Books I Am Not Reading

I am not reading Tim Keller's book, The Reason for God. Calvinists cannot resist using logic and rationalism to prove God really does exist. They oppose the efficacy of the Word, as I have shown from direct quotations in Calvin's turgid works.

Keller is a Presbyterian (Calvinist), popular with Fuller Seminary. Here is a link.

Pastor Rick, Crown of Life, Corona, California.

What I'm Reading
The Reason for God by Tim Keller.
Prepared to Answer II by Mark Paustian. A WELS professor being listed on a Church Shrinker blog? More research is needed.

***

Also - I am not reading any books by Leonard Sweet.

ELCA Dissolving

Ichabodians will recall that Pastor Rick, a classy guy, criticized me for being a member of more than one Lutheran synod. This apparently excused him from bragging about his anti-Christian reading (Sweet and Hybels).

Consider for a moment what someone has posted on the ALPB discussion group:


Re: That Goodsoil Eucharist
« Reply #107 on: August 12, 2007, 01:08:22 AM »

Quote from: Paula Murray on August 11, 2007, 04:52:29 PM

No one has to lead a congregation out of the ELCA, Jerry, the problem will be keeping them there.

That is true to my experience here. For almost 3 years now, I have been regularly asked by members of this congregation why we have not already left the ELCA. I expect, given the news coverage that we are receiving now (one of my daughters heard about this on the radio this afternoon), that more of the members here will be urging the congregation to leave the ELCA.
Mel Harris

I left the LCA in 1987, before the merger even took place. I also wrote about why I left the LCA and joined WELS.

Four things disgusted me about the Wisconsin Synod:
1. WELS worked with the ELCA on a host of religious projects and did not want their apostate sister-church offended.
2. WELS embraced the Church Growth Movement at every level (synod, district, Columbus, seminary) and lied constantly about it.
3. WELS leaders were so corrupt that they would grab a sexual predator kicked out of the ministry and defend the predator's false doctrine.
4. WELS pastors did not have the guts to fight anything.

I do not see much difference between the synods and the pastors. The messages supporting the facts reported here come from the laity. The abusive comments (many squelched because they are so repetitive) are from clergy.

Church and Change Shocker - WELS

Church and Change has its own jumpword on the WELS website. See this link before someone changes it:

http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?804&jumpword=church%20and%20change

Issues in WELS does not have its own jumpword. Nor does Ichabod. Mrs. Ichabod was grieved to hear this.

Wouldn't a jumpword on the search feature at the WELS.net site qualify as an endorsement by The Love Shack? Yet the WELS AnswerMan wrote this:


Q:
I recently was sent this copy and I am wondering if this is a WELS sponsered event. I found it a little strange to say the least, especially in some of the noted items such as "Insightful interviews with former WELS members" and the keynote speaker being Leonard Sweet. I know I received a brochure for the WELS Worhip Conference in MN this summer, so I'm wondering what this is, and what is the "Church and Change Steering Committee?" Is there a link on the synod website for the listserv this brochure speaks of? Here is the copy: 2005 Church and Change Conference November 9-11 Madison, Wisconsin The 2005 Church and Change Conference will challenge, inspire, and encourage you as a Christian and as a leader of Christians. But then, when several hundred creative WELS pacesetters gather around God's Word and share their ideas, that's what we expect would happen. We are excited to announce that world-class Christian researcher and communicator Dr. Leonard Sweet will be the keynote speaker for this year's conference. He will address the general session all day on Thursday, November 10. More information about Dr. Sweet can be found at http://www.leonardsweet.com/biocv.asp In addition to Dr. Sweet, we are putting together 15-18 workshops that will cover subjects such as: * New approaches to children's and youth ministry. * Starting a contemporary worship service. * New and effective approaches to apologetics (defending what we believe). * Insightful interviews with former WELS members. * Women's ministries. * Small groups. * Preaching in today's world. * And much more... The conference steering committee is interested in hearing about workshop topics you feel are beneficial for this year's conference. Please share your suggestions with Barry Spencer at spebar@tds.net. New to this year's conference will be a Church and Change Exhibit Hall. This room will feature the latest in ministry resources! This conference is for innovative Christian leaders like yourself. Please keep it in your prayers! Mark your calendar now! Invite your friends. And stay tuned to our Church and Change listserv for information updates in the coming weeks and months.
A:
The Church and Change conference is put on by leaders of a number of WELS congregations, but it is not sponsored by WELS. Church and Change people have, however, reported to our Conference of Presidents in regard to their activities and WELS does send one of its administrators to attend the conference. The Conference of Presidents has in the past urged discretion on the part of all WELS affiliated organizations who use speakers from outside our doctrinal fellowship. We do not have a web link to connect you to information on the speaker.

***
GJ - Does anyone else think WELS has Sweet on speed-dial?

Pastor Rick wrote about Sweet on his blogsite. Here is the link. Hurry before it is erased:

http://pastorrickjohnson.blogspot.com/2007/08/gospel-according-to-starbucks-my.html

Why am I doing homework for WELS students? All this information is available on the Internet. The difference is that Ichabod offers concentrated, focused information.

