Get Your ELCA Study Bible, Earn Polite Responses from Paul McCain, MDiv

Trained at the Waldo Werning Charm School in Ft. Wayne,
Paul McCain is nice, but only to liberals.


Anonymous said...

Pastor, I'm wondering if you spend a bit more time with this Bible if you will have even more concerns. I certainly did.

Here is what the AF Bible tells us about the Great Commission in a note at Matthew 28:19-20. No, this is not an error. This is what it says:

“Jesus now sends the disciples to make disciples of all nations. That does not mean make everyone disciples. Most people who are helped by Jesus and believe in him never become disciples. Jesus includes in salvation people who do not believe in him or even know about him.” (p. 1658; Augsburg Fortress Lutheran Study Bible).

While it skip-steps around every other verse in the Bible dealing with homosexuality, at 1 Cor. 6:9 the Augsburg Fortress study Bible notes that "all modern Bible versions mistranslate" the Greek words commonly translated “sodomite” and “homosexual.” The AF Bible says that the terms used refer not to homosexuality, but to a lack of self-control and violence. And then it notes, "Neither term applies to homosexuality or the lives of gay and lesbian people." (p. 1881).

Respectfully,

---

Paul McCain said... Pastor, thank you for your posts, which I’ve found interesting. I’m wondering if you would not mind reading a couple things I’ve prepared on the AF Lutheran Study Bible, and giving me your opinion. I offer these to you respectfully. A blessed Holy Week and Easter to you.

http://cyberbrethren.com/2009/04/01/a-tale-of-two-bibles-a-necessary-clarification-and-caution/

http://cyberbrethren.com/2009/04/03/a-tale-of-two-bibles-a-comparison-of-how-the-subject-of-homosexuality-is-treated-in-the-lutheran-study-bible-and-the-elca-bible/

God bless

Pastor Paul T. McCain
Concordia Publishing House

***

Does the shepherd have a flock? Does he preach to the CPH books? like the cook preaching to the sharks in Moby Dick?

ELCA Pro and Con

WELS is against all that ELCA monkeying around, right boys?

Pro ELCA View. Sunny-side Up

Our Grand Canyon Synod (covering the state of Arizona, southern Nevada, and Saint George, Utah,) like the other 64 synods in the ELCA is both of these. It is the coming together of over 70,000 Lutherans in over 100 ELCA congregations. We assemble together once a year. Throughout the year, we seek to walk the same road together -- together supporting numerous ministries in our synod and churchwide expression.

In a similar way, we, as a congregation, are able to do much more when we are “on the way together,” rather than individuals being on the way alone. When we, as a congregation, get behind a mission or goal or project, we can do great things.

However, as I was researching the word synodos, there is also another meaning that, unfortunately, is sometimes true within congregations and within synods. This word is used of two armies “coming together” to do battle.
(Brian at Faith)

Con - ELCA Not Doing So Well, For a Reason
You might need to update your information on the Grand Canyon Synod , Brian. Nine congregations have left, four have split, and four more are considering leaving, with a total of 20,000 members departed since last August, 12,000 of those in five congregations alone. April giving was 165,000 to the synod, one year ago in April it was 240,000. I think 85 congregations with 50,000 members that we know of is more accurate.

I also noted in the giving year to date Faith has given nothing to the synod YTD in 2010. If you are not in dissent with the ELCA, why is that?

Augustana

THEN

First Lutheran Church, Moline, Illinois, was founded by L. P. Esbjorn,
who also helped in starting Augustana College in Rock Island.

I happened across the Augustana Heritage website and saw photos of the early Swedish-American Lutheran church buildings.

The Swedes came over as unionistic Pietists. Their journal, which I helped archive at the college library, was called The Pietist in Swedish. They soon became disgusted with unionism and revivalism in the General Synod and linked up with the legendary Passavant, who had earlier passed through his stage of revivalism. Passavant and Eric Norelius, among others, helped Augustana become confessional, although they remained Pietistic in many way - and were honest about it.

Most of us at Augustana College did not know about this history, nor did we realize that Augustana was Latin for Augsburg, as in Augsburg Confession. Do not be surprised. One reader said his children, all products of the WELS education system, thought the Book of Concord was a repair manual for the French passenger jet.

Pietism won eventually, in the Augustana Synod, just as it did in WELS. The Wisconsin sect began almost the same way, during the same years. I know the Augustana pioneers fairly well, because of my dissertation on one of their professors.

If you look at the historic Augustana congregations, linked above, you will see the same soaring neo-gothic style of rural WELS and LCMS. They must have sacrificed a great deal to construct those halleluias of brick and stone. They were busy building schools, colleges, nursing homes, hospitals, and missionary societies in those days, too - not tearing them down, brick by brick.

Augustana became LCA, which became ELCA. The Lutheran Confessions mean nothing to ELCA. Their anticonfessional stance has allowed them to adopt the new gospel of pansexual justice. They working toward having open lesbians and homosexuals as ELCA bishops, following the Episcopalian and European models. Trans-sexual ministers are also on the agenda.

ELCA is in unionistic worship services and evangelism with all denominations because of its Pietistic Anticonfessionalism.

WELS is in unionistic worship services and evangelism with all denominations because of its Pietistic Anticonfessionalism.

NOW

HerChurch in San Francisco.

Library Sale Update

A number of people have asked about my library downsizing. I will compile a list of available Lutheran books and send it this weekend, with prices, on Excel.

Thanks for the great response.

Contributions of The CORE in Appleton

When the pastor's favorite TV show is Sponge Bob Square Pants...


Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "From The CORE":

1. The Core has shown that it's acceptable, in the (W)ELS, to use titillating sermon themes to peak the interest of the "already saved". Example: Satan's Sex Ed

2. The Core has clearly shown what's beyond the "edge of the envelope" when it comes to witnessing to the lost. Example: publishing a photo of The Core's (W)ELS Pastor with a practicing satanic porn star in an intimate embrace.

3. The Core has demonstrated that members of the (W)ELS are allowed to worship with the Baptist New Age Emergent churches. Example: The Core's pastor enjoyed Excellent worship at Baptist Andy Stanley's church.

4. The Core has demonstrated that the oversight of doctrine and practice in the (W)ELS is catastrophically lacking by the synod administration and certainly on the part of the lethargic and comatose laity.

