Don't Waste Your Money on Synodical Seminary Tuition - The Truth Here:“Dear Synod” | Priestly Rant

“Dear Synod”

Posted on May 8, 2013

[What follows is not my work, but was sent to me in an e-mail and I was asked if I would post it. Absolutely.]

Dear Synod,

Allow me to introduce myself.  I was born into a Lutheran family.  My father is a Lutheran pastor and has been my entire life.  I was baptized and made a child of God’s kingdom when I was three weeks old.  I attended Lutheran grade schools, and Lutheran high school, and one of the Concordias for college.  Shortly after college I got married and moved with my new husband to the seminary, where he studies to become a pastor.  We received our first Call fresh out of the seminary and served there for four years until we took another Call.  That one didn’t last four years.  Tensions built until my husband was granted a “peaceful release.”  That was nearly two years ago.  Since then things have been very difficult, to say the least.  We are not alone, either.  There are many other men out there in the same boat who have simply been let go from their congregations for one reason or another.  We are real people.  We are not merely statistics.  We have children who are hurting, bills to pay, decisions to make for our futures, and wounding hearts that desperately need the love of Christ in a tangible way.

This, then, is CRM.

Technically speaking, CRM means “candidate for the reverend ministry.”  Derisively but truthfully it is called “Completely Ruined Ministry.”  We have found that to be the case.  No one in a position to do anything seems to be willing to actually help. Men on CRM have to deal with the stigma of being blacklisted, and it is often assumed that they got what was coming to them. Somehow the congregation that removed their pastor becomes almighty- the congregation can do no wrong. The pastor is presumed guilty out of hand. Thus many district presidents do not wish even to touch pastors on CRM. Too messy or too controversial.

Synod by-laws allow three reasons a pastor be released from a Call:

1.  Teaching or promoting false doctrine,

2.  An immoral lifestyle, or

3.  Willful refusal or inability to execute one’s duties

My husband was not released for any of those reasons. His style of ministry was simply not what the influential and vocal members of our congregation wanted, so they fired him. Yes, dear Synod. Call it what it is. He was fired. There was no “peaceful release.”  There was slander and betrayal enough to make a soap opera look tame. I’d like to say ours is a unique situation, but you know the truth as well as I- a good number of men on CRM had no valid reason for their release. They were simply fired, as one would expect in the business world. But if we are to allow this offense, then why are these men not allowed to submit resumes to churches and apply for positions as is done in the business world?  Why bother to insist that the Call is divine?  It cannot work both ways, dear Synod. It cannot.

Many fine men have been fighting the CRM fight much longer than I and have put forth resolutions and petitions, and offered specific steps that should be taken to help correct this problem. I will leave the verbiage and technicalities to them. That is their area of expertise and not mine. I am simply a voice for the families affected by all this. This problem is not a few rogue pastors wallowing in self-pity. No, dear Synod, the effects are much more far-reaching. Let me show you who is affected and how.

PASTORS: Let’s start with the obvious here. Yes, pastors are the ones most directly affected by CRM. But what you might not realize is that this widening problem affects ALL pastors. By allowing congregations to fire their pastors, the entire Office of the Holy Ministry is cheapened. All pastors have the possibility of getting booted out looming over their heads. Any complaints that arise have the potential of getting blown out of proportion. It’s a nasty business, especially in the church, to have to be suspicious and on one’s guard continually.

And what of the actual pastors put on CRM unwillingly and unfairly?  My husband, like all other men on CRM, went through 8 years of schooling to become a pastor. Now he works in a job he despises and could have gotten out of high school.  He does it for us, his family. He still provides for us and I am proud of him for it, but he has lost his dignity, his morale, and his sense of identity. Even if he were to receive another Call he will still have that sense of unease that at any time betrayal could happen again. Another pastor whom I contacted just this week went through CRM himself. His words are as follows: “I lost everything.  Church, home, income, potential, reputation, health, wife, and children, AND had to and still have to face scorn.”  At a further point in our communication I told him I hoped I hadn’t hurt him by any of my direct comments. His reply is heart-breaking. He said, “You haven’t hurt me. There’s nothing left to hurt.”

