Just As Stupid as Bethany Lutheran College (ELS) and Martin Luther College (WELS)...It's a Fad, Dad!

 

"I say e-sports!" 
"I say get an education!"
"I say e-sports!"

"Not specifically Valpo related, but another sign of the growing trend perhaps: In conversation with some friends over the weekend we learned that Wittenburg University an ELCA school in Ohio has done away with their entire music department, including all ensembles.  On the heals of that announcement it was also announced that they would be building a multi-million dollar e-sports complex." 

I did not know what e-sport$ were until I found the above from the ALPB Ovaltines.

This agrees with the blind-following-the-blind vision of the Lutheran denominations, large and small. Like the Church Growth Movement, this tired fad appeals to the stupidity and negligence of the Sect Presidents, District Potroons, Circuit Creampuffs, and Board Reprobates.

The ELS and WELS dinky colleges have reached across 30 miles of highway to have two $15 million gyms while dissolving academic program. Valpo is getting the flack at the moment, but more will come along.

The Little Colleges Are Falling Like Ten-Pins

 

An academic colleague (name withheld) was applying for a teaching job in science. One Christian school was cited and in the process of being considered. The entire department was dropped before it even got started, and I said, "Great! Do not count on a small college. Look for state jobs." That happened for this person and led to tenure, which is almost meaningless for small schools.

The Boomer era peaked a long time ago, so no one should be shocked by the closing or selling of colleges with spiraling costs upward and enrollment figures downward. Gone is the fantasy that simply going to college and getting a high-priced, loan-encumbered degree will promise prosperity.

The Lutherans - ELCA included - are closing or merging programs with haste, smoke, and mirrors. ELCA seminaries are easy to find but have devious statistics. Lots of seminaries claim distant students, so someone taking a single course is listed. In the golden days, someone was either a full-time student or not. The facilities remain while the cost of maintenance soars. No thought is given anywhere about spending on tuition reduction rather than polishing the marble in their beloved mausoleum. 

 This is the graphic posted on the first page for United Lutheran Seminary, ELCA.

Federal student loans are just too juicy for the schools to ignore - instant cash for the managers, lifelong debt for the eventual graduates and for the numerous dropouts.

The LCMS has been selling off its colleges wherever they can. HotChalk did not save one school, but the liabilities and lawsuits remain.

WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie should have prepared for this, but no, they had the eternal gusher of Marvin Schwan money -

1. Library at Wisconsin Lutheran College, $50k annual tuition, room, board, booze
2. Bethany Lutheran College and Copper Top Chapel
3. Martin Luther College for Women Ministers.
4. Two seminaries shrinking like raisins.

In short, the failing ELS and WELS have three liberal arts colleges within a short driving distance, from Milwaukee to Mankato, a five-hour drive, not unlike the S.S. Minnow, and not including the CLC (sic) summer camp in Eau Claire.

In ancient days, higher education depended on the professors, not the buildings. A beautiful gym does not teach students - and sadly - there are bigger, better gyms all over. 

The biggest weakness is leadership. The ones pulling the strings are not capable, scholarly, or frugal. They grab for the short-term so the next generation can accelerate the closings.

Bethany Lutheran College (ELS) Shrinking Its Education Coverage - Fast. God Is Repaying the ELS-LCMS-WELS for Their Sins

 

Nobody writes about all the money from Marvin Schwan, so he could attach his name to the copper top chapel and other buildings for the Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie. Also - Wisconsin Lutheran College, and other brick and mortar efforts were to absolve Marvin for the way he abandoned his wife - and the tragic result for her. Hush hush. Do not talk about it, so they lay their holy blame on someone else. I have written many times about the greedy management boards lusting for buildings with no regard for the decline in enrollments.  

WELS is no different from the ELS. The millionaire donor wants to marry the lady he was living with? No problem! A fake pastor the same? No problem!

The LCMS is also no different. Marvin laid his anointing and anointed hands on the Schwan Timothy and Titus Chapel at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis - to the tune of $1 million. But lo! He also bought a campus for them, which the seminary bought from him!

