A Pope You Need?

Another Plea for UOJ: Tragedy, Pity, Incomplete Sentences

Pastors' Roundtable for Thursday, April 30, 2009. Todd Wilken; Pastor David Boisclair of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran, St. Louis, MO; Pastor Charlie Henrickson of St. Matthew Lutheran, Bonne Terre, MO.

David Boisclair has left a new comment on your post "David Boisclair, STM, Assigns Dr. Luther, Melancht...":

I find it a tragedy that in this day and age when most people find Christianity irrelevant, and that is Christianity in its least identifiable form (e.g. Unitarianism), that those who claim to be confessional Lutherans are at each other's throats for what may be a "war of words" (Logomachy). Of those of us who teach the scriptural doctrine of Objective Justification (sic) also teach salvation by grace through faith alone. No one receives the forgiveness of sins apart from God-wrought saving faith in Jesus Christ. I wonder if we are misunderstanding one another. All in all it is a pity. 

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GJ - 

Writing under the pseudonym of David Clearwood, LCMS Pastor David Boisclair stated:

David Clearwood said...

Pastor Rydecki, I know heterodoxy when I hear and see it, and you are most certainly guilty of it. I shake off these calumnies that you put on me. 

You confuse Law and Gospel; you limit Christ's atonement, and you pervert the Scriptures and the Confessions by yours and Gregory Jackson's doctrine. You also bear false witness against those who believe, teach, and confess the Synodical Conference's doctrine, that is the Scriptural and Confessional doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The Synodical Conference doctrine is the pattern of sound words, not your doctrine. As far as I am concerned I apply Romans 16:17 to you and to all who agree with you.

I do not claim to be a confessional Lutheran, because it is a meaningless term today. Richard J. Neuhaus, a product of LCMS education, called himself a confessional Lutheran until he became a Roman Catholic priest. The faculty members of Luther Seminary (ELCA) consider themselves confessional Lutherans, too.

According to Clearwood (nee Boisclair), the apostles were tragic and pitiable creatures, because they discussed doctrine openly when the entire Roman Empire was pagan and almost as corrupt as America today.

Let him who would teach theology first learn the English language. The following is an incomplete and muddled sentence that makes no sense. If only Clearwood would write clearly:

Of those of us who teach the scriptural doctrine of Objective Justification (sic) also teach salvation by grace through faith alone.

The Fox Valley UOJ stylists write the same way, so I should send the message there for a translation. Incoherent rage has a way of shaping words.

First of all, there is a position that can be elevated beyond the description of personal opinion - justification by faith alone. The straw man or Aunt Sally logical fallacy is bit too worn to be trotted out again in favor of universal absolution.

UOJ, the Helen of Troy in the Synodical Conference, is universal absolution, as enshrined in the Brief Confession of 1932, to wit, the entire world has been declared forgiven. 

Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25...LCMS, Brief Confession, 1932

There are several flavors of UOJ and some creative, bizarre applications of it, but that is the central thesis. For the UOJ Stormtroopers, the atonement is identical to the declared forgiveness of the entire world - without the Holy Spirit at work in the Word, without faith.

Like Stephan's syphilis, the bishop's Halle-bred version of justification (UOJ - Easter absolution) spread through the Synodical Conference by personal contact. Stephan taught UOJ to Walther and the clergy circle. They taught it to others. But justification by faith survived in the German Missouri catechism, the Gausewitz, and the KJV catechism.

Boisclair and the rest cannot have their UOJ and call it justification by faith, because they have already concluded that every pagan idol worshiper, snake-charmer, and polytheist is already forgiven. They are forgiven before birth, as Cascione and McCain say in harmony with the papist Eduard Preuss.

Walther liked to write "yea even" so this post is Waltherian in
its many yea evens.

Pastor Paul Rydecki must have come to his own conclusions about justification by faith, because he published on Hunnius when I was still thinking that was the Latin name for Atilla. I knew about P. Leyser, who squashed UOJ like a bug, but Hunnius was a mystery to me.

That is not a symmetrical argument, to call justification by faith a personal opinion tragically dividing the last few remaining Christians on earth, and to identify UOJ falsely with Lutheran doctrine or with with Synodical Conference teaching.

The hero of Kokomo, Papenfuss, confessed that he knew nothing of UOJ until he matriculated at the Sausage Factory in Mequon. WELS did not hyperventilate about UOJ until they had Gausewitz safely buried and forgotten.