SPOUSES:  As the wife and mother of my family I hold the position of being the emotional heart of my home. It is a position I value highly, but it has never been more difficult than it has been over the last two years. It is difficult to encourage everyone else when I myself am disheartened and at times even bordering on depression. I cannot tell you how difficult it was for me to watch my husband being publicly slandered and then to watch the effects his release had on him afterward. He is simply not the same person, and truthfully, neither am I. Our marriage has been severely tested, but we are still together. Others are not as fortunate. When my husband was fired I lost pretty much everything I knew- my involvement there, my friends, my church home, and all this at a time when support from one’s church family is more crucial than ever. People I thought were friends betrayed us. That cuts deeply. I struggle daily with feelings of bitterness. The devil loves this, you know. He loves every bit of this. He loves that another faithful pastor has been silenced for now and that we are struggling so. He daily tries to remind me of people against whom I should hold a grudge. He does his job all too well. He even tempts me to stew in bitterness against you, dear Synod, because by doing nothing so far you are in effect condoning the congregations who so blithely and casually remove their pastors. God is using this time to change my heart. Make no mistake, as in the story of Joseph, God can and will turn evil intentions into good, to be used for His purposes. I may not yet know what those intentions are. Perhaps I will never know. But it’s a daily struggle to latch onto that promise. Quite frankly, most days it’s much easier to wallow in despair and self-pity and doubt. What of the other wives in the same position?  What hope can be offered to them?

A week ago both seminaries had their placement services for vicarage and their Call services for candidates graduating and ready to be ordained.  While I am excited for those men who were assigned a Call, I am also deeply hurt by the comments and pleas that we still have vacancies to fill and need more workers in the harvest field.  Ouch, dear Synod.  Ouch.  What of us?  You have a willing, fully trained group of men on CRM who would gladly fill those positions if given the chance!  You might argue that some men on CRM truly are unfit for the ministry at this point, and that is true, but the majority of the 200+ of us do not fall into the “unfit” category.  Those comments cut me like a knife.  It was salt in a wound.  Please don’t patronize us anymore.  Please don’t ignore that we are here and waiting.  Please help us.

CHILDREN:  This is perhaps the most heartbreaking of all casualties. Do you realize, dear Synod, that our children were abruptly yanked from their friends and school and plopped down in a new school with the knowledge that their father had just been fired from our former parish, all within the span of 24 hours?  That’s a lot for any kid to take in. My husband and I did our very best to keep the growing tensions at our parish away from them. They simply didn’t need to know. If the vote had gone the other way and my husband had stayed pastor there, our kids would have been none the wiser for it. The way it happened was tragic. Just the other day, our oldest son cleaned his room and came across an old yearbook. At bedtime I could tell something was wrong and asked him if he wanted to talk. He admitted he had found his yearbook from our former parish and looked through it and was missing his friends there. He told me he had hidden it under his bed and then pleaded, “Don’t tell Daddy.”  All I could do was cry with him. He is afraid to even talk about our time there for fear it will hurt Daddy’s feelings or upset him. We have four children. The younger two may escape unscathed, but our older two are witnessing this entire thing, and they are extremely astute. They can read between the lines. I have seen certain behaviors that I believe arise from the uncertainty of everything. They fear we will have to uproot again and they are probably right. Oh, and let’s not forget this, dear Synod. Do you honestly think our kids, or the kids of any of our fellow brethren on CRM will even consider going into church work someday?  I most certainly think not. After seeing the shameful way their father has been treated I don’t know that they will even want to stay in the LCMS, and I wouldn’t blame them one bit. You are shooting yourself in the foot in terms of the next generation.