The Free Press

MANKATO — The Glen A. Taylor Foundation has donated an undisclosed “substantial” amount to Bethany Lutheran College to help fund the ongoing construction of the Bethany Activity and Wellness Center, according to the college.

The 84,000 square-foot multipurpose facility remains the biggest construction project in Bethany history and will provide recreational space for students and the Bethany Vikings athletic program.

The center at the private college also will offer the Greater Mankato community an open-to-the-public quality fitness and recreational space, indoor and outdoor. Youth sports teams and community groups in the Mankato area will be available to rent the space for use as well, stated a news release.

The $16.7 million center is expected to open early 2023.

Bethany Student and Faculty Statements

I am very disappointed in Bethany Lutheran College (ELS), Mankato, for removing their history and philosophy departments in favor of sports. I cannot imagine a more un-Luther-an thing to do, beyond removing theology and the Biblical languages.  And if we think this will not affect Missouri, let’s remember this college was the alma mater of the Preus brothers (Jacob and Robert).

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It is with a very heavy heart that I announce the Bethany administration will eliminate my coaching position starting in the 2024-2025 school year. I did not agree with this decision.

There will no longer be a Speech and Debate Team coach. They hope the team will carry on as a student-run program. No details on how that will work were provided. I will be moving into the classroom full-time. 

To my team, sorrow is too light a word for what I feel. I love you all.

To the Bethany Speech and Debate Team alumni, I thank you for making the last 22 years wonderful. Every year was a different collection of personalities that harmonized together to form a team bond I have always admired. There was never a dull moment. Well...maybe while waiting for awards to start. Thank you!

To my fellow coaches and colleagues, thank you for your support of the Bethany team and the tournaments we hosted. I have always argued that Speech and Debate is the most educational activity on a college campus. You have made that possible for thousands of students. Keep fighting the good fight. Feel free to add me to your judging pool!

Please remember the power of the spoken word! Please continue to shine this beacon of knowledge and understanding, even as that beacon goes out at Bethany. 

I have been truly blessed to be a part of such an amazing activity for so long!

--Jon Loging

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Laura Henry

History, philosophy, social studies, Latin, interdisciplinary studies, theater major and minor, speech have all been cut and debate has been reduced to a student led extracurricular, the choir tours have been reduced in scope as well. That is what I have gathered through my conversations with other alumni.

We are all waiting for an official statement or explanation/justification from the board of regents. 🤷‍♀️

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15 hours ago

  · 

Well said, please consider sending this to the regents and administrators of Bethany Lutheran College

Katie Skogen

19 hours ago

  · 

The Bethany discussion that has exploded this week concerns more than the theatre, history, philosophy, etc. departments. It *is* about those, but it is also so much deeper.

Why do we palpably feel such great passion and lament in the words of those involved with the Bethany theatre, history, and speech programs over the cuts recently made? I suspect it is because these students were allowed to grapple with works by some of the greatest thinkers and writers of all time. When a person plumbs the depths of truth, beauty, and goodness found within such works, the impact is soul deep. The key that unlocked this impact, however, is that these students were not just handed a great work and then left alone to wonder, "What does this mean to me?" No, a professor, unashamedly anchored in Scripture, carefully and enthusiastically led students through every work. From the professors' decades-long impact, it is clear that their anchoring in Scripture was not just something they left at church after service on Sunday, something that had little to do with their 'real' life. Life in Christ was all of life, not something merely sprinkled in alongside the language of the world. Through that Christian lens, armed with Scripture and beautiful art, they taught students how to better love what is worth loving and to better hate what is worth hating. It is nearly impossible to shake off the formation such an education gives. Hence, such heartfelt grief and lamentation.

As far as I know, there is no formal communication on what was decided or why. I appreciate those working to make difficult decisions, however, the decisions made are not in line with the written mission of Bethany. It is not possible to be a liberal arts college without scholarship in history and philosophy. These types of decisions do not appear out of thin air, so they must be part of a trajectory away from the liberal arts that began long before last week.  Is it too late to change this trajectory? It would take such a great amount of unified effort and ingenuity and bravery. Perhaps the few who have given themselves to such individual effort and ingenuity and bravery have been sidelined and this time with the wind completely knocked out of them, or, perhaps, this is unsurprising to them, and, seeing the earnest solidarity of so many this week, they once again feel some wind in their sails. I don’t know, and I don’t know how to find out. Thank you to those who have seen this trajectory since the beginning and have fought it respectfully and eloquently. 

