Thursday, February 6, 2014

We Know Mark Jeske Lives Change or Die!
So Thrivent Is Decidedly Neutral


Yes, neutral - that is the word.
If ELCA's Bishop Elizabeth likes it, A-OK.

Thrivent Makes Changes to Outreach Programs

February 6, 2014
Background: Thrivent Financial is sharing news that it will be making changes to its outreach programs following a comprehensive, organization-wide review. Programs being changed include: Thrivent Choice, Care Abounds in Communities, Thrivent Action Teams, Thrivent Communities, Thrivent Gift Multiplier, Thrivent Volunteers, Employee Giving Campaign and the Thrivent Financial Foundation.

After a comprehensive, organization-wide review, Thrivent is making changes to its outreach programs, including those designed for use by its members, chapters, employees and advisors. These changes are designed to better reflect its identity as a membership organization of Christians united in a common purpose to be wise with money and live generously.

Thrivent's outreach will support a variety of organizations, including Christian congregations and schools, that strengthen our communities and reflect the shared values of our members, advisors and employees. The focus of this outreach may change from time to time to reflect the priorities of its dynamic organization and membership.

As a membership organization of Christians, Thrivent works with many different members who hold a variety of – and at times divergent – views and beliefs. To respect these differences, Thrivent is also putting in place a new neutrality policy to guide decisions for outreach funding. This policy will exclude a small number of organizations and issues that distract, or have the potential to distract, from the common purpose of Thrivent and its membership.

Thrivent will begin implementing its new neutrality policy effective immediately, and program changes will be implemented over time. Members, advisors, employees and organizations that may be affected by specific program changes will receive communication as these changes are implemented in the weeks ahead. Thrivent wishes to thank all who have offered their input into this review of its approach to its outreach funding and programs.

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A Star Is Bored.
Mark/Avoid Jeske must reach out to other confessions, a mix of religions,
to achieve his manifest destiny.

Thrivent Financial Neutrality Policy

Thrivent Financial is a membership organization of Christians and works with many different members who hold a variety of – and at times divergent – views and beliefs. It respects the differences of its members and does not independently or on behalf of its members, advisors or employees provide outreach funding or support to organizations and issues that distract, or have the potential to distract, from its common purpose, which is to guide its members and society to be wise with money and live generously.

Under this policy, certain organizations are not eligible to receive outreach support or funding. This includes, but is not limited to, organizations with a primary purpose of providing services for or advocating positions either supporting or opposing certain social, politically partisan, or health and human services causes and issues, such as abortion, sexual orientation, or guns. Decisions regarding the application of this policy and the eligibility of specific organizations to receive outreach funding or support are made at the sole discretion of Thrivent's management team and are subject to change.



Catching Up with Brett Meyer on Ichabod - Five Years Ago.

Team Jeske is 100% behind Thrivent, since
Mark/Avoid Jeske is on the Thrivent Board of Directors.

Board Members

Brad HewittBrad Hewitt
President and Chief Executive Officer
N. Cornell BoggsN. Cornell Boggs
Board Member
Frank H. MoellerFrank H. Moeller
Chair of the Board
Kenneth A. CarowKenneth A. Carow
Board Member
Bonnie E. RaquetBonnie E. Raquet
Board Member
Kirk FarneyKirk Farney
Board Member
Alice M. RichterAlice M. Richter
Board Member
Mark A. JeskeMark A. Jeske
Board Member
James H. ScottJames H. Scott
Board Member
Frederick G. KraegelFrederick G. Kraegel
Board Member
Allan R. SpiesAllan R. Spies
Board Member
F. Mark KuhlmannF. Mark Kuhlmann
Board Member
Adrian M. TocklinAdrian M. Tocklin
Board Member

Contact our Board of Directors

To contact the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Board of Directors, send a letter addressed to:
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Board of Directors (or name a specific director)
Office of the Corporate Secretary
625 Fourth Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55415
The Corporate Secretary will collect the letters and forward them to the chairman of the board or to a specific director if named. Letters on the following topics will be forwarded as indicated:
  • A complaint relating to a specific product or contract: Referred to Member Relations.
  • A complaint relating to accounting matters: Referred to the Chair of the Audit Committee.
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Read this about Thrivent's idea of a leader to speak to their agents! Wow!

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THRIVENT CEO BRAD HEWITT & THE THRIVENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS


To sign on to this open letter, sign the petition.

