and Cornerstone Wild Hare Fund-Raising.
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Speak Up":
From my own experience, all of the above observations fit quite well. In the situation that I referred to, it was strictly a budget problem. The teacher was told after the last day of the semester. I am sure that there was much more to it all. It was the tip of the iceberg. The congregation just had a multi-million dollar expansion. They had engaged in full fledged masonry evangelism. They were borrowing against the pledges for the expansion to meet their operating costs. In a rare moment of conscience, they realized that this was wrong. My beloved wife had pointed out the total of 10 full time called workers on the payroll, including the full time child care director. My response was "that is a lot of salary and benefits". The expansion was sold to the voters with the assumption of a growth in both members and amount per giving unit. That never materialized. After three capital appeals, they are still coming up short. The third capital appeal caused my departure because they had contracted with Cornerstone Stewardship Ministries. (continued)
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Speak Up":
Working backwards from the comments:
Grumpy, I have been a part of the scenario which you have described. I was an elder when we had a pastor who was well known for his rather intimidating cold stare. Did they teach him this at the Sausage factory? I plead guilty for not speaking up when I should have. This is just another indication that the WELS can really be an abusive cult. When my wife and I were discussing the termination of the teacher's call, she reminded me of the history of the grumbling members who always talked, but never acted. When I was an elder, the Council President did stand up to the pastor. The pastor's knees buckled. Schoolyard bullies can get rather timid when you stand up to them. Members would complain that the same lapdogs would always be elected. In all honesty, who would want to serve under those conditions? (continued)
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Speak Up":
Mr. Meyer,
I agree about the WELS is cloudy (by design) concerning the doctrine of the public ministry. Furthermore, they co-mingle it with the doctrine of vocation. I have heard it said that everyone is a minister. But wait, not a public minister. So, then what they say they mean by everyone being a minister is that everyone has a calling. By that, they meant to say that they are talking about the doctrine of the vocation. Why did they not say so from the start? If it sounds confusing, it is. I'll bet that they use this convoluted argumentation to justify Bishop Katie being a "Worship Minister". I have also seen this used in a round about way to shame members into serving on one of the many useless committees. In other words, you are not really serving the Lord unless you are doing busy work in the congregation. (continued)
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Speak Up":
The name calling is usually engaged in by those who have no legitimate argument against you. It is similar to that schoolyard bully who does that in front of his minions to look tough. An abusive sect can be an equal opportunity offender. I have witnessed several faithful teachers get treated rather harshly. When members expressed outrage about it, they were called troublemakers. Mr. Jungen, thank you for pointing out that the congregation bears the responsibility for supporting the called workers. As we have been made aware of here on Ichabod, there are many faithful and knowledgeable laity. They need to be reminded to pray for and support their called workers.