Are those of us who are joining the conversation so late reaching for something that is already gone?  Or is there some possible way to do the intense dialectical conversing and dissecting and reworking that would be inevitable to knock the college off its current path? Could we ever find where the trajectory changed course and begin at that common ground? The 2006-2007 Bethany Lutheran Faculty Handbook stated, “We consider a liberal arts education *fundamental* in achieving the college’s basic mission, namely, to enable students to grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by means of the Gospel [emphasis added].” [1] Wow, the liberal arts as fundamental to growing in the knowledge of Jesus! Without unified agreement that a serious focus on history, philosophy, rhetoric, and the arts are worth our utmost effort to preserve, this quote is true for Bethany no longer. What would it take to get that back?

At the dedication of the S.C. Ylvisaker Fine Arts Center in 1990, President George Orvick emphasized the connection of the liberal arts to Christian education by quoting Ylvisaker, “Side by side with the general, the specific, and the Christian training goes the cultural, the indefinable something which adds richness, beauty, mellowness, and refinement. The source and wellspring of all true refinement is Christian faith, and no one is truly refined who does not own this faith. Christian education is therefore not true to itself if it does not include in its training some way to provide a mode of expression for this culture and appreciation of it in others.” [2] No matter the future, we know that leaders of Bethany once believed these things, we know there are some who love our dear Bethany who believe them still, and we can rejoice that God would ever use our institution to assist in the proclamation of the Truth of Jesus Christ.

O Jesus, Thou who often wended

Thy way of yore to Bethany

And there Thy mission-work attended

For dead and living lovingly,

Come help us make our Bethany

A humble place, O Lord, for Thee! [3]

[1] Bethany Lutheran College Faculty, “The Liberal Arts: Our Common Understanding (2002),” in Telling the Next Generation: The Evangelical Lutheran Synod's Vision for Christian Education, 1918-2011 and Beyond, eds. Ryan C. MacPherson, Paul G. Madson, and Peter M. Madson (Mankato: Evangelical Lutheran Synod Historical Society, 2011), 313-314.

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Jake Yenish

3 days ago

  · 

It saddens me to hear that Bethany Lutheran College has decided to cut the theatre major and minor.  On a professional level I spent 17 years at Bethany as a student and eventually an adjunct faculty member.  I discovered my calling and career as an educator and theatre practitioner.  In my time with there I helped produce approximately 70 shows.

On a personal level I had the opportunity to learn from the best human being I know, Peter Bloedel.  Pete taught us in the classroom about plays and performing.  On stage he taught us about excellence. And in all things Pete taught us about what it means to be a Christian in the Arts.  

I want desperately for Bethany to reconsider this decision.  To realize that the arts go far beyond the cost of the faculty and production budget.  To understand that the arts are a reflection of the greatness of a society and that part of being made in the image of God is to reflect his nature as a creator.  

It is a short sighted decision to undo the work of generations of Bethany students who have participated in theatre and the generations of Bethany community that have benefitted from said same productions.  

If this decision stands the world will be a lesser place for it.  And Bethany will be a lesser light shining in the darkness.

+++

[2] George M. Orvick, “Sermon for Dedication of the S. C. Ylvisaker Fine Arts Center (1990),” in Telling the Next Generation: The Evangelical Lutheran Synod's Vision for Christian Education, 1918-2011 and Beyond, eds. Ryan C. MacPherson, Paul G. Madson, and Peter M. Madson (Mankato: Evangelical Lutheran Synod Historical Society, 2011), 421.

[3] Ingebrigt J. Blåkkan, “Bethany (1928),” in Telling the Next Generation: The Evangelical Lutheran Synod's Vision for Christian Education, 1918-2011 and Beyond, eds. Ryan C. MacPherson, Paul G. Madson, and Peter M. Madson (Mankato: Evangelical Lutheran Synod Historical Society, 2011), 163.