Comments and Humor Policy

Comments
Nasty comments need to be signed with the author's actual name, address, and synod affiliation.

Comments adding to people's perspective (whether they agree with me or not) can be anonymous. I know how the WELS KGB works. Look at how fast Corona's pastor took down his shrine to Church Growth heroes (without mentioning it) and erasing his offering record. So informative anonymous comments are welcome.

Ichabod is a free service for everyone. That does not mean everyone has a right to say anything he pleases, anonymously.

Humor
Yes, I know what FIC means. I enjoy playing with names that fit the actual publication. Slick Brenner used to call The Northwestern Lutheran, "The Ladies Home Companion." That was before the magazine got really insipid. Someone else called it Chicken Soup for the Soul, so I adopted that for the anti-Lutheran new title.

How can I call the periodical for the Little Sect on the Prairie The Lutheran Sentinel when the writers are obviously not Lutheran and decidedly not awake? The Lutheran Sound-Asleep is far closer to the truth and rather flattering at that. I am still giving the ELS some credit for some shreds of Lutheran doctrine.

Damage Control at Crown of Life, WELS Corona, California

Crown of Life, Corona, WELS, has already taken its offering report off the website. Is someone reading Ichabod?

Damage Control at the Love Shack swings into action, again. They have plenty of practice.

If a few hundred people reported what was going on, a lot of things would stop.

Breaking News
Pastor Rick described his actions on his own blog:

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Offering Link Removed...file this under "just plain strange"
I was alerted that a pastor with an ax to grind against the WELS and for some reason against Crown of Life had posted on his blog a link to the offerings statement on our church website. The content of the link was the monthly offerings summary for general and designated offerings. No individual offerings were mentioned, just the summary that we do for the District Mission Board. We buried this in our church website but alerted members how to find it since it was really an in-house thing and meant for COL members. We didn't and in retrospect probably should have pass-worded it. However, since this person decided that he would link to it, I asked our webmaster to remove that page. There was no information in it that isn't available in the WELS Statistical Report which is a public document, nothing privileged or private. However, that wasn't the first page on our church site that we wanted guests to visit and since our "statistics" indicated that they were, it's now gone.As for the man who did this, I don't know him personally. A web search revealed that he was a pastor in WELS for a short time, as well as a couple of other church bodies, and now is the pastor of an independent congregation. I will not mention his name so as not to give more attention to him than he already seems to crave. Why would he do such a strange thing? Who knows but in my opinion, it was definitely a no-class act on his part. COLers, I will send you a quarterly update letter by USPS with the offerings info. Sorry, but we didn't think that someone somewhere would act in such a way, especially someone who calls himself a pastor.

Pastor Rick - Class Incarnate
I have to marvel at the consistency of WELS pastoral behavior. Deception tactics learned at GA (their secret hazing ritual) are never forgotten. Pastor Rick published his gushing-red-ink offering reports on his church website, with a clear link to them. I did not find the link, but another information maven did.

Pastor Rick did something both odd and foolish, publishing the offering information on his church website. Instead of apologizing to the congregation, he blew a cloud of smoke. He also took off the list of books just read, which led with Willow Creek's Hybel and that master of apostate self-indulgence, Leonard Sweet. The reading list was on his blog and is now gone. Why? Isn't he proud of his reading list?

Pastor Rick does not know me, so why does he cover his tracks with his disparaging remarks? I am flatterred and encouraged. He cannot make a case for his favorite theologians or the fruit of his Church Growth agenda. My friend read the offering figures and said, "It looks to me like Crown of Life Ministries is going broke faster than the synod unless the last three months have been good."

I copy things and link them on my blog because WELS pastors are so quick to deceive people and say, "I never said that. It never happened."
I created my Megatron quotation database because President-in-Waiting Wayne Mueller denied there was any Church Growth Movement in WELS. I soon had 500 quotations, many of them leaked to me from various WELS pastors. Robert Preus sent a CG poster to Herman Otten. On it he wrote, "WELS is worse than Missouri on this."

Remember those words of Dr. Preus, o partisans of WELS, the next time The Love Shack denies something.

Rev. Leonard Sweet - Liberal Methodist WELS Theologian

Read and weep - his website:

http://www.leonardsweet.com/

His autobiography:

"One of the church's most important and provocative thinkers."Voted "One of the 50 Most Influential Christians in America" (2006, 2207)"No church leader understands better how to navigate the seas of the 21st century."

"A writer of vast imagination, poise and charm."

"I can't imagine a Christian leader in America who hasn't read one or more of Leonard Sweet's books."

"Some statistician-types will drown you in doom and gloom. Sweet's message is uplifting, hopeful and relevant."

These are but a sampling of responses to Len's three-ring mission: as a historian of American culture; as a futurist/semiotician who "sees things the rest of us do not see, and dreams possibilities that are beyond most of our imagining;" and as a preacher and writer who communicates the gospel powerfully to a postmodem age by bridging the worlds of academe and popular culture.