Bob Preus taught UOJ at Ft. Wayne, as David Scaer still does, but Preus eviscerated the UOJ arguments in Justification and Rome, a turnabout still to be admitted by his sons.

LCMS education is so blighted that Todd Wilken calls justification by faith "Calvinism" with a chuckle, proving he does not grasp Calvinism or Lutheranism.

The biggest logical fallacy of the UOJ Enthusiasts is their special pleading:

Special pleading, also known as stacking the deck, ignoring the counterevidence, slanting, and one-sided assessment,^[1] is a form of spurious argument where a position in a dispute introduces favourable details or excludes unfavourable details by alleging a need to apply additional considerations without proper criticism of these considerations. Essentially, this involves someone attempting to cite something as an exemption to a generally accepted rule, principle, etc. without justifying the exemption.^[2] 

I have published, verbatim, the learned essays of their best and brightest. Sometimes I have laboriously converted PDFs into readable posts, moving the footnotes around and making nonsense appear pleasing to the eye.

But where do these UOJ Stormtroopers list the arguments of the other side? I see no evidence of them bothering to quote an alternative viewpoint. They are like the children who cite 18 reasons why they have to go to Disneyland, but react with shock and accusations if their parents try to offer objections to the plan.

The reliance on logical fallacies, to support UOJ, is amusing. I am banned and denounced on various "Lutheran" discussion sites, which means anyone is free to agree on UOJ alone. Likewise, all those who offer  a justification by faith statement are silenced, erased, and ridiculed as a "you morons" (Steadfast Lutherans).

Steadfast Lutherans should be called 1984 Lutherans, because entire threads are erased and tossed down the memory hole. Comparisons to Animal Farm are just as tempting. Snarling Yorkies are positioned to bark at anyone who departs from the One True Unfaith.

Today I learned - confessional Lutherans do not sign their names when they confess. They use pseudonyms to denounce people by name.

I also learned - the Brief Confession of 1932 is so good and perfect and pure that it sets aside and replaces the Word of God and the Book of Concord, yea even - common sense. For example, the Romans chapter on justification by faith is cited to prove the entire world has been declared forgiven - just the opposite of what Romans 4:24-25 teaches.

"Boys - we need a new paraphrase to get around these problems. Order up the New NIV. That will solve all our problems. Thanks."

Art by Norma Boeckler

The Last Resort for the LCMS Rulers

If they would only tell the truth about their history,
but that would involve a lot more clap and a lot less clapping.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "ChurchMouse Thanks Readers":

I found the next resort that the LCMS Council of Presidents can book, similar to the Gaylord resort, but with a Lutheran connection. It's only an hour's drive from Wittenberg in the city of Brandenberg, nearer to Berlin. Soon Berlin's new airport will be open, making travel to Wittenberg easier, and maybe less costly. They can pretend to be inspecting the Latin School renovation as an excuse:

Gigantic Indoor Beach Resort
http://www.weather.com/travel/vacationtips/tropical-islands-indoor-resort-20130220

Brandenberg to Wittenberg:
http://goo.gl/maps/DHBm4

Oregon City To Off a Tree for a Bike Path

Oregon City Park Commission.

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "ChurchMouse Thanks Readers":

Oregon city wants to cut down 120-foot tall sequoia tree with a 18-foot circumference trunk for a bike path--as though the bike path couldn't just go around it. Doh!:

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Fighting-to-save-their-Sequoia-191930631.html

The tree at the center of the controversy is a giant sequoia that stands about 120 feet tall and measures 18 feet around. It's one of a couple dozen giant sequoias in Pier Park, but the only one on the chopping block.

ChurchMouse Thanks Readers

churchmousec (http://churchmousec.wordpress.com/) has left a new comment on your post 

"Church Mouse - Must Read This Post - No nation is ...":

Thank you very much, Dr Jackson, for the mention and to your readers who took the time to read my post.

It's important to get this news out to our friends and family. Other Western nations are similarly affected by the same strange laws and policies.

Churchmouse 

***

GJ - Here is the link again, since CM writes so many posts -

http://churchmousec.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/no-nation-is-alone-in-assaults-from-statists/

The author is a thoughtful observer of English and European trends. He also participates in

Orphans for Liberty.

