Can Cornerstone (WELS/LCMS) Sign This Statement?

Defeating the Church and Change bull.

Professional Code of Ethics

• FRCI believes it is in the best interest of our clients that:
• Initial meetings with prospective clients should not be construed as services for which payment is expected.
• No payments of special consideration should be made to an officer, director, trustee, employee, or advisor of a not-for-profit organization as compensation for influencing the selection of fundraising counsel.
• No payments of special consideration should be made to an officer, director, trustee, employee, or advisor of a not-for-profit organization as compensation for influencing the selection of fundraising counsel.
• Fees should be mutually agreed upon in advance of services.
• A flat, fixed fee is charged based on the level and extent of professional services provided. Fees are not based on the amount of charitable income raised or expected to be raised.
• Contracts providing for a contingent fee, a commission, or a fee based on percentage of funds raised are prohibited. Such contracts are harmful to the relationship between the donor and the institution and detrimental to the financial health of the client organization.
• Fundraising expenditures are within the authority and control of the not-for-profit organization.
• FRCI feels it is in the best interest of clients that solicitation of gifts is undertaken by Board members, staff and other volunteers.
• Subsequent to analysis or study, FRCI should engage a client only when the best interest of the client is served.
• FRCI should not profit directly or indirectly from materials provided by others, but billed to the FRCI, without disclosure to the client.
• FRCI does not engage in methods that are misleading to the public or harmful to their clients; do not make exaggerated claims of past achievement; and do not guarantee results of promise to helps clients achieve goals.
• Any potential conflict of interest should be disclosed by the firm to clients and prospective clients.
• FRCI will not acquire or maintain custody of funds and/or gifts directed to client organization.

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GJ - I challenge any congregation using Cornerstone (Heart in Focus) to examine whether the fund-raisers are living up to the code of conduct listed above.

Cornerstone is a Church Growth/Church and Change operation. They use their connections to promote their work as especially WELS blessed. They also work with LCMS congregations and have LCMS staff.

It's not religious unionism, because it's all about the money, honey.

Any large prosperous congregation looking for fund-raising help should get a second opinion after hearing a presentation from Cornerstone. When the smoke clears and the mirrors are gone, another proposal may be far less onerous.

Lest you think I back any group in particular - I believe the Gospel alone should be trusted. The temptation for hucksters is to dream up a project that will excite people into pouring funds into it.

The man who started this Possibility Thinking is the CEO of a bankrupt ministry - Robert Schuller of Garden Grove Community Church. After all the years of bragging and building, he cannot pay his bills. His son and daughter are engaged in spiritual fratricide, and his big entertainments are canceled because he cannot pay for the previous one.

Schuller presided over the expansion of the Church Growth Movement. He invented it and his gooey excesses slopped over into nearby Fuller Seminary.

Ron Roth (WELS) is the director of Cornerstone. He began the open promotion of CG in WELS with the start of TELL. The sole purpose of TELL was to promote CG in WELS.

Roth did for WELS stewardship what Schuller did for Garden Grove's. So the same people should teach Lutherans how to manage money and give it (to them)? Hahaha. And Mothers Against Drunk Drivers will give their next award to James P. Tiefel.

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Cornerstone is a team of dedicated disciples who love their Lord Jesus. We consider it a privilege to serve God's kingdom by challenging His people to grow in the grace of giving. With almost 150 years of combined service in public ministry and 58 years of stewardship education, we strive to conduct programs that bring honor to Jesus while giving thanks to him for all things. We are highly approachable and ready to serve!

Jeff Davis (Co-Founder) - Oh Noes! He is on the Board of Church and Change! And his bio there is blank, erased. I find that scary.
Lake Mills, Wisconsin Jeff's 28 years of experience in administration, ministry and consulting, coupled with a strong desire to serve Jesus, have helped form his servant characteristics. Jeff enjoys teaching, directing and leading God's people. His personal commitment to stewardship is a reflection on his beliefs and thankfulness to Jesus. He has written extensively on stewardship, guiding and challenging God's people to live lives of thanks. Recently, Jeff co-authored Heart in Focus, a faith focused financial course (www.heartinfocus.com). Jeff and Sally, his wife, reside in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. They have been blessed with 5 children and 1 grandchild.