CONGREGATIONS:  The whole business of allowing congregations to willfully remove their pastors is extremely dangerous to those congregations. Spiritually dangerous, that is. Congregations simply must be held accountable. To allow them to continue in sin is harmful. Church discipline must be practiced here to produce repentance. Like excommunication, when practiced rightly, the goal is to bring about repentance and reconciliation. When our church removed my husband a “district official” came to them and basically said that if they continued along this path they would not grow. Really?!?  This is “discipline?”  That’s not even a slap on the wrist!  What of those there who truly feel they were doing God’s will?  What of their spiritual condition?  It is uncaring and negligent not to work with these congregations and lovingly catechize them on what it is to respect the Office of the Holy Ministry.  It is folly not to work with them to bring peace and healing within their own members.  The congregation we left was divided, dear Synod.  Some families left with us, some stayed.  What of those who supported us who are sitting next to those who most vocally spoke against us?  Do you find it the least bit galling to think they are still communing together, without ever really having worked through their differences?  It is the job of the district and ultimately you, dear Synod, to see to the spiritual well-being of the churches in your care.  We are dealing with people’s eternal destiny here.  This is far too important to ignore.

SYNOD:  Yes, dear Synod, even you are affected by the continuation of this whole CRM thing.  Non-churched or non-Lutheran friends and family know our situation.  They ask why we can’t simply be reassigned.  What can we tell them?  What kind of image does this portray to them?  When we ask them to come to church with us, what will they say?  Is this the best you can do for your pastors?  You have almost become a laughingstock.  And let’s not rule out the possibility that young men in high school or college may know families like us and decide it’s just too risky to enter church work.  You say you need workers in the harvest field, but at the same time you discourage those who would enter church work by allowing this situation to perpetuate.  What will happen if all the children of all the men on CRM leave you and flee to another denomination with far less sound doctrine?  What will happen if our young men decide to look at other vocation options?  Where will we be as a synod then?  What will become of the spouses of the pastors on CRM?  We have our own unique talents and abilities to offer congregations as well.  Some of us teach Sunday School, sing in the choir, play handbells, coordinate VBS, serve on the Ladies Aid, get involved in LWML, and so much more.  In getting rid of our husbands you also get rid of us.  The effects are so much more complex than most people realize.

So now what?  Where do we go from here?  Dear Synod, we need your help.  We don’t need you to tell us you’re aware of the situation.  We don’t need you to tell us you’ll pray for us or that you’re working on it.  We’ve heard all those things before.  We need you to ACT.  Consider the resolutions and proposals already set forth.  Have your district presidents pick up the phone and call us to ask how they can help.  It’s time to heed the admonitions of the apostle James.  “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.”  (James 2:16-17)  We are real people with real problems.  We are the brothers and sisters James mentions who are without clothes and daily food.  Don’t give us pat answers.  Don’t shower us with false piety or empty promises.  Please help us.  Show us that the brotherly love of which James speaks is alive and well in the LCMS.  Give our husbands a chance to serve as they have been trained.  Show our children that ours is a faithful synod.  Please, dear Synod.  It’s time to act.

Sincerely,

A Sister in Christ

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From a WELS Source

Here’s the new WLS seminary professor of the recently created “Chair of Everlasting All-Purpose Justification” explaining how everyone gets to heaven. It turns out, it’s all about the money after all!

 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/0AKvRvL5r3A?rel=0

VirtueOnline - News. Apostates Stealing the Property - Not Just in WELS

VirtueOnline - News:

SANTA ANA, CA: Superior Court Rules Newport Beach Property belongs to Diocese

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org 
May 6, 2013 

The Orange County Superior Court yesterday granted a motion by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles seeking possession of a Newport Beach church campus owned by St. James Anglican Church.

The Rev. Richard Crocker who serves as St. James' chief pastor, said, "We are obviously disappointed at the ruling of the court, and surprised that an agreement reached over 20 years ago to facilitate the development of our campus could be swept away like this. But we are a church seeking to follow Jesus, and pursue his mission. We will be in prayer for guidance as to our next steps."

