Basics of Pietism - Essential for Understanding UOJ and the Collapse of the Pietistic Synodical Conference

Spener began Pietism, which was unionistic from the start. He baptized Zinsendorf, leader of the Moravians, who began world missions and profoundly influenced Wesley. See Knapp below.

Philipp Jakob Spener started Pietism with his Pia Desideria (Pious Wishes) in 1675. He wrote a long essay as an introduction to a popular orthodox book of sermons by Johann Arndt, so Arndt's book served inadvertently as a launching pad for Pietism. Spener had already started conventicles or cell groups in 1669. (Pia Desideria, ed. Tappert, p. 13)

Some hallmarks of Pietism are:

1. A heart religion instead of a head religion. Pietists often mention that false distinction.
2. Lay-led conventicles or cell groups, to develop piety through prayer and Bible study.
3. Unionism - cooperation between Lutherans and the Reformed. Spener was the first union theologian (Heick, II, p. 23).
4. An emphasis on good works and foreign missions. "Deeds, not creeds" is a popular motto.
5. Denial of the Real Presence and baptismal regeneration, consequences of working with the Reformed. (Heick, II, p. 24)
6. A better, higher, or deeper form of Christianity rather than the Sunday worshiping church. This often made the cell group the real church, the gathered church.

Webber favors Rambach over Chemnitz

Spener influenced the ruler to found Halle University in 1694, to teach actual Biblical studies, which had been neglected in favor of ferocious dogmatic struggles between the Lutherans and Calvinists.


August Hermann Francke, (1663–1727)

Francke met with Spener, adopted his program, and got into a world of trouble over Pietism. Spener had Francke appointed to the newly established Halle University. Francke remained there as a professor and pastor of a congregation for the next 36 years. His energy spread the influence of Pietism, both in his charity work (Halle Orphanage) and his Biblical teaching.


Count Zinzendorf with Wesley

Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760) had a profound effect on the spread of Pietism, not only through his contact and friendship with Wesley, but also by being the father of world missions. Methodism is another form of Pietism. The English Methodist George Scott influenced Carl Olaf Rosenius, who founded Swedish Pietism together.

Zinzendorf is also known for his "Come Lord Jesus" prayer and his hymns. Pietistic hymns emphasize the blood of Jesus because of the influence of Johann Albrecht Bengel. (Heick, II, p. 25) Bengel's son-in-law, Burk, may be the inventor of Objective Justification.



The English Methodist George Scott (1804-1874) came to Sweden and worked with Carl Olaf Rosenius (1816-1868), who founded the newspaper Pietisten. The Swedish-American Augustana Synod looked to Rosenius as their patriarch. Augustana taught justification by faith, arguing against the Norwegian Pietists who promoted justification without faith. Two offshoots of Swedish Pietism in America are the Evangelical Covenant and Evangelical Free denominations, both deeply involved in the Church Growth Movement.


Jakob Boehme, radical Pietist

Boehme (1575-1624) illustrates what can happen when someone just starts making up all kinds of things. Today he is called creative. Another radical Pietist was Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772).


Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687—1752)

Bengel introduced weird ideas about the blood of Christ stored in heaven for justification. His work greatly influenced the Pietistic hymns (Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness) and the theology of Zinzendorf.

Bengel is also famous for his Gnomon, used by John Wesley for his Expository Notes. Does this explain Methodist George Scott-->Rosenius-->Objective Justification? Note Burk below.

Bengel's son-in-law published an expanded edition of one of his works in 1763 - Philip David Burk (1714-1770).

Hoenecke (Dogmatik, III, p. 354-5) wrote this: And Ph. D. Burk (Rechtfertigung und Versicherung, p. 41) rightly said:

The difference between general justification and the more common usage of the term justification can be expressed as follows. The latter takes place precisely upon the appropriation of the former.

Hoenecke added a sentence used as a bromide by all UOJ fanatics: "An emphasis upon general justification is necessary in order to safeguard the material content of the Gospel."

In German, general justification means - each and every one is justified. General seems vague in English, so that is probably why moderns have used Objective Justification and Universal Justification and Universal Objective Justification. All three terms mean what the Brief Statement of 1932 imagines - God declared the whole world free of sin, without faith, without the Word, without the Means of Grace.
(1932 B.S. - Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, that is, accounts as righteous, all those who believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven.)