Tom Grunow (Co-Founder of CSM, MEd, CFRE)
Portland, Oregon Tom Grunow is a 33-year veteran in Christian Education, Fund Development and Strategic Planning having served with Lutheran educational ministries in Florida, Texas and Oregon. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Robert A. Grunow, known throughout the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) for his estate planning and fundraising expertise, for the past 14 years he has served as a consultant to Lutheran churches and schools throughout the U.S. Previously he served as Vice President of the Concordia University Foundation Portland and on the National Board of Directors of the Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE). He currently serves Trinity Lutheran Church, as Volunteer Minister of Stewardship & Gifts, is an active member of ALDE, a member of the Christian Stewardship Association (CSA), and serves as Board Chair of the Lutheran Education Association (LEA). Tom resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Karin, a commissioned Lutheran schoolteacher. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren.

Ron Roth (Director) - Founder of Church Growth in WELS
Hales Corners, Wisconsin Ron loves to teach and encourage God's people to respond to God's grace with thankful and generous gifts. He has served four congregations as pastor, leading three of them through capital expansion programs. As administrator of Christian giving for an international Lutheran church body, he developed a major gifts ministry and led three national campaigns. He was instrumental in developing a planned giving ministry which after twelve years is blessing various ministries with annual gifts of $10-12 million in current donations and matured bequests. Another $400+ million in estate gifts for the Lord's work have been completed. Ron and his wife Arlene live in the Milwaukee, WI area and are blessed with three children.

Wayne Baxmann (Associate)
Colgate, Wisconsin Wayne's forty plus years in public ministry have provided him with numerous opportunities to practice servant-leadership. He eagerly applies his spiritual gifts in working with God's people, particularly in the areas of organization, teaching and administration. He strongly believes in and models the attitude that Christian Stewardship is a manifestation of one's love and gratitude for what God has done. Wayne and his wife Renee live in Colgate, Wisconsin, just northwest of Milwaukee, and are active members of Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. Their three adult children and their families live in Washington and Texas.

Jon Mahnke (Associate)
Round Rock, TX One of Jon’s strengths is that of teaching where he has opportunity to personally connect with God’s people. Jon has served as pastor of a church plant, a medium size congregation, and the lead pastor of a large multi-staffed church and school ministry. He led his congregations through four highly successful major building programs. Throughout his ministry he implemented annual, congregation wide stewardship programs and emphases. Synodically, Jon has served on the Mission Board, Evangelism Commission, Synodical Council, Conference of Presidents (COP) as well as numerous sub-committees of the same. Jon and his wife Myrna live in Round Rock, TX. They have been blessed with four children and nine grandchildren.

Mel Fournier (Associate)
Leesburg, Florida Mel is "Mr. Lutheran" throughout Florida having served as a layperson in various Lutheran churches and in
every capacity both during his work as an independent electrician and later in his retirement years. He has served as both paid and volunteer for Thrivent (formerly AAL) in fraternal assistance and is well versed on the Biblical concepts of Christian stewardship.

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Ronald D. Roth

  |   Visit Guest Book

Roth, Ronald D. Went home to be with his Lord and Savior on January 3, 2011. Loving husband of Arlene (nee Biever). Father of Steve (Mary), Cindy (Andy) Petraske, and Michael. Grandfather of Kelsey, Zachary, and Noah Petraske, and Marisa Roth. Further survived by brother Phillip (Carol), nephews Rodney and Ryan (Sheila), and their children Reagan and Carson. Visitation to be held Thursday, January 6, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, S66 W14325 Janesville Rd., Muskego, from 4 to 7 PM, service to follow at 7PM. In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Paul's Lutheran, WELS Missions, or the CJD Foundation appreciated.

WELS Church Lady Unloads on UOJ

"Makes sense to me."



WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "Robert Preus - Justification and Rome":

"The whole world is saved, just not heaven saved."

