Buske Turns Down Call To WELS Wisconsin Lutheran College

Rev. Andy Stanley (Babtist) and WELS Pastor Buske at Drive 08.

------------------------ C A L L S - D E C L I N E D -----------------------
Buske, Rev James G - WLC - Milwaukee WI - 01/08/2010
Second Campus Pastor

Collegian Computer and Internet Quiz

Colleges should certify their students before allowing them to use computers and the Internet. Below is a sample quiz, with the answers, to make it easier to pass.

1. Once a video is uploaded to YouTube, anyone can copy it and save it. True or False?
True - the software for copying is provided on YouTube.

2. There are many video hosting sites. True or False?
True - There are many hosting sites. YouTube and Vimeo are two of them. Anyone can access them.

3. If an image is used on the Net, Google will index it for searches. True or False?
True - Google will label the image and make it available to everyone.

4. Links last forever on the Internet. True or False?
True - The more a link is copied on Internet pages, the more Google will move it to the top of the search.

5. I can control where links to my photos, videos, and web pages are posted. True, False, or Dude?
Dude? - What are you thinking? Stuff is copied in a second and no one controls the Internet.

5. A blog can be hidden by omitting the link. True or False?
False - The blog is still published on the Net. Google may find it or may still have the information. Anyone with the original link can find it.

6. Material can be removed from the Internet by erasing it. True, False, or Not Exactly?
Not exactly - There are services that provide copies of earlier material published to the Internet.

7. Facebook pages are private. True or False?
False - They are webpages used by many different companies. How do you think ads appear based on your unique information?

8. Facebook photos are private. True, False, or Gotta Be Kidding?
Gotta Be Kidding - Facebook photos are available to all friends, or to friends of friends, or to everyone. Even if they are restricted to friends, that can be a large and leaky list.

9. Using Google is stalking. True, False, or Take Your Meds?
Take Your Meds - Everyone uses search engines to find out published information. That includes photos and messages that will end chances for that choice job. The words "publish" and "public" are closely related. MySpace is even more open than Facebook.

J. P. Meyer's Disciples Turn Easily to Babtist Decision Theology

UOJ led this Stormtrooper into the flamboyant side of the Force.

I wrote before that J. P. Meyer's Ministers of Christ leads someone effortlessly into Decision Theology, because Meyer's own language is thoroughly unLutheran and anti-Scriptural in places. He does not make some points about Corinthians, especially about adulterating the Gospel. But note what happens with his precious UOJ:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More on Justification Book":

In the Feedback section of FIC, A Lutheran Voice, someone spoke of "decision theology" concerning the series on the Holy Spirit.(referring to the NOV. edition) I will quote the feedback that was put in the January 2010 edition:

"I'm compelled to respond to the most recent article in Pastor Degner's series on the Holy Spirit. "Earlier in life I was involved in a variety of "evangelical/fundamental" churches. "Decision theology" was big in their presentation of the gospel. I can recall many Sunday school sessions in which I strived very hard to convince my student to "accept Jesus in to their hearts"-i.e., to accept God's offer of forgiveness and eternal life in Christ. How often I used variations of Pastor Degners's analogy of the rich man trying to give each person in town a million dallars[Nov.]. "Just accept it!" I pleaded. But then God arranged circumstances that brought me into ELS/WELS churches. What a great epiphany occurred when I fully realized and understood that we are totally incapable of accepting salvation; that it is wholly the work of the Holy Spirit as he effectd our new birth by way of his gift of faith in Christ Jesus!"

Here is the response by "one" of the editors:

"Your point about decisions to accept God's gift is well taken. With Luther we confess that we cannot come to Jesus or believe in him by our own power. That is the work of the Holy Spirit by the power of the gospel. Yet Paul invited the jailer simply to "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." The gospel does come with an invitation that we cannot accept but by the work of the Holy Spirit.-ed."

