Someone wrote to ask me if I planned to attend the Change or DIE! conference in two weeks. That individual also wanted to know how to find out who was registered.
My advice is this - everyone should attend and take notes, photographing or videotaping as much as possible.
When conservatives gather, the apostates always have minders watching and keeping track. They do not wear MINDER nametags, but they make sure people are punished for having the wrong associations. Sometimes the innocent are simply warned. "This is not good for your career."
I suggested this for the last Church and Chicanery conference. Did anyone go? People asked me to go. That would have been counter-productive. People have to fight their own battles. I am only an information maven and provider.
I showed my disgust for Kelm-Olson-Huebner by not attending their all-synod CG brainwashing seminar, roughly in 1991. Every pastor was expected to go and pay $100 for the dishonor of being there. And all the ovine pastors went to be sheered! And you guys wonder why it is so bad now? How many surrendering withdrawals are necessary before taking a stand?
The bullies are nasty, but they are cowards. If they had an excuse, they would have answered the Intrepids' letter, but they have not. They do not want to be exposed and would love to have their little coven meeting without any witnesses. They would adore have one person show up so they could make up anything they wanted about that orphaned witness. But if 20 show up! They would need all the pastors and some laity to reach 20.
Only 12 pastors have signed on so far.
Managed Information
In the past, synods could manage the information by keeping everything a secret, unless they wanted to trash someone, which they often did.
Pastor Fred Adrian's vicar went to the state prison in Michigan and neighboring pastors did not know it. One said to me, "You know more about my district than I do."
IM, Twitter, FB, email, and blogs have ended the synod monopoly on information. Jeske cannot promote his coven on the Net and expect no one to notice. Likewise, his and Parlow's grants show up on the Net, because foundations have to make their loot distribution public knowledge, according to law.
Jeff Gunn got a grant to run some kind of Welcome Wagon, something surely gleaned from the apostles. "We'll get the move in notices, St. Peter, and invite the kids to our junior gladiator camp. While there, we can introduce them to the Gospel, because they will face gladiators soon enough. It's a felt need."
4 comments:
I noticed that Jeff Gunn, whose MOG (W)ELS Youth Rally was advertised by DP Buccholz in the Emmanuel Church Newsletter, is no longer listed as the Large Group Presentation speaker.
Initially exposed here:
http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2011/01/wels-to-proclaim-to-youth-at-mark-jeske.html
Now:
Thursday 12:45pm "MOG -- the Sacramental Life" by ????
Friday 7pm "MOG -- Me-Our-Group" by ????
Note that Jeff Gunn's Crosswalk church band is still playing its concert at 8:15
http://www.welsteenrally.com/Schedule
Notice how the (W)ELS MOG Youth Rally is hosted by Pastor Paul Steinberg who is an associate pastor with Jeske at St. Marcus.
http://www.stmarcus.org/pastor-paul/
Also note that another St. Marcus called worker has been extended a divine call into the ministry:
Mrs. Cynthia Holman has accepted the call to serve as WELS' first national coordinator of early childhood ministries. She will begin this full-time position for the Commission on Lutheran Schools on July 1.
http://www.wels.net/news-events/holman-accepts-early-childhood-call
Change or Die seems to come from Sweet...has anyone viewed this in its entirety?
http://www.cuw.edu/videoserver/fullplayer.cfm?movieid=1267
I'm wondering if anyone has any objective opinions. I think he has good points and I don't think he is mocking Lord's Supper...
Quotes from Jeske's speach:
the imprinting of our belief system is most effectively carried on through our system of schools. I don't have any romantic notions about my ability as a pastor to transmit Lutheranism just by getting a chance for twenty five minutes or so every other Sunday to talk to people. Those are just little Hors d'œuvre's...I'm just giving treats, like hopefully to spur people on to greater study.
8:57
Make disciples of all nations
19:10
And I put it to you, I think this is the number one thing that ails lutheranism right now in the city, is we, have no plan B. If your only goal is to find people just like us, or to breed em, to breed enough internally, that we have enough babies to grow internally, if those aren't working, maybe I'll call it plan C, that's A and B, if A and B are no longer replenishing enough to keep your organization going, what is plan C?
30:20
And I also have gone to way to many pastoral conferences where some guy got an assignment to prepare an essay that he didn't know anything about, and he manfully struggled with the Greek or the Hebrew, and came up with some blather that was of utterly no practical use to me whatsoever, and you endure those things and move on, I've had, I'm sick of it, I'm done with that kind of stuff, I don't what to read anything about evangelism unless it's written by somebody who has at least 20 adult confirmation a year or more in his congregation, I don't want to read about discipleship programs unless somebody has got a gangbuster set of Bible studies lay and clergy led going on in his parish. I don't wanna, I have no time anymore for people who aren't doing it, that's the only one I want to listen to.
31:44
what is the heart language...what is musical instrument is the core of all hispanic music?
33:35
If you're trying to do transformational ministry...pay attention to their heart language... The very first thing any missionary needs to do is shut the heck up and listen...before you start yapping.
35:14
I realized, we're dying, we have about a generation, I've got about a 20 year horizon before we go out of business.
36:42
We started to change our brand, from gathering our people...
37:45
The real future, I think, for Lutheranism is to decide to minister to people not like me.
41:20
Cont...
Cont...
...vulnerable, at a very changeful point in their life, when they might really be interested in a sense of community, when their new and lonely we got everything they could want.
45:15
Consumer driven, thank God, that means they will force us to change, nobody ever wants to change, no business wants to change, dear God, no congregation or synod ever wants to change, we only change under pressure because we have to...and I'm glad that your generation is very demanding of what you want because you will force organizations to change if they want to stay in business and will generally, not in every respect, make us better.
47:26
Same thing with not automatic loyalty...many of the kids you might have gone to a Lutheran grade school with will end up outside of Lutheranism, cause the LCMS or WELS or whatever church in their neighborhood didn't meet their needs and they found much more fun at a nondenominational church.
48:00
The growth area in Christiandom right now is in the non denominational churches because they can adapt faster.
48:40
if your generation is very consumer driven, what's in it for me, is this giving me what I want? I think all the better because it will challenge denominations and congregations to adapt and change often in ways that they don't want to do.
49:34
If we keep doing things in the same way all of Lutheranism in Milwakee will disappear
50:45
Here's a few thoughts about change, my friend John Parlow up in St. Mark in DePere, he's got a very rapidly growing church, he says, "when you find you are riding a dead horse what is the very first thing you ought to do next? Dismount."
51:51
I heard Christian futurist Leonard Sweet, a Methodist guy teaches and does alot of consulting, very provocative guy, wrote a bunch of books, Leonard Sweet says "wether you like it or not the future of the church is coming COD, Change or Die." And so I realized that in the early 1980's if we don't change this place is going to die. And so we started just trying stuff...
52:25
And because I stuck my face in it and gave it legitimacy it was never argued over (creating his own gospel choir).
54:16
Growth and turning things around will come at a cost, it will not be easy you will be having to up the down escalator of apathy, deep ruts and people who will try to make theological issues out of every change that you try to propose.
Second, the message is non negotiable, the way in which you deliver that message is infinitely negotiable.
Worship leaders need to plan for the guests more than they need to plan for the club members.
We don't need pastors right now...meaning only like pastors tending the flock, we need missionaries who are going to do transformational change in their churches, to reconnect, not only people not like us but with our own younger generation that's getting away from us.
57:15
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