Now tell me which Bible translation is the above quote found? He who does not believe will be condemned! "Mishmash" was the term used by DP Buccholz. He called both Becker and Myers Justification teachings a mishmash. "Somebody" talked the DP into writing the essay.(more like coercion). I motion that the DP write a new paper. "Through faith in Jesus."

My pastor quoted, "Through faith in Jesus" several times during a funeral. When pastors preach the Word as written, there is no room for UOJ garbage.

I would like to see how far one gets with the fourth Kokomo statement being used in a WELS funeral sermon. Kretzmann did not teach UOJ. Fuerbringer did not teach UOJ. J.T. Mueller did not teach it in his "My Church and Others." However, Mueller did use the term "objective justification" in his 1934 Dogmatics. When writing the Dogmatics, he used Franz Pieper as a source! I still do not understand where Pieper came up will forgiveness without faith. Faith is required, Pieper said it is not required. Faith is implanted by the Holy Spirit.(from hearing the Word) Even the BOC says that faith is needed.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS Church Lady Unloads on UOJ":

WELS Church Lady,
I understand and am glad you know I'm not trying to dismantle your comment. Your disgust and righteous anger is, in my opinion, appropriate to the severity of the problem and overall situation.

While reading Kretzmann, I also saw mainly faithful confession concerning the doctrine of Justification. His nod to UOJ may have simply been a mistake due to other factors than direct intention. This is another lesson for us. Many people today will read false doctrine and say, "but it can be understood correctly if..." All the while they allow the false teaching to exist and future generations only see the false teaching and without a Berean effort using the foundation of Scripture and the Confessions, they fall to such false doctrines.

You're right there is nothing in the BOC to support UOJ. Anyone, including Buchholz and Schroeder who point to the Ministry of the Keys as proof are blatant deceivers and not only mock and blaspheme Christ but also His Church who have the BOC and can plainly see that the assurance of the forgiveness of sins is only given to those who confess faith in Christ. Payment for sins, Christ as Mediator, is not the same as our obtaining Christ as Mediator, for the remission of sins. Christ is only obtained as Mediator through faith worked graciously by the Holy Ghost through God's Word in the Means of Grace.

Like identifying Kretzmann's error, it will be good if everyone calls it like it is and not as they would like it to be. Then, maybe, the clergy would begin to proof read their own writings and hold their tongues in an effort to ensure pure doctrine is taught and right practices are advanced.

L. P. Cruz Could Go To Town with This Fallacy

"Sounds reasonable to me."


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Robert Preus - Justification and Rome":

(W)ELS Pastor James Humann also provided this quote in defense of his teaching of UOJ:

(W)ELS Our Great Heritage, "Finally, "If forgiveness were dependent on faith in the sense that God does not forgive until we believe, we would always have to be sure that we are believers before we would be sure that we are forgiven." (p.60)
September, 2008

This is directly opposed to Christ when He declares in Mark 4:12, "That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them."

For those who still do not believe that UOJ replaces the faithful Gospel of Justification by Faith Alone Pastor Humann also quotes Our Great Heritage here, "God forever remains the God who punishes all sin, and at the same time he is forever the God who forgives every sin. And only the person who by God's grace has in the vicarious atonement of Christ found a way to believe both truths worships the God of the Bible." (p.53)

There are many other (W)ELS quotes that declare if Objective Justification as taught by the (W)ELS is denied then the Gospel is destroyed. Therefore they admit, and confirm with Pres. Robert Preus, that UOJ is not synonymous with the Atonement and is the once and for all divine verdict of acquittal for the entire unbelieving world. This leads into UOJ's perversion of the unforgivable sin which they call "Unbelief" but that can be the subject of another post.

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GJ - I believe Eduard Preuss--who joined the Church of Rome, after teaching UOJ at St. Louis--invented this argument.

Theology professors and MDivs stick to the same talking points without examining them closely.