Christian von Wolff (1679-1754)

Halle moved quickly from Pietism to Radical Pietism to Rationalism. Wolff, professor at Halle, exemplified the rationalism which spread to all other German universities from Halle. Frederick William I fired Wolff from Halle, so Marburg University immediately hired him. Wolff eventually returned to Halle, lionized by academics and a favorite of Frederick the Great.


Adolph Hoenecke (1835-1908) studied at Halle under Tholuck, who studied under Knapp. Hoenecke is the principal theologian, perhaps the only theologian, of the Wisconsin Synod.

George Christian Knapp (1753-1825) was a Pietist but very rationalistic. He taught two justifications, objective and subjective, in his Lectures on Theology, published in German in 1789. The Lectures were translated into English in 1831 by Leonard Wood, who was very influential at the time, published and used in many editions in America. The Lectures were still being used at Andover at the end of the 19th century, mirroring the enormous span of years Knapp spent teaching.

Knapp taught Objective and Subjective Justification, in form familiar to Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie:

Here are some statements from the English edition, 8th, 1859, p. 397ff:

The Scripture doctrine of pardon or justification through Christ, as an universal and unmerited favour of God.

1. The Universality of this Benefit

It is universal as the atonement itself...If the atonement extends to the whole human race, justification must also be universal--i.e., all must be able to obtain the actual forgiveness of their sins and blessedness on account of the atonement of Christ. But in order to obviate mistakes, some points may require explanation.

*[Translator note - This is very conveniently expressed by the terms objective and subjective justification. Objective justification is the act of God, by which he profers pardon to all through Christ; subjective is the act of man, by which he accepts the pardon freely offered in the gospel. The former is universal, the latter not.]

The Register, quoted below:

"Dr. Knapp, late Professor at the University of Halle, was born at Glancha,in Halle, on the 17th of September, 1753, and received his early education in the Royal Paedagogium, one of the institutions of the pious Francke. At the age of 17, he entered the university at Halle, and attended the lectures of Semler, Noesselt and Gruner, with more than common success. The Bible was his great object of study, while the Latin and Greek classics still received a degree of attention which enabled him ever afterwards to adorn, enrich and illustrate from classical literature whatever he said or wrote in the department of Theological science. In 1774 he completed his course of study, and in 1775, after a short absence, he began to lecture, at Halle, with much success upon Cicero, the New Testament, and the more difficult portions of the Old Testament. He was appointed Prof. Extraordinary in 1777, and Prof. Ordinary in 1782. He then lectured in Exegesis, Church History, and in Jewish and Christian Antiquities.

On the death of Freylinghausen (1785), he and Niemeyer were appointed Directors of Francke's Institutes; and continued jointly to superintend these establishments for more than 40 years. In the division of duties, the Bible and Missionary establishment fell to Dr. Knapp, which brought him into near connection with the Moravians. The lectures, of which this volume forms a part, he commenced during the summer of the same year."



Tholuck mentored Hoenecke

From Henry Eyster Jacobs:

Only in George Christian Knapp a branch of the old Halle school remained, but reserved and timid, and without any extensive influence. At my [Tholuck's] entrance in Halle in 1826 I found still two citizens who traced their faith to this one deceased advocate of the old school among the clergy." This deterioration, however, was gradual.

Nevertheless, Knapp supported Unitarian-Universalist arguments.

Friedrich August Tholuck (1799‒1877) also taught two justifications, following the teaching of his own mentor George Christian Knapp.

From the Bethany Lectures:

Tholuck took a personal interest in Hoenecke, as he did with all of his students. He liked to take walks with his students, using the occasion as a time for peripatetic Seelsorge. Tholuck also gave Hoenecke quite a few free meals, which he had sorely needed.

Hoenecke traveled to America through the offices of a Pietistic missionary society. In Switzerland, his studies of the Confessions and later Lutheran orthodox fathers were doubtless pivotal in making him stronger in Lutheran doctrine.