From 2007 - Classic Ichabod - Donald McGavran, Theologian of the Synodical Conference

Donald McGavran, liberal Disciples of Christ minister, sociologist, founder of the Church Growth Movement

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2007/10/donald-mcgavran-liberal-disciples-of.html

Quotations from McGavran and About McGavran

From MEGATRON, the Database

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

"Donald A. McGavran, who has been called the father of the modern church growth movement, states in Understanding Church Growth, 'Men and women do like to become Christians without crossing barriers' (p. 227). This experienced scholar and missionary states many examples of the homogeneous principle working in his research throughout the world."
Dr. Paul Y. Cho (with R. Whitney Manzano), More Than Numbers, Waco: Word Books, 1984, p. 46.

"There is no doubt the Body rightly understood, reverently discerned, and scientifically described assists Christian leaders in being better stewards of the grace of God and effective communicators of the gospel of Christ."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 110. 1 Corinthians 10.

"To acquire more expertise in Church Growth thinking, I visited the School of World Mission and Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary. When I inquired concering resources and materials for American Church Growth, I found that Dr. Donald McGavran and C. Peter Wagner were team-teaching a course applying world principles of Church Growth to the American scene. I immediately became a part of that group. As I listened and learned, I realized here was the effective approach to evangelism for which I had been searching. In those hours, I experienced my third birth--'conversion' to Church Growth thinking." [Winfield C. Arn]
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 12.

"For the Love of Pete,"...presents "The Master's Plan for Making Disciples"...."Planned Parenthood for Churches"...Church growth principles are communicated with warmth and humor.
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 132.

"A Church Growth principle is a universal truth which, when properly interpreted and applied, contributes significantly to the growth of churches and denominations. It is a truth of God which leads his church to spread his Good News, plant church after church, and increase his Body."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 15.

"Discover new ways of thinking about your church and community, develop Church Growth eyes that see more accurately the various parts, the homogeneous units, the responsive segments of the community which can be won."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 17.

Church Growth Eyes Blinded Me with Science
"As we begin developing Church Growth eyes and see the possibilities, as we discover methods that prove effective and discard methods that are clearly ineffective, we will find ourselves in a new age."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 19.

"As Christians refine their methods, develop Church Growth eyes, feel church growth responsibility, communicate the Gospel, and educate those who are won until they become responsible Christians, the church as a whole will receive the abundant blessing God wants to give."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 21f.

"God wants his church to grow!"
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 22.

"They must not only believe in Jesus Christ but must become responsible members of his church The Bible requires that. If we take the Bible seriously, we cannot hold any other viewpoint."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 30.

"If a person claiming to be Spirit-filled is not evangelizing, one must doubt how full he or she is and wonder what kind of spirit he or she is full of."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 58.

"As we consider various factors and principles relating to Church Growth we need abundant, accurate information about the members of our churches. This basic principle of Church Growth is called Discerning the Body [in italics]. Pastors and lay people need to discern the Body in the congregation in which they are serving. For this, Church Growth eyes are essential."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 61. 1 Corinthians 10.

Fuller Will Give Y'all CG Eyes
"Discerning the Body begins with Church Growth eyes. Unfortunately, this is what many leaders, many Christians, do not have."
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 63. 1 Corinthians 10.

"I was thinking some hard thoughts about my Presbyterian friends when the Lord said to me, 'Donald, you sat on the executive committee of the Indian Mission of the Disciples of Christ for twenty-five years, didn't you?' I said, 'Yes, Sir.' He said, 'How much time did you spend describing the growth or nongrowth of your church?'"
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 65.

"How can my congregation develop Church Growth eyes?"
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 72. 1 Corinthians 10.

"Churches grow as they reproduce themselves through planned parenthood." [Title of chapter 8]
Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, New York: Harper and Row, 1977, p. 93.

"Winning the winnable while they are winnable seems sound procedure."
Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1980, p. 291.

[McGavran became a professor of missions in Indianapolis in 1957, at the College of Missions, where he got his M.A. in 1923. He began teaching at Northwest Christian College in Oregon in 1961. McGavran was invited to move his Institute of Church Growth to Fuller and become the founding dean of Fuller's School of World Mission.]
Delos Miles, Church Growth, A Mighty River, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981, p. 10f.