If GJ and Brett remember, that is taken from the same article that I quoted a few months ago. So we were not the only folks who noticed these things (a few words from that article/universal justification....forgiven and not forgiven)

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

Fake Ichabod Revealed

Fake Ichabod tries to look serious.

The fake Ichabod appears and disappears, never revealing his name.

He is a WELS pastor, a friend of Ski, and "works" in Fox Valley.

Some are surprised that DP Engelbrecht lets him get away with this, because the congregation, district, and synod are vulnerable to slander charges and the appropriate financial penalties from his previously published remarks, which were preserved for future action.

Important Birthday on Wednesday

Philip Jacob Spener's birthday is on Wednesday.

Ich bin Phillip Jakob Spener(1635-1705), Father of Pietism,

baptismal sponsor of Nicholas Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf .

I left a message on Spener's Facebook page:

Happy Birthday, Phil. I know a lot of your friends.

Funding for The CORE

Senior Pastor Tim Glende, St. Peter, Freedom, Wisconsin, was struck speechless with Katy Perry - "Ur So Gay."




WELS Pastor Ski has closed down his photo albums on Facebook to visitors, but are they removed? Ask DP Doug, his FB friend. MariQueen, an alleged singer, tried posing with her clothes on.




Bishop Katie, Ski's highly paid assistant, does the work at The CORE, leaving a trail of Tweets all over Schwaermerland. Glende, Ski, and Katie have broken Kelm's record for sitting at the feet of false prophets.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Church and Change - Operating in Stealth Mode...":

The CORE is supported for a certain length of time (a couple years) with an agreed upon dollar amount by an anonymous donor. St. Peter and the Synod are not monetary supports.

***

GJ - But who is providing this enormous diversion of funds to The CORE? Inquiring minds want to know. Who bought Ski's home in Milwaukee? Who sold him a home in A-town? The records are public.


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Michael Schottey has left a new comment on your post "Funding for The CORE":

Also...if this anonymous donor weren't hoodwinked into supporting The CORE might he be giving his dollars to less pietistic exercises?

Or, at least, pastors who don't value the teaching of mega church founders over their own religion?

***

GJ - Michael has grasped the issue. The Shrinkers have abysmal skills in reading comprehension. Diversion does not mean skimming from the synod coffers, a skill which the Changers do take pride in. Diversion means - The money could have been spent better than wasting it on a clown ministry - running off to Schwaermer conferences every few weeks.

Note that the Shrinkers take great offense at what was not said, so they can rant about the accusation not made, instead of addressing the main issue. According to Anonymous (who else?), The CORE Lutheran Church will run through $500,000+ while missionaries are unemployed, schools are closing, and Patterson is canceling his safaris.

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Appleton Anonymous Pastor has left a new comment on your post "Funding for The CORE":

Anon 12:13 You're another Jerkson zombie that takes in everything Jerkson spews out. I'm guessing that over 200 people are attending the CORE. And yes, you are not seeing. You're not even looking.

***

GJ - So 200 are members or 190 are attending from local WELS churches? Using the published total of 15 members in one year, I get:
5 Ski-sters
1 Bishop Katie
2 Transfers from Appleton WELS
___

8 WELS members to begin with, leaving a possible 7 unchurched at best.

Let's face it - If Ski and Bishop Katie held services on Sunday morning, the place would be nearly empty. Notice the calendar during Advent, Lent, and any other sacred time for Gospel services - Worship at St. Peter, Freedom.

Twenty sub-woofers (!) do not have the horsepower to overcome what is lacking at The CORE Lutheran Church.

Young Man, There's a Place You Can Go

Young man, there's no need to feel down.
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.
I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town
There's no need to be unhappy.

Young man, there's a place you can go.
I said, young man, when you're short on your dough.
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time.

Let’s party at the E-L-C-A.
Let’s party at the E-L-C-A.

They have everything that you need to enjoy,
You can party with all the boys ...