C. F. W. Walther participated in Pietistic gatherings in Europe and came over with a Pietistic leader, Bishop Stephan.

J-564

"For God has already forgiven you your sins 1800 years ago when He in Christ absolved all men by raising Him after He first had gone into bitter death for them. Only one thing remains on your part so that you also possess the gift. This one thing is—faith. And this brings me to the second part of today's Easter message, in which I now would show you that every man who wants to be saved must accept by faith the general absolution, pronounced 1800 years ago, as an absolution spoken individually to him."
C. F. W. Walther, The Word of His Grace, Sermon Selections, "Christ's Resurrection—The World's Absolution" Lake Mills: Graphic Publishing Company, 1978, p. 233. Mark 16:1-8.

Sassy Signal Intelligence

Going to the bank in her Lincoln Town Car.
She waits for me with the windows open when the weather is cool.
Everyone loves to see her at the wheel.

Sassy wants me to take her on her morning walk, before the sun is up. I would like some coffee first, so I am going to list her funny, interesting, and compelling signals used to communicate with me and manage my day.

Sassy does not want to wake up Mrs. Ichabod, so she flaps her ears. She is super-quiet in the morning and tries without success to hide her enthusiasm for a walk.

Sassy knows how to signal staff for her needs.

She looks for signs we are going. Shoes? We are going. Hat - oh, this is certain now. At the door she is ready to burst. I open it and say, "Well, let's go." She tears off down the block, runs back, jumps around, and barks happily.

On our walks Sassy must ask permission to cross a street. She is very good most of the time, but every so often I hold her head, look in her eyes, and talk to her softly about street safety. The drivers are extra courteous and some open their windows to smile at her and wave.

If Sassy wants a longer walk than I plan, she simply stops and looks at me with a big smile. "You must be kidding!"

To walk down a new street, Sassy stops, looks down that street and smiles. "Do you want to go there?" Big grin. We head down together. We found a street where all the sidewalks slope toward the street - great for drainage but difficult to walk on.

Sassy enjoys garage sales and inspects all the stuff out in the yards.

We often find friends along the route, even at 7 AM, when people are going off to work. The ones who really love Sassy call out to her. She wiggles toward them and collects the love. Our helper's wife asks, "Where is that happy bark?" Sassy lets out a series of very loud, cheerful barks. Yesterday Sassy rolled over for a tummy rub.

Our Army Ranger neighbor adores Sassy and buys her treats. He used to say, "Get out of the cat food!" Sassy would munch a few and grin. Instead of faking guilt, as many dogs do, she enjoys her little pranks. Sassy has been chatting up the Army Cat for three years now, the same one who chased a Pit Bull back across the street. They are now friends.

If Sassy sees Army Ranger from a distance, she trots over and begins a special howl, "Arrr, arrr, arr."
When we spend too much time talking, Sassy barks orders at me. I ask, "Do you have an appointment? Are you in a hurry?" She barks, "Yes! Yes!"

In contrast, when we see John and his wife, I sit down with them and Sassy takes up her guard dog duties. She sits facing the houses and streets, listens to everything, and changes position to have a better scan of the area.

At home Sassy will rest, ask to go out, and collect some attention from time to time. If I am in the middle of a sentence, she drags her claw slowly down my spine. I want to finish the sentence and she wants immediate action. "Let me finish!" The claw is pressed deeper.

Every night she says goodnight to us by sticking a paw out. I talk to her and pet her while she grins. Then she sticks a paw out at Mrs. I - "Your turn." If I say "Tuck and roll," Sassy will roll over onto her back for a tummy rub, grinning. I am supposed to pet her with both hands and talk to her. Chris is also expected to pet her and talk to her. If not, Sassy whips her head around and looks at her, expecting more. I add to this by saying, "Come on. Three hands petting her, two people talking to her." Once Sassy's lovey batteries are charged up for the night she goes to the foot of the bed and sleeps next to Chris.

Sassy is very expressive and uses a lot of different sounds. Army Ranger said, "I never saw such a talkative dog." Sometimes she uses her Cattle Dog voice, with Dingo Dog yelps, singing, yodeling, clucking (to dog friends), and so forth. The yodel is her warning sound. Some animals on TV make her a little alarmed, so she barks at them. Some get warned away - not the same bark. When she sees a herd on TV, she issues a warbling "Woo woo woo woo."