+++

I recently discovered that Bethany Lutheran College is dropping their History and Theater majors. After dropping professors and other important majors in 2018 while I still attended I am shocked that this would happen again. Art, theater, and history are vital to the lifeline of a college. They are what makes a liberal arts education what it is. Without it, the rich education of the students at Bethany will be severely degraded. Makes you question what steps Bethany will take in the future to better the college. This is honestly such disappointing news and I encourage people to speak up and reach out.

Marvin Schwan was the patron saint of the LCMS-WELS-ELS.

The Basic Cost of College for One Year - The Grandchildren of the Boomers Are Being Fleeced

 

Now at MLC - part of initiation, the statue is or was the center of unspeakable "fun" for freshman initiation: way ahead of ELCA. The seminary - dubbed The Sausage Factory - requires more of the same abusive initiation. 

One WELS pastor said to me, on the Mequon campus, "Our millionaire has much more integrity than yours in Columbus." Ask the Schwan fans  - or Christian News - or WELS how Marvin's ex-wife died.

Martin Luther College - $26,000 plus estimated student expenses of $4,000. 

Why are students paying so much to learn from false teachers like L. Olson (DMin, Fuller Seminary), M. Smith ("PhD" from the Trinity Bobble Online Server), J. Schuetze (DMin from Trinity Divinity, the Fuller of the Corn Belt), Ross Stelljes MDiv only - from the Sausage Factory), Jeff Schone MS Conseling (sic) and Student Personnel, Martin Spriggs knee-deep in Church Growth (who gave "sermons" verbatim from Church Growth gurus, even when told to stop).

Wisconsin Lutheran College - $35,000 plus $11,889 for room and board, student expenses - anything goes.

Bethany Lutheran College - hard to figure.

Photographic Proof That LCMS and WELS Are Merging with ELCA.

 

Thy Word Is Truth - in the background

Matt the Fatt, LCMS, did not have a beard for this photo, or did he?

Time of Grace

So that's what they call it - grace.
What better place for a mattress room!

Kilcrease teaches at a Catholic girls' convent school.
His Christology is rejection of Justification by Faith.

 Martin Luther College

 Martin Luther College

  Martin Luther College

 WELS parish - pastor and lay leaders cross-dressed and posted the photos on the Net: Wayne Mueller's son, a Church and Changer.

  Martin Luther College

It takes $30,000 a year to make that rainbow connection,  Martin Luther College.

 The best-selling YouTube is still on the Net, thanks to their fans.  
Martin Luther College

 Stowe and Birner came out a few minutes after graduating from Martin Luther College, the WELS School of Ministry.

 This predatory Roman Catholic archbishop was invited to speak to the public at Wisconsin Lutheran College, WELS. At least ELCA admits to spooning with the Antichrist.

 What better way to make the Gospel real, relational, and relevant!

Not Afraid of a Real Education Professor Emeritus Rudolph Honsey passes away | Bethany Lutheran College

 Professor Honsey was always mentioned with great affection. He passed away some months ago, but I wanted
to note his service in education.

Professor Emeritus Rudolph Honsey passes away | Bethany Lutheran College:


"S.C. Ylvisaker, Bethany’s president at the time, needed new faculty members to teach the growing numbers of students on the Bethany campus. More and more young men were returning from serving in the United States military during World War II and were looking for educational options. Ylvisaker recognized Honsey’s talent and personality and thought it would be a good fit for the Bethany campus. So, before Honsey could deliver his first sermon at a Synodical Conference Lutheran church, Ylvisaker convinced him to accept a temporary call to teach at Bethany. The call was made permanent in 1946. During his years in academia at Bethany, Honsey also studied at University of Chicago, Mankato State College, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin where he earned a master of arts in Scandinavian Studies in 1955, and Brandeis University where he earned a master of arts in Mediterranean Studies in 1962. "

 Jack and Robert Preus were both at Bethany,
and Robert left his book collection to Bethany's library.

