Tuesday, January 21, 2014

WELS Members - Remember This When You Hear the Word Mission
From Keith Free and Mark Schroeder.
WELS Closing Tim Glende's Savoy Fiasco, Grabbing the Money from the Property

They like crabs, because they are all shellfish.

Meeting on Saturday, January 25, 2014

Hopefully this is just a reminder, but things are all set for meeting on Saturday, January 25, 2014. I will be there in person.
Pastor Nathan Strutz, Western Wisconsin District Mission Board chairman.

Meeting place: Star of Bethlehem, Savoy, IL.
Time: 9:00 a.m. for Star members. 10:00 a.m. meeting with reps from ST. Mark's, Normal.
The two meeting times will maximize everyone's time and still allow all items to be covered. It is hoped that items one and two below can mostly be covered by 10:00 a.m. We'll see.

I see three agenda items.
1. Update from CEF on facility loan. (a rep from the CEF will likely phone in and be placed on speakerphone for discussion.)
I spoke with Ron Hillman from CEF. He said no formal decision has been made, but indicated the most likely scenario would be deed in leui (sorry I can't spell that word correctly) of foreclosure.
2. Possible future ministry options in Savoy. (Will members transfer to other WELS congregations? Is there still a possibility of a group continuing to meet? How will they be served?)
3. Relationship with St. Mark's, Normal and Pastor Jenkins' role.
PS I'm trying to do things paperless, so I won't plan to print out this agenda, but if someone wants to have a printed agenda or post these items on a screen for discussion, that's great as well.

--
In Christ,
Pastor Nathan Strutz
608-515-4334
Jesus lived.
Jesus died.
Jesus rose!

***

GJ - GJ - Job descriptions in WELS must read like this:

"Cannot spell and too lazy to look up the word."

When young Tim was fresh from the seminary in Mordor, Wisconsin, he decided that Bethlehem Lutheran Church had to be remade in his image. He did not like a paid-for church on a university campus. No coffee bar!

The mission board let him "redevelop" the parish so he could grab other people's money to do what he wanted. The church building was bought by the Eastern Orthodox, where they have a thriving campus ministry today.

The mission bored terminated Bethlehem Lutheran so Tim could have a newly invented Star of Bethlehem at a rented facility. When they finally started to build, young Tim took off for Freedom, Wisconsin, where he could play in a bigger sandbox. Soon he was made senior pastor and MLS buddy Ski (with Bishop Katy) were added to the staff to create the illusion of The CORE, simply the evening service for St. Peter in Freedom. Ski and Katy had worked together for Mark Jeske at St. Marcus, Milwaukee.

After taking money from Star of Bethlehem members for years, the mission bored refused to give them mission support. Instead, they are closing down the parish after giving Ski and Glende a $500,000+ gift to buy a bankrupt bar in downtown Appleton - "The CORE."

The mission bored will pocket the money from selling Glende's Star of Bethlehem (with its coffee bar) because the town has grown out to the location and the land is worth a bundle.

There you have it, mission partners. WELS has millions of dollars to support a rich parish ($1 million plus annual budget) and denies support to the congregation they ruined by letting Glende have his way.