WELS Church and Money Changers Takes Their Cues from John 2

Jesus and the Moneychangers (Boris Olshansky, 2006)

KJV John 2:14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

WELS Report to the Twelve Apostles Districts

I knew that Jeff Davis, board member of Church and Change (photo but no bio) was the co-author of Heart in Focus, a money management seminar.

They have their own website - Training, Heart in Focus.

The WELS Commission on Adult Discipleship (Education, until Wayne Mueller became boss) features Heart in Focus in the new report. Rave review. Get it a NPH.

Dave Kehl was also in Adult Discipleship - another Changer.

Lookee Here - Davis Is Also a Fund-Raiser

Hi, I’m Jeff Davis, one of the authors of Heart in Focus. I’m glad that you are learning more about this special program. I always believe it is good to challenge oneself and learn new things each day. Heart in Focus offers a challenge not usually found in today’s resources. It helps the reader to answer, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here on this earth?”

Answers to these questions give our lives purpose and a reason for living. By enrolling in a Heart in Focus course, I believe you will find help in responding better to these questions.

You may also know me through Cornerstone Stewardship Ministry, Inc., a firm that raises dollars for Lutheran ministries by growing God’s joyful stewards. Visit our web site at www.joyfulgiving.net.

Or, drop me a note to let me know what you think: jeff@heartinfocus.com. May your day be a blessing for Jesus!

Joyful Giving
is a WELS-Missouri fund-raising business. Mark Jeske is not the only Money Changer with feet in both synods (and trotters in the trough).

I was trying to find out about the other author of Heart in Focus. Perhaps someone can trace that down. I am googled out at the moment.

Conflict of Interest
Some may see a conflict of interest. WELS sends in overpaid Fuller-trained consultants to help a congregation. They recommend a pop band and a multi-million dollar building program. Somehow Fuller-trained Cornerstone gets called in, and they charge fees plus a commission on the loot taken in. The congregation ends up with a big mortgage, and the Money Changers make a killing on both sides - overcharging for boilerplate consulting (using the same template, too lazy to get the church name right in some cases) and overcharging for money-raising.

The common thread here is WELS' own in-house beehive of apostasy: Love Shack Church and Changers, Fuller-trained consultants who are Changers, and a board member of Church and Change raising money for the improvements urged by a fellow-Changer. NPH sells a product urged by Adult Discipleship, a CGM renaming of Adult Education. Thus the money circulates among the same people, congregations are impoverished, and nothing good comes of it.

The Gurgle clan is thoroughly Church and Change. Look at what they have done for themselves the synod. MilCraft estate? - totaled. Schwan funds gusher - insolvency. Mary Lou Chapel - mysterious delay in finding the lost treasure. Patterson's multi-site misspelling extravaganza - excitement.

Brett Meyer asked if I changed my mind about SP Schroeder's leadership. I just look at the outward symptoms, which tell me nothing has changed. Magic is misdirection of the eyes. The magician gets everyone to look at the exploding ball of flame while he tucks a rabbit under his cloak. If he is quick and smooth, and no one notices, the rabbit disappears. Poof. Gone in a flash.

It is not the fault of one person, but 1000 enablers - the clergy, who think they have nothing to lose by remaining silent.

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EastCoast wrote:

In the brochure WELS Pastors received a while back, Ron Roth and Jon Mahnke were the featured WELS guys, along with Wayne Mueller, and then the two (or three) LCMS fellas. The WW DP was confronted about this obvious fellowship in ministry, but has not, to date, responded - at least not publicly. So goes the WELS.

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WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "WELS Church and Money Changers Takes Their Cues fr...":

Here are two paragraphs taken from Prof. Mark Paustian's More Prepared
To Answer:

"The usher is looking decidedly uncomfortable. The offering basket has hit a snag in the pew ahead of you. A boy is clutching a nickel in his chubby fist, which Mom is shaking over the basket. She peals back one finger at a time, whispering the sort of whisper that echoes around the sancuary, "Let go!" Finally, the boy, desperate to know why God wants his money, releases the treasure. The nickel drops home, the usher relaxes...and God is five cents richer."

"Just as there was a Judas among the first disciples of Jesus, there are those within the visible church who will do anything they can to get your nickel into the plate. Though I pray they are few, there are those who will lie to you, pressure you, and shame you for the sake of money. I make no apology for them. These things are shameful."

Will do anything they can to get your nickel into the plate? Prof Paustian, you might be right on this point. Another thing that is shameful: Church and Change along with its partner Cornerstone Ministries. Mark, you attended a chruch and Change conference. Do you make an apology for them and are their things shameful? If you are telling the greatest story ever told, how about standing against the Church and Money Changers!