That was especially funny when we stopped at the vet's office for some medicine. Sassy stayed in the car with the window down. Usually she barks at me and grins when I turn around. At the vet's, she stuck her head out the window and warbled "Woo woo woo woo."

Her ears enhance all her expressions. When she wants something and I am not sure what, I ask, "Outside?" She runs to the door. "Treat?" Her ears respond like two exclamation points. "Walk?" She goes crazy at that suggestion.

She loves the bank where we always withdraw one doggy treat. If they do not pay attention to her as they ought (new tellers) she barks her loud German Shepherd voice into the PA system. That wakes up everyone in the bank. It is not a request but a command and works well. I thought it would annoy a new man there. He came over and grinned at her and said, "What a smart dog." She got three treats that day. Her favorite teller is a woman who adores dogs and Sassy especially. That usually means three treats. I chat it up, "What's this in the envelope, Sassy? Oh, treats! Thank you."

Best of all, one UOP driver has a big MilkBone for Sassy. We do not always get him, but Sassy knows his truck engine. She goes crazy before the truck stops. One package - one big MilkBone. He turns around at the end of the cul-de-sac, so I wave at him as he leaves the street. By that time Sassy has the MilkBone in her paws, sitting in the middle of the front yard, where she can watch for poachers who might take her treasure.

Our granddaughter fell backwards, laughing and not hurt.
When I got the camera, Sassy stepped into the photo to grin at all the fun.

Gutsche/Koenig Conference Held in Germany. CLC (sic) Touchy about Settling Down with WELS

Gutsche's page has disappeared from Facebook,
but LinkedIn has him listed as serving a WELS church in the past,
an ELCA congregation in San Francisco -
where he was fired after being arrested in Needles.
He is in the Canadian version of ELCA now and lives in his mother's basement.

Church of the Lutheran Confession Micahel Eichstadt - September 2012 President's Letter

Notes: Free Conference: The German Free Conference was held last weekend. Dave Reim, Dave Koenig, and Bd. of Missions member Joel Krag represented the CLC. A report will be provided to the Coordinating Council.

August, Ja?

Here are the court documents and details.

--

LinkedIn Information Posted by Gutsche, with added information and links

Pastor

St. Michael Evangelical Lutheran Church at Mystery Lake, Alberta

December 2010 – Present (4 years 10 months) They are ELCIC, or Canadian ELCA, in full communion with the Anglican Church in Canada.

pastor

St. John Ev. Lutheran Church - This congregation is WELS.

September 2008 – April 2010 (1 year 8 months)

St. Matthew Lutheran Church

San Francisco, California USA

February 2004 – December 2007 (3 years 11 months)ELCA - Gutsche was arrested in Needles and fired from the congregation, but soon had a call in WELS, above.

St. Matthew Bio of Horst W. Gutsche

October 2007. Pastor Gutsche was born in Hoiersdorf, Germany and moved with his family to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1956.  He attended Northwestern College in Watertown, WI and the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK . He then attended  seminaries in Oberursel, Germany and Saskatoon, SK and did post  graduate work  at Concordia Theological Seminary in  Ft. Wayne, IN. He has done volunteer work among the newly resurrected Lutheran Churches in the countries of the former Soviet Union. After his ordination in 1975 he served several bilingual congregations in western Canada as well as Zion Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, NY before coming to St. Matthew’s.

Horst W. Gutsche was across the pond at the same time -

---

Progress in doctrinal discussions
On August 21 representatives of the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod(ELS), and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) met in Mankato, Minnesota for their third round of doctrinal discussions. It is a joy to report that the nine participants agreed to a revision of the 1990 document entitled “Joint Statement Regarding the Termination of Fellowship.” This document will now be sent to the CLC Board of Doctrine, the ELS Doctrine Committee, and the WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations for their consideration.

Agreement on this document does not imply full agreement on all the controverted matters. There still are a number of significant issues to discuss, and another meeting has been scheduled for November 13.

But this agreement is a good first step in overcoming the differences between our synods.
Office of the President 12145 W. Edgerton Ave. Hales Corners, WI 53130 414-427-9337 meichsta@gmail.com

Presumably the “Joint Statement” will be made public in the future, but at this point the appropriate committees from each synod are reviewing the document without public distribution. Prayers are welcomed that God will continue to guide this process for good.

