Do WELS or ELS pastors ever admit doctrinal error?
They can go "as far as their conscience allows," as Rev. Frey advises,
which is no problem for DP Seifert.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2010
Former Fired MLS Pres. Aaron Frey Writes on Facebook about Greg Jackson
Aaron Fry wrote the following on Facebook Sept. 21, 2010. It is obvious he is writing about Dr. Gregory Jackson and his Ichabod, the Glory Has Departed blog--
Like a fool still holding out hope for a man I used to respect long ago, I did check a very inflammatory anti-WELS blog just before sharing this. I know the issue of which he speaks, we've already addressed it in class and leaving for that ...reason would not be for the good of MLS. It would be lying. I only comment on it for the sake of the students who might be hurt by his unhelpful and injurious blogging habits. If he was (sic) correct, I would have had to resign for cause of heresy. It's hard to believe even now that he is so quick to believe a rumor just so that he can have a more sensational accusation, but now that he has attacked me directly without any knowledge and without a word to me, I don't know how else to take it.
Like a fool still holding out hope for a man I used to respect long ago, I did check a very inflammatory anti-WELS blog just before sharing this. I know the issue of which he speaks, we've already addressed it in class and leaving for that ...reason would not be for the good of MLS. It would be lying. I only comment on it for the sake of the students who might be hurt by his unhelpful and injurious blogging habits. If he was (sic) correct, I would have had to resign for cause of heresy. It's hard to believe even now that he is so quick to believe a rumor just so that he can have a more sensational accusation, but now that he has attacked me directly without any knowledge and without a word to me, I don't know how else to take it.
***
GJ - Aaron Frey and Tim Glende - you attack me all the time without a word.
I am reporting news and offering my seasoned opinion. I feel sorry for the school and for Aaron's family, but I know the Good Ol' Boys network will take care of Aaron.
I asked six people about what happened at MLS. The story did not match the facts associated with the story. I could name the pastors who did not answer me at all. One was active on Facebook at the time. I sent him an IM. No response. Others were in a position to know. No response. Two responded with the facts.
Aaron knows Tim Glende from MLS. Frey is hardly alone in knowing who writes the fake blog.
Here is one flimsy excuse on Frey's blog. He has the qualities of a future DP. The words quoted above on Fake-O-Bod are not on Facebook. Perhaps Aaron listened to sage advice from the synod's lawyer and erased them. Glende erases his blog posts every so often and runs away, only to appear again.
I will post Aaron's slippery comments, which will impress no one and clarify nothing. Apparently they decided to jettison the burnout excuse, which is not a good start for a new job search.
The latest excuses are:
Marge, I made the decision to resign from MLS for the good of the ministry. I didn't do anything to disqualify myself (you know, no tragic, public sin or heresy and such--that would be "for cause") and it wasn't for personal reasons (health, couldn't handle it, wife or family couldn't handle it). The circumstances were unique and unforeseeable, and letting the Lord find someone else to continue in my office clearly became the most beneficial thing for the ministry at MLS and for the largest number of people. I was happy to serve the Lord and MLS by taking the office and, although it was much harder than taking the office in the first place, I was happy to serve the Lord and MLS by resigning, too. The joy of the once-in-a-lifetime chance of serving in the office will, nonetheless, be a loss that I will mourn greatly, and for this we request your prayers. (Facebook)
From his blog:
***
GJ - We all know Glende is hysterical about anyone going to Notre Dame, but he is silent about AnnMarie, the female theologian from Notre Dame, the Muslim apologist speaking at Mary Lou College.
Mrs. Ichabod just said, "He is only opposed to you going to Notre Dame." Ah, that is it.
Frey and Glende try to wrap themselves in the mantle of WELS sentiment, trying to claim Ichabod is an anti-WELS blog. (That is bad, automatical in WELS, like being anti-American.) Their reading comprehension is as limited as their grammar.
