Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Sola Fide Has Seen Many Examples of Congregations ...":
Ichabod -
I think that pic of the blind clown leading the blind is so appropriate. Denominational church hierarchy makes itself a curse to not only parish pastors but the pastor's congregation. Oftentimes a parish pastor is reduced to nothing more than a synodical coolie.
Nathan M. Bickel
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| Wayne Mueller, WELS UOJ stylist, says there is no Church Growth Movement in WELS. |
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org
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| Yesterday's Church and Change founder (Witte) is today's Asian port-seminary president. Ask Kudu Don Patterson how this works. |
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GJ - The so-called missions offering is really a salary offering for synod staff, especially in the LCMS, where districts keep almost all the money for themselves. After getting an almost-free seminary education, these LCMS veterans now charge a fortune for the same degree, because the mission offering does not help the seminaries or seminarians.
So these overpaid synodical officials are experts, because they live more than 50 miles away and carry a briefcase. Congregations pay them to mislead them. That is how a confidence game works. "I can make you a fortune, but I need some seed money - like $40,000 in cash in a brown paper bag."
In WELS all the Changers refer the congregations to more Changers and consultants so they can all rob the congregation in the name of "getting the congregation growing." The Word of God is seldom mentioned. The consultant needs a huge fee in cash. The Tetzels get paid huge fees. Unethical? No, God is blessing them for their great wisdom, gleaned from weeks of study at Fuller.
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| Stroh misleading the students at Martin Luther College, WELS. |
Elton Stroh is a WELS expert in looking important and charging for his consultant wisdom. Elton closed the Latte Church, which had more clergy and staffers than a cheap bar in Milwaukee.
Synodical coolies are rewarded for bringing more harvest to the synodical salary coffers. Once upon a time, mission offerings supported actual missions. Some offerings still do. Discernment does not come from reading synod Public Relations messages, but from finding out the truth.
