Another E-Book

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Great New Marketing Idea For Northwestern Publishing House - J. P. Meyer

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "J. P. Meyer's UOJ from NPH":

Is there a barf bag included?

***

GJ - Unfortunately, I already have a graphic saved for almost every possible comment.

One Wife at a Time

LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Devaluing a Position":

I was appalled when I spoke to my Dad recently (WELS) who lives in Wausau, WI that there are two parishes that he is aware of have pastors who are divorced/separated still serving churches. Back in the day it didn't matter what the reason for divorce...you were out of the ministry based on the scripture declaration of 'husband of one wife'.

***

GJ - I was shocked that Ft. Wayne was saying that verse meant "one wife at a time" as a guard against polygamy! That was around 1987. Next I heard WELS DP Robert Mueller say the same thing.

At one time the ALC and LCA had the same rule: divorce meant leaving the ministry. Now a man can have a mistress, divorce his wife, and take his mistress as his wife to his new call, with the blessings of the synod. That does not just happen in WELS, the ELS, and Missouri. Even ELCA does that.

There are also the cases where a permanent mistress is overlooked.

As 29a said, "The guys I work with are no angels. They are a rough bunch, really crude. But they really get disgusted with ministers who play around."

J. P. Meyer's UOJ from NPH

Devaluing a Position

Bruce Church has left a new comment on your post "Lutheran School, Christian School, or Profit Cente...":

Now that Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer have taken over the anchor positions for their networks' evening news shows, suddenly the job is devalued, and seen as a woman's job. NBC's Brian Williams is the only male anchor left, and there may not be any more. Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes was asked to take the job, but now what once seen as reaching the pinnacle of the news-making business is seen as a demotion. Such is the fate of being a pastor. Once women break the glass ceiling and become pastors, it devalues the position and suddenly it seems as though instead of breaking the glass ceiling, they only jackhammered their way into the dank and musty basement.
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2011/04/14/60-minutes-reporter-pelley-likely-to-replace-couric.html

Some of Pelley's colleagues privately worry that the Evening News could be construed as a demotion for him - a concern that underscores how much the job has changed but belies an opportunity for Pelley and his biggest supporter, Jeff Fager, who became chairman of CBS News in February.

***

GJ - At my first call, LCA, men ran the Sunday School and taught all the grades except kindergarten.

When men are spiritual leaders in a congregation, the women also come. When men fail to be leaders, the women will fill in, but the men tend to stay away. Women try to join men's clubs, but men do not go to court to join women's clubs.

WELS has already started the practice of female pastors, without even voting at one of their rigged conventions. Look at all the Changer policies, encouraged by SP Schroeder, and you will see how quickly WELS catches up with ELCA.

Second wives of pastors often want to be shemales, so that new policy, of divorced and remarried ministers, will also advance the feminazification of WELS.

Save Money at Lulu.com

Click on this link to order Martin Chemnitz Press books.

PDFs are free for each title.

Multiple copy orders are less expensive if ordered through me. I can have them sent to your home in about a week or 10 days.

gregjackson1948@qwest.net is a convenient way to reach me.

How WELS Switched the School Agenda

The Church and Changers take their name seriously.



rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Lutheran School, Christian School, or Profit Cente...":

25 years ago, our oldest child began 1st grade in a WELS LES. He did not go to kindergarten there, but the kindergarten there was only three full days a week. There was no tuition for the children of the congregation. There was only a per child annual book rental fee. There was no pre-kindergarten pre-school and no day care. Those who needed day care for their children could always find it among the stay at home moms, like my wife. Like so many congregation supported elementary schools, it was there to serve the members, first and foremost. At the voters' meetings, it was often stressed that it was the responsibility of the congregation to feed the lambs. There was also the emphasis to live within our means, as the Lord provides. This applied both at the congregational and the family level. (continued)



rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Lutheran School, Christian School, or Profit Cente...":

Slowly, partial tuition for congregational members began to be implemented at the elementary school.
Then, the talk began about the school being a "mission arm" of the congregation. Enrollment had plateaued at about 100 students, K-8. Then, the pre-school started. Then, the masonry evangelism followed. At that time, I could see that the marketing strategy was to the upper middle class. What they ended up with were those who only had an appearance of wealth. They lacked the insight and spiritual maturity that was there among the multi-generational families that were the backbone of the congregational.
The new leadership was quick to adopt church growth methods, since many were employed in modern corporate methods. Why am I not surprised that it has come to this?