This blog was planned as a discussion about apostasy. If I see it in any given denomination, I discuss it, with extensive research and links provided. That has always inflamed the WELSians Pietists. They do not want their false doctrine to be quoted.
MLS is the red-headed kid no one wants to acknowledge. Frey has done the synod a favor by moving the school faster toward closing. Frey's resignation after a few month's work proves something was wrong, just like Glende's assistant asking for a new call after only a few weeks in the Promised Land of Church and Change, Driscoll and Groeschel.
Since WELS leaders are so bad at lying, they should start telling the truth and apologizing for the harm they have done.
Watch MLS enrollment plummet.
I asked six people about what happened at MLS. The story did not match the facts associated with the story. I could name the pastors who did not answer me at all. One was active on Facebook at the time. I sent him an IM. No response. Others were in a position to know. No response. Two responded with the facts.
Aaron knows Tim Glende from MLS. Frey is hardly alone in knowing who writes the fake blog.
Here is one flimsy excuse on Frey's blog. He has the qualities of a future DP. The words quoted above on Fake-O-Bod are not on Facebook. Perhaps Aaron listened to sage advice from the synod's lawyer and erased them. Glende erases his blog posts every so often and runs away, only to appear again.
I will post Aaron's slippery comments, which will impress no one and clarify nothing. Apparently they decided to jettison the burnout excuse, which is not a good start for a new job search.
The latest excuses are:
Marge, I made the decision to resign from MLS for the good of the ministry. I didn't do anything to disqualify myself (you know, no tragic, public sin or heresy and such--that would be "for cause") and it wasn't for personal reasons (health, couldn't handle it, wife or family couldn't handle it). The circumstances were unique and unforeseeable, and letting the Lord find someone else to continue in my office clearly became the most beneficial thing for the ministry at MLS and for the largest number of people. I was happy to serve the Lord and MLS by taking the office and, although it was much harder than taking the office in the first place, I was happy to serve the Lord and MLS by resigning, too. The joy of the once-in-a-lifetime chance of serving in the office will, nonetheless, be a loss that I will mourn greatly, and for this we request your prayers. (Facebook)
From his blog:
Reasons I Didn’t Resign
21092010Brothers and sisters in Christ, especially my family at Michigan Lutheran Seminary-
I can’t say it’s been a surprise, but it’s certainly been an experience listening to friends and families share their conjectures with me. Sometimes it’s what they’ve heard from others and sometimes what they’ve personally thought. I wanted to put up this post to try to ease some tensions and to try not to lose the value of my resigning for the good of the ministry.
We have a few terms in our circles for describing different kinds of resignations. A resignation for cause is the one that I think people fear the most. Resignation for cause means that a called worker has done something sinful that disqualifies them from serving. A clear-cut example would be teaching heresy. Other more complicated issues would be getting caught in some big, public sin like adultery or embezzlement. The distinguishing mark of resignation for cause is the repentance that everyone will be hoping for. The forgiveness the resigned called worker receives is the same forgiveness we all receive—complete and unconditionally paid for by the blood of Christ. However, the called worker still must leave their post because leaders in the church are held to a higher standard than those who serve as members. “Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap” (1 Timothy 3:2-4,7). There is the possibility that the called worker might return under some circumstances, but the reputation requirements do make it difficult.
A called worker may also resign for personal reasons. Due to circumstances in his life, he cannot do the work. Perhaps his health is failing. Perhaps his family can’t handle the pressures of the ministry at this point in their lives. Perhaps it is an issue in which his wife needs extra attention so that he does not feel he is able to offer due attention to his work. These things could certainly be addressed in a way that allowed a return to the ministry if the the worker desired it.
There are some circumstances that are much more difficult to parse. There is no great, public sin. Inability to serve is not the issue. As a leader the called worker has a decision to make in a difficult situation and reaches the conclusion that the best thing for the ministry of the gospel in general and the ministry of the calling body in particular is that he simply step away, confident that the Lord of the church will provide another worker to take his place.
