, some people arranged to have this tripe served up as Gospel to impressionable young minds. Let's hope they were sufficiently hung over to miss most of it.

The Chicaneries have been dividing the Synodical Conference for three decades. They march in and dare anyone to dislodge them. Anyone against them is lazy, brain-damaged, senile, or worse.

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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Divide and Conquer - The WELS Church and Change M...":

I just took some time out to read Rev. Fisher's paper. Where does one begin? "Dreadful" is an apt one-word description. It is nothing but a thinly veiled apologetic for CGM. Then again, maybe it isn't even a veiled attempt at all. I can't believe that WELS pastors still have the guts to publish this stuff. In this paper, the author conspicuously goes out of his way to drop names in a way that lavishes favor on long-known CGM advocates in WELS, even going so far as to indirectly associate them with Lutherans who are revered in WELS, like August Pieper and even Martin Luther himself.

Are there elements of truth in what he writes? Why, yes, of course. But this is the problem with CGM: it's insidious. More often than not, it turns normal gospel-motivated Christian practices into requirements of the Law. It turns the Holy Spirit's work, God's work, into man's work -- a work measured by man's means according to man's timing and according to his limited observational capacity (i.e., external evidence) -- and presumes to give God the credit for man's work. This is blasphemy, if I am not mistaken.

As one might expect, the topic of "congregational health" in this paper is predicated on CGM priorities, namely, the "Great Commission." The author even quotes Rev. Kelm to this effect, naming him as one who sent an email to all symposium authors, presumably as the one seeding their topics. When one filters church practice and evaluation through the filter of the "Great Commission," the result is imbalance. Truth out of balance leads to error.

Rev. Fisher clearly begins and ends with imbalance, with the "Great Commission, " i.e., "Going and Growing," as the prime indicator of congregational health. For example, he so defines a healthy church on pg. 17, "We seek to heal by putting plans in place that will lead to a healthier church – meaning a church that makes plans to seek the lost." Is it wrong for a congregation to seek the lost, or to plan to do so? I can't possibly think that it is. But is this the sole measure of a healthy church? Hardly. Is it even the primary measure of a healthy congregation? How can that be?

What is erroneously taken for granted is that methods of "outreach" fundamentally maintain the centrality of the Means of Grace; it is assumed, without qualification, from organizational growth that the true Means, not man's means, are responsible for that growth. Rev. Fisher even goes so far as label as "naive" those who think that faithful use of the Means of Grace alone are sufficient to result in Church growth. He is consumed with congregational growth, with organizational growth, not at all with true Church growth, which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit alone, through our faithful and consistent use of Word and Sacrament, alone.

Dr. Jackson, I hope you are correct, that this "warmly received paper" is one that in reality "tar[ed] and feather[ed]" the author.

Freddy Finkelstein
 

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CONQUER

Excel in the Grace of Giving

Dear Brother in Christ,

Challenging economic times – opportunity or crisis for your congregation? 

These challenging times have impacted WELS members and our congregations. The stewardship challenges we all face provide ministry opportunity for spiritual growth.

We at Cornerstone Stewardship Ministry, Inc. stand ready to assist you during these times. We believe that God’s Word works! We rely on God’s Word to confirm and strengthen the Christian’s desire to give and capability to give. We witness that Word at work  - in good times and challenging times. In fact, during times of struggle there is often more receptivity to what God has to say to us.

On our web site - www.joyfulgiving.net/seminar -  you will find a description of  Excel in the Grace of Giving, a biblical stewardship emphasis. The biblical focus is this:  God’s grace turns our giving into an investment, an investment that provides returns for eternity. It is a message which deepens the joy of giving, overcomes doubts and insecurity, and increases our generosity.

Cornerstone is offering you and leaders of your congregation a free seminar as a means of introduction to Excel in the Grace of Giving.

To learn more about the free Excel in the Grace of Giving seminar and how it can impact the lives of your members, visit our website, www.joyfulgiving.net/seminar  

Serving Jesus with You!

Jeff Davis                   Jon Mahnke                  Ron Roth                 

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Team

Our mission is to further God's kingdom by assisting and investing in Christian ministries through stewardship efforts and programs.

Cornerstone is a team of dedicated disciples who love their Lord Jesus. We consider it a privilege to serve God's kingdom by challenging His people to grow in the grace of giving. With almost 150 years of combined service in public ministry and 58 years of stewardship education, we strive to conduct programs that bring honor to Jesus while giving thanks to him for all things. We are highly approachable and ready to serve!