Some important questions are:

1. Is this argument Biblical, with some anchor in the Scriptures?
2. Has the Book of Concord uncovered this insight?
3. Is this a logical fallacy, arguing in a circle? The author is saying, "This has to be true, because if universal absolution were not true, I would not have any certainty that it is true."

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Garrett has left a new comment on your post "L. P. Cruz Could Go To Town with This Fallacy":

This leads into UOJ's perversion of the unforgivable sin which they call "Unbelief" but that can be the subject of another post.

Please elaborate. I can remember my grade school teachers trying to pound this doctrine into my head: "The only unforgivable sin is unbelief". By Confirmation time, I started getting confused. "But didn't Jesus atone for all sins?"

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GJ - Jesus said there is no forgiveness for the sin against the Holy Spirit. For non-Lutherans, the verse is a trip into fantasy land. Faithful Lutherans realize that the Holy Spirit and the Word are used for each other in the Scriptures, although they are not the same. One is used for the other because God has bound His Spirit to the Word.

Therefore the sin against the Holy Spirit is dying without faith in Christ alone as our Savior.

KJV Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.


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LPC has left a new comment on your post "L. P. Cruz Could Go To Town with This Fallacy":

Pr. Greg.

we would always have to be sure that we are believers before we would be sure that we are forgiven.

Yes, Pastor, this is an absolute fallacy, it contains a false assumption about faith, an assumption that is not defined by Scripture. Yet NT in Heb 11:1 says faith is the assurance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.

I know of the same thing that happened to E Preuss happened here recently. A Reverend Doctor of LCAus, who articulated UOJ, is now an RC parishioner and lecturing at an RC college here.

UOJ and Poping are connected, specially with Vatican II.

LPC

This is just a quick answer. If I can add more later, I will.

Robert Preus - Justification and Rome

From Luther versus the UOJ Pietists: Justification by Faith:

Robert Preus, Justification and Rome

Dr. Robert Preus is known for advocating UOJ in the 1980s, when Concordia Seminary in Ft. Wayne was also deep into Church Growth Enthusiasm.[1] In his last book, edited after his death by his sons Daniel and Rolf, his clear stance against UOJ is obvious.

When does the imputation of Christ’s righteousness take place? It did not take place when Christ, by doing and suffering, finished the work of atonement and reconciled the world to God. Then and there, when the sins of the world were imputed to Him and He took them, Christ became our righteousness and procured for us remission of sin, justification, and eternal life. “By thus making satisfaction He procured and merited (acquisivit et promeruit) for each and every man remission of all sins, exemption from all punishments of sin, grace and peace with God, eternal righteousness and salvation.”[2]

But the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner takes place when the Holy Spirit brings him to faith through Baptism and the Word of the Gospel. Our sins were imputed to Christ at His suffering and death, imputed objectively after He, by His active and passive obedience, fulfilled and procured all righteousness for us. But the imputation of His righteousness to us takes place when we are brought to faith.[3] 

Quenstedt says, It is not the same thing to say, “Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us” and to say “Christ is our righteousness.” For the imputation did not take place when Christ became our righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is the effect of His office. The imputation is the application of the effect of His office. The one, however, does not do away with the other.  Christ is our righteousness effectively when He justifies us. His righteousness is ours objectively because our faith rests in Him. His righteousness is ours formally in that His righteousness is imputed to us.[4]

The Enthusiasts often mention Calov as their champion, knowing that almost no one has access to Calov’s books. Preus, who knew this period of Lutheran orthodoxy quite well, quoted this statement from Calov with approval, which is worth repeating -

Although Christ has acquired for us the remission of sins, justification, and sonship, God just the same does not justify us prior to our faith. Nor do we become God's children in Christ in such a way that justification in the mind of God takes place before we believe.[5]

I understand these two passages to be a repudiation of UOJ and an apology for all the harm done in the name of that fad.

