Brett Meyer represented the Church of the Augsburg Confession. He distributed 50 copies of Luther versus the UOJ Pietists: Justification by Faith and an equal number of Jesus Priceless Treasure.
Brett said he enjoyed the chance to talk to so many different laity and pastors. Very few people have seen all three synod presidents (LCMS, WELS, ELS) at the same time. People were unfailingly polite. Brett was impressed that people brought their friends over to talk to him and get more copies of the books. Most were not aware of the UOJ versus justification by faith debate.
I will let Brett comment directly on his experiences. He sent me SP Schroeder's address, which can be downloaded here as a PDF file.
The purpose of this conference was to set the stage for mutual cooperation among the three synods. One reason is the failing economy and its effect on colleges. Another reason is the repugnance expressed by people for Missouri and WELS working so closely with ELCA.
My Response to the Schroeder Paper
I am not going to pretend I read it all. I could not. Here are my initial impressions.
He began by talking about his trip to talk to an ELCA congregation bothered by the homosexual situation. Since he has been unable or unwilling to take down the Martin Luther College homosexual video, Party in the MLC, I saw no reason why he would criticize ELCA on that topic.
Secondly, he expressed sadness that the ELCA congregation resisted WELS when they could not have their joint VBS program with the Methodists. Anyone who reads Ichabod or uses Google can figure out that WELS is just as eager to worship with the Methodists and plagiarize them.
WELS starts with fellowship rules because the sect is legalistic and hypocritical. The leaders are the ones who break the rules the most.
When Lutherans begin with sound doctrine and the Book of Concord, they do not need to legislate fellowship rules. Those who love the pure Word and value the Sacraments will not worship with the anti-Confessionals (ELCA, Methodist, Baaabtist, Roman Catholic). They will not have Roman Catholic bishops lecture at their colleges (Bethany and WLC). They will not organize trips to pan-demon Shrinker conferences (VP Patterson). They will not plagiarize Swindle (Bethany, Appleton) and Groeschel (Glende, Ski, et al).
When a sect teaches salvation by works, as WELS does, the rules will be used to pound some people and to absolve others. Legalism has a way of being oppressive to some while becoming Antinomianism for the select few.
