Remember Joel Hochmuth's Light Sentence? This Was the Second Time He Was Caught...Already Absolved by Schroeder, Got a Light Sentence for a Horrible Crime. Hochmuth Went Back to His Vices and Got His Five Year Sentence Restored. From 2012

Joel Hochmuth is the second WELS staffer to plea-bargain a felony this year.

Former Lutheran official sentenced to jail, not prison
By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel June 4, 2012 5:20 p.m.


Waukesha - A former Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod official was placed on probation for 10 years Monday and ordered to serve one year in jail with work-release privileges as a condition of probation for possession of child pornography.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Kathryn W. Foster withheld imposing a prison term on Joel W. Hochmuth, 52, of Waukesha, who had faced up to 15 years behind bars followed by 10 years of extended supervision for the crime.

But she warned Hochmuth that if there was any hint of him "going back to any kind of behavior like this," his probation would be revoked and the full "25-year prison sentence will be staring you in the face."

Hochmuth used the Internet to download hundreds of images of boys engaged in sexual acts with other youths and men.

Hochmuth, who was the communications director for the synod, was charged in November with three counts of possession of child pornography. He was fired by the synod one day after the charges were filed against him in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

As part of a plea agreement that avoided a trial in the case, Hochmuth on March 9 pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. The two other counts were dismissed.

Before Foster made her determination, a tearful Hochmuth apologized for the double life he was leading. Just before he spoke, family and friends told Foster that Hochmuth was a warm and caring person, a hardworking father and husband, and someone who was worthy of a judge's mercy and a second chance even though what he did was detestable.

"I appear before you today guilty of an abhorrent and violent crime. I have offended my god, betrayed my wife, shamed our son and dishonored my church. To all of them I apologize. I also apologize to the victims portrayed in the images I viewed and downloaded. That I could have been so drawn to what I was looking at today disgusts me," Hochmuth told Foster.

He said he is in a treatment plan that he began after his arrest.

"For the first time I'm being equipped with the tools to fight my sinful habit," Hochmuth said.

"Finally, I'd like to express my hope that something good come out of all the evil I have done and the heartache I have caused. I pray that when I'm well I will be able to use whatever skills, talents and abilities I've been given to help eliminate this unspeakable form of abuse and to help men struggling with this or similar addictions take action before it destroys their lives and puts wives and their families through the hell I have."

According to the criminal complaint, investigators found several hundred images on his home computer and 310 photographs and 38 videos on a thumb drive at his WELS office in Wauwatosa. Hochmuth denied downloading any explicit material while at work, or creating his own pornography, the complaint states.

Hochmuth told investigators that he had been "struggling with an addiction to viewing pornographic photos and videos of young boys in sexually explicit poses," and that he had gone to counseling after his wife caught him viewing them, the complaint says.

He was investigated by the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force after an undercover agent identified a residence in Waukesha that was distributing child pornography, according to the complaint. Hochmuth was using a software program that allows individuals to connect to each other's computers and browse and download files as well as chat online, according to the complaint.

The complaint also states that the agent engaged Hochmuth in chats and that in one Hochmuth told the agent that he liked pictures of males who were 10 years old or older, the complaint states.

The FBI informed Waukesha police, who made the arrest.

***

GJ - Left unanswered - Who provided the earlier, failed counseling? Was it the WELS counseling agency? One WELS pastor asked SP Schroeder, who did not answer.

Why was this crime not reported by his wife and the counseling agency?

Notice that he had to go outside his Antinomian UOJ church for help with his addiction.

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http://waukesha.patch.com/articles/ex-church-official-gets-probation-jail-for-child-porn-conviction

• Police & Fire

Ex-Church Official Gets Probation, Jail for Child Porn Conviction

Joel W. Hochmuth, 52, of Waukesha, is required to register as a sex offender.

• By Sarah Millard
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• 6:04 pm

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The former communications director for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod will spend one year in the work-release jail after he was sentenced Monday on one count of possessing child pornography.

Joel W. Hochmuth, 52, of Waukesha, was sentenced Monday to 10 years of probation the year of jail time is a condition of his probation. Other conditions of probation include sex offender treatment and registering on the state’s sex offender database, according to online court records.

Two additional felony charges of possessing child pornography were dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea.

Hochmuth was charged in November after detectives from the Waukesha Police Department met with a special agent from the FBI, who told detectives that Hochmuth was using the Internet handle “Skiguy10101” had child pornography on his computer depicting “pre-pubescent and adolescent boys engaged in various sexual acts,” according to a criminal complaint.