5. The Core has been a visual aid in understanding the progressive apostasy that the false central doctrine of UOJ is having on churches and synods that claim a heritage in the Orthodox Lutheran Confession.

Robert Benne - On ELCA's Predictable Decline

He did not mention the implicit gay quota understood by all when ELCA was formed.


Lutherans in Search of a Church

May 27, 2010

Robert Benne

In its August 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church decided formally to leave the Great Tradition of orthodox Christianity for a declining and desiccated liberal Protestantism. The decisions it made—accepting a weak and confused social statement on sexuality, allowing blessings of gay unions, ordaining gays and lesbians in partnered relationships, and requiring Lutherans to respect each other’s “bound conscience” on these issues—crossed the “line in the sand” that separates revisionist Christians from orthodox.

That result was a foregone conclusion for critical observers who had been watching the ELCA carefully since its inception in the late eighties. (Among them, of course, was Richard John Neuhaus, who saw clearly the trajectory yet to unfold.) What had been the promise of a renewed and robust Lutheranism in the merger of the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America was aborted before its birth, in 1988. The planners of the new Lutheran church saw to it that those who provided theological guidance to predecessor churches—then almost exclusively white and male—were marginalized from the real decision-making centers of church life.

One of their instruments was a quota system that insured that the more “progressive” elements of the church would be overrepresented. Every committee, task force, and voting body must be comprised of 60 percent laypeople of whom half must be female and 40 percent of clergy of whom half must be female. 10 percent must be people of color or people whose first language is other than English, of whom half must be female. This scheme dramatically reduced the role of white, male pastors in the church.

Other instruments were: making the Bishops merely advisory; categorizing theologians as only one interest group among others; and locating final authority in lay-dominated, semiannual assemblies that could vote even on doctrinal matters, as one fatefully did in August 2009. These bodies made sure there would be “many voices” in the life of the ELCA, and we now have “many voices,” but no authoritative ones. What is left of classical Lutheranism in the ELCA is a mere “aroma in the bottle.”

But church organizations abhor a vacuum. In the absence of a genuine confessional teaching authority, the ELCA has followed liberal Protestantism in adopting a working theology sharply different from its classical confessions. It has substituted the “Gospel of inclusion” for the classic “Gospel of redemption” that emphasizes repentance, forgiveness, and amendment of life. The former diminishes the importance of the Law as the source of both repentance and guidance for Christians. The god of self-esteem promises everyone acceptance just the way they are.

But the ELCA is far more interested in pressing forward the liberationist themes issuing from feminism, multiculturalism, anti-imperialism, and environmentalism. These themes constitute the non-negotiables in ELCA church life. The ELCA bishops recently participated in a workshop that featured a presentation titled “Power, Privilege, and Difference.” Being therefore educated about their propensities to be oppressive, the worthy bishops resolved to have “observers” at all their meetings to monitor for “PP&D” thinking. One might note that they employed no monitors for confessional theology, perhaps because there was nothing of significance to monitor.

The decision to allow the blessing and ordination of gays and lesbians in partnered relationships was the flash point for those who had observed these deep-running liberationalist trends operating in the church for many years. That flash point, however, illuminated the deeper problem of authority in the church. Scripture and its Lutheran confessional interpretation seemed to have been cast aside for the voting process of a Churchwide Assembly that was shaped more by contemporary experience, highly-organized interest groups, and the scarcely veiled agenda of ELCA headquarters.

The ELCA’s proclamation that it held no clear teachings on homosexual conduct, yet allowed the blessing and ordination of partnered homosexuals, individualized and congregationalized the church in one fell swoop. Each individual and congregation has to exercise their own “bound conscience” on these matters. Some individuals may simply leave for other churches or press their congregations to leave the ELCA, while some divert their offerings to purely local causes or participate in organized efforts to renew the church. Most members, however, try to act as if nothing has happened.

Some congregations have left the ELCA for other Lutheran bodies, while others have publicly proclaimed orthodox beliefs and practices and allowed their members to divert their offerings into “bound conscience” funds that cannot be sent on to the ELCA. Most try to avoid these controversies like the plague. Pastors know the tension will cost them membership and support no matter what direction they go.

The national church has a budget far less than the one it began with in 1988, even if one does not account for inflation. Sixty-four of the sixty-five synods have diminished their giving to the national church. All the synods have less to work with.

However, the most interesting fall-out is the organizational changes.The two organizations formed to resist the direction of the ELCA—the Word Alone Network and Lutheran CORE—have redefined themselves. Neither desires to continue organized resistance within the ELCA, which they regard as futile. Both have turned their attention to building new organizations independent of the ELCA, as they seek to provide harbors for those in search of a church beyond their congregations.

The Word Alone Network has become Word Alone Ministries, which provides educational and worship materials, mission opportunities, and theological education for the church that it founded earlier. That church, or better, that “association of congregations,” is the Lutheran Congregations in Ministry for Christ. The LCMC was formed during the fracas over an agreement, between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church, Called to Common Mission, which required ordination to the historic episcopacy for Lutheran pastors and bishops. That requirement was anathema to the mostly Midwestern, low church Lutherans. The LCMC now lists 410 member congregations, with 191 having joined since last August. Among them are some of the largest Lutheran churches in America.

Representing the “evangelical catholic” or high church wing of the church, Lutheran CORE redefined itself after the fiasco of August 2009 as a coalition for the renewal and reconfiguration of Lutheranism in North America. Though it had no initial desire to start yet another Lutheran church, CORE responded to the wave of churches wanting to leave the ELCA for a more “churchly” organization than Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, and hopes to facilitate the birth of the new North American Lutheran Church next August. It is uncertain just how many congregations will be on board at its founding.

Both CORE and the NALC see themselves as instruments of a reconfiguration of Lutheranism in North America—CORE as an ongoing convocation of Lutheran teaching theologians, and the NALC as an ecclesia embodying those teachings.

Whatever comes of these ventures remains to be seen. If the Holy Spirit blesses them they will flourish and provide new beginnings for Lutheranism in America. For many they are the last, great efforts to live out the promise of Lutheranism as a church on this continent. If they fail, the only remaining option may be a bracing swim across the Tiber.

Robert Benne is Director of the Center for Religion and Society and Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion Emeritus at Roanoke College. His Good and Bad Ways to Think About Religion and Politics will appear this summer.