Jeff Davis (Co-Founder) [GJ - Church and Change Board]
Lake Mills, Wisconsin Jeff's 28 years of experience in administration, ministry and consulting, coupled with a strong desire to serve Jesus, have helped form his servant characteristics. Jeff enjoys teaching, directing and leading God's people. His personal commitment to stewardship is a reflection on his beliefs and thankfulness to Jesus. He has written extensively on stewardship, guiding and challenging God's people to live lives of thanks. Recently, Jeff co-authored Heart in Focus, a faith focused financial course (www.heartinfocus.com). Jeff and Sally, his wife, reside in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. They have been blessed with 5 children and 1 grandchild.

Tom Grunow (Co-Founder of CSM, MEd, CFRE)
Portland, Oregon Tom Grunow is a 33-year veteran in Christian Education, Fund Development and Strategic Planning having served with Lutheran educational ministries in Florida, Texas and Oregon. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Robert A. Grunow, known throughout the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) for his estate planning and fundraising expertise, for the past 14 years he has served as a consultant to Lutheran churches and schools throughout the U.S. Previously he served as Vice President of the Concordia University Foundation Portland and on the National Board of Directors of the Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE). He currently serves Trinity Lutheran Church, as Volunteer Minister of Stewardship & Gifts, is an active member of ALDE, a member of the Christian Stewardship Association (CSA), and serves as Board Chair of the Lutheran Education Association (LEA). Tom resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Karin, a commissioned Lutheran schoolteacher. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren.

Ron Roth (Director) [GJ - WELS CG Founding Father]
Hales Corners, Wisconsin Ron loves to teach and encourage God's people to respond to God's grace with thankful and generous gifts. He has served four congregations as pastor, leading three of them through capital expansion programs. As administrator of Christian giving for an international Lutheran church body, he developed a major gifts ministry and led three national campaigns. He was instrumental in developing a planned giving ministry which after twelve years is blessing various ministries with annual gifts of $10-12 million in current donations and matured bequests. Another $400+ million in estate gifts for the Lord's work have been completed. Ron and his wife Arlene live in the Milwaukee, WI area and are blessed with three children.

Wayne Baxmann (Associate)
Colgate, Wisconsin Wayne's forty plus years in public ministry have provided him with numerous opportunities to practice servant-leadership. He eagerly applies his spiritual gifts in working with God's people, particularly in the areas of organization, teaching and administration. He strongly believes in and models the attitude that Christian Stewardship is a manifestation of one's love and gratitude for what God has done. Wayne and his wife Renee live in Colgate, Wisconsin, just northwest of Milwaukee, and are active members of Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. Their three adult children and their families live in Washington and Texas.

Jon Mahnke (Associate)
Round Rock, TX One of Jon’s strengths is that of teaching where he has opportunity to personally connect with God’s people. Jon has served as pastor of a church plant, a medium size congregation, and the lead pastor of a large multi-staffed church and school ministry. He led his congregations through four highly successful major building programs. Throughout his ministry he implemented annual, congregation wide stewardship programs and emphases. Synodically, Jon has served on the Mission Board, Evangelism Commission, Synodical Council, Conference of Presidents (COP) as well as numerous sub-committees of the same. Jon and his wife Myrna live in Round Rock, TX. They have been blessed with four children and nine grandchildren.

Mel Fournier (Associate)
Leesburg, Florida Mel is "Mr. Lutheran" throughout Florida having served as a layperson in various Lutheran churches and in
every capacity both during his work as an independent electrician and later in his retirement years. He has served as both paid and volunteer for Thrivent (formerly AAL) in fraternal assistance and is well versed on the Biblical concepts of Christian stewardship.

How Flies the Mud When I Post the Truth

Baby Buzz is not happy!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Mark Jeske Leads Joint WELS-LCMS Worship Service:S...":

Hey Jerkson. I'm sure that you will be reporting that Jeske was not the special guest speaker...oh wait, that would mean you would have to do some actual research and tell the truth.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "How Flies the Mud When I Post the Truth":

Thank you for clearing it up with the link. You come through again with the proof!


[GJ - And the link was there in the beginning!]


***

GJ - Some people need to pay attention to the Mrs. Ichabod effect. Sometimes I have to dash off to a doctor's office, as I did this morning, because of a last-minute appointment. That gave me no time for the precision and proof I normally supply - making it obvious where the story came from. This morning was not a medical emergency but a chance to line up some doctors for her care.