Hochmuth told authorities that the number of images found on his computer in Waukesha “was nothing compared to what they would find in his office,” the complaint states. Hochmuth denied downloading pornographic images on his work computer but police located three thumb drives at the WELS office in Wauwatosa, 2929 N Mayfair Rd., that had nine images and videos of young boys engaged in sexual acts, the complaint states. Authorities believe boys shown in the graphic pictures ranged from 10 to 14 years old.

Hochmuth was terminated from his position when the allegations came to light.

Congratulations WELS - after complaining--sanctimoniously--about ELCA and the Roman Catholics, you are now listed by the prime lobbying group - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - SNAP. The Roman hierarchy hates SNAP because SNAP has networked the victims with great effect. The group uploaded the arrest video to YouTube, which combined the defense attorney's lie about adult pornography when the charge was swapping files showing man-boy rape.


SNAP Wisconsin is the state-wide group. If you have a problem with WELS, contact SNAP and an attorney, not the cover-up magicians of WELS.

Wisconsin Lutheran College (WELS when fund-raising) featured one of the worst archbishops, Weakland, as their speaker in a widely promoted series, which also included various priests. Weakland had an affair with a young man and used church funds to pay blackmail to his lover, claiming the funds came from his own account. WELS deceived everyone about the lectures, never explaining why an official of Rome was speaking on behalf of the Wisconsin Sect.

Years ago, Wisconsin Lutheran College featured Weakland as their speaker, along with some of his priests.
Weakland claimed that children invited sex with adults.

The Hochmuth story is full of holes. My vast intelligence-gathering network cannot find out where he got counseling, which is part of every news story. His wife caught him and they went into counseling. But counselors are supposed to report heinous crimes against children. Was it the WELS agency? Silence. Nobody knew this was going on? Silence.

This page used to link to the SP Schroeder/Hochmuth letter against ELCA for supporting homosexual clergy. Just as I expected, the page was removed. That is the WELS approach - hide the evidence, spin the story, and punish anyone who asks more than once about the corruption.

But relax. I found another copy on the Net, thanks to my extensive experience in tracking down synodical lies:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 21, 2009 Contact: Joel Hochmuth Director of Communications Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod joel.hochmuth@wels.net 

WELS president expresses regret at ELCA decision on gay clergy

Milwaukee, Wis.—Rev. Mark Schroeder, president of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), is expressing regret at the vote of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) convention regarding homosexual clergy. Friday, delegates approved a resolution committing the church to find a way for “people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships” to serve as professional leaders of the church.

“To view same-sex relationships as acceptable to God is to place cultural viewpoint and human opinions above the clear Word of God,” says Schroeder. “The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, along with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and other smaller Lutheran synods, maintains and upholds the clear teaching of the Bible that homosexuality is not in keeping with God’s design and is sinful in God’s eyes.”

At the same time, Schroeder says WELS congregations stand ready to support those struggling with same-sex attractions. “As with any sin, it is the church’s responsibility to show love and compassion to sinners, not by condoning or justifying the sin, but by calling the sinner to repent and by assuring the sinner that there is full forgiveness in Jesus Christ,” Schroeder says.

WELS, with about 390,000 members and nearly 1,300 congregations nationwide, is the third largest Lutheran church body in the United States. In Wisconsin alone, there are more than 201,000 members and 417 congregations. “It’s unfortunate that many headlines have referred to the recent decisions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as something ‘Lutherans’ have decided,” Schroeder says. “In fact, the ELCA is only one of many Lutheran denominations. We are saddened that a group with the name Lutheran would take another decisive step away from the clear teaching of the Bible, which was the foundation of the Lutheran Reformation.”

Schroeder says that WELS is firmly committed to upholding God’s design for marriage as outlined in Scripture—a design intended for one man and one woman. “We believe, and the Bible teaches, that God designed this relationship to be a blessing for men and women and for society. Any departure from what God himself has designed does two things: it denies the clear teachings of Scriptures and it undermines God’s desire that the man/woman relationship in marriage be a blessing.”

---


On the WELS.net site I found a reaction to that news release, but not the news release itself.

Feedback to a WELS news release quoting Pres. Mark Schroeder's reaction to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) decision to allow homosexuals in "lifelong, monogamous" relationships to serve as pastors continues to flow in.

