Buchholz Extended the Left Foot of Fellowship to Pastor Paul Rydecki and His Congregation, But He Gave the Right Hand of Fellowship To Jeff Gunn and Emergent Entertainment at CrossWalk in Phoenix

DP Jon Buchholz kicked out Circuit Pastor Paul Rydecki for teaching justification by faith,
although the DP promised the congregation they would continue to discuss the topic.
Next, Buchholz kicked out the congregation and foreclosed on the mortgage,
bragging about his ecclesiastical macho at the next conference meeting.
Circuit Pastor Steve Spencer got the Intrepid Lutheran blog going.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

A Home in the ELDoNA

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My Facebook friends saw this announcement on my timeline on Sunday.  Now I'm sharing it with all our Intrepid readers, so that you can rejoice together with me, my family, and my congregation.  I'm very happy to have completed the colloquy process and to be accepted as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). It is my privilege to join the ranks of these faithful men and to recognize and be recognized in this fellowship of Christian pastors, together with the saints whom they serve. I have been searching for awhile for the Lutherans who honestly confess the faith of the Book of Concord of 1580 without compromise and without asterisks. By the grace of God, I have found them.  As I've said to Bishop Heiser and others, coming into the diocese is like coming home, and my brethren there have graciously welcomed me with open arms.

At our first Intrepid Lutherans conference, back in June, 2012, I presented a paper entitled, "Do we want to be Dresden Lutherans?"  I concluded that paper with these words:

No one has forced me to sign the Book of Concord. I have signed it because it is my confession.   I have signed it because I share the beliefs of the Dresden Lutherans, their exegesis, their interpretation, their sensibilities, their convictions, their love for sinners, their love for the truth, and their love for the Lord Jesus.  Their words are my words from start to finish, including these:

By God’s grace, with intrepid hearts, we are willing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ with this Confession and give an account of it. We will not speak or write anything contrary to this Confession, either publicly or privately. By the strength of God’s grace we intend to abide by it.

I would like to know who is and who isn’t committed to walking in the same direction with me, and with whom I should walk, arm in arm with the Dresden Lutherans, not by force or for convenience’ sake, but by conviction and for the sake of the truth. I want it to be the WELS with whom I walk along that road.  Do we want to be Dresden Lutherans?  As for me, I am WELS for now; Dresden Lutheran forever. So help me God.

At the time, I still had some hope that I might be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with my brothers in the WELS as a Dresden Lutheran, that is, a confessor of the Book of Concord.  I had to give them a chance to become the "confessional Lutherans" they so stubbornly claim to be.  But they were not willing.  So be it.  The Lord has been merciful and has provided a better confession of faith, and a ministerium in which I can honestly stand shoulder to shoulder with every other pastor, knowing that our confession is truly united.

It is not my intent to turn Intrepid Lutherans into a recruitment zone for the ELDoNA.  Intrepid Lutherans, as a blog, is not a church or an ecclesiastical fellowship, and is certainly not governed by any church body.  That said, I do want our readers to know where I, for my part, am coming from.  I will make no apologies for speaking highly and often of this orthodox fellowship, and I will not pretend that I do not earnestly hope and pray that others will explore the confession of the diocese and come to the same conclusion I have.