'via Blog this'

Will Timothy Schmeling, PhD, Concordia St. Louis, Help the ELS with Calov and Quenstedt on Justification by Faith?

Timothy Schmeling, portrait courtesy J. C. Penney

Some of his publications:

“Abraham Calov (1612–86): The Prussian on the Cathedra Lutheri.” In Lives and Writings of the Great Fathers of the Lutheran Church, edited by Timothy Schmeling. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016.

 “Johann Andreas Quenstedt (1617–88): The Consensus Builder.” In Lives and Writings of the Great Fathers of the Lutheran Church, edited by Timothy Schmeling. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016.

Timothy Schmeling will be installed at Bethany Lutheran College and has already published on Calov and Quenstedt. Bethany has a tradition of the least qualified teaching at the seminary, the better qualified at the college.

If Timothy agrees with Calov and Quenstedt, then he disagrees with Pope John the Malefactor and David Jay Iago Webber. One cannot have Justification without Faith and Justification by Faith in the same stall. That would be unionism. The great and wise in the WELS only  teach Justification without Faith, as do the ever-increasing tribe of Preus. As soon as a Preus is in seminary, he starts railing against Luther's doctrine, the Chief Article.

Let's do a little graphical research and see about where the old boys stand.

 Calov is quoted and cited by Dr. Robert Preus, who graduated
from Bethany Lutheran Seminary before most of the guys (like Moldstand) bothered to do so.
Unfortunately, some of the ELS guys (like Gaylin Schmeling)
attended Northwestern College (RIP), where criminal hazing was
administered with a hanger.

 Quenstedt lays out the real issues,
so I find it impossible to believe that young Schmeling has missed
this on Ichabod. Everyone in the ELS reads and dreads this blog -
so I have heard.

WHERE DOES THIS EASTER ABSOLUTION SILLINESS COME FROM?

Oh - now I get it. Halle University promoted the Easter absolution of the entire world.
And Bishop Martin Stephan, STD, caught it from Halle.
And CFW Walther caught it from Stephan,
which made the mob, the threats,
the robbery, and kidnapping of the bishop easier to execute.
And the Synodical Conference caught UOJ
rom Walther and F. Pieper.
And Muhlenberg learned his Pietism at Halle.
And so did Hoenecke.
And that, history fans, is why WELS-ELS-LCMS leaders work
so well with ELCA leaders. They all came from Halle, more or less,
and they all study at Fuller, if you waterboard them a few hours.

Bald Rabbit Comments on WELS

The LCMS websty featured this ad,
with the lopsided, ambivalent smile.
Don't blame Ski and Glende -
they were trained by Jeske.

It does not surprise me that a WELS facebook friend would unfriend you after the Jeske post.  Jeske is held in high regard by the WELS and is going nowhere.  I get why you posted it.  First, the presentation is awful, even from a business point of view.  The church point of view is non-existent.

Then, these same people who attended try to bring these new words and ideas back to their churches where the common folk get overwhelmed.  I know this, as being in WELS for over 31 years, these are the same type of presentations made at conferences, church help programs, and seminars.  I personally got tired of it and quit going, which helped lead my critics in our church to push me out.

In the WELS, I see too much cronyism, too much name recognition reward, too much taking the Word of God out of context to prove their new program (the church planning program by WELS put me over the top in taking things out of context), too much of ignoring those who do work hard in the trenches and do not take off evenings, weekends, and have conferences in hot spots.  We spend thousands and thousands on summer conferences like leadership and worship, while our own churches suffer to pay bills.  Ranks apply to the called workers, and when one goes down, little help can be found unless you have a name and good synodical friends.

One thinks that this can be changed by speaking truthfully, studying scripture and making corrections on the out of context use in books, conferences and sermons, and in church operations, but the truth builds enemies who can attack in the ways of the enemies of Christ.  "What is truth" was a question I often asked myself. In spite of my WELS background from birth, through WELS elementary school, through WELS Lutheran High Schools, through Dr. Martin Luther College, through years of teaching, principalship, conferences, summer schooling, school counseling, and the like, I had to resign after battling serious depression and anxiety for over 20 years, and then general frustration.