"The wrinkle in the St. James case -- a feature which distinguished it from the cases of two other parishes in the Diocese of Los Angeles (St. David's Hollywood; and All Saints, Long Beach) which Judge Dunning ruled last September could not retain their properties either -- was that St. James had been given an explicit letter from the Diocese in 1991 prior to purchasing the property at issue here, and undertaking the multi-million-dollar expense of developing it. The letter, written by then Canon to the Ordinary D. Bruce MacPherson (who resigned last year from his later jurisdiction as the bishop diocesan of Western Louisiana), told the parish (its text is reproduced on page 5 of the opinion linked above, and a facsimile of the original may be viewed on page 12 of the brief linked here; I have added the bold emphasis below): The Rector, Wardens and Vestry of Saint James' Parish, Inc. of Newport Beach, are given permission by the Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, to purchase and own the property on 32nd Street in Newport Beach, in the name of the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of Saint James' Parish, Inc. and not held in trust for the Diocese of Los Angeles, or the Corporation Sole", noted "Curmudgeon" canon lawyer Allan S. Haley.

The Rector, Wardens and Vestry of Saint James' Parish, Inc. of Newport Beach, were given permission by the Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, to purchase and own the property on 32nd Street in Newport Beach, in the name of the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of Saint James' Parish, Inc. and not held in trust for the Diocese of Los Angeles, or the Corporation Sole -- a feature which distinguished it from the cases of two other parishes in the Diocese of Los Angeles (St. David's Hollywood; and All Saints, Long Beach) which Judge Dunning ruled last September could not retain their properties either.

St. James, a congregation of approximately 700, has worshipped at the Lido Isle property since 1949. In 1991, before purchasing the adjacent parcel and raising funds from its members to build an entirely new sanctuary and administrative offices, St. James asked for a letter from the Diocese waiving any ownership claims, which the Diocese provided. In 2004, after longstanding differences of opinion, St. James' congregation voted to disaffiliate from the Diocese and the national Episcopal Church. Both then sued the Newport Beach church, claiming ownership of the 11 year old buildings.

Daniel F. Lula, lead counsel for St. James, said the ruling was unexpected both in its content and because the case was scheduled to go to trial on May 6. "We're obviously disappointed in the court's ruling. By holding that the written waiver the Diocese gave St. James was ineffective, the court's opened the door to denominations walking back on their promises to local congregations. At this point, we're evaluating whether to appeal."

The court's ruling does not contain a date by which St. James must turn over the property, and the ruling may be put on hold pending appeal. For the time being, St. James continues to worship at 3209 Via Lido, Newport Beach. 

END

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Sale of WELS Love Shack Completed | Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)

Sale of the WELS Love Shack Completed | Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS):


On Thurs., May 2, the synod finalized the sale of the Love Shack on Mayfair Road in Wauwatosa. The sale price was $2 million.

The current Synod Administration Building has served as the synod's headquarters since it was purchased in February 1984. We remember with fondness the room divider Ron Roth hid behind when Slick Brenner came in to visit with him. The Love Shack is in need of extensive renovation, and when an unsolicited offer to purchase the building was received, the Synodical Council (SC) did high fives and authorized the purchase of a building in Waukesha for $2.85 million. The first sale of the Mayfair property fell through when the potential buyer took a good look at it. The offer of another buyer, deeply discounted, was accepted in January, and the sale closed last week. Good thing, because we were really needing all that money we wasted on buying a bar for Tim Glende.

This new home for synodical administration is located in Waukesha along I-94 on Stone Ridge Dr. It will be called the WELS P.U. Towers - for Pewaukee Universalist Towers. The building has 33,000 square feet of space on two floors and features a military grade paper shredder. All areas of ministry and departments of the synod, along with WELS subsidiaries (WELS Church Extension Fund, WELS Foundation, WELS Investment Funds, WELS bail bondsman, and WELS Benefit Plans), will be located at the new site. The building also has an unfinished basement level that will provide ample storage, a crypt for people who leak to Ichabod, and a possible future home for the WELS Archives, now housed at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

Work has already begun to prepare the Waukesha building for occupancy. This includes the creation of some private offices and a chapel area, replacement of the carpet, and the purchase of furnishings (mostly acquired at a very reasonable price from our church workers in the prison system). We are grateful that Builders For Christ will be donating their labor for the finish (sic - should be Finnish) carpentry work.