The three synod presidents agreed to the above release. I have heard concerns that it is
premature, too optimistic, and gives the impression that fellowship is imminent. Please don’t
read more into the statement than what is there. There are two main points to remember.

First, after many hours of frank and careful discussion, the three committees  did come to
agreement on a “joint statement” regarding the termination of fellowship from heterodox
bodies. As the statement indicates, it is certainly reason for joy when the Spirit works genuine
agreement on the truths of the Word.

The second point, however, which needs to be kept in mind is that the joint statement is a
very preliminary step. It has not been reviewed by our Bored of Lutheran Doctrine or the other
corresponding doctrine committees of the WELS and ELS. Also, there are other “significant
issues,” such as membership in Thrivent and similar organizations, like the Girl Scouts, Brownies, American Legion, and PTA, which need to be discussed and resolved before there can be any consideration of fellowship.

Naturally, these meetings hold great interest not only for us as pastors, but for all of us in the
CLC. In our own minds and in talking with our members, it is important not to jump to
conclusions one way or the other. Restored fellowship is not by any means a foregone
conclusion nor is a doctrinal impasse inevitable at this point. What we can be sure of is that
when the Word is studied as God’s truth and used as the basis for discussion, the Spirit will
bestow His blessings in the way of His choosing. “My word...will not return to me empty, but
will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Is. 55:11). That, I
believe, is reason for optimism regardless of the final outcome.

The CLC's Gutsche and WELS' own Joel Hochmuth
could have had their own cell group -
as long as they didn't prey together.

Fourteen Years of Stupidity and Self-Destruction

The aftermath of September 11, 2001, encapsulates the stupidity and self-destruction brought upon our lives by greed and deception.

My first response was, "Now they will seal the borders." But instead, we have had a 14 year blitz of making American Muslim while attacking Christianity and Judaism at every possibly opportunity.

The borders are wide open, violating Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution. that Congress will protect us against foreign invasion.

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

I blame the mainline denominations - ELCA-WELS-ELS-LCMS - for undermining America, leading by bad example. Each leader is worse than the one before and the results are obvious.

Every so often some people notice the cozy relationship between Thrivent, Planned Parenthood, and all the Lutheran sects. But no one deals with the way WELS and LCMS are velcroed to ELCA at every level. How delicious it must be to look stern and denounce ELCA, just before galloping off to another joint effort with ELCA. And ELCA winks. They know Missouri and WELS must toss some red meat at their base, just to keep the carnivores happy for a few more months.

The assumptions of the apostate Lutheran leaders are validated by the response of the sheep and shepherds, content to nod off again into a tranquil sleep, murmuring, "Thank God we are not ELCA."

Herman Melville, The Pulpit, from Moby Dick

Nor was the pulpit itself without a trace of the same sea-taste that had achieved the ladder and the picture. Its panelled front was in the likeness of a ship's bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship's fiddle-headed beak

What could be more full of meaning?—for the pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds. Yes, the world's a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.

This is the pulpit Melville described, New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Gazelle University's Leap of Faith - Make Grand Canyon University a Non-Profit Again

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/grand-canyon-university-begins-process-of-returning-to-non-profit-status

Newly-incorporated Gazelle University, Inc. is in the early stages of buying up to $1 billion worth of Grand Canyon University’s property. 

The move could be the first step in returning GCU to a non-profit university, which is how the school existed for 55 years before becoming a for-profit corporation in 2004.

GCU management expressed interest last year in transitioning the University into a non-profit, allowing “the University to conduct itself … on a level playing field with the other traditional universities with which the University competes,” according to financial filings.

Gazelle University is organized as a non-profit.

Gazelle would use $1 billion of bond proceeds to pay for the “core educational assets” of Grand Canyon University,3300 W. Camelback Rd., according to details of the project obtained by ABC 15.

GCU turned itself into a for-profit enterprise in 2004 to “remain in operation,” according to financial filings.

GCU’s CEO, Brian Mueller, said that it would require about $2 billion in order to transition GCU into a non-profit, according to a February article in the Phoenix Business Journal.

GCU’s Mueller incorporated Gazelle University in November of last year and is on the five-member board of trustees of the new venture, according to business documents on file with the state.