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California wrote:


Jim Becker is absolutely right re: why churches should not be in the business of preschool or daycare.  Once again its WELS congregation trying to identify as closely with the secular paradigm as closely as possible and trying to "sanctify" the activity with a Christian label.  Preschool, Early Childhood Education, Day Care (call it what you will)  is on governments' agenda both state and Federal, and has been since the mid 20th Century.   California has a program euphemistically named: " First Five". Cute!  Apologists for preschool/day care whether church sponsored or not, should obtain copies of current Master Plans for their respective states or jurisdictions.  If they do the research they will discover the terminology in all of them, almost without exception, will call for "birth to post secondary" education.   Some even refer to prenatal oversight of mothers with the rationale being producing healthy children to fill all those early education centers.   For churches to fall for the preschool/day care propaganda is evidence of the church following the world.....no longer acting as "salt".    When this writer was a student at a mid west state university, the ground work for preschool/day care agenda was being laid in mid 20th Century. To receive a  degree in a specific major even though the emphasis was on another trajectory of the major, we were required to participate in the university's on campus experimental preschool and courses in which we learned the theories behind preschool, ECE, et al.   Most of the toddlers enrolled in that campus preschool were children of psychology professors.  After that experience, I vowed that if I ever had children, they would never set foot in any preschool or day care.  They didn't, and neither did my grandchildren.   Church sponsored preschool/day care only serves to condition Christians to accept, and accommodate the agenda in place by the state.  The church is the only legitimate entity to resist the tsunami of a secular big brother nanny state.  But what one sees is the opposite.

Copy and Paste from the Enthusiasts

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Christ the Rock, WELS Musical Greatness - Ear Prot...":

(W)ELS' leading edge of New Age Church Growth apostasy is growing. As covered before on Ichabod the new church mission startup in Castle Rock, Colorado called Eternal Rock now has their official website up.

Initial Ichabod post

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2011/01/another-wels-parasitical-church.html

Official website

http://www.eternalrock.org/#/home/home-page

Sermon, Follow Jesus - Worship, is designed to break down preferences to the historic Lutheran liturgy and establish liturgy and worship as adiaphora. In doing so Pastor Oldenburg attacks the efficacy of God's Word with the New Age Church Growth terms of "heart language" using man's reason. After stating that the historic liturgy is filled with Scripture he states:

audible of these quotes start at -13:00
"The depth of the liturgy and the symbols and the meaning and the richness can take years to understand, so deep and so rich and to comprehend it takes a long time. In worship, if it is so rich, why would we think about doing anything else? I don't think everyone grasps the depths and the meaning and the symbols. The historic liturgy is the heart language of some, but isn't the heart language, the language that communicates best for everyone."

"The liturgy does have depth in history and tradition that some really appreciate, but like fine coffee or food, many do not."

"If people don't fully appreciate the liturgy does it make sense that you would even give it to them?...I don't think so."

http://www.eternalrock.org/media.php?pageID=23

Raise Their Taxes Tuition! That Will Save Jobs And Improve the Synod Economy

"I just what to know what those guys do!"

To Regents, Faculty, Staff, and Students

I was informed late Friday morning that the President’s Office of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has terminated the Advisors for Personal Growth and Leadership Development at both seminaries. Rev. Mark Logid holds this position on our campus. Rev. Logid had not been prepared for this announcement; there was no prior consultation with the seminaries and no consultation with Rev. Glen Thomas of Pastoral Education in the International Center. Needless to say, eyes have been wide open in amazement.

I visited with Mark and Pat and assured them that the Seminary will be a safety net as they work through all the questions and implications of this announcement for their future. There is One who sees that future and He will keep His promise in Romans 8:28. On our side of heaven, however, the present is filled with a swirl of emotions and confusion. I know that Mark and Pat will have our demonstrations of the care and concern that make the Seminary a great community.

At present, Rev. Logid’s last day at work in his position is scheduled to be May 15th. Please continue to cooperate fully with him and, of course, remember Mark and Pat in your prayers and with your Christ-centered encouragement.
Dale A. Meyer
President, Concordia Seminary
801 Seminary Place

WELS Brings Back the Guilt-free Saints in Hell - Meyer's Ministers of Christ

J. P. Meyer, Wauwatosa UOJ

Great new improvements - NIV texts!

Armin Panning (aka Panzer)has updated the original work, which was so bad NPH stopped printing it.

Panning helped kick two families out of the Kokomo congregation by approving their defenestration.

Panning needs to study Romans and Luther instead of Knapp and Walther.

Christ the Rock, WELS Musical Greatness - Ear Protection Required

Lutheran School, Christian School, or Profit Center? The Parochial System Is Replaced by Business

Check out WELS' Monkey Business.


WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "A Threat from the DP?":

Hi Pastor GJ. I went to Shepherd of Peace's website. The congregation has Darren Knoll listed as their vacancy pastor. The latest message under the pastor's page was written by Jenswold. The daycare center? It is actually a 3-5 year-old preschool. There is nothing wrong with having a preschool as long as stewardship principles are not being violated. Also any teachings out side confessional Lutheranism(non-denominational doctrines?) are unacceptable.

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

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Catechesis has left a new comment on your post "A Threat from the DP?":

"Only 5 of the 50 pre-school students are members of the congregation. There are no higher grades....The daycare center provides income for various people while draining the budget dry."

That is Pre-school "ministry" in a nutshell. And that is where WELS is staking its future at MLC.