Dear Mr. Hewitt and Board Members,

I’m publishing this open letter to you with the hope that many will bring it to your attention, and in so doing give you the courage to do what is right.

Thrivent Choice
Thrivent made a mistake in 2013. Due to a decision to make Thrivent Choice giving “neutral”, you allowed an affiliate of Planned Parenthood to be approved as a recipient of Choice dollars. Thankfully, when there was an outcry from the faithful Christians you have as Members, you removed that organization from the program. Unfortunately, you also temporarily suspended 53 (or so) pro-life organizations. In doing all this, you have so far failed to address the root of the problem: your insistence on being equitable in what sort of organizations are allowed in the Choice program. This equal-treatment ideology can only go so far. The world demands “neutrality” in toto, but God limits it to only those things which truly serve your neighbor. You are a Christian organization, after all, and ultimately “must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

Please restore pro-life organizations to Thrivent Choice. Please establish rules that disallow pro-abortion organizations that operate contrary to God’s Word. The world – and even some of your Members – will clamor that it’s not fair to let pro-life organizations receive Thrivent Choice dollars while pro-abortion organizations cannot. But you are Christians, so I urge you to do what Christians ought to do. Allow money to go to the organizations that are doing the mercy work of Christ – that is, pro-life organizations – and bravely take a stand against those pro-abortion organizations doing the work of the devil, who is “a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:44) The 5th Commandment is not an open question, nor is it neutral. You may lose some Members, but you will be doing the right thing.

Gift Multiplier
Thrivent has been making some other mistakes since at least 2006. You have been matching donations given by your employees to pro-abortion organizations through your Gift Multiplier program. This has resulted in Thrivent providing matching funds to pro-abortion organizations in the amount of at least $8484, for a total of $16,968 when the original employee donations are included.

From the perspective of the entirety of Thrivent’s giving, this is a very small amount. In fact, by reviewing Thrivent’s 990PF forms from 2006 to 2012, I can confidently state that there are a very small number of Thrivent employees who have been requesting matching funds for their giving to these pro-abortion organizations. Also, based on my study I can assure you that a vastly larger number of your employees give to pro-life organizations and ask Thrivent to match those gifts. This one-sidedness in terms of employee numbers is reflected just as one-sidedly in total dollar amounts given. This is not to mention the very large amounts given to pro-life organizations such as crisis pregnancy centers through your various Chapters (I have the last three years of Group 990PF forms, so I’ve seen the numbers).

It may be painful, but nevertheless I urge you to do this: Please establish a rule in your Gift Multiplier program that disallows matching for organizations that operate contrary to God’s Word. You may anger a small minority of your employees; they may even quit. But again, you are a Christian organization and you all are likewise Christians. Take up this cross, embrace this opportunity to confess the value of life in both God’s eyes and your own, and rejoice that you have been deemed worthy by God to suffer in this way.

Thrivent’s Aid in Christ’s Mercy Work
Thrivent has been doing much good for Christ’s Gospel and mercy in the world. Thrivent has been doing much for mothers and children, both born and unborn, through your charitable giving programs. You can do even more by taking a clear and definitive stand for life.

I hope that you will listen and take this to heart. Please understand that I’m not alone in desiring these actions from you. I hope you will hear from many, many more concerned Christians. I will be praying for each of you by name, that you will do the right thing and support Christ’s work of mercy and reject supporting the devil’s work of murder and lies. Please, in your Choice and Gift Multiplier programs, as well as in all of your Chapters, allow for funding of pro-life organizations and disallow funding of pro-abortion organizations.

Thank you, in Christ.
Rev. Michael Schuermann

WELS Facebook Evasions. Eighth Commandment and Matthew 18.
Forget Luther's Large Catechism.