On Aug. 21, the day the ELCA churchwide assembly approved the resolution, Communication Services posted Pres. Schroeder's response expressing WELS opposition based on clear biblical principles on the synod's Web site. A news release was also sent to Religion News Service for worldwide distribution.
So far, the reaction has been almost universally positive, with statements of support coming from both WELS and non-WELS members. "I appreciate your statement and share your disappointment," writes one woman from Michigan. "Thank you for posting the statement with a clear Biblical viewpoint."

"As a member of an ELCA church, I applaud you standing up for the Word of God and having the backbone to speak up and put your 8/21 letter on your Web site," writes another woman from Minnesota.
While it is impossible to gauge precisely how widely published Schroeder's comments were, the news release was printed virtually verbatim on more than a dozen blogs. Schroeder's comments were quoted in an MSNBC.com article (link no longer available) on the reaction to the ELCA decision from both WELS and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

---

Hochmuth was not excommunicated, but Rick Techlin and the Krohns were.

SP Schroeder:
Christians are not immune to Satan’s temptations. David, Paul, and Peter all knew from personal experience that believers can and do commit terrible and unspeakable sin. But they also knew and experienced the restoring power of God’s grace. Joel Hochmuth knows this as well. Joel is receiving pastoral care from his pastors and others. We are confident that the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in God’s Word has brought him to recognize and repent of his sin, and we also know that he has sought and received the comfort of forgiveness in the redeeming sacrifice of our Savior. Please pray that Joel will continue to be assured of forgiveness at the foot of the cross and that God’s grace will restore him, renew him, and strengthen his faith.

 Serving in Christ, Rev. Mark Schroeder, WELS President

---

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/158382395.html



ST. FRANCIS - A Waukesha Catholic priest is now on leave after a sexual abuse allegation. The allegation dates back 30 years.

Parishioners are stunned by the news.  However, this is not the first time Father John Schreiter has been accused of sexual abuse.

The Catholic Diocese says he is now on leave, just one week before he was set to retire.

"People looked upset.  I saw people crying.  People looked shocked," one parishioner told us.

Write a Letter - They Say in WELS - The First Step in Being Excommunicated. Here Is Techlin's Letter about St. Peter in Appleton, 2009. Links for the Rest at the Bottom of Each Installment



"There is only one commandment in WELS,
and you have broken it. Now begone!"

A WELS lady marveled that two pastors could
be the cause of so much trouble in one little synod.
Thank Mark Schroeder and the other clergy, like Patterson and Zank,
 for bailing the Booze Brothers out so many times.

Click here for pages 4-5.

WELS Does Not Have Enough Money for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. But Schroeder and LACE and Others Had Cash for Luther Days

Why not employ the fund-raising abilities of The Core in Appleton?
They had $250,000 spent before they really got going,
renting two facilities and buying a failed downtown bar.

Don't worry, folks. Schroeder has already funded the
largest distinctly Lutheran festival in North America.
Anything else would be a disappointment.

It was only natural, then, that we would want to celebrate the 2017 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation as a synod on a national scale. Planning for such an event has been underway for several months. The initial plan was to have a pastors’ symposium involving all WELS pastors, a national teachers’ conference attended by all WELS teachers, and a closing worship service for called workers and WELS members in the BMO Harris Center in downtown Milwaukee. You may have read about it in the 2016 Report to the Twelve Districts, in the Together newsletter, or on the synod website. You will see a mention of it in the December WELS Connection, which has already been recorded.

As details of what would be involved in such a celebration started to unfold—where we would hold it; how many people would attend; and the costs involved for the synod, for congregations, and for called workers—we could reach only one conclusion. We concluded that it not be wise stewardship of God’s gifts to hold a national Reformation 500 event as first planned. At a price tag of approximately $400,000 or more—far higher than original estimates—the President’s office, with the consensus of the planning committee, has decided to cancel this event. In addition to the costs involved, it became clear that this celebration had the potential to detract from other events planned by districts, congregations, and Lutheran high schools.

Valleskey is an expert on spoiling the Egyptians -
his Church Growth crew has spent many times over that $400,000.
Ask them where they got all the dough.

From 2010 - St. Peter in Appleton, Katy Perry, Church and Change

WELS Pastor Ron Ash is the chairman of Church and Change, the WELS version of JesusFirst in Missouri.
Pastor Tim Glende posed with Katy Perry, as Pastor Ski did.
Ski was a board member of Church and Change.