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norcal763 has left a new comment on your post "A Threat from the DP?":

Having a day care center is adiaphoric; however, we need to look at the culture we are supporting. These 'day orphanages', as Dr. Laura calls them, enable the mother to abdicate her role of 'first teacher' and the father to lighten up on his commitment as sole provider. Working parents often support a materialistic mindset too prevalent in our churches today that sees children as something to warehouse someplace, part of the mindset that discourages large families, a hindrance to traditional growth of the church. Paradoxically, we hope for church growth by using these abandoned children as little evangelists, hoping that their exhausted, frenetic parents will come to all the pageants and somehow, by osmosis, be absorbed into the membership rolls of the church.

But what about single moms? Ann Coulter calls single moms the new victim class. No-fault divorce, a feminist invention, has made it easier than ever to walk away from marriage for frivolous reasons, and most of today's divorces are initiated by women. There was a time when a woman with a legitimate reason for divorce could provide the child with an extended family structure by going home to her parents. This is stunted today by the balkanization of the family, a process passively encouraged by the churches as they have stood idly by.

Many Lutheran pastors will marry cohabitating couples without asking them to move apart during their engagement, showing tacit approval. Oh, yeah, it's easy to blame the gays for undermining marriage. But we heterosexual Christians and our wimpy pastors have done a fine job by ourselves.
Jim Becker

***

GJ - The Antinomian WELS calls the Ten Commandments legalism, Mr. Becker. They apply legalism to anything they do not like.

Over 20 years ago, WELS was selling the parochial school as a profit center. Just get so many students to pay so much money and that will support a staff. Since the pastor controls the staff, he can employ his wife and their friends.

The original idea was to provide a confessional Lutheran education for children of that congregation or circuit. Teachers were paid little, but they were respected. The entire structure of the synod supported low-cost education while avoiding government meddling, control, and funds. The golden rule is - "Whoever has the gold makes the rules."

SoP has a typical profit-center, except it is losing money. The purpose is not to provide a confessional education, because it stops at Kindergarten. I think it is probably marketed as a "Christian school," to avoid annoying non-Lutherans. The Confessions are another example of legalism, according to WELS.

The entire congregation is subsidizing day-care for non-members. The 90% who are not members will bolt if their tuition is raised to meet the actual costs. Lots of other day-care centers are around the area, so the competition for little bodies is intense.

Why just pre-school? This is so Mommy can hold down a full-time job and make some loot to pay for the Lexis. Once Dick, Jane, and Sally are in first grade, the congregational baby-sitting service is no longer needed.

WELS is so dishonest that they cover up this boondoggle by calling it "evangelism." The non-confessional pre-school is a witness to Lutheran doctrine and worship? With leaders like Larry Olson, John Lawrenz, Paul Calvin Kelm, and Jim Huebner, that sounds reasonable, sellable, and appealing.

Several WELS pastors have sent email saying the entire system should be shut down or allowed to fall apart. However, the people who would put it back together are products of the system, from the anti-Confessional forgetfulness about Gausewitz to the hazing and shunning.

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Catechesis has left a new comment on your post "Lutheran School, Christian School, or Profit Center?...":

"Once Dick, Jane, and Sally are in first grade, the congregational baby-sitting service is no longer needed.... WELS...calling it 'evangelism.'"

Once again, you hit the nail on the head.

***

GJ - The language of the communications reveal what is happening. "Lutheran" is being stripped off of everything, but the efforts are always "outreach."

The WELS/LCMS/ELS experts are trained at Fuller Seminary (or worse), so their solution is always along the lines of generic entertainment, Pietistic piffle about transforming lives, which will take a lot of money. Tons of money.

A congregation that drains its budget to subsidize day-care for the upper middle class has already lost its way. The day-care staff works to maintain their own upper middle class lifestyle, so the parents and staff and pastor are in cahoots. (Remember Monkey Business? I will try to link that up. More like Money Business.)

Here is the joker, readers with nothing else to do on Monday - The mother who stays at home to raise her children will enjoy a much better marriage and family. The household will prosper in long run for many different reasons. The double-income couple usually just spends the extra money on:

1. Day-care and supplemental baby-sitters.
   
2. Eating out, which is expensive and fattening.
   
3. Her impulse spending, because wifey has her own cash.
   
4. His impulse spending, because wifey has her own cash.
   
5. An extra car, so there is always another car needing gas, repairs, maintenance.
   
6. Taxes, since the second job pushes up the income tax bracket.

The net income increase from the wife working is often slight, due to all those costs. The extra work builds up guilt for the mother, who may make up for it by lavishing extra gifts on her kids or by dropping the idea of discipline.

The congregation that goes into business with the government as a partner will find itself with a worse deal than getting into bed with the Mafia. The Mafia will negotiate; the government simply commands.

A Threat from the DP?

WELS DP Seifert said about Shepherd of Peace Lutheran Church in Powell, Ohio: "Requesting a Mequon graduate does not mean they will get one."

Those are strange words. The congregation was quite prosperous until they began running a non-denominational daycare center. Only 5 of the 50 pre-school students are members of the congregation. There are no higher grades.

The daycare center provides income for various people while draining the budget dry.

The congregation has called several men, and each one turned down the call. Oddly, before anyone was called, before he left the state, Jenswold said the congregation would probably have to call a new graduate.