The new Gazelle University will aim to provide an “an academically-challenging, values-based curriculum, from the context of a Christian heritage.”  GCU is a Christian university.

Bob Romantic, a GCU spokesman, said the creation of Gazelle University is a preliminary step in the process of turning GCU into a non-profit.  The university’s name would not change if the process continues as planned, Romantic said.

The cost of re-paying the up to $1 billion in bonds would not lead to a tuition increase, Romantic said.

A main reason for turning the university into a non-profit is to avoid paying taxes, Romantic said.

The university faces a potential $100 million tax dollar next year, according to Romantic.

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http://www.bestvalueschools.com/cheap/online/masters-in-psychology-degree-programs/

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/04/26/how-grand-canyon-university-plans-to-grow-its.html

In an effort to grow to 400 acres, Grand Canyon Education Inc. (Nasdaq: LOPE) is methodically acquiring apartment complexes and vacant land surrounding its Grand Canyon University campus at 33rd Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix.

Plans call for buying property and apartment complexes surrounding the campus so that eventually the GCU campus will be bounded by 35th Avenue on the west, Missouri Avenue on the north, 27th Avenue on the east and Camelback Road on the south.

***

GJ - Grand Canyon University has an interesting history. The school began as a Baptist institution but trusted its funds to the Arizona Baptist Foundation, which promised people 15% returns - clearly fraudulent. When someone looked at the numbers, everyone lost 90% of their money. GCU swore off the Baptist Church and businessmen bought the school.

They promised to renew the campus, which was very much loved by alumni, and they did, as the photos show. They expanded the local campus and grew the online operations, adding master's and doctoral programs. The school is not denominational but conservative in its approach to the Scriptures and doctrine - unlike WELS, LCMS, the Little Sect, and ELCA.

Mueller was the man behind online success at the University of Phoenix but they passed over him for the top job. He left when GCU hired him to be their CEO. They received, as a gift, a $100 million campus from the Hobby Lobby founder. Now they are taking the school back to non-profit status, which will be good in this climate of dumping on for-profit schools. The same thing happened to magazines years ago. They were going in the red as businesses but survived as non-profits.

Dana College, in contrast, was not allowed to make the same transition and closed. It was an ELCA college I visited long ago on band tour.

http://fremonttribune.com/news/local/blair-excited-for-new-possibilities-at-dana-college/article_0e8eaacd-50b3-5f2b-abff-ac254ac2225d.html

April 06, 2013 3:30 am  •  By Brett Ellis/Fremont Tribune

0

BLAIR -- Harriet Waite still can recall the feeling of hurt when she found out Dana College was closing in the summer of 2010.

A Dana graduate and executive director of the Blair Area Chamber of Commerce, Waite was dismayed to see the college close its doors.

Waite, and the rest of Blair, finally got some good news about the college this week when it was announced that Midland University was submitting a bid to purchase the property.

While many details still need to be worked out, Waite welcomed the news.

"If Dana had to close, this is the next best thing that could happen to this campus," Waite said. "The Dana alumni and Blair community are excited about the possibility of it being a college, very much like it was for 126 years. What else can you be but elated?"

Blair Mayor Jim Realph, a Midland graduate, said he first was contacted by MU president Ben Sasse to set up a meeting to discuss the purchase plans.

It was a conversation and opportunity that Realph welcomed with open arms.

"It's a great event for the City of Blair because this is a campus, and anybody else we've had look at it basically couldn't utilize it the way it is intended to be utilized," Realph said. "It'll be great to have it back up here."

Along with providing a boost in sales tax revenue and filling jobs in Blair, Realph said college students also would bring other important characteristics to the community.

"It just adds a whole bunch to the quality of life of a community," he said. "You bring in some more things academically with plays and the stuff that they put on. It just gives us a lot more options."

Waite said many former Dana graduates continue to work in Blair, and she thinks that again would be the case if the college reopens.

"We have a lot of alumni that have stayed in Blair," she said. "Without that, we're constantly having to go outside and try to bring people to Blair, whereas when they've been in Blair for four years they know the community and they tend to stay and live here and take a job if there is a job available."

Sasse said the soonest students would return to Dana would be the fall of 2015.