"The bulletin to which I refer is the Global Church Growth Bulletin, which McGavran began in 1964...One should not confuse McGavran's Global Church Growth Bulletin with Church Growth: America, a magazine edited by W Charles Arn and published by the Institute for American Church Growth."
Delos Miles, Church Growth, A Mighty River, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981, p. 11.

"Church Growth Eyes Sometimes the term is used in conjunction with the phrase, 'discerning the body.' Professor McGavran uses the terms almost synonymously. Both phrases are examples of how church growth science appropriates the medical model to express itself. Church growth eyes are 'a characteristic of Christians who have achieved an ability to see the possibilities for growth, and to apply appropriate strategies to gain maximum results for Christ and His Church.'" [McGavran and Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, p. 127.]
Delos Miles, Church Growth, A Mighty River, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981, p. 51.

Where WELS/LCMS Got MBO
"Church growth theorists are not opposed to applying Management by Objectives (MBO) in their work. McGavran is bold to advocate planning as much as fifty years in advance."
Delos Miles, Church Growth, A Mighty River, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981, p. 79.

Cloaca Magna of CG
"The fountainhead and headwaters of the church growth river are to be found in a man, an institute, a bulletin, a school, and a book." [But see C. Peter Wagner, "Church Growth, More Than a Man, a Magazine, a School, a Book," Christianity Today, December 7, 1973, pp. 11ff.]

"The man is Donald Anderson McGavran, the son of missionary parents, born in India on December 15, 1897, who was himself a third-generation missionary in India for more than thirty years under appointment of the United Christian Missionary Society (Disciples of Christ). He has a Ph. D. in education from Columbia University."
Delos Miles, Church Growth, A Mighty River, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1981, p. 9f.

Olson (WELS): Our Hearts Beat as One
"Donald C. McGavran died at home home in Altadena, California, on July 10, 1990. He was 92 years old. Dr. McGavran is widely recognized as the founder of the church growth movement, a movement which has sought to put the social sciences at the service of theology in order to foster the growth of the church. In August of 1989 I borrowed a bicycle and pedaled several miles uphill up from Pasadena to Altadena. I found Dr. McGavran in his front yard with a hose in hand, watering flowers."
Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Professor, Martin Luther College (WELS), p. 1.

"McGavran leaned toward me and said, 'The fields are white unto harvest. But you can't harvest a field of wheat with a penknife--you need a sickle, you need a scythe. Harvest intelligently."
Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 2.

"But perhaps church growth's greatest challenge in North America comes from research that shows that more than 80 per cent of all the growth taking place comes through transfer, not conversion. The statistic strikes at the heart of McGavran's brainchild, now come of age. Whether by computer or spiritual power, the church growth movement must improve on those numbers. For if it does not, it will stand to lose the credibility and acceptance it has worked so long to gain."
Ken Sidey, "Church Growth Fine Tunes Its Formulas," Christianity Today, June 24, 1991, p. 47.

"In 1963 he [McGavran] planned to add to the Institute of Church Growth at Eugene an American Division headed by an American minister of church growth convictions, but the plan did not mature. In 1967 the annual Church Growth Seminar at Winona Lake, Indiana, drew in about 20 American ministers and heads of Home Missions Departments."
C. Peter Wagner (study questions by Rev. John Wimber), Your Church Can Grow, Glendale: G/L Regal Books, 1976, p. 14.

How Norm Berg Got Fullerized
"The conscious attempt to apply church growth philosophy to America was stimulated in the fall of 1972 by Pastor Charles Miller, then a staff member of Pasadena's Lake Avenue Congregational Church. At Miller's urging, I organized and asked McGavran to team-teach with me a pilot course in church growth designed specifically for American church leaders. We did it only as an experiment, but the results were remarkable: One of the students, Win Arn, left his position with the Evangelical Covenant Church and founded the influential Institute for American Church Growth."
C. Peter Wagner (study questions by Rev. John Wimber), Your Church Can Grow, Glendale: G/L Regal Books 1976, p. 15.

"The basic responsibility for the seminar is mine, but I am also assisted by Donald McGavran, Win Arn and John Wimber of the Fuller Evangelistic Association." [Two week Doctor of Ministry seminar every winter at Fuller School of Theology, on church growth]
C. Peter Wagner (study questions by Rev. John Wimber), Your Church Can Grow, Glendale: G/L Regal Books, 1976, p. 15.