My law-oriented WELS background (now so obviously pietistic in nature) made be fearful of going against my WELS background out of fear of going to hell.  It is amazing to find many more in my profession who feel the same way, but out of fear of many things, refuse to quit or speak out publicly.

I really don't need to see the negatives about the WELS, as I new many of them, as was affected by some of them as were my children.

I am sure you are a man of faith who has experienced many crosses in your life.  I actually appreciate your humor and your effort to show people what is really going on.  Those who find out are either shocked or don't care and brush over it, as long as they continue to get paid or do not lose their comforts in their church homes.

I find your deep love for your God and the truth in your writings about nature.  If people would really read your articles, and not just turn you away because of what they hear or what somehow has told them, or because of threats, they would find you a truly loving man of God.

God's richest blessings to you!

Keep up the good work for as long as you can!

***

GJ - WELS tried the group attack on this blog for years. When the kids from three colleges (Martin Luther College, Bethany College, Wisconsin Lutheran College) began posting at once, the main effect was to alert three student bodies about Ichabod. The faculty began warning them not to read it and discussed how to do things without the news getting published. Next MLC faculty denied ever talking about keeping things from Ichabod. So funny, that came from the same faculty who were discussing that tactic in front of others.

Although people can email their comments, the hostile ones hardly appear appear, except with some lame attempts to disguise the identity of one Joel Lillo, scorned on four different blogs for his abusive and toxic remarks.

This is where the Booze brothers, Ski and Glende,
worshiped in Atlanta - the new WELS model,
Andy Stanley's, gay Babtist advocate.

The Great Depression in Higher Education Started Five Years Ago

Many decades ago I predicted university education costs would soar because government loans were inflating the price of school. Like medicine, the individual cost was not a big problem because most of it was covered in some way. Universal health insurance either drives the price up or cuts down services - or both.

As experts are noticing at last, college have no incentive to cut costs when the difference will be made up in readily available student loans.

The Lutheran seminaries have followed the same path, leading to incredible costs for useless degrees. If an art history degree is useless, what value is an MDiv from a synod that delights in getting rid on young pastors? The wives put their husbands through seminary (another subsidy for the synods) and usually work outside the home in the parish. The synods put less and less money into their own schools while sprucing them up.

Every college has to look like a country club and every Lutheran seminary has to have bigger dorm rooms, a deluxe chapel, and big offices for the professors. How did they exist before? - we wonder.

Colleges, universities, and for-profit higher education corporations are closing down. In ELCA, Chicago, Berkeley, Southern, and Luther have had their crises. All four have partnerships with other schools. The seminaries merge with their colleges to reduce costs and sell off extra property. Overlooking the ocean with a handful of students? The dollar signs dance in their eyes. Sell! Sell!

Berkeley and Southern have already rejoiced in their new collegial relationships. Luther fired their president for running the largest seminary into a sea of red ink. My old seminary in Canada sent a letter asking for money to bail them out of their pension shortage.

The ELS and CLC (sic) must ask themselves why they have an entire school set up to teach one or two graduates per year for sects that are shrinking faster than Hillary's nomination chances.

Likewise, WELS must wonder how much longer they have to prop up Martin Luther College, where the students are known chiefly for drinking, cross-dressing, coming out of the closet, and spending their extra money on gambling.

In the years to come, many expensive but lesser known schools will close, because parents are not going to spend $50,000 a year (gross, far cheaper with loans and some grants) for an unknown school. There are hundreds of them, bereft of their old ethnic alumni support, short on endowment funds, long on fixed costs, racing to be as spiffy as Olde Squeffingham College down the road.

Scholarships are aimed at enticing first-year students, making it far more expensive to stay for all four years. Money is also apportioned to appeal to the affluent. Poor people do not load up the annual fund appeal with gifts.

Similarly, Martin Luther College is not far from Bethany Lutheran College and One Room Seminary. If Schone drives out students from MLC, they drop into BLC. If they want the urban experience, they have Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee and Concordia University in Mequon (far more scenic).