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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "St. Peter, Freedom, Wisconsin. Letter to WELS Offi...":

This was an outstanding letter by Rick Techlin Jr. of St. Peter church in Appleton.

It is very good to see a Confessional Lutheran stand against the tide of the New Age false teachers sweeping through the visible Lutheran [self sic] churches.

Is the heinous actions of (W)ELS Pastor Glende, the voters of St. Peter, the lack of action on the part of the individuals addressed in the letter including the so-called conservative synod president that much different than the abject apathy of the majority of (W)ELS laity and clergy? After all they all remain in fellowship with the mini popes of the (W)ELS who perpetrate and allow horrible actions to take place against faithful Lutheran Christians.

***

GJ - Posted below is an exact replica of a letter written by a distraught WELS layman and sent to many WELS officials, one year ago today. All Saints Day. I received the PDF, as many others did. The letter was going to be published in the IL blog, then in the Light from Light blog.

Nothing happened from sending the letter, of course. They always say, "Write a letter." The WELS method is to keep everything a secret so they can call the truth a lie while inventing a convenient version of their truth.

I forgot that I had the letter. While converting an ELCA document into something useful I ran into the St. Peter letter, since both were PDFs and lined up together in my bulging storehouse of information. I found a way to turn the PDFs into PNGs and publish them in order.

Some of the readers will think the main perpetrators are Tim Glende, nephew of Professor Brug at The Sausage Factory, and Pastor Ski, popcorn impressario of The CORE. But that is not true. Their problems with honesty and doctrine began long ago, when WELS teachers made it clear that trickery, threats, and oodles of money were the answer to everything.

The letter shows that Pastor Tim Glende is a plagiarist, a bully, and a thug. He has to copy everything, it seems. He started an imitation Ichabod blog, with a slightly different name, just to fool people into landing on his anonymous effort, which was focused solely on attacking me.

Glende also adopted the nickname I gave him for his vile, cowardly attacks via the comments on this blog. I kept calling him Anony-mouse, so he began another blog which he called Anonymouse. He was even more disgusting on that blog, using my two dead daughters as his ammunition.

He gave himself away when he commented from Appleton. When I narrowed the blogs down to him, the blogging stopped, until he posted again to provide a smokescreen for his classmate at MLS, Aaron Frey. Like Kilcrease, he often deletes his most obnoxious work. But they are easy enough to save and use later, whenever needed.

Pervasive Evil in WELS
No one is going to stop the pervasive evil in WELS until it is addressed directly and openly. Glende and Ski are simply outlying growths in the cancer that has grown unchecked for decades. That cancer has involved the cover-up of two spouses murdered by their church worker husbands, countless cases of abuse and molestation, a District President and vicar in different state prisons, rewarding false doctrine with promotions and job security.

Take Away What They Worship
The WELS leaders worship money rather than God. They despise the Confessions, the liturgy, the Creeds, and Luther's doctrine.

The DPs and national staff get a fortune in pay, housing, and benefits to promote evil and false doctrine. Why not take away what they worship - holy mammon? They have enough to blow on The CORE. Ski and Glende were $250,000 down before it even started.

When will a single DP ever do anything against the crafts and assaults of the Church and Changers? The dopey DP in Milwaukee cannot do anything Lutheran or even WELS, but he can throw out a pastor and congregation for the tagging of a sidewalk, even though the trickster paid damages the next day. Tagging seems to be the only target of discipline in the entire state, where half the members reside and the worst DPs reign.

Their discipline has worked well. No other WELS pastor has tagged a sidewalk since that time. A seminary professor was convicted for drunk driving, which might seem a little more serious, but his lawyer convinced the court later that he was avoiding a band of pet turtles on the road, swerving left and right to save their lives.

Do you think anyone is serious about these letters they receive? Look at the luminaries at the top of the page. I can tell you this - When the Intrepid Lutherans dared to say the Synod Sunday materials were pathetic, there was an uproar that quashed IL in 24 hours.

Yes, 24 hours was all it took to make sure no one questioned Holy Mother Synod. Add that to your list of no-nos, seminarians.

1. Teach any doctrine except Luther's.
   
2. Have an affair with a music director if you want a promotion.
   
3. Murder your wife and make up any old lame story.
   
4. Drive drunk.
   
5. Bully and threaten your members who do what you said they should do in following Matthew 18.
   
6. But DO NOT question anything coming from The Guilt Factory (formery The Love Shack).
   and do not,
   and I mean this,
   DO NOT TAG a sidewalk....ever.
   If you do, may God have mercy on your soul, because WELS will not.
   