Funding to cover the difference between the proceeds from the sale and the cost of relocation (building purchase, building preparation, furnishings, moving) is available from the Facilities Fund, Financial Stabilization Fund, Thrivent, indulgence sales, and individual gifts.

The move is scheduled to take place by the end of June. An open house and dedication will take place in late summer or early fall. The date will be shared when it is finalized.

On behalf of the Synodical Council, I would like to thank the members of the synod for their patience and support as the SC worked to resolve this debacle.

Update on Congregation Mission Offerings
Congregation Mission Offerings received through the end of April were $6,289,635. This is an increase of 2.1 percent ($127,410) over the same period last year. These results are encouraging because they show a recovery from where we were just a month ago, when 2013 offerings were 7.2 percent less than the same period last year. We thank our congregations and their members for their faithful stewardship of God’s blessings.

Serving in Christ,
President Mark Schroeder


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Google Tells the Truth When Shrinkers Deceive

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Classic Ichabod - Randy Hunter - Whose Latte Churc...":

Church Growth Outfits Unmasked by Google's Algorithms:

Usually the church growthers are so vague about doctrine that they even leave the word Lutheran off their church sign, and also off of any prominent spot on their website, especially the html title of the page. Often they'll just have a graphic with the word Lutheran in the hopes that the word Lutheran doesn't end up in the search results.




However, Google unmasks the church growers because in its search results, it inserts what it feels is a descriptive title, plus a relevant snippet under the title. Thus, if you go to Randy Hunter's site, it just says "St. Andrew" for the title of the page but in the Google results for: St. Andrew Middleton, it inserts the word Lutheran right in the title, and over on the right side, too, where it gives a map. In FireFox, the browser gives the site title in a bar at the top, but in Chrome the title is in the tab. One can hover over the tab to see the entire title. Anyway, church searchers don't need to sniff around Hunter's site to find out it's Lutheran since they'll know right away:

Google: st. andrew middleton

http://www.st-andrew-online.org/

Website of the defunct St. Andrew Waunakee Campus, probably because Google exposed it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110807124013/http://www.st-andrew-online.org/Waunakee.aspx

Google explains how it unmasks the church growthers:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35624

Google's Rich Snippets:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99170

Google unmasks web farms, too:
http://searchengineland.com/the-penguin-update-googles-webspam-algorithm-gets-official-name-119623

Someone Should Do Some Research on These Figures - How Thrivent Spends Lutheran Money

I read the Thrivent figures to Mrs. Ichabod and said, "Look at how they are spending your Lutheran money."
Mrs. I said, "Those aren't my Lutherans."

The LCMS, WELS, and ELS have no idea how little their votes mean about Thrivent leaving the Lutheran fold. That horse was out of the barn years ago.

First, get yourself a Guidestar account, so you can open and save the PDFs that I will discuss.

Guidestar gathers the forms that charities must fill out for the IRS if they have a 501c. Not all the forms are published at Guidestar, but many are up to date, as of the 2011 filings.

Concordia Publishing House files are there. In 2011, it showed Bruce Kintz earning $290,000 and Paul McCain drawing $190,000 in total compensation.

CPH had almost $48 million in assets at the end of 2011.

Herman Otten's Lutheran News is listed. They ended 2011 with about $460,000 in assets minus liabilities.

Thrivent

Form 990 Minneapolis, 2011.

Many congregations and ELCA area synods (districts) get $10,000 grants.

Habitat for Humanity received $10 million. That is $10,000,000.

The Fox Valley Humane organization and the Fox Valley Orchestra both got grants, about $5,000.