So what happens? People want to charge me with making up a story and inventing information. Sure I play around with words. If that is too creative for you, go back to the Church and Change listserve. They are beastly earnest  (tierisch ernst, as the Germans say). Today I decided to use the strike-out feature to edit stories that really needed clarification. That way readers can see the original words and my improvement upon them.

Did I say this came from the Bethesda website? No. I am not clever enough to make up stories. I never went through GA, where the art of lying is embedded in future WELS pastors and parolees.

Here is the website source:

http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/news3.txt

Watertown Daily Times (WDT for Mequon graduates).

Ahem. I think those who make charges should spend  a few seconds with Google. Placing about five words from a story into the search window will normally generate the source. But golly, it is so much funner to make anonymous comments and to write cranky emails to people who have no connection with Ichabod. Someone should have set down with me, held my hand, and told me my sin of making stuff up from the Bethesda release. That is the model they advocate. I would have enjoyed the chance to say, "Google the Watertown Daily site, lazybones."

Here is so more humorous perspective on the complainers. The actual link was embedded in the John Bauer tag below his photo. That is my normal practice, to link any story I kelm. So some ran off to the Bethesda site and said the Jeske info was not there. Now it is looking like Bethesda parlowed (hid relevant information). That reminds me of the Little Sect bragging about having a Roman Catholic bishop march in their religious procession and speak at their religious dedication service - Mankato Free Press, but write it up without the religious information in the school annual.

My normal practice is to kelm the entire article and photos from the source, since sources go away. I regret that I did not do this with Rick Johnson's Leonard Sweet book review and his offering information. He erased both overnight, whining that I published his published information about disastrous offerings. The Chicanery minders never rest, making up for when they slept on their Triglottas.

Mark Jeske Leads Joint WELS-LCMS Worship Service:Synodical Conference United Again!

John Bauer

http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/news3.txt - This link was already embedded in the John Bauer tag above. Too bad the critics did not click on it. I realize how much trouble that would be - left click, oh, the agony.

Dr. John E. Bauer will be formally installed as president and CEO of Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services Inc. on Saturday at the Schujahn Memorial Chapel of the Good Shepherd on Bethesda's Watertown campus.

The service of installation begins at 2 p.m. and will be followed by a reception in the chapel concourse. The public is invited to attend.

Bauer is succeeding Dr. David Geske, who recently retired after a nearly 30-year career with Bethesda and Good Shepherd Communities.

Participants in Saturday's service include the Rev. Earl Bleke, Bethesda's chief religious life officer, and the Rev. John Wille, president of the South Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. The special guest speaker for the service will be the Rev. Mark Jeske of the Time of Gath Ministries based in Milwaukee.

While new to his position, Bauer has a long association with Bethesda. He served on the company's board of directors for 10 years, five of those years as chairman of the board. During that time he helped plan the affiliation of Good Shepherd Communities with Bethesda, a move that nearly doubled the organization's size.


After leaving the board in 2006, Bauer worked for Bethesda as an integration manager, a position where he was responsible for coordinating the multiple details of the affiliation process and ensuring the adoption of best practice recommendations.

He also served for almost one year as the interim chief operations officer for Bethesda.

Bauer earned his doctorate in education administration and supervision from Marquette University and for 22 years he served as the chief academic officer for Wisconsin Lutheran College. He was also the executive director of the CHARiS Institute, an affiliate of the college devoted to the scholarly study of challenges facing the church. advancing Reformed doctrine, unionism, and general craziness.

Bauer and his wife, Jacqueline, live in Watertown. They are the parents of three adult sons and have recently become grandparents.

***

GJ - So much is missing from this PR news release. What is Jeske's current affiliation? What is John Bauer's?

Charis is the WLC office next to the broom closet where Church and Change was hatched.

Charis sponsored the Symposium where Kent Hunter, Waldo Werning, and Malphurs were invited to teach WELS even more about Church Growth.

Bauer played the martyr about the Symposium being canceled and the Chicaneries consoled him. Please read this link.

The less experience someone has as a pastor, the more he is considered an expert: Hunter, Werning, Kelm, Paul McCain, Larry Olson, etc.

For He’s an Old, Church-Growthy, Calvinistic, Enthusiastic, Wisconsin Boy

Original Lyrics

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Willowcreek Lutheran Chapel Invites Paul Kelm":

You're a psychotic old man who is also very immature and just plain a waste of space. Do us all a favor and leave this earth now and go home to hell. 

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GJ - Not everyone enjoys a droll sense of humor and song parodies.