From The CORE

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: May COREspondence
From: "The CORE"
To: SomeoneWeThinkWeCanFool
CC:

_What a Difference a Year Makes_

April 18, 2010 marked the one year celebration of the official launch of The
CORE. Though we started having informal worship gatherings on Sunday
evenings in February of 2009, we officially launched with full worship on
April 19th.

God has truly blessed the ministry here at The CORE. In a year we have seen
regular attendance double. Eight people, children and adults, have been
baptized, and we have 68 official members including children and adults. At
the end of the day those numbers are important only because they represent
people. They represent people whom God created and loves. People who have a
story to tell that brings glory to their Savior and His gracious love.

This year God has given us the opportunity to be his hands and feet in
Appleton and the surrounding community. A chance to be a city within the
city that loves the city for Him. Thank you for your support of this
ministry and being a part of what God is doing here at The CORE. It is our
prayer that we can continue to partner together to bring the Gospel to
Appleton and beyond for many more years to come.

_First Annual "In the Know" Event_

Join us on Saturday,
June 12th at 11:00am for The CORE’S very first
“In the Know” event. Lunch and beverages will be provided. “It’s our
congregation’s opportunity to get to know other members and serves as a
celebration for completing 1 year together,” says Pastor Ski.

Get to know us so we can get to know you! All are welcome.

_Looking Ahead_...

_"Religion Bytes"_

June 6th- June 27th

_"Miracles"_

July 4th - July 28th

_Miss a sermon? No worries. Click here to listen to the podcasts or
subscribe in iTunes._

_Join us on Facebook _



"How quickly we forget what it's all about.
We can get so strategic that we worship so our church will grow, not because
He is worthy. But we're doing all this because God is worthy and we want to
worship Him."

- Tommy Walker

We are excited to welcome Mara Donnan to the staff at The CORE! Mara will be
filling Katie's position. We know what you may be thinking, but there is no
drama here! God is simply calling Katie to serve the Kingdom elsewhere.

Mara was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. She recently moved to Appleton
after marrying her husband, Jonathan.
Mara comes to our team from the Brady Corporation where she worked as the
E-Business Content Specialist. In 2006, she graduated from Alverno College
with a degree in English. She has a passion for writing, helping others, and
most importantly... Jesus.
“I know the miracles that He has done for me and I am excited share my
passion with others,” Mara says.

_Do you know someone who might be interested in hearing about what God is
doing at The CORE? Foward this newsletter to them today._

The CORE 215 E Washington St. Appleton, WI 54911 920-364-0200
_Check us out online! _[1]www.gotocore.com
Links:
1. http://www.gotocore.com

***

GJ - Readers are invited to contributed what The CORE has accomplished in plagiarizing Groeschel

---

diet-o-worms (http://diet-o-worms.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "From The CORE":

God *must* be blessing the Muslims too at the rate they're growing. {facepalm}

***

GJ - Sheep-stealing from local WELS congregations is outreach, according to a non-Lutheran entertainment center.

Downsizing the Library

But not my Triglotta.

Most of my reading is on the computer now, and that is true for the family.

I am going to greatly reduce my library in the next few months.

Many books are Lutheran and include volumes from Luther's works.

I have a beautiful set of Dickens' best novels, leather-bound, now out of print.

Others are classics from Easton Press (leather-bound), Folio, and Limited Editions. I have children's literature classics, various histories, etc. For instance, the three-volume Norwich history of the Byzantine Empire is almost as good as Gibbon.

I am not going to sell one book at a time. I prefer a box at a time. Almost everything is in new condition, even though most have been read or used.

The best thing about breaking up a collection is that new people get to enjoy it. These books are beautifully bound and made to last.

Those seriously interested can email me at gregjackson1948@qwest.net

WELS Quiz

1. Which sin will disqualify someone from getting a promotion?
a. Adultery
b. Teaching false doctrine
c. Unionism
d. Embezzlement
e. Hinting that WELS may have been wrong about something

2. Which school is unacceptable by WELS standards?
a. Fuller Seminary
b. Gordon Conwell
c. Trinity in Deerfield
d. Denver Seminary
e. Willow Creek
f. Concordia Seminary

3. If I join WELS Church and Change, which positions can I still hold?
a. Love Shack Staff
b. FIC editor
c. Sausage Factory professor
d. MLC professor
e. WLC professor
f. Doctrinal Pussycat
g. Vulpine Pussycat
h. Circuit Pussycat
i. All of the above

4. Under what conditions can I lead worship in WELS and Missouri?
a. If I am about to be kicked out.
b. If my name is Mark Jeske.

5. Name the Means of Grace.
a. Thrivent
b. Marvin Schwan
c. Foundations
d. The family tree

6. Pastors who criticize the Church Growth Movement are:
a. Rare
b. Lazy
c. Hurting the synod
d. Not creative
e. Ineligible for a call

7. Pastors who support the Church Growth Movement are:
a. Full of costly but exciting plans
b. Creative
c. Hard-working
d. Winsome
e. The salvation of the synod

8. Founders and leaders of Church Growth in WELS are:
a. Ron Roth
b. Robert Hartmann
c. Paul Calvin Kelm
d. David Valleskey
e. Frosty Bivens
f. Waldo Werning
g. Jim Aderman
h. John Parlow
i. Steve Witte
j. John Lawrenz
k. Jim Huebner
l. Larry Olson
m. H. Hagedorn
n. Wayne Mueller
o. There is no Church Growth Movement in WELS.

9. Which will hurt a congregation's growth?
a. The name Lutheran
b. The word church
c. The historic liturgy
d. Creeds
e. Law and Gospel sermons
f. Liturgical garments
g. Lutheran hymns - better known as funeral dirges
h. Less than friendly ushers
i. Your attitude of standing in the way of progress

10. An ideal pastor will spend his time:
a. Planning for growth
b. Attending the conferences of creative denominations and exciting outreach organizations
c. Listening to audio from Fuller, Willow Creek, and Ed Stetzer
d. Deciding on the best sermons to use, whether from Mars Hill or Groeschel or Andy Stanley
e. Visiting the sick and shut-in
f. Visiting prospects
g. Studying the Word and Confessions for sermons, youth and adult education

11. Which authors cannot be named favorably, but must always be warned against?
a. Leonard Sweet
b. Ed Stetzer
c. Waldo Werning
d. Kent Hunter
e. Andy Stanley
f. Craig Groeschel
g. J. P. Meyer
h. Martin Luther
i. Lenski
j. Any Concordist, if I can remember their names.