"I know these questions are real because I was asking them myself when I first came, during my second missionary furlough from Bolivia, to study at Fuller under McGavran. Frankly, I entered his program in 1967 as a skeptic. But I emerged an enlightened person."
C. Peter Wagner (study questions by Rev. John Wimber), Your Church Can Grow, Glendale: G/L Regal Books, 1976, p. 35.

Kuske's Agenda for CG Institute in Columbus
"Church growth is that science which investigates the planting, multiplication, function and health of Christian churches as they relate specifically to the effective implementation of God's-commission to 'make disciples of all nations' (Matt. 28:19-20 RSV). Church growth strives to combine the eternal theological principles of God's Word concerning the expansion of the church with the best insights of contemporary social and behavioral sciences, employing as its initial frame of reference, the foundational work done by Donald McGavran." [Constitution, Academy for American Church Growth]
C. Peter Wagner, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel, New York: Harper and Row, 1981, p. 75.

"In 1980 the Church Growth Movement celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. The historical even now regarded as the beginning of the movement was Donald McGavran's publication of The Bridges of God in 1955."
C. Peter Wagner, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel, New York: Harper and Row, 1981, p. x.

WELS/ELCA Both Loved Lyle Schaller, not John Schaller
"Lyle Schaller, for example, now characterizes the emergence of the Church Growth Movement as 'the most influential development of the 1970's on the American religious scene." [In the Foreword to Donald McGavran and George G. Hunter III, Church Growth Strategies that Work (Nashville: Abingdon, 1980) p. 7.]
C. Peter Wagner, Church Growth and the Whole Gospel, New York: Harper and Row, 1981, p. xi.

"Donald McGavran is the founder of the Church Growth Movement. See chapter 1, 'A Tribute to the Founder.'"
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 248.

"C. Peter Wagner is the Donald A. McGavran Professor of Church Growth at the Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Missions in Pasadena, California. The School of World Mission became a part of Fuller Seminary in 1965 when Donald McGavran, father of the Church Growth Movement, moved his nonacademinc Institute of Church Growth to Pasadena from Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon. Since that time, Fuller Seminary has been the institutional base for the Church Growth Movement, first in its global expression and later in its North American expression."
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 271.

"C. Peter Wagner is the Donald A. McGavran Professor of Church Growth at the Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Missions in Pasadena, California. The School of World Mission became a part of Fuller Seminary in 1965 when Donald McGavran, father of the Church Growth Movement, moved his nonacademinc Institute of Church Growth to Pasadena from Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Oregon. Since that time, Fuller Seminary has been the institutional base for the Church Growth Movement, first in its global expression and later in its North American expression."
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 271.

"Wagner invited McGavran to team teach with him, and the course was a success. Among its students was Win Arn, who almost immediately stepped out in faith and established the Institute for American Church Grwoth, also located in Pasadena. Both Wagner and McGavran were members of the founding board of directors. Arn has given brilliant leadership to the Institute for American Church Growth and ranks as the premier communicator of the Church Growth Movement in North America."
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 271f.

"Wagner was instrumental in the organization of the North American Society for Church Growth, and became its founding president in 1984. In the same year he was honored by Fuller Seminary with the Donald A. McGavran Chair of Church Growth."
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 273.

Acknowledgments to: Donald McGavran, Win Arn, John Wimber, Paul Benjamin, Dennis Oliver, Harold Lindsell...Jack Hyles...Robert Schuller....
C. Peter Wagner, Study Questions by John Wimber, Your Church Can Grow, Glendale: Regal Books, 1976, p. 9.

"There are other church growth programs which have been developed along more conservative lines. Here we are thinking of adaptations of McGavran's principles such as developed by Waldo J. Werning of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. In his study entitled "Vision and Strategy for Church Growth" Werning has modified some of McGavran's extreme positions. Using some of his own adaptations Werning has conducted many seminars and workshops in applying church growth principles to a local congregational setting in America." [Werning is Who's Who in Church Growth]
Ernst H. Wendland, "Church Growth Theology," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, April, 1981, 78, p. 117.

Wendland (WELS) Helped Soften Resistance to CG
"Dr. Donald McGavran, Dean Emeritus and Senior Professor of Mission at the Institute of Church Growth, Pasadena, California, is very much concerned about the Two Billion. He severely censures the leaders of the World Council of Churches as having 'betrayed the Two Billion.'
Ernst H. Wendland, "Missiology--and the Two Billion," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, January, 1974 71, p. 9.