The letter and the non-response have shown how effective Church and Change is, in defeating any implication of Lutheran doctrine.
---
From the Martin Luther College student Portal:

This week Friday we will be hosting our second Educational Convocation. Because of the recent media coverage nationally, statewide, and locally on Bullying in Our Schools we are changing our presentation topic to that issue. Our WELS schools are not exempt from such behavior and learning to identify and correcting this behavior is vital for our future educators. Our presenter will be Professor Rhoda Wolle from WLC. So plan on attending this all important convocation on Friday, November 5 at 9:35 am in the gymnasium. See you there and bring a friend.

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Too Funny. Gasping for Breath - 
From My Favorite CG Email Spammer:

Should a pastor with an addiction be fired? This is the question that more and more churches are having to deal with these days.  How do you deal with a pastor who has an addiction.  Maybe it's an addiction to alcohol or drugs; maybe it's a sexual addiction like pornography.  The question is... what should be done with a pastor that has an addiction of some kind when it is found out? How about a pickled seminary professor?

Why you probably stink at delegating Great piece over at Lifehacker about delegation.  Why is it so difficult?  And why are most people so sucky at it?  Here are three very simple reasons...

Matt Chandler:  One year after cancer Justin Taylor has a great interview with Matt Chandler over at The Gospel Coalition website.  It's been one year since Matt was diagnosed with a very serious form of brain cancer.

Mark Driscoll on young leaders in the church What is encouraging Mark Driscoll about today's young leaders in the church?  And what concerns him?  Check out this short clip (it's about three minutes long).  Take a look, and see if you agree/disagree.  And where are you on the spectrum that Mark speaks about? Ski? Glende?

Andy Stanleyisms Andy Stanley is one of my favorite communicators.  Here's why:  there is so much content when Andy speaks that are bite-sized nuggets that keep me thinking.  So... I decided to gather some recent Andy Stanley quotes shared on Twitter and share them with you here.  See what you think: Ski, Glende, Parlow, Buske, Buehler? Buehler? Anyone?

Erectile Dysfunction commercial gets woman kicked out of church OK... I know this is sensationalistic... but here's the headline in Australia's Herald Sun newspaper:  The star of an erectile dysfunction commercial has been kicked out of her church until the ad comes off air.

Robert A. Schuller:  If I were still there, it would be a different story How does a church get $43 million in debt?  This ABC news segment attempts to explain how the Crystal Cathedral got into the mess it's in.  It includes an interview with Robert A. Schuller (the son), and Angie Schuller (Robert H. Schuller's granddaughter). Say say say say say say  One key to communication vision is frequency.  Often as leaders, we think if we our people something once... they'll get it.  If we tell them something twice, they'll for sure understand the concept.  And if they aren't acting out the vision after we've told them three times, they must be... Change  Ever wonder why people react to change the way they do?  Seth Godin had a great, very short post today that helped me understand a little more about how and why people react to change. A tearful Robert H. Schuller asks for help  It was an emotional Sunday at the Crystal Cathedral.  84 year old founder Robert H. Schuller, in a tearful address, asked his congregation for help in turning around the church's massive debt that led to last week's declaration for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Four drummers I’d like to see in church  OK... I don't know that I'd really like to see these guys in church; but they would liven up some things, I guess.  Check these guys out.  The first is my all-time favorite.  I've thrown in a classic Bill Cosby bit at the end as a bonus... Thoughts on Crystal Cathedral entering bankruptcy  Much has been said this past week about the Crystal Cathedral entering backruptcy.  Read what some of the press, bloggers, and twitterverse has to say about it... Church:  Jesus does not care  Another day, another church marketing campaign.  This one, by a church in Mansfield, includes a sign that simply says JesusDoesNotCare.com.  It seems that even if Jesus doesn't care... some people in the community do; and they're not taking too kindly to the churches newest sign campaign. One church that handled scandal well and how they did it  When a scandal hits your church, it is the test of all time.  Many churches don't handle bad times well.  In fact, many churches retreat in the face of hard times.  Few handle it well.  But after the worship pastor at Praise Fellowship was charged with 33 sexual felony charges,... Yogatta be kidding me  It's been a bad few weeks for Yoga in the Christian community.  First Al Mohler came out with his stance:  "Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a “post-Christian, spiritually polyglot” reality." How to measure small group effectiveness  So many churches try to have an effective small group ministry and fail.  Groups are tough.  So... how do you measure the effectiveness of your small group ministry?  Alan Danielson has some ideas for you.  In fact, the way you measure your effectiveness is all according to what you're trying... And finally: The Pressure of Being a Pastor: It will make you better or worse a man? Some pastors fake it. Their hearts can’t keep up with all of the God-talk. Eventually what you get is a man who spends his week churning out sermons, leading counseling sessions, discipling others, and evangelizing neighbors by speaking sentence after sentence about the power of the gospel and the goodness of God, but he doesn’t really believe it. Megachurch pastor comes out of the closet... “I know a lot of straight people think it is a choice. It is not”... that according to Jim Swilley, pastor of a large church in Rockdale County, GA.