12. Which one on this list does not belong?
a. Pneumonia
b. Scarlet Fever
c. Strep Throat
d. Church Growth Pastor

Answers to WELS Quiz

1. Which sin will disqualify someone from getting a promotion?
e. Hinting that WELS may have been wrong about something. Even thinking that is equivalent to breaking fellowship with Holy Mother WELS and must be punished.

2. Which school is unacceptable by WELS standards?
f. Concordia Seminary - Unless one obtained a DMin in Church Growth from Concordia.

3. If I join WELS Church and Change, which positions can I still hold?
a. Love Shack Staff
b. FIC editor
c. Sausage Factory professor
d. MLC professor
e. WLC professor
f. Doctrinal Pussycat
g. Vulpine Pussycat
h. Circuit Pussycat
i. All of the above

I made that one easy because a lot of tough questions are coming up.


4. Under what conditions can I lead worship in WELS and Missouri?
a. If I am about to be kicked out.
b. If my name is Mark Jeske.
Both answers are correct, which means, "It all depends on who your relatives are."

5. Name the Means of Grace.
a. Thrivent
b. Marvin Schwan
c. Foundations
d. The family tree
WELS trusts in these Means alone for forgiveness and salvation.

6. Pastors who criticize the Church Growth Movement are:
a. Rare
b. Lazy
c. Hurting the synod
d. Not creative
e. Ineligible for a call
Now you are starting to catch on. All of the above are true.

7. Pastors who support the Church Growth Movement are:
a. Full of costly but exciting plans
b. Creative
c. Hard-working
d. Winsome
e. The salvation of the synod

The only problem is - there are not enough of them.

8. Founders and leaders of Church Growth in WELS are:
o. There is no Church Growth Movement in WELS.

That was a trick question. Wayne Mueller, as First VP, published a statement in the denominational magazine, solemnly declaring with utmost clarity - "There is no Church Growth Movement in WELS." If you dispute that, you have broken fellowship with WELS.

9. Which will hurt a congregation's growth?
a. The name Lutheran
b. The word church
c. The historic liturgy
d. Creeds
e. Law and Gospel sermons
f. Liturgical garments
g. Lutheran hymns - better known as funeral dirges
h. Less than friendly ushers
i. Your attitude of standing in the way of progress
Now you know why WELS is hurting.

10. An ideal pastor will spend his time:
a. Planning for growth
b. Attending the conferences of creative denominations and exciting outreach organizations
c. Listening to audio from Fuller, Willow Creek, and Ed Stetzer
d. Deciding on the best sermons to use, whether from Mars Hill or Groeschel or Andy Stanley
If God could only grant more of these!

11. Which authors cannot be named favorably, but must always be warned against?
h. Martin Luther
i. Lenski
j. Any Concordist, if I can remember their names.
That was another easy one, because the last one is tricky indeed.

12. Which one on this list does not belong?
d. Church Growth Pastor

You can get rid of pneumonia, scarlet fever, and strep throat, but you cannot get rid of a Church Growth Pastor.

Art Linkletter Died Today, Age 97

"Linkletter was born Gordon Arthur Kelly in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. In his autobiography, Confessions of a Happy Man (1960), he revealed that he had had no contact with his natural parents or his sister or two brothers since he was abandoned when only a few weeks old. He was adopted by Mary (née Metzler) and Fulton John Linkletter,[4][1] an evangelical preacher." From Wikipedia.

We all knew he was from Moosejaw. That was mentioned all the time, but he was always accepted as an American. A famous theologian was told by his father, "If you move to Canada, you will be Swiss. If you move to America, you will an American."

Another ELCA College Prez gone

ELCA NEWS SERVICE May 26, 2010 Texas Lutheran University President Ann Svennungsen Resigns 10-146-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Citing "professional and personal considerations," the Rev. Ann M. Svennungsen resigned as president of Texas Lutheran University (TLU), Seguin, according to a May 25 news release from the university. Svennungsen's resignation is effective May 31. Sarah Story, TLU associate vice president for marketing communications, said Svennungsen and her family will vacate the president's home in July. She is currently out of the country on a family vacation, Story said. TLU is one of 27 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Svennungsen joined TLU in July 2007 after serving four years as president and chief executive officer of The Fund for Theological Education, Atlanta.

Why Would Anyone Leave ELCA?

Among those approved May 24 by the candidacy committee of the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod were, from left,
the Rev. Dawn Roginski, the Rev. Sharon Stalkfleet, the Rev. Ross Merkel, the Rev. Steve Sabin, the Rev. Paul Brenner and the Rev. Jeff Johnson.
Not pictured: the Rev. Craig Minich and the Rev. Megan Rohrer.


May 25, 2010

Two Dismissed Pastors, Others Welcomed to ELCA Clergy Roster


CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two dismissed pastors have been welcomed back to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The candidacy committee of the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod, Oakland, Calif., met May 24 and unanimously approved the reinstatement of the pastors to the ELCA clergy roster, and it also approved for reception six pastors from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM).

According to the synod, a formal Rite of Reception for the pastors will be offered this summer.

The Rev. Ross D. Merkel, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Oakland, and the Rev. Steven P. Sabin, Christ Church Lutheran, San Francisco, have been approved for reinstatement.

In 1998 Sabin was removed from the ELCA clergy roster for being in a committed, same-sex relationship while serving as pastor at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Ames, Iowa. His removal by an ELCA discipline committee drew national attention.

"I am relieved and happy that a long and painful episode in my relationship with my church family is ending. I look forward with hope to the restored partnership and opportunities for service that the actions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly and the Sierra Pacific Candidacy Committee have made possible," said Sabin.

"For two decades, many have been grieved and alienated by the ELCA's exclusion of gay and lesbian pastors blessed with loving spouses. I hope and pray that they can, like me, lay aside the hurts and take hope from the gracious power of God to renew and direct the church into evermore faithful and effective proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope that this will be the beginning of a new period of evangelical outreach for the ELCA aided by our new witness to the forgiveness and grace of God truly being for all people," said Sabin. "Like the psalmist, I can only observe with awe and gratitude: 'This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.'"