If the sale goes through, Midland would seek to develop partners that could help sustain Dana for the long term. There also would need to be renovations to the campus.

Sasse also said no decisions have been made about what programs will be offered at the new Dana, but said there are no plans to move programs from the Fremont campus.

"What develops in Blair will largely be guided by the desires of our partners in the Blair and Dana communities, but we will be distinctive institutions rooted in a shared heritage and commitment to student success," Sasse said.

Ben Wilcox, a social studies teacher at Fremont High School, graduated from Dana in 2003 and is excited about the possibility of seeing students back on the campus.

The past few years, he said, have been tough when he has had to tell people that the college he graduated from no longer existed.

"I went to college there; I graduated from there," said Wilcox, who also wrestled at Dana. "If they do open the doors back up, I can say, 'Hey, that's where I graduated from college and it does exist.'"

Wilcox also is confident in Midland's ability to do things the right way at the Blair campus.

"Anytime you have a president like Ben Sasse, anything's possible," he said. "He's done great things at Midland."

Lauren Fischer, a senior at Midland, was getting ready for her sophomore year at Dana when it closed.

Like many other students, Fischer took advantage of several special perks offered by transferring to Midland.

Like Wilcox, Fischer was excited to hear about the future of her former school.

"I am pretty happy about it because instead of the campus just being dead and rotting, it's actually coming to life again," Fischer said.

Fischer is also happy that the Blair campus would retain its Dana College name.

"I think that's amazing because it shows they actually respect Dana's history, too," she said. "There are a lot of things that happened on that campus and a lot of history that happened at that college, so to actually keep that Dana name is great." 

Money for the Midland bid came from donors, something for which Sasse is grateful.

"We are incredibly blessed to have generous friends who appreciate our commitment to an intimate, supportive environment for students and a desire to give even more young people the tools to fulfill their potential," Sasse said. "Dana and Midland are distinct communities whose interests are closely aligned as we build a brighter future." 

Wandani - From Mark Jeske - Senior Guru of Church and Change - 2009 Post

Mark Jeske, Stealth Televangelist, has adopted the same type of programs ELCA spawned, good works without religion. Team Jeske supports his projects and smites his opponents.

News Story:

Wandani. The word doesn’t seem to belong in inner city Milwaukee. It means companions in Swahili, say the organizers of Wandani Youth Outreach, a program sponsored by St. Marcus Lutheran church and school located at the corner of Palmer Street and North Avenue.


Wandani's mission is to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the inner city of Milwaukee and to assist urban youth to prepare for lives of positive service to their communities, according to the program’s literature.

Jeske leads or organizes ELCA-WELS-LCMS ministry seminars each year,
without a peep from Mark Schroeder.
But if someone teaches justification by faith - POW!

So it is perhaps appropriate that the word wandani varies its meaning depending on context: in addition to companions it also means allies or followers.

For us this is a Christian ministry, says Peter Fraser, Wandani's director.

Of course behind it is the Christian faith. We don't force that down people’s throats, he says. We try not to proselytize.


Wandani started modestly with a grant from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) in 1997. Funding has also come from the Christian Stewardship Foundation and the Kid Brothers of St. Frank.


From an evangelical community study group meeting once a week, the program grew to include Bible study, arts and crafts, karate and open gym. In 1999, Fraser and two others took over Wandani and it started to assume its current shape.


Today there are Wandani activities every day of the week except Friday, including the recently added girls’ night and liturgical dance. Basketball is still the biggest hit, with junior and senior high open gym Monday and Wednesday respectively, and Wandani Wolves club games Thursday and practice on Saturday.


Most of the parents are really grateful there's a safe place for their kids to go, Fraser says.

Jeske has patented the lopsided smile.

It's About God (And Basketball)

The program provides a surrogate family for urban youths an explicitly religious family, and one both its leaders and participants say helps develop a sense of discipline and respect for authority.


It's about God, says Daron Evans, 15, a Wandani regular for Monday night basketball. It's just like roots, like our house rules and stuff: Don't cuss, don't yell, don't argue with your brothers and sisters, cause one time you're going to need them.


A three-year Wandani veteran tells a similar story. Before I came here I didn't want to listen to anybody, says Tim Groce, 14. Now he says he listens and uses respectful language.