lolling at the WELS over here
Like ·  ·  · 12 hours ago · 
  • Jim Schulz So he's a Michigan Lutheran Seminary grad?
  • Ethan Schulz yep, and spent some time at MLC
  • Jim Schulz Is his partner a gay cougar? He looks 20 years older.
  • Gregory L. Jackson He could have found plenty of action in WELS. I am shocked he left: videos, hymnal design, public relations at the Love Shack, and pastoral or teaching ministries.
  • Caleb Schmiege None of this is helpful to anyone.
  • Ethan Schulz I think reposting the article is helpful in that it shows how *not* to deal with a situation like this. It looks like Scott's pastor and other mentors in the WELS system hated both the sinner and the sin, and now they're paying for it in press like this.
    7 hours ago · Like · 1
  • Caleb Schmiege Fair enough. We definitely have a long way to go as Christians in our understanding of the whole issue. I often see people flying into the devil's traps of total tolerance, complete insensitivity, or hate. None of these are God-pleasing or acceptable. I was more frustrated by the comments that seemed to make light of the situation.
    7 hours ago · Like · 4
  • Gregory L. Jackson WELS is not honest about its problems. Two men were caught in the act at the seminary, years ago. Both were ordained. Both got married. That is just one example.
  • Jake Gawel (And in swoops Gregory L. Jackson with a speculative story containing names he can't or won't recall). That's as sound of proof as me saying I saw you doing 'the act' on some dude in your hometown just last night. It's true baby, I saw ya.
  • Gregory L. Jackson I have names, and so do others who know about this and many other examples. But WELS is perfect and therefore perfectly snide about anything that detracts from this perfection.
  • Jake Gawel Hey pal, no one in their right mind would say that. However, I have two things:

    1) I did totally see you in 'the act' with that dude.

    2) Until you are perfect or know the answer to being the best human/Christian/confessional moralist, why don't you just tone down your awesomeness and read your Bible. 

    Here's a third, I guess:
    Would you be willing (and this is a serious undertaking, so answer carefully) to take the rest of your life and write down everything you believe (we all know it's perfect and inerrant) and that's what us WELSers will use as sacred text? We need ya, man, so don't leave us hangin' over here!
  • Gregory L. Jackson Given the number of children abused by WELS teachers and pastors, you are in no position to play the smart-aleck, Jake.
  • Gregory L. Jackson Your public relations director, Joel Hochmuth, had hundreds of files of man-boy rape at WELS headquarters and at home.
  • Jake Gawel Again, no proprietary information reporting the abuses. Do I have to do this again? (I saw you abuse a kid last night.)

    As for that guy - he got what he had coming to him, God-style. Were the churches records on abuse released to the public when the FBI took him down? You have knowledge of that stuff how?
  • Jake Gawel And I like that as a professional, confessional satirist, you are poo-pooing me. Hah! What's the saying about giving and not having the capacity to take...?
  • Gregory L. Jackson Jake, you are in the right sect.
  • Jim Schulz Get ready. It's coming. (And seriously, his lover looks like he could be his father. What up wit dat?)http://www.massresistance.org/.../par.../religion/index.html
  • Caleb Schmiege Mr. Jackson, the thing that troubles me the most is that it seems like you go looking for all the bad you can find. What has happened to your gospel motivation? Where is your passion for the lost? It pains me to see so much tearing down with very little building up. Do you take words and actions in the kindest possible way? The kindest possible way? You are in an influential position. I wish you would use it to point people to Christ.
  • Jake Gawel Mr. Greg (can I call you Greg?), I'm not looking to receive vindication from you about my spiritual or religious beliefs. I'm just asking for a little more journalistic integrity (read :: facts, names) and for you to put down what it is you believe in canonical form so we (WELS, ELS wrongdoers) can read it and see if there are massive errors we aren't already trying to fix.

    Every business, non-profit, synod, church body, religion, government, family or friendship features mismanagement to some degree or of some nature. If you had the CLC-GLJS (Confessional Lutheran Church - Gregory L. Jackson Synod), I'm sure even there, in that bright spot against the dingy WELS backdrop, there would be negligence and mismanagement.
  • Gregory L. Jackson Warning people away from abusive sects that cover up for rape and murder and the abuse of children - that is positive. Provoking the sophomoric rage of smart-alecks is also worthwhile.
  • Jake Gawel Pardon me, Mr. Jackson (I am for real). Still waiting for the Journalism 101 level facts and names here. Can you send me (us) the documents you have become privy to? As a WELS member, I probably have a right to at least see those...