ELM pastors approved for reception to the ELCA clergy roster are:
+ the Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, pastor, University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif.
+ the Rev. Craig Minich, pastor of youth ministries, Oakland-Berkeley Lutheran Youth Program
+ the Rev. Dawn Roginski, pastor of parish programs, St. Francis Lutheran Church, San Francisco
+ the Rev. Megan Rohrer, executive director, WELCOME, San Francisco
+ the Rev. Paul R. Brenner, St. Francis Lutheran Church, San Francisco
+ the Rev. Sharon Stalkfleet, Lutheran Ministry to Nursing Homes, Oakland.
ELM is an organization that credentials qualified candidates of "all sexual orientations and gender identities" for ordained ministry.

"Twenty years ago when I was ordained, we could dimly imagine that Lutherans would one day fully recognize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people," said Johnson in a May 24 ELM news release. "I'm very thankful for all who have helped to carry this struggle forward and for our church which has finally opened up to the new and exciting future God has in store for us," he said.

"I was very pleased by how the candidacy committee came together," said the Rev. Mark W. Holmerud, bishop, ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod. "This was a special meeting of the committee. We in the synod felt it was important to move forward with this process in a timely manner, so the committee agreed to this special meeting," he told the ELCA News Service.

"I am deeply grateful to the ELM pastors, and the two pastors who were removed from the ELCA roster, for their grace and good will in being a part of this process; to the members of the (Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary) faculty who made arrangements to be at this meeting, and to the candidacy committee for their faithful deliberations which have made it possible for these pastors to be brought onto the roster of the ELCA," said Holmerud.

"One of the things that was lived out yesterday was the sense that we were not examining the candidates but rather hearing stories of ministries from pastors who were already actively carrying out the gospel mission. That set the tenor of the meeting," said the Rev. Nancy Feniuk Nelson, bishop's associate, ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod.

"This was by no means an examination. It was a sharing about ministry and a celebration of ministry. We had a worship service that included the former ELM candidacy committee, the present ELCA candidacy committee, the ELM pastors and faculty from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, including the seminary president, the Rev. Phyllis B. Anderson. It was a very moving worship. Bishop Mark and I did the first interviews of all the candidates, and I became profoundly aware of how grateful I am to be a part of this process in this time of the church," Nelson told the ELCA News Service.

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary is one of eight ELCA seminaries.

Earlier this month at the synod assembly Holmerud lifted a public censure and admonition placed on University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley in 2000 for calling the Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, who was not a member of the ELCA clergy roster. Johnson was also elected at the assembly to the serve on the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod Council.

In a May 6 letter to the congregation, Holmerud said by "lifting this censure, the members of the congregation of University Lutheran are hereby welcome into full participation in the mission and ministry of the Sierra Pacific Synod" and the ELCA.

Holmerud wrote that the actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly "have brought us to a new day."

The 2009 assembly called for revisions to ministry policy documents, making it possible for Lutherans in committed, publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders. The ELCA Church Council adopted the revisions to ministry policy documents April 10.

"This is another important day for so many in the church," said Amalia Vagts, ELM executive director. "It is wonderful to have leaders like Bishop Mark Holmerud and Bishop's Associate Nancy Feniuk Nelson and the members of the Sierra Pacific candidacy committee demonstrating holy hospitality to all," she said.

ELCA Parish with 1100 Voters - Exiting

No more Spartan movies.


Affiliations Assessment

Calvary, Golden Valley, Minnesota

The aim of our affiliations assessment process is to assess which current and potential affiliations can help us best "lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ."

UPDATE (5/17/10 - 10:30 p.m.) - At tonight's special congregational meeting, the resolution passed--800 in favor, 310 opposed (72 percent to 28 percent). Watch here for more details on the meeting proceedings and next steps.

Pray. Prepare. Participate.
SPECIAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING
Monday, May 17, 2010
7 p.m.
Sanctuary

Childcare provided--make reservations at 763.231.2949 by May 13

It's time to take action! Your vote is needed on the resolution approved by the church council on April 13.

NOTE: Only Calvary members will have the opportunity to vote on the resolution. To be defined as a Calvary "member," an individual must be classified as "Active" or "Associate" under "Member Status" on Calvary's current membership roster.

Ichabod Goes Wide-Body, Thanks to Joseph Schmidt

Joseph Schmidt reworked the template for me. His blog is linked on the left.

Someone sent a kitteh picture to go with the change.

Gurgle's Email Was Modified by Some Witty WELSian Person - Not Poor Ichabod

SPREAD the WORD Holy Word Ministry Expansion Project

May 21, 2010 Dear ... "We hear them declare the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Acts 2:11 Picture this! Your extended family, many of whom have not seen each other for a long time, are together for Christmas at grandma's house. The gifts have been opened, wrapping paper is scattered around everywhere. The children, excitedly, loudly, are playing with their new toys. Clusters of adults, loudly, laughingly, are conversing everywhere. A stranger comes into the room, hearing all the noise, is unable to understand everything, or even anything that's being said. And yet, seeing the happy faces, hearing the happy sounds, the stranger just knows that whatever is being said it's a happy, joy-filled time for everyone. That's a little like it was on that first Pentecost. There were people from many nations under heaven, the account says. Nearly everyone was talking, speaking their own language. The sound was deafening, defeating for someone trying to understand what's being said. And yet the message was unmistakable, each telling it in their own language. It was the wonders of God they were speaking. And so it is with us. One (dying) church, two (costly) sites, many voices, all saying the same thing (Kudo Don next DP!). At the original site (a costly building project), at the second site (right next to Doebler's church), the pastor (when he is not in Africa or at an Exponential conference), the staff (staph) minister, the (free) vicar, all of us (including the Rock and Roll band), in every way (even on safaris to Africa), to this one ("I have my reservations"), to that one ("pure gold"), to everyone we Spread the Word (we need more grants). SPREAD THE WORD (we cut the teachers salaries last year. Now we can expand!), that's what it's all about! The meeting to discuss our Ministry Expansion Project is next Sunday, May 30th, after the second service. It will be a time to ask questions, to hear answers (let us tell you how it needs to be done), to make decisions (now that we have brought in Master Gurgle. Look what he did to the Synod), all for one purpose to SPREAD THE WORD. Come and be a part of it; COME, SPREAD THE WORD! Pastor Karl R. Gurgel

CGM Dropout - Lyrical Advice for Lutheran Clergy

Zinzendorf's birthday today reminded me that some Mequon graduates turn against their CGM training and become Lutheran.
All that synod offering money - wasted!


