This was a tiny class, compared to later ones, but the yield was impressive. Gerlach and Johne came back to teach at Mequon. Oddly, Gerlach left the Wisconsin Synod for a period of time, but came back when his father-in-law threatened to disown him.
Johne is a safari partner with Dom Perignon Patterson. He is also the second father-in-law of Marc Schroeder (son of Salty) who fell hard for Church Growth, changed wives, and joined the LCMS, all under the watchful gaze of the Michigan District, WELS.
Paul Kuske got the first CG agency in Columbus going, helped found Pilgrim Community Church (attendance at 3 when it closed), and engaged in plenty of typical Wisconsin dastardly mischief while First VP of the District. The district was so appalled that they voted him out of office, which is almost as rare as WELS admitting wrong-doing. Kuske tried to bring Floyd Luther Stolzenburg into WELS and failed, but his patronage helped get Robert Schumann, now an atheist, out of WELS. Let us not forget the founding of CrossRoads Evangelical Covenant Church in S. Lyons, begun with WELS/LCMS members and money.
---
Scott E. Jungen has left a new comment on your post "Mequon Yielded Three Shrinkers in 1953":
Is the Paul Kuske in this class the same Paul Kuske that taught at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in the 60s and 70s? And where and when did Robert Schumann serve? I'm sure I ran into Schumann somewhere in my Synod studies.
***
GJ - Kuske was at MLS. I recall that Schumann had been a campus chaplain somewhere and had a parish that he reduced to nothing before coming to Columbus. Oelhafen rejoiced that someone even more lit up about Church Growth was coming to rescue the heathen in Columbus. Schumann polarized the congregation. His faction created a shrine office for him in the church, after he was booted for false doctrine. He must have seen it coming a long time, because he studied for the CLU and ChFC, joining AAL as an agent. Schumann is from the Jungkuntz family of heretics.
