Thursday, August 7, 2014

Polluted WELS on Grace in Action - Which I Covered in 2010



WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2014


A Travesty Sponsored, Part Two

The next big sponsor of the mystical Experience is Grace in Action (GIA). Here are a few fun facts about GIA:

1. Nobody actually has any idea what GIA is. The experts' best guess is that it's some sort of mish-mash of various Church Growth entities.

2. Church Growth is all about branding, but GIA seems to be clueless about creating a coherent brand. It's called Grace in Action, but its web address is nextdisciple, and then there's a tagline about "On Eagles' Wings". No one knows how all of these things fit together.

3. Church Growth is all about being hip and contemporary, but GIA's website looks like it was designed by a seventh grader in 2001. Dark text on dark backgrounds. The same image three different times on the homepage, each one cropped slightly differently. Dead links that go nowhere. It's a mess.

If the Church Growthers are going to condemn others for not having a clear vision or brand or web presence, they'd better get their own house in order first. Didn't Jesus say something about being judged by the same standard you use to judge others?


Blogger Mr. Douglas Lindee said...
(Deleted previous comment to correct a couple spelling/grammar errors...)

Time of Grace Ministry and Grace in Action directly cooperate in the recruitment of laymen, to join and serve "Time of Grace Ministry" as Ministers of the Word. We reported on this in 2013, in our report What on Earth could the CoP possibly have meant by THIS?. Here is what we wrote:

Finally, "Time of Grace Ministry" actively recruits fellow workers in the Ministry of evangelism through the efforts of partner Ministry Grace in Action. The network of Fellow Ministers recruited by "Time of Grace Ministry" through "Grace in Action" are referred to as Time of Grace Ambassadors. It is unknown how many Fellow Workers have partnered with "Time of Grace Ministry" in the work of evangelism, or how many of them are non-WELS Lutherans, but the documentation provided by "Time of Grace Ministry" via "Grace in Action" makes no mention whatsoever of restricting such "Fellow Ministers" to WELS, or even to a Lutheran confession, for that matter.

The thought at the time was that this was more than just a drive to recruit lay ministers out of local congregations as evangelists for "Time of Grace Ministry," but an attempt to build a membership base with a stronger commitment to "Time of Grace Ministry" than to Synod or the local congregation. People identify more strongly with causes they actively serve, especially those they feel (or "have been made to feel") so strongly about that they serve them for free. By recruiting volunteers out of local congregations all over the country, "Time of Grace Ministry" would have an evenly distributed network of support and positive sentiment, possibly enough to create an entirely new, and viable, Church Body if necessary. Maybe, maybe not, but at least the threat is there.
August 7, 2014 at 5:35 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Notice how the first and last letters in "GIA" spell "GA"?
August 7, 2014 at 5:58 AM 
[GJ - I think this is on purpose, because the "i" is normally dropped when the word is just a preposition. The real acronym is indeed - GA. Skull and Bones, another secret society, does similar things with word plays.]

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Tuesday, November 9, 2010


WELS Grace in Action - Typical WELS CoP Inaction



It is getting difficult to kelm some websites, so I will provide a few links here.

http://nextdisciple.com/events.html

That will take place in Austin. Timmerman is on the board of GIA. The odious Patterson network never rests.

http://nextdisciple.com/management/boardofdirectors.html

The board of directors are another group of Daddy Warbucks. That is why the Minnesota and Wisconsin WELS DPs are the Gang of Four - all of them hostages to fortune, quaking lest their donors desert them for Missouri, ELCA, or the Assemblies of God.

http://nextdisciple.com/aboutgia.html

I am leaving their link up for a time, because someone missed the earlier posting about this.

Notice how Church and Change keeps cloning itself while the so-called confessional WELS people do nothing.

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Thursday, November 11, 2010


Gunning For You - Grace in Action,
Jeff Gunn,
Kudu Don Patterson





AGENDA



Wednesday, December 1



7 pm - 9 pm Introductions, Top 3 Challenges,

Most Passionate in Ministry About,

My Goals for this Seminar Are



Thursday, December 2



8 am Breakfast

9 am Opening Devotion

9:15 am Spiritual Resiliency (Rick Loewen)

10 am Break

10:15 am Spiritual Resiliency (Rick Loewen)

11:45 am Lunch

1 pm Spiritual Resiliency (Rick Loewen)

2:30 pm Break

2:45 pm Developing a Growths Groups System from

Scratch (Jeff Gunn)

3:30 pm Break

5 pm Supper

6 pm Developing a Growths Groups System from Scratch (Jeff Gunn)



8 pm Social Hour



Friday, December 3



8 am Breakfast

9 am Opening Devotion

9:15 am Developing a Growths Groups System from

Scratch (Jeff Gunn)

10 am Break

10:15 am Preaching that Sticks (Don Patterson)

11:45 am Lunch

1 pm Effective Strategies for Developing Leaders

(Don Patterson)

2:30 pm Break

2:45 pm Effective Strategies for Developing Leaders

(Don Patterson)

3:30 pm Break

5 pm Supper

6 pm Group Debrief, Next Steps and 

Professional Action Plan

8 pm Social Hour

Your Costs?