Your story sad to tell,
A pastor ne'er do well,
Most mixed up non-Reformed kid on the block!
Your future is so clear now,
What's left of your career now?
Can't even get a job that’s worth a hoot!

Angels: (La lalala lalala lalala...)

CGM dropout,
Your handshake is like ice,.
CGM dropout,
A mistress would be nice.
Well at least you could have taken time, to fix and pad your vita,
After spending all that dough to go to Pasadena.


Reverend get moving (Reverend get movin),
Why keep your feeble hopes alive?
What are you proving (What are you provin)?
You're not loyal to the hive.

If you market what we have, you could be our new fool.
Forget the Book of Concord and go back to our School. (Fuller)

CGM dropout (CGM dropout),
Hanging around the conferences.
CGM dropout (CGM dropout),
It's about time you knew the score.

Well they couldn't teach you anything,
You think you’ve got a D.Min.
But no call will come to you unless you think and talk like vermin!

Reverend don't sweat it (Don't sweat it),
You're not cut out get a call.
Better forget it (Forget it),
Church Growth is all in all.

Now your Luther’s old, your Chemnitz’ bold, your doctrine is outrageous.
You still won’t get our nod until your parish is contagious.

Junior don't blow it,
Don't put my good advice to shame.
Junior you know it,
Even Valleskey’d say the same!

Now I've called the shot, get off the block, I really gotta fly!
Gotta be going to that beehive, in the sky!

CGM dropout (CGM dropout)
Go back to Fuller
CGM dropout (CGM dropout)
At least to Willow Creek
CCM dropout (CMG dropout)
Go back to Fuller.

Why the Money Changers Are My Business and Yours - They Disgrace the Christian Church

Copied verbatim from the Holy Word, Austin, Texas website:

This site is designed to provide resources to help pastors and lay people grow as leaders. It is connected to a leadership institute called "A League of Leaders".

Here you will find leadership insights, devotions, curriculums (sic), webinars, seminars and other opportunites (sic) to grow as a leader. Leadership in the church is first of all a spirtual (sic) aptitude created in the heart by Christ.

Our mission is to help you grow in Christ centered, servant leadership. Jesus is our strength and our model for leadership along with his Apostles.

You will also find here practical advice and networks to other leadership associations.

Leadership is a spiritual gift as well as a fruit of faith. By having you join our league we will help you hone your gift and grow in your faithful use of it.

***

GJ - Didn't I help him with his spelling 9 days ago? The same mistakes are still there. That is the kind of leadership the Money Changers offer - long on manipulative emotion, short on labor. The announcement drips with Pietism and lacks Lutheran content, but that is the point.

Why should write about WELS or any other synod? The reason is simple. The Lutheran apostates are disgraceful in their slobbery copying of the worst Enthusiasts.

The Church and Money Changers entire agenda is to feed the Fuller/Willow Creek/Leonard Sweet agenda into the Lutheran Church, to destroy it from within. This process is easy to measure.

Here are some noted, proven WELS plagiarists:

1. Paul Calvin Kelm
   
2. John Parlow
   
3. Limmer
   
4. Ski
   
5. Tim Glende
   
6. Matt Doebler
   

What do they have in common, besides four of them working in Fox Valley at some time?

They are all members of WELS Church and Change.

At any university, plagiarism is addressed with discipline, usually expulsion. Some expel the student the first time it is detected. Others allow for warnings first.

This is an issue of plagiarism and false doctrine.

The WELS Doctrinal Pussycats do nothing - except support it.

There Is Always a UOJ Stormtrooper Lurking

Six clergy strong.
But one does not belong.

Another Successful ELCA Vote To Leave - Round 1

ELCA advisor - "It's only a few congregations, right? Bishop Hanson?
More like a few every day, every week, every month!
Oh, my aching head."


Church's first vote goes against ELCA

Immanuel Lutheran Church of Crosby

By JENNIFER STOCKINGER
Staff Writer
Members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crosby voted Sunday to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The congregation made a decision more than two months ago to vote on whether to stay or leave the ELCA after the ELCA's decision in August to allow non-celibate gay clergy into its churches.

A total of 282 parishioners voted. There were 213 in favor of leaving the ELCA and 69 who voted to remain with the ELCA.

But the congregation is not officially out of the ELCA yet. The ELCA has a process for churches to go through if they want to leave. The congregation first needed a two-thirds majority vote in order to leave the ELCA, which was accomplished Sunday. Then there is a 90-day window where the bishop and/or his delegate will consult with church members. Then there will be a second vote where again two-thirds is needed to leave. If the second vote is successful, the congregation then needs approval from the Northeastern Minnesota Synod.

Another obstacle removed from the path of future Bishop Anita Hill.

Sociological Techniques

L P has left a new comment on your post "WELS DP Version of Matthew 18: "Talk To Me First, ...":

Church Growth is nothing more but the use of sociological techniques to grow an organization. This comes from the idea that the church can be studied as a social phenomenon and based on this idea, one can conjure techniques to gather a crowd.

It is wicked because it boils down to mass manipulation.

LPC

***

GJ - LP, I attended a CG presentation where the leader kept saying, "Do this and you will have happy campers."

Ski would call that a "takeaway."

The CG leaders have said that congregational activity should be planned solely to keep members involved and happy. They need to be involved. It is all about felt needs, or, addressing the Old Adam to keep the Old Adam unconverted.

Mary Lou College Graduates and Calls

Baby X has chosen to remain anonymous.

Some have disputed what Bruce Church wrote about jobs for Mary Lou College graduates.

I thought the bureaucratic language in the WELS Report was opaque and open to various interpretations. BC often comments on the Lutheran education scene and digs up interesting statistics about it. For example, he has posted about the imaginary LCMS pastor shortage, which is used to manipulate people into going to seminary.

I heard a similar story about librarian students being yanked out of school because of the shortage of librarians. A library school professor told the story, which has yet to be verified, 23 years later. Mrs. Ichabod got a fine job as a researcher, before she was done with library school. School helped because she saw a part-time job offered on the library school bulletin board. The Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska soon after, and the job became full-time. The firm dealt with hazardous transport of chemicals and such matters as oil spills and platform blowouts.