Currently the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, Madison, NJ and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University, Portland, Oregon, Len has been Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew University for five years, Previous to Drew Len served for eleven years as President and Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. Prior to 1985, Len was Provost of Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York.

Involved in leadership positions in the United Methodist Church, Len has been chosen to speak at various Jurisdictional and General Conferences as well as the 1996 World Methodist Congress in Rio de Janeiro. He also serves as a consultant to many of America's denominational leaders and agencies. He is a member of the West Virginia Annual Conference.
Seminary Hall at Drew University.

Author of more than one hundred articles, over six hundred published sermons, and dozens of books, Len is the primary contributor (along with his wife Karen Elizabeth Rennie) to the web-based preaching resource, www.preachingplus.com. For nine years he and his wife wrote Homiletics, which became under their watch the premier preaching resource in North America. His best-selling book FaithQuakes (1994), selected as one of the "10 best religion books" and "10 must-read books" of 1994 has been succeeded by a new best-seller SoulTsunami: Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture (1999).

Soul Tsunami was the first in a trilogy of third millennium resources to help leaders come to terms with postmodern culture. The second installment on how to "do church," AquaChurch, was published in 1999. How to "do life" is the focus of the third volume, SoulSalsa: 17 Surprising Steps to Godly Living, which hit the bookstores in 2000 at the same time an original theme song for the book "Soul Salsa" hit the charts (you had to be age six to like it). Each book in Len's postmodern trilogy has its own website and multi-medial components, some of which have already received national awards. One was even nominated for a Grammy.

In 2000 two more books appeared. Postmodern Pilgrims, and the first religion e-book on Amazon.com written as an e-book, The Dawn Mistaken for Dusk: If God So Loved the World, Why Can't We? The e-book came out in an expanded hardback version in the summer of 2001 under the title Carpe Manana: Is Your Church Ready to Seize Tomorrow? In the past two years, five books have been published: "A" is for Abductive: the Language of the Emerging Church (with Brian McLaren and Jerry Haselmeyer); Jesus Drives Me Crazy: Lose Your Mind, Find Your Soul; The Church in the Emerging Culture (with Michael Horton, Erwin McManus, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Andy Crouch, and Brian McLaren), Summoned to Lead, and his two most recent books, Out of the Question . . . Into the Mystery: Getting Lost in the GodLife Relationship and The 3 Hardest Words in the World to Get Right. His a Web-based preaching resource PreachingPlus.com (in partnership with Group Publishing) was launched in February of 2001, and has now become Wikiletics.com, the first open-source preaching resource on the Web.

His most current book is The Gospel According to Starbucks (2007). Founder and President of SpiritVenture Ministries (SVM), in 1995 Len launched Sweet's SoulCafe, a spirituality newsletter for postmoderns that was purchased by Broadman&Holman Publishing. Current projects include a biography of Phoebe Palmer in the American religion biography series, a textbook on preaching entitled Giving Blood, The Leadership Myth (with Joseph R. Myers), and Pay Attention: Every Bush is Burning. Len is also working on his first novel (A Postmodern Pilgrim's Progress), and a multi-media leadership resource yet untitled.
Len has served a term on the council of the American Society of Church History, was an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion for ten years, and is a member of numerous professional groups. An honors and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Richmond, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. The recent recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond (Virginia), Baker University (Kansas), Otterbein College (Ohio), Coe College (Iowa), and Lebanon Valley College (Pennsylvania), Len has held distinguished lectureships at various colleges, universities and seminaries, and has presented academic papers before major professional societies. He is a frequent speaker at national conferences, state conventions, pastors' schools, retreats, and a featured columnist for REV. magazine.

Len is increasingly being asked to lecture around the world, and has spoken in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Korea, Iceland, Scotland, etc... [GJ - Why not mention WELS Church and Change? After all those bucks they paid him?]

WELS Worship - Fuller Seminary Style Leonard Sweet Would Be Proud

http://www.crownoflifechurch.net/worship.html

Come in and check us out!

We're excited about being part of this community, and we'd love to meet you. Crown of Life's services are held in our newly built Ministry Center located at 2725 S. Main Street in Corona. Please see below for directions and a map.

8:30 a.m. ~ Traditional Worship called Heritage of Faith where Pastor Rick wears vestments, we make use of the liturgy, and a pianist leads our worship with hymns.

9:30 a.m. ~ Sunday School for all age children (preschool through High School) taught by Christian adults, and the Adult Bible Study led by Pastor Rick.

10:30 a.m. ~ Contemporary Worship called Faith for Today. The service is led by Pastor Rick and our own COL Adoration Band, using video projection, and singing the best of today's Christian music. Children's education and nursery are offered.

6:00 p.m. ~ Crown of Life Bible Institute (COLBI) is on temporary hiatus until further notice.

WELS should not count on hefty donations. Look at the offerings and the deficits:

http://www.crownoflifechurch.net/offering.html