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WELS Laymen - "If the Synodical Council would read Rick..."

Synodical Council to meet this week

During the first week of November, the Synodical Council (SC) will hold its regular fall meeting and will address several significant items of business.

Long-range plan
A special task force of synod administrators, with input from synodical boards and district conventions last summer, has been developing the synod's long-range plan for the year 2017.

Click here for the letter.

Robert Schuller, Church Growth, and LCMS-WELS Crackpots



WELS/ELS and LCMS invited paganism into their midst
by promoting yahoos like Olson and Huebner.
Whom did they find while studying at Fuller and Willow Creek - ELCA leaders.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "So California - When Will WELS Try This?":

Some history on the Hour of Power's decline:

The Hour of Power was seen across Europe as late as 1994, but the show was dropped when European govts and Russia decided to make TV cuts. He claimed 10 million viewers there:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/11/state/n115330D81.DTL

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/03/times-change-for-hour-of-power-crystal-cathedral/1#.T2_xviKtNUw

OC's Crystal Cathedral congregation to relocate
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/03/11/state/n115330D81.DTL

1994:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1994-10-15/news/9410150627_1_schuller-super-channel-cotton

Schuller's worldwide audience was more than halved when Europe's Super Channel and Russia's government-financed Channel 1 dropped him this year. NBC acquired a controlling interest in Super Channel and overhauled its programming, costing Schuller about 200,000 viewers. Government money woes forced Channel 1 to cut programming, costing between 10 million and 15 million viewers.

***

GJ - I always learn from Bruce Church's comments. Doubtless the free ride from low-cost TV broadcasting was a great boon to Schuller in the early years. I also understand the neighborhood changed and his local members moved farther away. What seemed so unusual at the time became hidebound after all his disciples kept taking Church Growth a few steps beyond his starting point.

I can no longer find the Internet evidence for Schuller and Mary Kay getting Napoleon Hill Foundation Awards, which tied both of them into Asian polytheistic thinking. Schuller and Cho saw things the same way, and Cho was kicked out of the Assemblies of God for his paganism. A little research will show how that has slopped over into the Lutheran Church, thanks to heedless leaders who call themselves "conservative" and "confessional."

Schuller won an award from the Napoleon Hill Foundation
for promoting Hill's philosophy.
So did Mary Kay.

The final bishops of the LCA and ALC had the same problem with watching everything fall apart. They launched ELCA with gay and feminist quotas, only to bemoan the results of their own policies a few years later. David Preus and James Crumley came to regret the merger they promoted, but the merger followed the policies they established and endorsed.

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"One day, son, all this will be your sister's,
then the pope's."

Famed Crystal Cathedral to become Catholic church - Yahoo! News: - 2012 post


GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Retired schoolteacher Dolores Rommel has followed the Rev. Robert H. Schuller almost her entire adult life: She was baptized in his church as a young woman, sent her children to his Sunday school and laid her husband to rest near the soaring, glass-paned Crystal Cathedral that was to be the televangelist's ultimate legacy.

But when the Roman Catholic church bought the famous sanctuary and its cemetery in bankruptcy court last year, Rommel began looking for another spiritual home. She has resigned herself to being entombed in a Catholic cemetery so she can be near her husband, but not without plenty of soul-searching.

"I have no choice. I am going to be buried there because that was his choice and we paid a lot for that vault," said Rommel, who bought a two-casket tomb with her husband in 1997. "At the time, who would know that this was going to happen?"