For decades, anyone in the Syn Conference who has objected to Reformed doctrine, Reformed Bible translations, Reformed "worship," and synod rah-rah has been:

1. Ignored.
   
2. Slandered.
   
3. Pushed out.
   
4. Ridiculed.
   
5. Silenced.
   
6. Mocked.

Some would like a Gloryhalleluiawels blog. This is a blog where another viewpoint, refreshingly different, is offered. Three blogs have started to quash this one. Two disappeared. One sputtered to a stop.

The only reason the apostates have succeeded in the last 30 years is the passivity of the clergy. They may have elected DPs who lied about their actual position. After all, even secular politicians deceive people. Synod Presidents can do a lot of harm, but they cannot much good unless laity and clergy join in opposing falsehood.

Voting an official in or out is a small matter and not likely to make much of a difference. Constant, persistent opposition is impossible to ignore and will always have an effect. Look at how well it has worked to destroy Lutheran doctrine, in spite of all the votes, vows, solemn ceremonies, incense, albs, and Fifty Years of Grace Without the Means of Grace books.

WELS DP Version of Matthew 18: "Talk To Me First, So I Can Ignore You"

Making disciples grow in disciples who grow in making disciples.
Translation = Paying jobs for lazy apostates.

Anything attaching even a fluff of lint to Holy Mother WELS is greeted with "Matthew 18" and the beloved Eighth Commandment.

However, when someone follows WELS Talmudic Law and contacts the Doctrinal Pussycat directly, personally, and individually, the result is - No response at all. The contact is not even acknowledged.

That happens so frequently that I can only conclude they are trained to deal with doctrinal issues that way. Trained by whom? I do not know. That is why I used the passive voice.

It was true in the 1980s. I asked future DP Seifert about all the rot going on in Columbus. He suggested writing a letter to the DP. I did, and it was not even acknowledged. Next I wrote one to everyone, including the ELS SP, Orvick. DP Bob Mueller was outraged that I wrote to everyone. I said, "You never responded or even acknowledged receiving the letter."

The WELSian Matthew 18 approach allows the DP to keep the issue a secret, ignore the matter altogether, and get out his "Find him! Kill him!" stamp, to activate his hatchet-man. Everyone can view the DP as a harmless, likeable, somewhat confused man while the dissenter is confined to the nether regions, attacking him through the beloved WELS grapevine and through his own members.

Anyone can figure out that re-visiting the issue is a red flag to the easily irritated DP. The DP can then dredge up such comments as:

1. "Martin Luther complex,"
   
2. "hurting the Church" (meaning the Wisconsin sect),
   
3. and other irrelevancies.

Laity have said to me, many times, "They won't listen to me, because I am just a layman." The laity think it is because they are not highly trained clergy. I tell them, "Don't worry. They ignored me the same way, and they ignore everyone who does not agree with them."

If high priests want to cite Matthew 18, they should also welcome "Tell it to the church."

But that is wrong too. The current president of Bethany's Little Seminary said it was wrong to deal with the disgraceful conduct of a wannabee CG expert, because "It hurts the face of the church."

The Catholic bishops and the pope himself said the same thing, and look where that got them.

KJV Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

PS - Those who cite Matthew 18 do not feel hindered in any way by it.

WELS Church and Money Changers Takes Their Cues from John 2

Jesus and the Moneychangers (Boris Olshansky, 2006)

KJV John 2:14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

WELS Report to the Twelve Apostles Districts

I knew that Jeff Davis, board member of Church and Change (photo but no bio) was the co-author of Heart in Focus, a money management seminar.

They have their own website - Training, Heart in Focus.

The WELS Commission on Adult Discipleship (Education, until Wayne Mueller became boss) features Heart in Focus in the new report. Rave review. Get it a NPH.

Dave Kehl was also in Adult Discipleship - another Changer.

Lookee Here - Davis Is Also a Fund-Raiser

Hi, I’m Jeff Davis, one of the authors of Heart in Focus. I’m glad that you are learning more about this special program. I always believe it is good to challenge oneself and learn new things each day. Heart in Focus offers a challenge not usually found in today’s resources. It helps the reader to answer, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here on this earth?”

Answers to these questions give our lives purpose and a reason for living. By enrolling in a Heart in Focus course, I believe you will find help in responding better to these questions.

You may also know me through Cornerstone Stewardship Ministry, Inc., a firm that raises dollars for Lutheran ministries by growing God’s joyful stewards. Visit our web site at www.joyfulgiving.net.

Or, drop me a note to let me know what you think: jeff@heartinfocus.com. May your day be a blessing for Jesus!

Joyful Giving
is a WELS-Missouri fund-raising business. Mark Jeske is not the only Money Changer with feet in both synods (and trotters in the trough).

I was trying to find out about the other author of Heart in Focus. Perhaps someone can trace that down. I am googled out at the moment.

Conflict of Interest
Some may see a conflict of interest. WELS sends in overpaid Fuller-trained consultants to help a congregation. They recommend a pop band and a multi-million dollar building program. Somehow Fuller-trained Cornerstone gets called in, and they charge fees plus a commission on the loot taken in. The congregation ends up with a big mortgage, and the Money Changers make a killing on both sides - overcharging for boilerplate consulting (using the same template, too lazy to get the church name right in some cases) and overcharging for money-raising.

The common thread here is WELS' own in-house beehive of apostasy: Love Shack Church and Changers, Fuller-trained consultants who are Changers, and a board member of Church and Change raising money for the improvements urged by a fellow-Changer. NPH sells a product urged by Adult Discipleship, a CGM renaming of Adult Education. Thus the money circulates among the same people, congregations are impoverished, and nothing good comes of it.

The Gurgle clan is thoroughly Church and Change. Look at what they have done for themselves the synod. MilCraft estate? - totaled. Schwan funds gusher - insolvency. Mary Lou Chapel - mysterious delay in finding the lost treasure. Patterson's multi-site misspelling extravaganza - excitement.

Brett Meyer asked if I changed my mind about SP Schroeder's leadership. I just look at the outward symptoms, which tell me nothing has changed. Magic is misdirection of the eyes. The magician gets everyone to look at the exploding ball of flame while he tucks a rabbit under his cloak. If he is quick and smooth, and no one notices, the rabbit disappears. Poof. Gone in a flash.

