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| Homosexual themed video, created at Martin Luther College, WELS, and uploaded to YouTube. |
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| "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." |
Bryan Spiff Grefsheim I'm playing catch up on this, but sadly, I've seen called worker abuses myself in my own neck of the woods, although those abuses weren't sexual but incredibly abusive none the less. I'm disgusted by all of it. Disgusted by this Ski, (I'm really glad not to call him Pastor) and anyone else who uses their calling for their own twisted gain, but my biggest concern is the way it was handled and how leaders just stood by and allowed wounded sheep to be dragged into the courts for simply wanting to shed light on a situation. Glende should be ashamed and reprimanded too.
I would say that guys like Ski, Glende, and the people I've dealt with are the exception, as we all know. What concerns me is that our leaders don't seem to realize that they are playing a major role in creating perceptions that lead to talk of a good old boy system, criticism of our worker training system and worse by choosing to deal with situations like this in the way that this was dealt with. Dealing more swiftly, decisively and yes, severely with called workers who are proven to cross these lines would actually serve to protect the reputations of the thousands of called workers who don't deserve this mud splashed onto them. If I were a pastor, I would be letting those DP's know that they created a situation that potentially stained the reputation of many more than the two involved here. Our workers are a gift from God, as is our training system and those who labor in it. Protecting those who abuse it does more damage than the leadership must realize and I submit that Satan loves it.
I'm glad this thread is allowed to be played out. It would have been shut down on another page. While we hash this out, let's also focus on protecting those workers who most likely join us in our concerns about behavior like these guys displayed.
Paul Lidtke Thanks Bryan Spiff Grefsheim for your comments. Having spoken with some leaders who are still dealing with the fallout of this case, they wish there was some time machine where they could go back and handle this better. So much of this cannot be changed, but let's really hope that we never have a repeat!