The Crystal Cathedral congregation recently announced that it will vacate its modernist steel-and-glass church by June 2013. The Diocese of Orange re-baptized the church Christ Cathedral earlier this month and plans to turn the Protestant landmark where the "Hour of Power" TV ministry is based into its spiritual and administrative headquarters. The fast-growing, 1.2 million-person diocese bought the church campus for nearly $58 million last year.

The upcoming transition has been an emotional one for many longtime congregants like Rommel, who watched Schuller's blockbuster dynasty struggle to survive in recent years amid declining donations, a disastrous leadership transition and an endless family squabble that split the congregation.
Schuller built the church — an architectural marvel with 10,000 windows and room for nearly 3,000 worshippers and 1,000 musicians — in 1980, a decade after he began broadcasting his sermons on the "power of possibility thinking" into the homes of millions of evangelical Christians each Sunday.
Reaction to the church's sale was at first bitter: The children of one prominent philanthropist publicly threatened to disinter their father from its cemetery and another congregant sued for $30 billion, saying the transfer to Catholic hands had "permanently desecrated, defamed, polluted and cursed" the church.
Tempers have since cooled, but the recently announced timeline for the transfer to Catholic hands has revived questions about the fate of Schuller's ministry once it leaves behind the iconic building that gave it its name. The diocese will grant the congregation six months rent-free at a nearby Catholic church and it plans to continue filming the "Hour of Power."

"We could film in a studio," said John Charles, the new CEO of Crystal Cathedral Ministries. "We're still going to have the same great preaching, the same great music and pulpit guests. The ministry is not about the building — it's more about our congregation and who we are."

Some, however, wonder whether the ministry will fizzle out — or shrink dramatically — without the building that gave it its name. Broadcasts of the "Hour of Power" were recently cut back to 30 minutes on Lifetime and Discovery channels and Schuller, now 85, no longer appears on the program and hasn't attended church since last fall.

His son and daughter, who each failed to assume their father's mantle, are no longer involved in the ministry. Sheila Schuller Coleman formed a new church after a falling out last year.

"You are kidding about sis taking over, aren't you, Dad?"

The congregation, which now numbers up to 1,700 people each Sunday, will also change its name once it moves.

"It really needs to go back to square one and say, 'Who are we going to be? We can't be what we were 10 to 15 years ago,'" said Kurt Fredrickson, an associate dean and assistant professor of pastoral ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. "There could be resurrection there or it could be that we say goodbye to a congregation and bless them and be grateful and thank God for years and years and years of really wonderful ministry."

Schuller tapped into California's blossoming car culture and the optimism of a post-World War II generation when he began preaching in 1955 from the roof of a snack bar at a drive-in movie theater in suburban Orange County. He exhorted worshippers to "come as you are in the family car" and his upbeat message resonated.
By 1970, Schuller was airing the "Hour of Power" and in 1980, he dedicated the Crystal Cathedral, an architectural marvel that served as the backdrop for the show. At its peak, the broadcast attracted 20 million viewers around the world.

The Rev. Christopher Smith, the Catholic episcopal vicar and rector of the newly baptized Christ Cathedral, recalls as a child watching from his grandparents' backyard as the young, energetic evangelist preached from the roof of the drive-in theater's concession stand. Now, Smith is in charge of a delicate transition as the diocese prepares to move into a religious and architectural touchstone cherished by evangelicals around the world.

The diocese hopes to honor Schuller and the history of his ministry with a museum that begins with the drive-in movie theater and ends with the Catholic acquisition. The diocese may also move its archives, which are currently not publicly available, to the cathedral grounds, said Smith.

"I just hope that we attend well to all the different people who are affected by this and also that this place be seen as a place where everyone is welcome to find hope and consolation and inspiration, whether they're Catholic or not," Smith said.

"That's the bishop's desire — that we are a real credible witness to Christ in the world through our work here."

Napoleon Hill inspired Schuller with this nonsense.
The most visible guru was Norman Vincent Peale,
who plagiarized his best-seller.
Thus Church Growth began with the plagiarism of Peale
and the adultery of Fuller's main theologian - Karl Barth-Kirschbaum.

'via Blog this'

In May of 2007 - Candidates for WELS Synod President - Nothing Changes, Except It Only Gets Worse

Natalie Pratt met with Mark Schroeder, who put her in charge of Luther Days -
with WELS funding and a promotional link.
Largest Lutheran expo in North America?