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 8, 2010

ELCA Northeastern Iowa Synod Bishop Questions Congregational Vote

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Steven L. Ullestad, bishop of the Northeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has declared that a Clear Lake, Iowa, congregation's initial vote to leave the denomination did not achieve the required two-thirds vote, even though congregational leaders believed the widely reported vote was successful.

On Dec. 13, 2009, Zion United Lutheran Church held a specially called meeting of members and took a vote to terminate its relationship with the ELCA. The vote came in response to the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly's action to direct changes in ELCA ministry policy that created the possibility that people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships could serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

The Mason City Globe-Gazette and other news organizations reported that members of Zion voted 238-119 to leave the ELCA -- exactly two-thirds of those whose votes were counted.

But Ullestad disagreed with that conclusion. In a January 6 letter to Carole Roth, Ventura, Iowa, president of Zion, he wrote that there were 366 members registered and in attendance at the meeting. The ELCA Constitution, section 9.62, requires that "a two-thirds majority of voting members present" is needed to adopt a resolution for a congregation to terminate its relationship with the ELCA. With that understanding, Ullestad wrote that 244 votes, not 238 votes, were needed to adopt the resolution.

"The resolution clearly failed," Ullestad wrote in his letter to Roth. "It would be in violation of the constitution for me to begin the synodical consultation process since Zion did not adopt the resolution." Normally, following a valid vote to leave the ELCA, synod bishops begin a 90-day consultation process with the congregation before a second vote is taken.

Ullestad noted in his letter that synod staff communicated previously with Roth and the Rev. Dean C. Hess, senior pastor, prior to the congregation's vote to leave. He wrote that Assistant to the Bishop Linda J. Hudgins sent "the constitutionally required process for this vote."

Following the Dec. 13 congregational meeting Hudgins wrote in a Dec. 18 letter to the congregation council's recording secretary, Beth Ann Schumacher, of a possible problem with the vote. She wrote that based on a conversation with a member of the congregation, it appeared the congregation's vote was one vote short of the required two-thirds.

The synod's correspondence with Zion's leadership is posted on the synod's Web site at http://www.neiasynod.org/synod_news/CongregationalVotes.asp
The ELCA News Service contacted Roth, who said in a phone interview, "We don't see it (the vote) as invalid. From our standpoint, we don't see a conflict."

"We have counted all of the votes, and we have a count of the voting members present: 357 voting members present, with 238 affirmative votes 119 negative," he said. As for Ullestad's different numbers, Roth said she did not know where he would have gotten the numbers he cited.

Roth said she got Ullestad's letter Jan. 7. She said she expects the congregation's leaders will discuss the bishop's letter next week.

According to official ELCA statistics, Zion Lutheran Church has approximately 1,700 baptized members. Ullestad said the congregation has been historically generous in its mission support. The ELCA News Service attempted to contact Hess by phone and e-mail numerous times. Calls and messages were not returned.

Through mid-December 2009, the ELCA Office of the Secretary reported that 135 congregations had taken votes to leave the ELCA. Ninety-seven had achieved the required two-thirds vote on their initial votes to terminate the relationship with the church, and 38 had failed.

More on Justification Book

I am working on the doctrinal history chapters, which will be published in rough draft on this blog and sent around in Word files to those interested.

This is a tentative outline for Justification By Faith: Luther Against the Pietists.

1. Efficacy of the Word
2. Enthusiasm
3. Calvinism
4. Reformed influence via Lutheran Pietism
5. Halle and UOJ
6. Justification by Faith, Biblical Exegesis
   
7. Appendices: A. Justification quotations. B. UOJ quoations. C. Biblical passages used to promote UOJ.

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More research will come out, I am told. UOJ is the product of Pietism, its main claim to fame.

Emerging Church - Old Stuff - LCA Tried Entertainment Evangelism Decades Ago

Real, relevant, relational - transforming lives.

Overshadowed by Elvis' anniversary, Art Clokey died January 8th. He invented clay-mation, Gumby, and Davey and Goliath.