Both boys say they think they would be in trouble if not for Wandani.

Leaders cite an altercation that almost happened as evidence of the values Wandani instills.


There was going to be a fight, but one of our guys stepped up and made it stop,” says Brian Davison, St. Marcus staff minister who supervises basketball Monday and Thursday. It looked like it was going to be a gang fight right here in our gym.


Davison says he was later told, You know, Brian, the only reason nothing happened tonight is we respect what you do.


Wandani alumni have also stepped up as program leaders.


One of them is Marvell Dean Jewell, 20, now a paid staff member who referees basketball games.


Jewell has since joined St. Marcus church. He says he can relate to kids because he was in their position.


The biggest thing is respect. Good sportsmanship. Knowing how to carry yourself, Jewell tells his little brothers.


And at the same time kids are having a good time, Jewell says, they're learning about God.


During each Wandani session, a leader reads a Bible passage and interprets it. Kids in gym shorts roll their warm-up basketballs away and gather at mid-court to sit and listen silently to the Bible, as Davison tells them about heaven and hell everyone will be judged, he says, but you must be a believer to enter heaven. After this devotion, the teenagers take the court.

Mr. Slug Comes in from the Rain

Beautyberry forms its fruit late in the season,
food for the birds. Who thought of that?

As predicted, the rain rolled in, Friday morning, about 4 AM. I went to the kitchen to make some coffee and saw a slug on the floor. Wet weather brings slugs or earthworms inside, but I usually see one brave slug. They are creatures of rot, but they also are very good at rasping away leaves and vegetables, so gardeners loathe the damage they cause.

If you wonder what is damaging your garden, go outside after dark with a bright flashlight and look over the plants and bushes. An interesting display of life will peep out from flowers and hang from plants. The daylight reveals the damage; the darkness reveals the pests.

The temptation to destroy all the pests is great but the effort is futile for us weak, dumb, and easily exhausted humans. I leave it to the counter-strike force, the beneficial creatures who feed on the pests. This summer I learned about many beneficial creatures and renewed my interest in ones I took for granted - like toads and spiders.

The rove beetles and cursorial spiders are especially interesting. They march across the land and devour pests. Unbidden by us, they are designed by the Creator to feed new generations of beneficial life by reducing the hordes of pests, just when we need them most. The greater the numbers of pests, the larger the strike force attacking them.

The numbers should amuse us. If we use man-made chemicals, the cost is increasingly painful and the results increasingly disastrous. If the beneficials do the work for us, they enjoy a boom in population and generations following who abide where the eating is good and the living is free.

I still have a few rose blooms that the aphids and sucking insects destroy, but they are just snacks for the beneficials waiting for their noxious arrival.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: 

1. it shall not return unto me void, 
2. but it shall accomplish that which I please, 
3. and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Pests arrive in the lives of Christian believers. Beside the normal trials of life are those special enemies who devote themselves to destruction. They are the Javerts (Le Miz) whose narrow view of the Law justifies their rampages. Some are Pentecostals always speaking about Jesus while serving their Father Below. Others are busy parsing the hyper-Mennonite rules of shunning that they amend according to their daily needs.

They never imagine this, but these pests do God's work in their malice. They help separate the good from the bad and open up new opportunities for the Gospel. The effective pesticide is not man-made. The sects of today think success lies in ejecting anyone who would stand up to their corruption and false doctrine, but the abusive leaders only set up new opportunities for the Word of God, which alone is effective.

The beneficial Word is not taught and therefore is seldom used. I gag when I read in a post, "The synod says..." The synod never says anything. The synod is not a person but simply a man-made organization that cannot obey its own rules and guidelines.

The Word never fails, which means - it is always successful. If someone knows and understands Hebrew, the concept should be simple: there is no difference between God's Word and God's will. Anyone who reads a decent translation can see the same thing.

The Word accomplishes God's purpose alone.  Not Satan's. Not man's. Just God's purpose. Weed spray is very good against weeds...and flowers...and beneficial creatures. We have all seen great man-made ideas executed and creating all sorts of collateral damage.

The Word is bountiful in its positive effects. No one can even imagine the outcome of God's Word when proclaimed.