Columbus, Ohio was VP Paul Kuske's personal sandbox. Backed by Doctrinal Pussycat Robert Mueller, Kuske could make up any excuse he wanted to walk on the wild side of doctrine and practice.
First he courted Floyd Luther Stolzenburg, just kicked out of the LCMS ministry for cause, divorced and unemployed. Kuske set up a Church Growth agency so Floyd could have his own sandbox: Lutheran Parish Resources. The board did not want Floyd, so someone doubled-down and Roger Zehms became the head of LPR, with Floyd also working there. Roger was recently divorced too, but part of the Wayne Mueller Church Growth network.
Zehms and Stolzenburg "answered to no one" because "we have a call directly from the Holy Spirit." Zehms announced that at an LPR meeting. They had a great old time messing around in all the congregations.
Kuske also flattered Marc Schroeder (no relation to Mark Schroeder the SP) at Prince of Peace, another Church Growth outlet. Marc could do no wrong. He was also divorced and remarried. His father-in-law (Johne) hunts zebra with Gunga Don Patterson.
Zehms and Stolzenburg remarried in Columbus. At one meeting both of them separately announced they needed a call, "because I have a new wife and a mortgage." That is how it works.
Kuske and Schumann (another Church Growth guy) backed Stolzenburg for a call while denying any WELS support of Floyd. Official denials are routine in WELS.
Where is Columbus today?
St. Paul's, where Floyd's schemes were first hatched, is not doing so well, in spite of Schuman's Mission Vision of having 8,000 communicants and a world-famous parking valet ministry. Schuman became an AAL salesman and disappeared from view soon after.
Floyd got his church in Columbus, thanks to Kuske and Mueller. The ELS courted Floyd, or at least his offerings, for a number of years. Roger Kovaciny, another CG guru (in his opinion) was bagman for the Ukraine when Jay Webber was rector of the seminary there. Floyd's money went to Jay through Roger, showing that the love of money is not the root of all evil but the ultimate absolution.
Prince of Peace got kicked out of WELS and joined the LCMS. Still, Marc Schroeder sends checks to The Sausage Factory (from the Salem Lutheran Foundation). Isn't it fun to ponder all the money spent on Prince of Peace, only to have it join the LCMS orbit once established? That is Wally Oelhafen's District Mission Board at work. Wally simply gushed Church Growth ideas, so Prince of Peace was never a problem for him.
In short, a great deal of money was spent in Columbus to promote false doctrine and support three divorced pastors. Church Growth really works: it spread like cancer all over WELS. But there are fewer congregations and members in Columbus, thanks to Kuske, Oelhafen, and Church Growth.
Floyd still has his church. The Kuske Report is one of the most read pages on Ichabod.
Zehms suddenly left Columbus and went to work for WELS Lutherans for Life, but he continued to think he was in charge of the Columbus members. He suddenly left Lutherans for Life and took a parish in Illinois where buddy Wayne Mueller once was, then in Texas. Details are blurred by the passage of time.
The non-Lutheran Church Growth schools have many thousands of dollars from WELS for training Lutheran pastors in false doctrine: Trinity Divinity in Deerfield, Fuller Seminary, and Willow Creek Community Church.
Church and Change, hatched at Wisconsin Lutheran College, runs the synod and countermands SP Schroeder, plots to get rid of him, and conspires to bring Brother Ed Stetzer (a Babtist) to teach God's Word to Lutherans.