US Venture Open got $25,000 for a golf outting-charity thing, which sounds like the current St. Peter in Freedom golfing fest.

Appleton Education Foundation, $29,000.

Rebuilding Together Fox Valley - $53,000.

Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce - a worthy charity! - $12, 635.

Minnesota Orchestra - $33,000.

Minneapolis Council of Churches - $6,000.

Twin Cities United Way -  $10,260.

Salvation Army - $126,000.

ELCA Youth Ministry - $30,207.

Lutheran Educational Conference - $113,000.

Lutheran World Relief - $653,000.

Lutheran Theological Seminary - $42,000. ELCA?

Gettysburg Seminary - ELCA - 45,000. ELCA.

Wisconsin Lutheran College - WELS - $30,000.

Thiel College - ELCA - $24,000.

Wittenberg University - $24,000. ELCA. They just canned 20% of their faculty.

Orphan Grain Train - $424,000. Plus many smaller grants that total another $100,000 or more.

Time of Grace - New Age - $21,000.

Capital University - ELCA - $36,000.

Building Hope in the City - $23,000.

Valparaiso University - ELCA - $122,000.

Wee Creations Pre-school - $6,000.

Augustana College - $56,000. ELCA. There are two Augies, both of them ELCA.

Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago - ELCA. $24,000.

Lutheran Services in America - $246,000.

Adult Lutherans Organized for Action. ELCA/LCMS. $94,000.

Carthage College, ELCA. $39,000.

Lutheran Social Services of Michigan - ELCA. $47,000.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary - WELS. $17,000.

Compensation is listed.

Mark Jeske - New Age - $57,333 for 10 hours of work per week.

Many Thrivent executives earn between $1 and 2 million per year.

Another Roman Catholic Bishop DUI. Is a Bar Ministry in the Works for His Grace?

Roman Catholic Bishop Robert J. McManus earned
the James Tiefel DUI award.
Perhaps he can get a lawyer to erase the charges.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Megan Rohrer's Beatles Mass - Is It Worse Than the...":

Boston area RCC bishop arrested for DUI:

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/05/06/bishop-mcmanus-worcester-arrested-for-drunken-driving-admits-terrible-error-judgment/yX75WO47hFk0hJ3i9apVYN/story.html 

By Travis Andersen and Todd Feathers, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent


Bishop Robert J. McManus, head of the Diocese of Worcester, was arrested for driving under the influence this weekend after police stopped him in Narragansett, R.I., police said.

McManus was arrested at 10:32 p.m. Saturday on charges of drunken driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and refusing a chemical test, Narragansett Police Captain Sean Corrigan said. McManus is to be arraigned Tuesday in district court in Wakefield, R.I.

“I made a terrible error in judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner,” McManus said in a statement. “There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action.”

“More importantly,” he said, “I ask forgiveness from the good people whom I serve, as well as my family and friends, in the Diocese of Worcester and the Diocese of Providence.”

Corrigan told reporters this afternoon that McManus was involved in an accident with another motorist at the intersection of Bridgetown Road and Boston Neck Road.

McManus drove off, Corrigan said. The other driver followed him and called police. Officers arrested the bishop about 20 minutes later in the Bonnet Shores beachfront community on suspicion of drunken driving, according to Corrigan.

He declined to release additional details of the arrest before the arraignment. Asked if the other driver was hurt, Corrigan said, “If there had been serious injuries, then the charges would reflect that. So there [were] no serious injuries.”

There was no answer this afternoon at the tan, ranch-style home on Colonel John J. Gardner Road where McManus was arrested, roughly two miles from the scene of the accident.

A neighbor, Michael Stanziano, 56, said McManus and his siblings inherited the property from their late parents several years ago, and the bishop occasionally visits in the summertime.

“He’s a great guy,” Stanziano said. “I’ve never even seen him drinking.” He said McManus and his siblings generally keep to themselves when they visit, but he and the bishop have spoken in passing.