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

WELS - Church and Money Changers Party On

A hangover is a terrible thing to waste.

Report to the Twelve Districts

The long, dark tea-time of the soul is not over for WELS. Everyone should read the Report, to get a glimpse of what is going on.

The Church and Money Changers are still doing well, rewarded in many ways, never short of a job. If you want a call in WELS, go to Fuller Seminary or Willow Creek for training, preferably both. Add Groeschel, Drucker, Stanley and more for a DP who will defend your false doctrine to his death. Or for a VP who gets calls to the Sausage Factory and advises them how to teach the Kinder. Leonard Sweetheart? - Kingdom Workers will love ya.

Remember Randy Hunter, Latte Lutheran Church, with the lovely woman pastor working under him? He got a vicar and is also chairman of a committee - both signs of official approval.

The Report lists the Money Changers who were let go from the Love Shack, only to be hired a few minutes later: Kehl, Kelm, Becker, Stroh. These are not bad times for the Money Changers. Kudu Don Patterson is expanding his empire, Emerging Church style, and he has a free vicar again.

On the world missions scene, WELS adopts a posture of a global church. ELCA is one, and they recently fired 44 staff. WELS has something going on in every corner of the world, a great way to maximize opportunities for travel.

The schools are going downhill rapidly. WELS once had four prep schools. Now they have two failing preps. Tuition is stratospheric while enrollment drops and staffmembers are cut - even at Luther Prep. Michigan Lutheran Seminary once had 300 students. Now they claim 180.

Mary Lou College has an $8 million chapel and declining enrollment. I heard they needed 1000 students, a very small number for a college today. They have 700. There is no longer a reason for MLC, except to produce obnoxious student videos. WLC could easily take over, and they are also run by Shrinkers.

Here is a case to consider. The area Lutheran high schools grew while the plum preps turned into raisins from under-funding. One area school went from 300 students to 100, and the shrinkage is not done. Parochial schools are closing everywhere. MLC no longer has a reason to exist.

The Sausage Factory is suffering from the advice given by Patterson and Kelm. Yes, they gave papers on how to improve seminary education. That is like inviting Dr. Kevorkian to lecture on nursing home care. "No, doc, leave your equipment at your office. Thanks."

Following Patterson's example, the seminary faculty should take all the students to an Exponential gathering, as Kudu Don did with a group of church workers. Or they should arrange a Leonard Sweet conference, as Paul Calvin Kelm did. (Missourians - don't be smug. Your St. Louis sem prez slobbered all over Sweet and put the video on their websty. Kieschnick, of course, adores Sweet too.)

In 1987, Mequon was graduating 60 students a year. Now they are in the 30s with a class of 16 coming up soon. Here is where the gallows humor comes in, making satire so easy to write. From the Report -
1. Good news - now there will not be an oversupply of seminary graduates.
2. Good news - now the faculty have time to complete their graduate degrees.

The schools all represent fixed costs at a time when tuition money is decreasing rapidly. Huge Missouri has considered closing one or both seminaries. WELS will need some solutions for its creaky school system.

I cannot figure out why Henry Hagedorn still has a job, let alone staff. His fiefdom has destroyed more churches than the Chicago Fire. They pretend to have lots of action going on, but they are just watching over the remains of their manifold failures. They have more mission districts than there are districts!

WELS supposedly cut $8 million from a $38 million budget, with more to come in the future. Going Galt is not so bad. The Means of Grace are free. The Instruments of God's Grace have not failed the church. The church has failed to use them.

If you think WELS has turned the corner, read the Report and also check out who writes for FIC (another dinosaur). The Shrinkers remain. The Church and Money Changers have not been chased out of the Temple. They are leasing the Temple - temporarily.

More ELCA Fugitives

Knudson

Faith Lutheran Church where I belong and work very part time on a contractual basis voted for the second time today. The vote was 172 to 7, a 96% majority. There was a good spirit and the synod rep was very gracious in his remarks, which our longest time pastor noted to him appreciatively and publicly. The other ELCA congregation in Hutchinson, MN. voted also for the second time to leave but by the very thinnest of margins, .667%. Have not yet heard a report on the aftermath of that. It is hard to see that level of division. [GJ - Does he mean 66.7% or a margain of .667%?]

Yesterday we held the constituting convention of the Augustana District of LCMC. That meeting was held here at Faith with 141 in attendance from 35 congregations, some from Wisconsin and Nebraska. Most were from Minnesota. There were another ten participating over an internet link. Again a positive spirit was present and a sense of anticipation. This is not saying all 35 congregations will join. Three groups of folk were there from Marshall, Morris, and Alexandria, Minnesota representing LCMC congregations in various stages of being formed.