Some have asked John Seifert to run for WELS synodical president. Wayne Mueller, as President-in-Waiting, will not be amused. A third candidate may be Marc Schroeder, president of the doomed Luther Prep school in Watertown, Wisconsin. I am listing Schroeder because his enormously long proposal, sent to me by two different readers, loooks like a platform. Therefore, two candidates represent the soon-to-be extinct prep schools: Seifert for Michigan Lutheran; Schroeder for Luther Prep. One candidate stands for Church Growth, Church and Change, women's ordination, shutting down the schools to have more missions - Wayne Mueller.

WELS is completely divided now. If Mueller wins, the pro-school people will be outraged. If Seifert wins, the Church Growth/Church and Change people will be upset but ready to leverage their advantages.

Gurgel was the conservative dream candidate once, eager to fix those problems created by Mischke. Hearts were fluttering when Gurgel won. Soon a WELS pastor contacted me and said, "We are praying for Mischke to return." That did not take long.

If someone slightly conservative wins, he will be like Al Barry, the late Synodical President of the LCMS, letting everything go on as before.

One of the biggest problems of WELS is that people are supposed to speak about everything in a dream-like haze, much like another cult, the Mormons. Everything is wonderful. Lots of WELS anecdotes end with a Missouri pastor coveting the perfection of the Wisconsin Synod, mourning the loss of Paradise in the LCMS. I never heard a Missouri pastor say anything like that, but the myth is powerful in WELS.

The doctrine of WELS Infallibility is the biggest burden to carry forward. If they admitted they were wrong and stupid about the Kokomo Statements, that would mean their idol Sig Becker was imperfect. They could never admit that one of their idols--who left Missouri for WELS--was or is imperfect. They have recorded lectures from Sig Becker at Mequon, so the dead are also enrolled in the teaching office of the church. 

Here is my summary sheet for the presidential race. I will update the blog with additional candidates, if they surface.

1. Wayne Mueller - He is the front-runner by virtue of filling the office of First VP of the Synod, previously serving as head of Fuller Parish Services, and previously serving as the McGavran Professor of Church Growth at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon. All the Fuller graduates will support him. The Church and Change fanatics, who are Legion (filled with demons), will support him. Synod administrators and world missionaries will back him because their part of the budget has increased at the expense of the schools. He has the best chance of winning, but many WELS pastors loathe him for his apostate agenda and domineering personality.
   
2. John Seifert - John's only call has been as pastor of the congregation in Midland, Michigan, but he has always been in the synod bureaucracy (various boards) at the same time. He was elected District President after Mueller vocally supported the DMLC/NWC merger. Having Seifert on your side is like having the Italians on your side in warfare - worse than no help. He has always lived in a dream world about WELS, or he says those Mormonesque things because that is the way to run for office in WELS. Even when Frosty Bivens defended the Church Growth Movement by saying he went to Fuller, Seifert thought Bivens was orthodox. Seifert also "forgot" Bivens said that, in front of the Midland Circuit, in Seifert's own driveway. Later, Bivens said he could not imagine why I claimed he went to Fuller! I did not ask Bivens. He volunteered the information. When I responded with some heat, Bivens went inside to sit with the women, traumatized that someone disagreed with him. I see Seifert as having very little chance of winning. The anti-school, Church Growth, Church and Change, "missions," and women's ordination people will line up against him, determined to win even if they happen to lose the election.
   
3. Marc Schroeder - I heard that pastors in Florida who questioned Church Growth were given new calls out of the district. One day I got a letter from a parish pastor in Florida, Marc Schroeder. He had some questions about Church Growth for a conference paper he was writing. I answered and then found out soon after that he was the new president of the WELS prep school in Watertown. So the story was true! Ask about Church Growth and ye shall receive a call outside the Florida district. When virtually everyone was shunning me in WELS for my opposition to clergy adultery and Church Growth, Marc Schroeder made a point to come up to me at chapel in Watertown and say hello. Outsiders can hardly imagine how dangerous this was. A true politician like Seifert would have glared at me from 100 yards, as the DP did at MLC graduation. (I got the same basilisk glare from Sparky Brenner, whom I had known for years. One graduate's parent asked me why so many people were giving me the laser beam, even across the auditorium.) Marc probably has more contact with WELS pastors since he is in the state where half the membership of WELS resides. Michigan is much smaller in membership and also divided along doctrinal lines. Most likely Schroeder and Seifert would divide the dissenter vote, giving the election to Mueller.

Confidential to Wayne Mueller's son -
Please talk to Scott Barefoot about your problems.
It will strictly confidential and only shared with Scott's Facebook friends.