It is not the fault of one person, but 1000 enablers - the clergy, who think they have nothing to lose by remaining silent.

---

EastCoast wrote:

In the brochure WELS Pastors received a while back, Ron Roth and Jon Mahnke were the featured WELS guys, along with Wayne Mueller, and then the two (or three) LCMS fellas. The WW DP was confronted about this obvious fellowship in ministry, but has not, to date, responded - at least not publicly. So goes the WELS.

---
WELS church lady has left a new comment on your post "WELS Church and Money Changers Takes Their Cues fr...":

Here are two paragraphs taken from Prof. Mark Paustian's More Prepared
To Answer:

"The usher is looking decidedly uncomfortable. The offering basket has hit a snag in the pew ahead of you. A boy is clutching a nickel in his chubby fist, which Mom is shaking over the basket. She peals back one finger at a time, whispering the sort of whisper that echoes around the sancuary, "Let go!" Finally, the boy, desperate to know why God wants his money, releases the treasure. The nickel drops home, the usher relaxes...and God is five cents richer."

"Just as there was a Judas among the first disciples of Jesus, there are those within the visible church who will do anything they can to get your nickel into the plate. Though I pray they are few, there are those who will lie to you, pressure you, and shame you for the sake of money. I make no apology for them. These things are shameful."

Will do anything they can to get your nickel into the plate? Prof Paustian, you might be right on this point. Another thing that is shameful: Church and Change along with its partner Cornerstone Ministries. Mark, you attended a chruch and Change conference. Do you make an apology for them and are their things shameful? If you are telling the greatest story ever told, how about standing against the Church and Money Changers!

In Christ,
from WELS church lady

WELS - Church and Money Changers Party On

A hangover is a terrible thing to waste.

Report to the Twelve Districts

The long, dark tea-time of the soul is not over for WELS. Everyone should read the Report, to get a glimpse of what is going on.

The Church and Money Changers are still doing well, rewarded in many ways, never short of a job. If you want a call in WELS, go to Fuller Seminary or Willow Creek for training, preferably both. Add Groeschel, Drucker, Stanley and more for a DP who will defend your false doctrine to his death. Or for a VP who gets calls to the Sausage Factory and advises them how to teach the Kinder. Leonard Sweetheart? - Kingdom Workers will love ya.

Remember Randy Hunter, Latte Lutheran Church, with the lovely woman pastor working under him? He got a vicar and is also chairman of a committee - both signs of official approval.

The Report lists the Money Changers who were let go from the Love Shack, only to be hired a few minutes later: Kehl, Kelm, Becker, Stroh. These are not bad times for the Money Changers. Kudu Don Patterson is expanding his empire, Emerging Church style, and he has a free vicar again.

On the world missions scene, WELS adopts a posture of a global church. ELCA is one, and they recently fired 44 staff. WELS has something going on in every corner of the world, a great way to maximize opportunities for travel.

The schools are going downhill rapidly. WELS once had four prep schools. Now they have two failing preps. Tuition is stratospheric while enrollment drops and staffmembers are cut - even at Luther Prep. Michigan Lutheran Seminary once had 300 students. Now they claim 180.

Mary Lou College has an $8 million chapel and declining enrollment. I heard they needed 1000 students, a very small number for a college today. They have 700. There is no longer a reason for MLC, except to produce obnoxious student videos. WLC could easily take over, and they are also run by Shrinkers.

Here is a case to consider. The area Lutheran high schools grew while the plum preps turned into raisins from under-funding. One area school went from 300 students to 100, and the shrinkage is not done. Parochial schools are closing everywhere. MLC no longer has a reason to exist.

The Sausage Factory is suffering from the advice given by Patterson and Kelm. Yes, they gave papers on how to improve seminary education. That is like inviting Dr. Kevorkian to lecture on nursing home care. "No, doc, leave your equipment at your office. Thanks."

Following Patterson's example, the seminary faculty should take all the students to an Exponential gathering, as Kudu Don did with a group of church workers. Or they should arrange a Leonard Sweet conference, as Paul Calvin Kelm did. (Missourians - don't be smug. Your St. Louis sem prez slobbered all over Sweet and put the video on their websty. Kieschnick, of course, adores Sweet too.)

In 1987, Mequon was graduating 60 students a year. Now they are in the 30s with a class of 16 coming up soon. Here is where the gallows humor comes in, making satire so easy to write. From the Report -
1. Good news - now there will not be an oversupply of seminary graduates.
2. Good news - now the faculty have time to complete their graduate degrees.

The schools all represent fixed costs at a time when tuition money is decreasing rapidly. Huge Missouri has considered closing one or both seminaries. WELS will need some solutions for its creaky school system.

I cannot figure out why Henry Hagedorn still has a job, let alone staff. His fiefdom has destroyed more churches than the Chicago Fire. They pretend to have lots of action going on, but they are just watching over the remains of their manifold failures. They have more mission districts than there are districts!

WELS supposedly cut $8 million from a $38 million budget, with more to come in the future. Going Galt is not so bad. The Means of Grace are free. The Instruments of God's Grace have not failed the church. The church has failed to use them.

If you think WELS has turned the corner, read the Report and also check out who writes for FIC (another dinosaur). The Shrinkers remain. The Church and Money Changers have not been chased out of the Temple. They are leasing the Temple - temporarily.

More ELCA Fugitives

Knudson

Faith Lutheran Church where I belong and work very part time on a contractual basis voted for the second time today. The vote was 172 to 7, a 96% majority. There was a good spirit and the synod rep was very gracious in his remarks, which our longest time pastor noted to him appreciatively and publicly. The other ELCA congregation in Hutchinson, MN. voted also for the second time to leave but by the very thinnest of margins, .667%. Have not yet heard a report on the aftermath of that. It is hard to see that level of division. [GJ - Does he mean 66.7% or a margain of .667%?]

Yesterday we held the constituting convention of the Augustana District of LCMC. That meeting was held here at Faith with 141 in attendance from 35 congregations, some from Wisconsin and Nebraska. Most were from Minnesota. There were another ten participating over an internet link. Again a positive spirit was present and a sense of anticipation. This is not saying all 35 congregations will join. Three groups of folk were there from Marshall, Morris, and Alexandria, Minnesota representing LCMC congregations in various stages of being formed.