CG Eyes Werning Worked with WELS/ELS/LCMS
"Donald McGavran offered us the following essay on 'The Unique and Radical Nature of the Church Growth Movement.'"
Waldo J. Werning, The Radical Nature of Christianity, Church Growth Eyes Look at the Supernatural Mission of the Christian and the Church, South Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1975, p. 159.

"Dr. McGavran offers the following 'Ten Prominent Emphases in the Church Growth School of Thought.'" [Six and one half pages of direct quotes from McGavran follow.]
Waldo J. Werning, The Radical Nature of Christianity, Church Growth Eyes Look at the Supernatural Mission of the Christian and the Church, South Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1975, p. 160.

"Dr. McGavran offers the following 'Ten Prominent Emphases in the Church Growth School of Thought.'" [Six and one half pages of direct quotes from McGavran follow.]
Waldo J. Werning, The Radical Nature of Christianity, Church Growth Eyes Look at the Supernatural Mission of the Christian and the Church, South Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1975, p. 160.

"Waldo Werning has made an outstanding contribution to the church growth movement in America with Vision and Strategy for Church Growth...Working out of the models established by Donald McGavran and the School of World Mission at Fuller Seminary, Waldo Werning breaks new ground in developing ways that church growth principles can be applied directly to American churches." [Foreword by C. Peter Wagner]
Waldo J. Werning, Vision and Strategy for Church Growth, Second Edition, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, p. 5.

From 2010 - Time of Grace Board Full of Daddy Warbucks

Quotation source - a WELS worker whose name is best forgotten.

From Daily Kos, quoting the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"Time of Grace Ministry is incorporated in Virginia. Both the idea and its implementation have come from the laymen, and officials of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, or WELS, have encouraged them.

Other board members include: Tom Baxter, Television Division chief of the U.S. Army Visual Information Center at the Pentagon; John E. Bauer, longtime chief academic officer of Wisconsin Lutheran College and current vice president for academic affairs; Steve Boettcher, president of Boettcher Productions, a five-time Emmy-winning television production firm in Hartland.

Also, Cliff Buelow, of the Milwaukee law firm of Davis & Kuelthau; Bruce Eberle, president of Eberle Communications Group, a national fund-raising firm in McLean, Va.; Arvid Schwartz of Green Isle, Minn., a farmer, former corporate treasurer, and chairman of the Wisconsin Lutheran College board; and John C. Zimdars, president of The Zimdars Co., Inc., a life insurance consulting firm in Madison.

The idea for the ministry came from Eberle, who sits on the Wisconsin Lutheran College board with Jeske, Buelow, Raabe, Schwartz and Zimdars."

From Daily Kos, with copious copying by them:

The board of directors

John Bauer is chief academic officer of Wisconsin Lutheran College for the past 20 years. Presently he is the Vice President for academic affairs and the Executive Director of CHARIS, the institute of the College.... He and his wife are members of Grace Lutheran Church in Milwaukee.

Tom Baxter: As Chief of the Television Division of the US Army Visual Information Center at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, Tom Baxter is the executive responsible for production and technical operations. His organization produces approximately 200 productions and special events annually....Tom currently serves as President of Christ Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sterling, Virginia.

Steve Boettcher is president of Boettcher Productions Inc., a five-time Emmy winning production company. Boettcher Productions has been creating quality television for nearly two decades, including Kid's Connection, a video ministry of the WELS Commission on Youth Discipleship (CYD). I did not find Boettcher Productions on the web, but found Boettcher-Trinklein Mediaworks. This is the same Steve Boettcher, so maybe he has recently teamed up with Trinklein.

Cliff Buelow, Secretary, TOG, is a shareholder in the Milwaukee law firm of Davis & Kuelthau. Here's his mug. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents of Wisconsin Lutheran College where he serves as Vice Chairman. He has served on several other church-related boards and committees over the last 20 years. Cliff and his wife are members of St. Marcus Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milwaukee.

Bruce Eberle, Vice President, TOG, is the founder and president of the Eberle Communications Group, a national fund raising organization based in McLean, Virginia. Bruce serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents of Wisconsin Lutheran College. He has previously served as President of God's Word to the Nations Bible Society, which produces bibles in contemporary English language, to appeal to normal people. He's also served on several commissions and boards of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. He gave the 1994 commencement address at Wisconsin Lutheran College where he received the 1994 Pro Gloria Dei Award. Incidentally, Eberle gave the college $500,000 in 1999.