That’s where I am. I came here to offer myself in whatever service the school needed most. I can’t say that I thought this was the service my alma mater would need most from me, but I’m confident that is the very best service I could offer under these very unexpected circumstances.
What were the circumstances? That’s the thing, my friends. I can only serve the school by this resignation if I am able to take the reasons with me. I can only tell you why I didn’t resign. Did my marriage need intensive counseling? I’m happy to take the free counseling that the synod offers to help us deal with the upcoming transition, but I could have gotten that without resigning through the Member Assistance Program that operates right out of the school, too. Plus, that would be a resignation for personal reasons. Does it have to do with my hospitalization last spring? That’s an interesting coincidence, but that issue has been corrected (and, again, that would be personal reasons). Did I do something wrong? I do plenty, but nothing to disqualify me from serving in the ministry. Last but not least, is there something going on in the synod that a poor, naive parish pastor couldn’t handle looking at and so he had to walk away? Brothers and sisters, walking away from that wouldn’t be for the good of the ministry, would it? Of course not. There’s plenty I’d still like to work on in the ministerial education system and in the synod, too, and, quite frankly, I wanted to keep working on those issues as the president of MLS and as a delegate to the 2011 convention (I was up next for the first time in my ministry). Those things were hard to give up.
It was very hard to decide that it was better for the ministry to leave than to stay. I would not have imagined a situation happening where my service was better in resigning rather than in staying and working on the issues I had been most concerned about. Nonetheless, the situation occurred. If you can come up with it by guessing at what happened, then you’re smarter than I am—a possibility I certainly concede. However, this post is as much as I can ever say in terms of confirming or denying whether or not you actually came up with the right situation. Otherwise my service in resignation becomes useless and the school is not served by it. Seeing as I’ve already seen the positive effects of my resignation in action, I’m definitely not going to say more than I have. It’s the hardest service I’ve ever performed, but it’s still a service to the Lord, and I can still honestly say that there is joy in it.
So thank you for your concerns and prayers. I still have my CRM status, which means that I am still eligible to preach and receive a call. But I will be looking for a job while my family heals from this. We will be mourning the joy of serving at MLS. Will I go back to the ministry? I’d like to, but I want to be sure of my family’s feelings first. Resignations like this are rare but still possible, no matter where you serve. I can tell them how unlikely a similar situation would be, but first I want to make sure that it won’t sound to them something like talking about the rarity of a plane crash to someone who has just survived one.
[end of blog smokescreen]
Thanks again for your support and prayers, and God bless you all with the peace that comes from knowing that the omnipotent Father in heaven was more willing to let his perfectly faithful Son die innocently for our sins rather than see us die in them—and especially with the peace of his victory over our death.
Your brother in Christ,
Aaron
***
GJ - We all know Glende is hysterical about anyone going to Notre Dame, but he is silent about AnnMarie, the female theologian from Notre Dame, the Muslim apologist speaking at Mary Lou College.
Mrs. Ichabod just said, "He is only opposed to you going to Notre Dame." Ah, that is it.
Frey and Glende try to wrap themselves in the mantle of WELS sentiment, trying to claim Ichabod is an anti-WELS blog. (That is bad, automatical in WELS, like being anti-American.) Their reading comprehension is as limited as their grammar.
This blog was planned as a discussion about apostasy. If I see it in any given denomination, I discuss it, with extensive research and links provided. That has always inflamed the WELSians Pietists. They do not want their false doctrine to be quoted.
MLS is the red-headed kid no one wants to acknowledge. Frey has done the synod a favor by moving the school faster toward closing. Frey's resignation after a few month's work proves something was wrong, just like Glende's assistant asking for a new call after only a few weeks in the Promised Land of Church and Change, Driscoll and Groeschel.
Since WELS leaders are so bad at lying, they should start telling the truth and apologizing for the harm they have done.
Watch MLS enrollment plummet.