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[1] "In an initial burst of enthusiasm reflecting Preus's concern for missions, the Fort Wayne faculty had petitioned the 1977 convention of the Missouri Synod to have each of its subdivisions or districts ‘make a thorough study of the Church Growth materials.’ What is more, the districts were to be urged to ‘organize, equip, and place into action all of the Church Growth principles as needed in the evangelization of our nation and the world under the norms of the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions.’ By the time of the 1986 synodical convention, however, the same faculty, while appreciating the ‘valuable lessons of common sense’ to be learned from Church Growth, asked that ‘the Synod warn against the Arminian and charismatic nature of the church-growth movement.’ Kurt E. Marquart, "Robert D. Preus," Handbook of Evangelical Theologians, ed., Walter A. Elwell, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1995, pp. 353-65. Reprinted in Christian News, 6-26-95, p. 21.                                                

[2] R. Preus footnote: Systema, Par. II, Cap.3, Memb. 2 S. 1, Th. 44 (II, 363). Cf. Abraham Calov, Apodixis Articulorum Fridei (Lueneburg, 1684), 249: “Although Christ has acquired for us the remission of sins, justification, and sonship, God just the same does not justify us prior to our faith. Nor do we become God’s children in Christ in such a way that justification in the mind of God takes place before we believe.” Justification and Rome, footnote 74, p. 131.

[3] Robert D. Preus Justification and Rome, St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press 1997, p. 72.

[4] Systema, Par. III, Cap. 8, S. 2, q. 5, Observatio 19 (II, 787). R. Preus footnote #76, Justification and Rome, p. 132.

[5] Apodixis Articulorum Fide, Lueneburg, 1684. Cited in Robert D. Preus Justification and Rome, St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press 1997, p. 131n.                                                                                           

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CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
NEWSLETTER – Spring 1981
6600 North Clinton
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46825

THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – "OBJECTIVE JUSTIFICATION"

The doctrine of objective justification is a lovely teaching drawn from Scripture which tells us that God who has loved us so much that He gave His only [sic - missing Son?] to be our Savior has for the sake of Christ’s substitutionary atonement declared the entire world of sinners for whom Christ died to be righteous (Romans 5:17-19).


Objective justification which is God’s verdict of acquittal over the whole world is not identical with the atonement, it is not another way of expressing the fact that Christ has redeemed the world. Rather it is based upon the substitutionary work of Christ, or better, it is a part of the atonement itself. It is God’s response to all that Christ died to save us, God’s verdict that Christ’s work is finished, that He has been indeed reconciled, propitiated; His anger has been stilled and He is at peace with the world, and therefore He has declared the entire world in Christ to be righteous.

Spring, 1981, Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne Newsletter.

Jack Cascione

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GJ - Note that Concordia Seminary was swooning from the exotic perfume of the Church Growth Movement while Preus was declaring the entire world forgiven, without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace.

Later, Preus and Marquart were quite critical of the Church Growth Movement, and Preus clearly repudiated UOJ late in life.

Rolf Preus and Jack Casione want this passage to disappear down the memory hole.

I believe the passage quoted above, from Justification and Rome, does a fine job of defining what justification is and what justification is not. That is the essence of a confessional stance, defining the positive and rejecting any and all false variations.


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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Robert Preus - Justification and Rome":


I'm glad you footnoted a comment on the harm done by the teaching of UOJ in the Lutheran Synods.


The nature of this false doctrine, as with all false doctrine, is that it never remains within the confines of the womb that conceived it. It has grown and morphed into a dozen different variations so that the greatest offenders in the promotion of UOJ, such as (W)ELS DP Buchholz' 2005 Conference paper, have to repudiate portions of other UOJ teachings within his own denomination. Buchholz went so far as to repudiate his own statements within the same conference essay in which he made the contradictory statements. Now there's UOJ teachings coming from (W)ELS school teacher's "condemning anyone teaching justification by faith alone" and "the whole world is saved, just not heaven saved".


(W)ELS' own Our Great Heritage (Vol 3) states, "And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the dead." (p. 59)


How long will the (W)ELS laity allow the Synod administrators and school systems to abuse and pervert the central doctrine of Christian faith - leading their children and families away from the true teaching of Justification by Faith Alone. They've built their foundation on sifting sand and it's eroding.


In Christ,
Brett Meyer