  • Commitment to receive 12 months of services - including a monthly webinar and personal time with yourcoach
  • 3 days of your life for personal and professional training at a conference center*
  • Personal time for completing homework including self-assessments, personal inventories, specialized readings, and much more
  •  Willingness to exchange ministry strategies, Bible studies, and sermons
  • Willing to coach fellow participants
  • $1200.00 for the twelve months of services

*Services and costs for the 3 day conference subject to vary 


This ministry is being partially funded by Grace in Action (GIA) and WELS Kingdom Workers.

http://www.nextdisciple.com/giaprojects/crosstraincoaching.html 

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 http://blogs.wels.net/welstech/
Found these statements from Don Patterson following the link above:I was recently at the airport in Chicago, waiting in the baggage claim area. For some reason, our luggage was delayed, so I had time to do my favorite airport passtime - watching people.
In my search for interesting people, I saw one young couple, apparently reuniting after one of them had been on a trip. They were facing each other, foreheads pressed together, holding hands so tightly you could see their white knuckles. They were similing and whispering to one another, oblivious of their surroundings. Their display of affection was pure and undistracted.
It reminded me of how my wife and I acted in our first years of dating. Now, after 20 years of marriage, our love is weathered. We understand one another, trust one another and love one another, but instead of a "first love" attitude, we most often display a durable, "tried and true" type of love to one another.
In our relationship with him, God longs for us to stay in that "first love" frame of mind. In Revelation, Jesus cries out to one church like a wounded lover:
I hold this against you; You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
-Revelation 2:4-5
 God wants a passionate, undistracted relationship with us. How do we do that?
We have to get away and be alone with God. In a quiet place, we need to listen to Jesus, "forehead to forhead (sic)", taking in his love, contemplating what he did for us and thinking about his promises. When we do that, we fall in love all over again.
-Don Patterson
 http://areasonforhope.net/
 
Quotes:
 "Jesus cries out to one church like a wounded lover"
"God wants a passionate, undistracted relationship with us. How do we do that?"
"We have to get away and be alone with God. In a quiet place, we need to listen to Jesus, "forehead to forhead (sic)", taking in his love, contemplating what he did for us and thinking about his promises. When we do that, we fall in love all over again."
Brett M - That's just more Methodist New Age enthusiasm and an open door to demons. It says nothing about Christ and the Holy Spririt only coming to us through God's Word. How is he listening to Jesus?  Is Patterson attempting to start another Time of Grace operation with A Reason for Hope?

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011


Grace In Action CrossTrain Coaching.
Don Patterson and Jeff Gunn Using WELS To Make Profits, Not Prophets

Grace In Action CrossTrain Coaching:

'via Blog this'


CrossTrain Ministries Coaching Network Conference
October 5th - 8th
Daytona Beach, FL
(Fly into Orlando International MCO)

Effective Strategies for Developing Leaders in Your Ministry
(Pastor Don Patterson)

  • Positive communications explaining what you do and why you do it
  • Enlist their services to enjoy opportunities to handle the Word
  • Give them opportunities to see the Word work.
  • Develop strong relationships that allow you to know individual's strengths and weaknesses and apply God's Word to both
  • Integrate the Word as part of every interaction with them.
  • Value the relationship with your leaders by being grace filled and forgiving
  • Live your expectations of others by being a servant
  • Live in the shadow of the cross instead of our success and failures



    Small Group Leadership
    (Pastor Jeff Gunn)

    The means of grace are the key to people growing in their faith. One way to deliver the means of grace to the people of our congregation is via a groups system. "Growth groups" are gatherings of 12-15 people in homes of the congregation for the purpose of sharing the word of God with one another, praying and worshipping with one another, enjoying fellowship, serving in the congregation and community, and reaching out with the gospel.

    PS - Don't forget the rice, Jeff.
    --- 

    LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Grace In Action CrossTrain Coaching. Don Patterson...":

    The cost of ministry is rising...1200$ per year last May...up 100$ in October. Better sign up while you can!