One Metric - To Be Faithful to the Word

 By Norma A. Boeckler

How does one measure a congregation or blog? I know the marketing people go for big numbers, until the congregation, school, or synod rolls up like a cheap window-shade.

One participant (attending her own local congregation) took our Ustream Greek course in the Gospel of John. I ran into this while looking at ELCA seminary tuition charges -

Tuition and Fees 2017 - 18 Eligible students receive grants and scholarships from Wartburg Seminary to assist with tuition costs.

The cost of seminary education is primarily covered by seminary gifts, church support and endowment funds. Tuition covers only 40% of the cost to educate a Wartburg Theological Seminary student. Students often receive support through congregational and synodical support, various scholarship organizations and individuals. Students may also choose to steward their seminary education with federal student loans and/or work study. 

Full-Time Students (9 or more credits per semester) 
Master of Divinity Residential/Distributed Learning/ Collaborative Learning Programs Master of Arts Diaconal Ministry and Master of Arts Residential/Distributive Learning Programs Fall/Spring 

Full-year Full-time Tuition $16,900
Greek (pre-requisite for Master of Divinity degree) 
Tuition for course $2980.

The various seminaries, including LCMS, offer a quickie Greek class in the summer. I do not think WELS has sunk that low yet, but they definitely watered down the language preparation - once their corrupt officials created a phony plebiscite and forced the DMLC-NWC Anschluss with a dishonest vote count.

So I am pleased we offered a free course in Greek for the willing instead of an expensive course for the  unwilling. I have learned from teaching that everyone loves an optional course (though still required for graduation) as opposed to a forced prerequisite. For years I taught world religion and mythology because the undergraduates had to have one liberal arts course.

Also - one of my long-time blogging friends is dying, in hospice care at home. He and his wife attended our Ustream service on Sunday and she wrote about it. As I recently wrote, we are handy for those who are kept indoors by bad weather, illness, or infirmity. Sometimes we are a  substitute for someone who planned to go to church and could not because of a temporary illness.

One person became a regular because there are so few traditional Lutheran churches east of the Mississippi River - or anywhere now.

I answer doctrinal questions by email, and often the question or the observations become part of a post.

Few pastors correspond. Almost everyone is an interested layman.

 This Episcopalian bishop divorced his wife to marry his husband, but they divorced too.

 Why does ELCA lionize Megan Rohrer?
Why are their seminaries failing?
I just answered that question.

Tuition & Fees - Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago - ELCA

Tuition & Fees:



"Rates are for the 2017-2018 Academic Year.

MASTER OF DIVINITY & MASTER OF ARTS

Tuition*

(9 courses at $1,870 per class) $16,830

Activities Fee $70

Technology Fee $150

Total Tuition & Fees** $17,050



ADVANCED STUDIES: MASTER OF  THEOLOGY & DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Tuition* (6 courses at $3,650 per class) $22,800

Activities Fee $50

Technology Fee $150
Total

Tuition & Fees** $23,000"



'via Blog this'

More on the Napoleon Hill Connections with Church Growth

 Maxwell is a minister who earned his drive-by DMin at Fuller Seminary and has preached for Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral. I heard him speak the usual platitudes about leadership and success. Some in the audience were in a state of euphoria.

As I wrote in

Two-Legged Stool: The Twin Props of the Church Growth Movement - Karl Barl and Napoleon Hill. The Celebrated Lives of the Noble Frauds -

Karl Barth and Napoleon Hill are the two men most responsible for the Church Growth Movement. Barth was an openly adulterous fraud, and Hill had a record of paying prostitutes while defrauding people and consorting with criminals. Hill never interviewed Andrew Carnegie but built his career on that claim and a bunch of others he never met, never interviewed. 

Hill's fraudulent reputation is promoted by the foundation he started, modestly named The Napoleon Hill Foundation. Their biography of Hill, penned by the head of the foundation and ghosted by a journalist, is a pack of lies - but fun reading. The author excused Hill from the charge of adultery but emphasized his fourth wife marrying her divorce attorney once the marriage was dissolved.  

 Rick Warren is a Baptist;
like Larry Olson of WELS - he has a DMin from Fuller Seminary.

Most would associate The Purpose-Driven Life with Rick Warren, so I linked his book to the title. Mrs. Ichabod and I stopped at Warren's congregation and attended a few minutes of his conference. The California church is located on Purpose Driven Drive. When we attended a party by one of the Real Housewives of Orange County, her current husband said they went to Warren's church and detected my coolness right away. "You don't like him?"

But Napoleon Hill has his own book - The Purpose-Driven Life. I just bought the book, used. It is one of his lectures. One statement made me smile - about little white lies being dangerous. "No, Nappy. You stuck to Big Lies all your life!" 

Scholars are divided about whether Hill's foundation stole the title from Warren, or Warren borrowed the title from Hill. (I made up that claim - because it sounds academic, thoughtful, and substantive.) There is a close association between all the success and self-help gurus, Napoleon Hill, and Asian polytheism.

David Cho (nee Paul Y. Cho) greatly inspired WELS and other sects with his books on getting in touch with The Fourth Dimension, where the powers of the universe give us what we demand, if we stipulate the details. That is the basic Asian prosperity religion. 

I listened to Mark and Avoid Jeske introducing a prayer by saying, "We are blessed that we can call on the powers of the universe to address our needs." My occult religion alarm went off when I heard Jeske's pious invocation. I am quite sure the preface was Jeske's nod to his millionaire supporters that he was one with them, the success gospel. and the entire odiferous mass of get-rich-quick books.

Donald Patterson, the great white hunter in Africa,
who specializes in shooting herbivores, rescued Ski from unemployment and violated district rules in calling Ski without the approval of the district.
All the UOJ Growthers are antinomians.

Does anyone doubt that the new coaching industry is built upon the same Old Adam principles? Scratch the surface of a WELS Church Growther and you will find an eager coach-for-hire, like DP Kudu Don Patterson. The Church Growthers of Minnesota WELS linked him and others to their coaching scheme.

Here are Kudu Don and a warren of WELS Church Growthers, eager to sign you to a coaching contract. Funny how they are all members of the Church Growth network of WELS. And linked to Mark Jeske. And protective of each other. And Antinomian.

 Patterson hates this graphic, so I post it in his honor from time to time.

 She is one of Mark Jeske's ELCA pastors,
invited to teach the LCMS and WELS clergy and laity at the
Change or Die! conferences.