We will see a collapse of overbuilt colleges and universities that expanded for the Boomer generation. The Boomers packed into those schools and came back for more education, but the same schools used loans to build up the physical while bankrupting their students, who are still stuck with the loans.

Beware of offending students who text throughout the class.
The school sees them as walking bags of money.

Martin Luther College and Bethany Lutheran College: Judgment Day for WELS/ELS

Zachary Stowe cannot spell, but he was trained at Martin Luther College,
the WELS School of Ministry, in teaching.
Stowe linked  the WELS GLBTQ FB page on his page.

May 25, 2014 email from Zachard Stowe, which he copied on his Facebook page for all his allies to see:

"[Obscene introduction omitted.] 

I just wanted to help soothe your soul about the conspiracy that took place concerning my graduation. There is none. Do you really think that those homophobes on the hill would have let me walk to get my diploma if they knew that I think guys are cute?! No they would have cast me out like a leper, just like Jesus did (right?). Anyway. The only way I was able to walk at a graduation was to lie. I lied to their faces about who I am. Covered it up, like the rape scandals you like so much (since when did we become Catholic?) So. yeah, I hid it all. What else was I supposed to do? Be myself and express myself the way God made me? Of course not, I would much rather ball it up inside crushing my sense of self-esteem and self-worth in the process. That's what Jesus would do, right?  Anywho, if you are wondering, I am not mad about your recent post that featured a screen grab of my diploma grab. I am actually quite flattered. Call me a drama queen, but I love to stir the pot and cause controversy (at least Schone seems to think so). 

The only problem I have is that you used an old school ID photo from two years ago. It doesn't capture my fabulousness correctly. If you wanted a more recent photo you should have asked. I have some fun pictures on Grindr. All you had to do was message me. (Grindr is that app that fags use to find [obscene, deleted]. But I'm sure you knew that since, well let's face it, some of the most homophobic people are really gay themselves.) Glad we could chat. 

I'm off to destroy the WELS one [obscene word deleted] at a time!

P.S. I made some great friends over at the ACLU during that whole "Inherit the Wind" thing that gave you such joy you probably started lactating. So, you may want to be careful about the libel and slander you post online...we already have people in America who spread lies. They're called Republicans. 

stowezm@gmail.com

Earlier photo, Zachary Stowe:
Earrings, matching necklace, lavender shirt. No one knew!

***

GJ - The lavender lobby at Martin Luther College (WELS) and Bethany Lutheran College (ELS) wants to take me to court and shut down my blog. They want to engage the American Civil Liberties Union to deprive me of my First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religion. My crime was copying their Facebook remarks and quoting their college friends, who said a deal was made.

Zak blocked me from his Facebook page and unfriended people he suspected of telling the truth. The lavender lobby likes to rage behind the supposed security of a public website. They also imagine their emails are their own private property, even after sending them.

WELS and ELS members ought to read the email above and other messages from this group. That should inform them about where their millions of dollars of contributions are going. If this group is so sympathetic to Zak's cause, then why are they are Martin Luther College and Bethany Lutheran College?

The drama group was angered that Schone would shut down their little play, Inherit the Wind. They were silenced, but they want to silence others. Have they learned anything in college?

"That *literally* is just made up, there is no truth to it, you just made it up to make WELS look bad. I'm good friends with Zak, I've known he's gay for awhile, talked with him during the Inherit The Wind debacle and subsequent visits he's had with professors." Anonymous email from K.

So - a lot of people knew, but Schone did not. I admit that Schone's wardrobe lends credence to the claim of cluelessness, but a group of people knew and were not talking? They never seem to stop talking, tweeting, and emailing.

Jeff Schone models what not to wear.

Strange how "K" wants to tell me off anonymously by calling me a liar "who just wants to make WELS look bad."

The lavender group is doing  just that - making WELS look bad - and their leader Zachary said he wanted to destroy WELS one [omitted] at a time.

Now they are all worried about their jobs. They should not be anxious. The eight who plagiarized Party in the Fire Island Pines are all doing well. One is shilling for a DP.

These dimwits did not know they were plagiarizing a gay video from Fire Island!
How are they qualified to be pastors and teachers?

Stowe is getting his wish.