“They’re great neighbors,” he said.

Stanziano said he was asleep at the time of the arrest but noticed minor front end damage to McManus’s dark-colored Honda Accord the following morning.

Another neighbor, who declined to give her name, said she did not see or hear anything during the arrest and also spoke highly of McManus. “We love him,” she said in a brief interview.

Pope John Paul II appointed McManus as the fifth bishop of the Worcester diocese in 2004.

Todd Feathers can be reached at todd.feathers@globe.com or at @ToddFeathers.
 

Megan Rohrer's Beatles Mass - Is It Worse Than the WELS Polka Mass?See the Thrivent Figures Posted Above

Megan Rohrer

Megan Rohrer bio: 

Megan Rohrer Megan Rohrer is a nationally recognized LGBTQ faith leader, historian, writer, homeless advocate, community organizer and speaker. The first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, Megan was awarded an honorary doctorate from Palo Alto University, won Out History's Since Stonewall Local Histories Competition and co-edited Letters For Our Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in transgender nonfiction.

Megan Rohrer 4 months ago

Thanks for all your comments. Luther took secular tunes sung in pubs and changed the words to fit Christian themes. Your shock and noting that I would be lynched in another time surprises me. People have been using Beatles tunes in masses since the 60's. There has long been theological differences between ELCA Lutherans and Missouri/Wisconsonites, perhaps that is your beef. The words are standard theology. Blessings to you all. God is so much bigger than a video on you tube! Blessed be!

Erich Erving 2 months ago

Megan,

Please do some more critical investigation of Luther and his hymns:

“Of the melodies to Luther’s 37 chorales, 15 were composed by Luther

himself, 13 came from Latin hymns of Latin service music, 4 were derived

from German religious folk songs, 2 had originally been religious

pilgrims’ songs, 2 are of unknown origin, and one came directly from a

secular folk song.” (Data compiled from Squire, pp. 446-447; Leupold, ed., 

Liturgy and Hymns; and Strodach, ed., Works of Martin Luther, VI)

[GJ - Ulrich Leupold was my liturgy professor at Waterloo. He earned a PhD in his field in Berlin at the age of 23.]

Megan's ordination was a little unusual.
He seems to work at two small congregations.

---
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Experience

Assistant Night Minister

Night Ministry

January 2013 – Present (5 months)San Francisco, CA

The San Francisco Night Ministry provides middle-of-the-night compassionate non-judgmental pastoral care, counseling, referral and crisis intervention to anyone in any kind of distress. Through our Crisis Telephone Line staffed by trained volunteer Crisis Line Counselors; and through person-to-person encounters with ordained clergy on the streets, this ministry is available every night of the year from 10:00 pm - 4:00 am.

Contributing Blogger

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

October 2010 – Present (2 years 8 months)

Welcome to LivingLutheran.com

Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and join us at the table for a conversation about what it means to “live Lutheran.”

LivingLutheran.com serves up a daily blend of culture, conversation and community for ELCA members and friends. We’re looking for answers about what it all means and hope you’ll stop by to put in your two cents.

You won’t find breaking news here, although there’s plenty of commentary on what’s happening in the world and what ELCA members think about it. We have resources for congregations, videos to inspire and amuse and places to share what’s on your mind.

We’re probably being a bit presumptuous, but we like to think that Martin Luther would approve.

Executive Director

Welcome

June 2002 – Present (11 years)Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA

Welcome seeks to provide a faithful response to poverty and to improve the quality of life for individuals in our community by providing: hospitality; education; food; and referrals for housing, health care and drug and alcohol treatment.

Major Projects include:
*Saturday Community Dinners (feeds between 150 and 300 individuals twice a month)
*Tuesday Welcome Center (feeds 25-45 each Tuesday and provides one-on-one care)
*Community Gardening Project (grown and given away more than 7,000 pounds of free produce on unused church properties in the San Francisco Bay Area)
*Just Lutheran (a do-it-yourself guide to responding to poverty)
*LGBTQ homeless youth leadership project (recording the oral histories of homeless youth around the country and mentoring San Francisco youth who use the history of a similar group in the 60's, art and magazine writing to advocate for their needs)
*SF CARES (a partnership with the San Francisco Night Ministry, St. Paulus Lutheran Church and the Faithful Fools to advocate for individuals with mental health issues and traumatic brain injuries).