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June 17, 2003

ELCA's 'Davey' Documentary to Begin Airing in September

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- On Sept. 14 the ABC television network will begin airing "Oh Davey ... History of the 'Davey and Goliath' Television Series," a documentary featuring Davey and Goliath, a value-based children's program that aired on commercial television networks from 1960 through the mid-1980s.

ABC-TV affiliates will show the documentary beginning Sept. 14. Affiliates will determine local broadcast times.

The original "Davey and Goliath" television series, created and owned by the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), promoted "basic Christian values," said the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Department for Communication. It reached an estimated 1.7 million children and was aired in seven languages in 19 countries around the world.

Premavision/Clokey Productions, Los Osos, Calif., producers of the "Gumby" television series, also produced the original "Davey and Goliath" programs with the LCA.

"Davey and Goliath" is now a property of the ELCA, formed through the 1987 merger of the LCA, the American Lutheran Church and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.

"The ELCA was chosen to produce a documentary by the National Council of Churches and the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission, which works closely with the networks to bring faith-based programming to general market television," said Ava Odom Martin, broadcast production manager, ELCA Department for Communication, and producer of the documentary.

"There is no other pop-culture icon owned by a church," Shafer said.

The documentary will be hosted by Clifton Davis, from the television sitcom "Amen," and Mary McDonough, best known for her role as Erin on the television series "The Waltons." Set in a 3-D virtual environment and to be taped in Chicago by Post Effects Studio, the documentary will move through the history of "Davey and Goliath" beginning with its inception in 1958 and continuing through the decades to the program's current productions, Martin said.

Initial screenings for the documentary are planned for Sept. 7 in Chicago, and Sept. 15 in Washington, D.C., she said. Screening dates are to be announced for sites in New York and Los Angeles.

Created by both Art and Ruth Clokey, the original series was made through a technique known as stop-motion animation, a process where puppets are staged and moved little by little in each frame of film to give the illusion of movement when shown at broadcast speed. "These are real things in real environments," said Martin. It takes 24 still frame images to create one second of video, she said.

"The most appealing quality of Davey is that he presented scenarios that children could relate to," Shafer said. "The plots were often similar -- Davey got into trouble, Goliath acted as his conscience, and Mom and Dad saved the day."

"Davey and Goliath" dealt with issues facing children in the 1960s and 1970s and was progressive for its time, Shafer said. Themes included racism, gangs and guns in school, he said.

Though it dealt with controversial themes, "Davey and Goliath" always focused on God's love for children, he said. "The basic message throughout was that God loves you no matter what," Shafer said.

The ELCA is also merchandising many "Davey and Goliath" items such as lunch boxes, toys, bobble head dolls and neckties through the official Web site http://www.daveyandgoliath.org and through Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the ELCA. Proceeds from merchandising will go to fund new "Davey and Goliath" episodes, said Shafer. The ELCA is seeking $5 million in financial gifts for future productions, he added.

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GJ - I attended some LCA Communications conferences. They were inordinately proud of their cartoons, while the typical pastor said, "So what?"

The Communications office final claim to fame was its program, Face-to-Face Religion, aimed at Billy Graham (but denied). They wanted congregations to buy their ads and put them on TV and radio. That may sound familiar to WELS members.

When I met future WELS pastors at Mequon, the first thing they brought up, swooning, was how much the LCA spent on communications. I always said, "Where did that get them?" I wondered who had them so excited about spending money. I had a call before I realized how much WELS adored the Church Growth Movement. I did not have any Valleskey classes, so I missed his reveries about Church Growth.

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Kenneth J. Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "Emerging Church - Old Stuff - LCA Tried Entertainm...":

I have some new episode ideas that should be popular with the ELCA crowd. "Davey and Goliath Meet Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgendered Phil."

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GJ - I know some film producers who could handle that assignment. They are young collegians with a flair for flamboyant, edgy films. They know how to use digital media, music, and YouTube.