Bruce also serves as a Trustee of Joe Gibbs Youth For Tomorrow New Life Foundation, a residential "group village" for at-risk teens.

Mark Jeske has served St. Marcus Evangelical Lutheran Church in the inner City of Milwaukee since 1980. Pastor Jeske is in his third term as a member of the Board of Regents of Wisconsin Lutheran College. He is Second Vice-President, Southeastern Wisconsin District of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

Daryl Raabe, President, TOG
In 1978, Daryl joined the family business, and saw it grow through 1988, when he was appointed President of Raabe Corporation. Interestingly, he left his company in 2002. From the Milwaukee Business Journal, 1/25/02:

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2010/07/time-of-grace-board-full-of-wels-daddy.html


***

GJ - Is this the reason for the total paralysis about Jeske? His star pupils, Ski and Katie, flitted off to one Schwaermer conference after another, worshiping with six other WELS workers at the Babtist Drive conference - and that included Tim Glende. Other notable stops for Katie or Ski or Glende included Dirt, Story, Granger, and all three at the Mark Driscoll beehive in Seattle.

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Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "From 2010 - Time of Grace Board Full of Daddy Warb...":

Ichabod -

This is quite the write-up about "Time of Grace." I was wondering how it was so successful without the Holy Spirit and the Word.......

Nathan M. Bickel
www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org 

Church Mouse - Must Read This Post - No nation is alone in assaults from statists « Churchmouse Campanologist

No nation is alone in assaults from statists « Churchmouse Campanologist:

No nation is alone in assaults from statists

February 20, 2013 in school | Tags: children, Democratic Party, England, France, Labour Party, Parti Socialiste, school, United States

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: every Western country thinks that their values are being attacked in isolation.

However, that is not necessarily true. There seems to be a co-ordinated agenda among them. This is why it is important to appoint a family reader who can track news items in more than one country.

The Americans who read UK sites seem to be doing so for American news only. Yet, if they look closer they will see that the same statist ideas are put forward at the same time in both countries.

The same is true in France.

Read more here...

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Cardinal Dolan For Pope? There’s Suddenly A Very Real Buzz About Him In Italy « CBS New York

Cardinal Dolan For Pope? There’s Suddenly A Very Real Buzz About Him In Italy « CBS New York:

Suddenly A Very Real Buzz About Him In Italy

Head Of N.Y. Archdiocese, Boston Cardinal Considered Serious Contenders

February 20, 2013 10:00 PM

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Cardinal Timothy Dolan (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Does New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan have a serious chance at becoming pope? He usually makes a joke when asked, but a leading Italian newspaper is taking Dolan’s papal prospects seriously.

On Wednesday, the cardinal spoke about his trip to Rome for the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, CBS 2’s Tony Aiello reported.

He sported a hard hat for a ribbon cutting at a Carmelite Sisters nursing home on Staten Island, but could Cardinal Dolan soon don the white “zucchetto” worn by the pope?

“I hate to lose him in New York, but I think, I think, he would be one of the best holy fathers. He would,” said Sister Mary Virginia.

play

• Dolan Heads To Rome Next Week To Vote For New Pope
• 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa

00:00

Since Benedict XVI made Dolan a cardinal one year ago some have touted him as a potential papal successor.

Now, with Benedict leaving office next week, it’s becoming clear Dolan is a serious candidate.

The Italian paper La Repubblica reported the powerful cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is working behind the scenes to advance Dolan’s chances in the upcoming conclave.

Cardinal Dolan was in a good mood Wednesday, but didn’t really want to answer Aiello’s question about the La Repubblica report.

“You know, listen, all the cardinals are really embarrassed to talk about that, and we’d be uncomfortable talking about it, so I’ll leave it at that,” Cardinal Dolan said.

play

• Dolan Heads To Rome Next Week To Vote For New Pope
• WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reports

00:00

Italian papers are buzzing about another potential American pope — Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston.

“The next pope is going to have to be a serious reformer on the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church and, of course, O’Malley has that profile,” said John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.

Dolan plans to be in Rome when the pope leaves office on Feb. 28. He’ll lead 10 other American cardinals in the conclave — a powerful voting contingent Vatican watchers consider second only to the Italians.

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