Otten Outraged at Publicity for Loehe Conference, Promotes Another St. Walther Hagiography

Loehe was directed involved in five world mission efforts.


Let's give each man his due and treat him fairly according to history.

Loehe began the Missouri Synod, inviting the Perry County thugs to join his organization.

Later, Missouri demonized and officially forgot Loehe, even though he founded the practical seminary at Ft. Wayne. Missouri forgot their Bishop Stephan origins, too, probably the most tawdry origin of a Lutheran group in America.

Walther and Loehe were both Pietists. That era seems to have been divided between rationalists and Pietists, with the Pietists promoting world missions in a remarkable way. The Roman Catholics were also quite active in world missions. I remember CLC (sic)  pastor Dave Koenig devoting an entire service to his rank about how bad the Lutherans were, how wonderful the papists and Arminians were. His sect said, "Just the man we need back in world missions!"

Loehe may have been too conciliatory, but Walther was contentious and divisive.

Loehe, who was never the subject of arrest warrants (unlike Walther), supported world missions in five countries and the deaconess movement as well.

The Ft. Wayne seminary was founded with help from Loehe and the leadership of Sihler.

Passavant also had a remarkable, positive influence on American Lutherans. He was a phenomenon in establishing charities, schools, hospitals, and missions. Abandoning the Church Growth Movement of the 19th century--revivalism--he insisted on the Lutheran Confessions.

Passavant was a great friend to the Swedish Augustana Synod and influenced them away from their origins in Pietism and revivalism.

New Children's Book Being Published:Art by Norma Boeckler

By Norma Boeckler

I will have the new children's book uploaded to Lulu.com today. I will have a draft available in PDF form, free for downloading. It is not the final version, but this is the easiest way for people to look at the concept and offer their ideas and corrections.

The picture book is full color.

WELS Found Its Role Model - The Circumcellions

An early form of the secret GA initiation rite was enjoyed by the Circumcellions.

Definition:

The word itself means "guys who hang around villages," rather unglamorously. The Circumcellions were a Christian suicide cult of the fourth and fifth centuries. Their religious practice consisted of delivering random beatings to strangers along the road, with the purpose of goading the strangers into killing them. If that didn't work, they just threw themselves off a cliff instead.

"Since they were destined to be martyrs, the Circumcellions didn't trouble themselves with such virtues as chastity and poverty. Frequently drunk, they cavorted with women and often robbed those victims who failed to assist their martyrdom with a sufficiently violent counterattack. Frequently, their enthusiasm outstripped their common sense."

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GJ - A WELS pastor sent me this, but he is not looking for credit. He thought the parallels were astounding.

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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "WELS Found Its Role Model - The Circumcellions":

So true, but not only about initiation. It's their whole mindset. WELS is the true heir of Walther since they continued to innovate their doctrine into the 1960s, and after that innovated worship and evangelism with their CG stuff more than anyone else. From Walther's day down to the present, they all knew their innovations were un-Lutheran, but it seemed they thought they were more spiritual if they could provoke a fight with Lutherans of some stripe, just like Stephan did with the state church and with civil authorities:

Circumcellions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcellions

Mary Lou College Should Hire Him For a Few Years:Same Universalism. Thrivent Boss

ELCA's longest-tenured college president, 
F. Gregory Campbell, to retire

  
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. F. Gregory Campbell, president of Carthage College, Kenosha, Wis., will retire in August 2012, the college announced. Campbell, who has served nearly 24 years, is the longest-tenured president of a college or university affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
 
"When I arrived at Carthage in 1987, I thought, 'This is a school with great potential,'" said Campbell. "There is even greater potential today."
  
"He (Campbell) imagined a great college, rolled up his sleeves, and provided the leadership necessary to realize that vision," said Debra Waller, chair of the Carthage Board of Trustees. "This was more than a job to him. He had found his calling. What sparkles today is the reward for many years of hard work, courageous decisions and an enduring love for the college and its students."
 
Under Campbell's leadership, full-time student enrollment has grown from 800 to 2,500, and total enrollment now exceeds 3,400 students. The number of faculty has doubled in the last 25 years, the college reported. In the past decade, Carthage has invested more than $130 million in new construction, renovations and technological acquisition. It has operated with budget surpluses every year since 1988, the college said.

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http://www.cciw.org/news/2011/6/29/Gen._0629111248.aspx

Mr. Campbell has served as an officer of virtually every state, national or church organization of which Carthage is a member. Currently he is a trustee of Thrivent Mutual Funds and the Thrivent Variable Products funds.

WELS Site Has a Dry Sense of Humor. God Devastates Non-WELS Neighbors.This Is Not From The Onion Satire Website

 

Members of three North Dakota congregations, Redeemer in Mandan, Our Savior in Bismarck, and Grace Lutheran, a preaching station in Minot, have been affected by widespread flooding in June. While the extent of the damage is not yet fully known, Rev. Ryan Wolfe, who is serving the congregations, said that 10 families from Redeemer have been displaced from their homes. The church buildings and parsonages have not been damaged.

WELS Christian Aid & Relief is providing $5,000 to assist families in congregations with their cleanup efforts. The assistance will go towards pumps, generators, temporary lodging and food.
Wolfe says his congregations came together to help one another, setting up lists of those who needed assistance and those who could help, and coordinating efforts to support each other and try to keep homes and families safe.

Amid the seemingly unstoppable waters, God showed his power to protect. “One of the families was right on the edge of the mandatory evacuation zone [in Minot], so they moved all their stuff out of their basement, all of their stuff out of the first floor. They moved it all as high as they could go and they left and had no idea what they would find when they got back,” Wolfe says.

“When they came back, they had neighbors all around them who had water problems and water everywhere. They got into their house and they didn’t have a drop of water. Praise God for blessings like that.”

Wolfe began serving the congregation in Mandan in April; he is also serving as vacancy pastor to Bismarck and Minot, which share a pastor, until a new pastor is installed in July.