Provider and Resource Manager

Project Homeless Connect

January 2012 – August 2012 (8 months)San Francisco, CA

The mission of Project Homeless Connect (PHC) is to provide a single location where non profit medical and social service providers collaborate to serve the homeless of San Francisco with comprehensive, holistic services.

Growing Home Community Garden Manager

Project Homeless Connect

April 2010 – January 2012 (1 year 10 months)Octavia/Lily, San Francisco, CA

The Growing Home Community Garden won the 2010 NEN Best Community Challenge Grant Project.

Growing Home's Seeding Resilience project, increases access to mental health services and provides employment opportunities and skills. A two year innovation project with major support provided by the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), the Seeding Resilience project is 75% focused on the Growing Home Community Garden (Octavia & Lily) and 25% on working with Urban Agricultural leaders in San Francisco to build a citywide network of support for mental health consumers.

SF Refresh, hosted six daylong citywide events that enabled San Franciscans to receive free whole body care in community garden settings in 2011. Activities included: gardening classes, yoga, life couching, meditation, trauma care, nutrition classes, massage, acupuncture, tea and coffee cuppings, movement classes, preventative health care information and more. In addition to providing direct services to those who need them, SF Refresh connected individuals and families to self care resources available through the city's system of care, local businesses and non-profit organizations.

Child Care Counselor

Children's Home Society, Sioux Falls

June 2001 – January 2002 (8 months)

Summer Conference Worker

Augustana College (SD)

1998 – 2001 (3 years)

Jim Jones and the Stephan Cult

Ferdy and his brother kidnapped their niece and nephew,
let Mrs. Buenger go to prison for hiding them,
and took the children to America, where they died later.
The police issued warrants for CFW's arrest -
it was good training for kidnapping Bishop Stephan at gunpoint.

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Unwarranted Claims about the Innocence of Stephan ...":

Ichabod -

Do you think that the late Jim Jones of Jonestown, secured some of his ideas from the Stephan cult?

Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechrisitianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org

Chilstrom was a Pietist who became a gay activist -
like Fox Valley mentor Andy Stanley.

***

GJ - Cults have a lot in common. When a WELS pastor sent me a book about abusive churches, I wrote back, "It sounds like it was written about WELS."

I could also add the LCMS, although the effect of Walther has been watered down.

Cults see women and children as their possessions, to be used by the leaders as they wish. The polygamy first practiced by Joseph Smith among the Mormons is still highly regarded by that cult today. Some estimated that 10,000 polygamist families lived in the Phoenix area, the second largest group of Mormons in America, after Salt Lake City.

Power is invested in a few, who teach that their organization is the only one. Because it is the only God-glorifying group, the leaders are treated as gods. They are infallible.

The Holy Spirit does not allow
Deputy Doug Engelbrecht to err,
even when he endorses plagiarism and overlooks multiple cases  of sexual harassment.

Sex Selection Abortions

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Unwarranted Claims about the Innocence of Stephan ...":

It’s a Girl, a documentary about the tragic practice of sex-selection abortions in India and China, is being widely screened by pro-choice groups across America, including the New Jersey Chapter of the National Organization for Women and feminist groups on university campuses. It was an official selection for the Amnesty International Film Festival in 2012 and appeared in Ms. magazine’s feminist movies review. But as organizations and groups evaluate whether to screen this movie, they should be aware that the film’s director worked for Harvest Media Ministry, an organization that makes pro-life and other videos for church groups (video trailer):

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/05/it_s_a_girl_a_pro_life_movie_embraced_by_pro_choice_groups.html?wpsrc=upworthy