    Your last sentence
    ...See More
  • Gregory L. Jackson Jake - ask about the murder of Mrs. Al Just and his marriage to his children's baby-sitter. Ask about Mrs. William Tabor, whose husband moved to a new call after she was plugged by his mistress in the parsonage. Ask about DP Ed Werner, who went to the...See More
  • Caleb Schmiege I meant positive as in directing people to forgiveness and hope in Jesus. Have you talked to the individuals in authority who handled those situations to understand why they did what they did? I cannot speak with authority about the situations to which...See More
  • Gregory L. Jackson Clever smoke-screen, Caleb. You would have made a good defense lawyer at Nuremberg.
  • Jake Gawel Asking for fairness against nameless accusations isn't "trying to be smart" (although you might see it no other way, which again is ironic), it's simply asking for facts. I appreciate the names. 

    Now, with those in the limelight and me not having seen
     my parole officer in years, can you give me some website where I can drum up these stories. Otherwise it might be like me saying..."So, Greg. You are gonna sit here on Facebook and tell me that you've never heard the tale of little Jimmy Zolinski and his abuse by the CLC-GLJS? It was so heinous his parents left the CLC-GLJS, but not before shooting their minister!"

    A fact site or police report would be greatly appreciated.
  • Gregory L. Jackson Keep braying, Jake. I know you didn't take the time to check anything out. You never would. That would take integrity and courage.
  • Gregory L. Jackson Don't Matthew 18/8th Commandment me when people are murdered and the synod covers it up. Try reading the Large Catechism, 8th Commandment. It's in the Book of Concord.
  • Jake Gawel All I asked for was a little guidance getting started in my search. I'm willing to do the leg work if you're willing to point me down the path. 

    In regards to your implication of having courage and integrity and me not having any...I'm ok with you saying that about me (though those who actually know me might stand for my character), but please don't imply that you have integrity. Look at what you do (here or on your blog), how you carry it out. That takes neither of those characteristics - we both know it's the easy way and that's why you've taken it.

    Now, uncovering and undermining parties which you believe to be personally responsible for terrible actions. That does take courage. I'll be willing to spot you on that if you help me get started down a path where I might one day be able to agree with you on the facts of those "crimes" (I only put crimes in quotations, because I haven't witnessed a police report on them, not because I wholeheartedly don't believe you that they took place).

  • Jake Gawel Oh sweet, sweet diversional tactics. 

    I am glad you put that there, because I would have no way to get that out to an audience (oh wait, we are on Facebook...). But back to the meat and potatoes, if you have knowledge of these events and know where yo
    ...See More
  • Caleb Dietrich Greg...I don't know you nor am I going to do any research on who you are or what you do:fact. You are who you are and believe what you believe:fact. Jake has both integrity AND courage: fact. No one is perfect:fact. Every organization has flaws because...See More
  • Gregory L. Jackson Talk, talk, talk. Check out the facts and report back. Anyone can post on FB, as you two have shown.
  • Caleb Dietrich You're funny man. I don't honestly care what you say. So go ahead. Post something so you can feel as though you got the lAst word in. Or don't... I don't care
  • Gregory L. Jackson Says Caleb, trying for the last word.
  • Jake Gawel Anyone with fingers or an AAC machine can run a blog or indeed post on Facebook (I used by (sic) forehead to write this whole thread...). 

    Until you produce websites, your points (which I remind you, started with a gay, ex-WELS member) remain here-say (sic), just like little Jimmy Zolinski and the CLC-GLJS. Please back up your talk and produce websites where police reports can be examined empirically. You could even start by stating what states each incident was reported in and I can see if they have a CCAP system like Wisconsin....
  • Kyle Bence Aahhh, yes... I miss seeing stuff like this. This is what I love about you jake. You make ignorant and dumb people (aka Greg) look like a moron. I love people like this. 

    I picture Greg as Harry Potter. A man who lives under a stairwell, and posts ignorant statements on Facebook. 

    Congrats Greg! You've won the award for biggest jackass of the day.

***

GJ - Does anyone wonder why people are leaving WELS in droves? They snark over murder and sexual abuse, pretending it is contrary to the Word of God to discuss their felonies.

They pulled their thread, which I anticipated.

Luther on public sins, such as when a murderer or abuser is convicted by his peers:

284] All this has been said regarding secret sins. But where the sin is quite public so that the judge and everybody know it, you can without any sin avoid him and let him go, because he has brought himself into disgrace, and you may also publicly testify concerning him. For when a matter is public in the light of day, there can be no slandering or false judging or testifying; as, when we now reprove the Pope with his doctrine, which is publicly set forth in books and proclaimed in all the world. For where the sin is public, the reproof also must be public, that every one may learn to guard against it.