"Why Did You Water the Crepe Myrtles Before the Rain?" Mrs. Ichabod asked.

"Fill these bowls and put down the camera."

Mike stopped by to warn of the storm, which I did not suspect. It was just another hot and humid July day, as far as we knew. The weather sites acknowledged the coming storm, and the clouds looked promising. I went out to water the young Crepe Myrtle bushes in the backyard.

"Why did you water them before the rain?" Mrs. Ichabod asked.

I explained:

• First the five-gallon buckets will fill from a short rain, so why not empty them before the storm?
• Second, if it is another short rain, the bushes will get the benefit before the rain starts - and then get a little more rain or even a long soaker.

Her final question was, "You didn't get wet?" She and Sassy consider raindrops to be fatal. Sassy will go out in snow and ice, but she nopes a slight rainfall.

Crepe Myrtle Picotee - red and white blooms blend into a colorful pink.

Recently I showed Mrs. Ichabod what doting on the Crepe Myrtle by the kitchen window accomplished. Last year I watered it often and it doubled the size of its mates in the front yard. Now we are looking straight out the window at the brilliant flowers.

Next year we should be looking out the window at a strong Crepe Myrtle perch for the birds as they feed. The squirrels are so obnoxious on the Jackson EZ Bird Swings that I am going to move one to an empty window - no food - and put more perches on it. Bushes will serve as self-repairing perches for the two bird-feeder windows.

The squirrels like to sit on the bird swing to eat.
This is the kitchen window view, before the Picotee Crepe Myrtle bush began growing.

The recent vandalism from squirrels came from running out of thistle seeds, which they avoid, and using a songbird mix, which smelled good enough to eat - peanuts, etc. Now they can munch their songbird mix at the solo squirrel-proof feeder that they raid with ease. In Bella Vista, I stopped filling it, because they dominated it completely and laughed their little rodent laughs at the obstacles I added to the built-in squirrel proof measures.

My favorite moment with them was watching the squirrel stand on the baffle that was supposed to keep him off the pole. From that position he could wiggle the contraption that closed the food off from any creature heavier than a bird. That allowed him to jiggle endless amounts of food into his mouth, which he did with a saucy look on his face. I said, "I give up," and left it empty afterward. However, I moved it to Springdale, to use as a stand-by feeder.

Almost Empty Methodist Church Building Bridges. Offering Everything But the Faith of Jesus

https://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/wesley-united-methodist-creates-bridges-to-secure-future-in-la/article_0a77be97-11a9-59a2-b6a7-825ea3ae3126.html

Wesley United Methodist Church in downtown La Crosse is changing its name to Bridges United Methodist Church.

Erik Daily, La Crosse Tribune

Members of Wesley United Methodist Church in La Crosse came to a bridge, and they’ll cross it Sunday — emerging on the other side as Bridges United Methodist Church, as they plan to refocus their mission to connect more people to faith.

Church members will mark the occasion with a special service at 9:30 a.m., followed by a potluck — both events open to the public as a celebration of the new name and mission.

The rebranding, which members approved unanimously two weeks ago, is an effort to reverse the historic downtown church’s plunging membership, said the Rev. Anna-Lisa Hunter, who has been half-time pastor for nearly two years.

+1  

BUY NOW

Hunter

“I knew when I came here it was struggling,” having dropped from a top membership of 450 souls to 72 now, Hunter said.

In the late 1990s, attendance at Sunday services ranged from 150 to 180. It now averages 38, she said, adding, “It’s not an uncommon story for a lot of churches, and a lot have decided to close.”

Wesley members eschewed a suggestion to shut down the church and instead decided to resurrect it — what has become known as the “Lazarus Plan” in church circles, Hunter said.

“This church has a history of changing” during the 131 years since its beginning as First Methodist, the pastor said.

One of Wesley United Methodist’s niche ministries in recent years has been serving homeless people. That took on added urgency during the brutal winter of 2014, when Wesley opened its lower level as an overnight shelter when the La Crosse Warming Center and The Salvation Army were overwhelmed.

The congregation also allowed homeless people to camp in a courtyard area on the church grounds until it ran afoul of city ordinances over insurance and other issues in 2015 and 2016 and had to have the homeless pull up stakes.

Those dramas occurred before the creation of the La Crosse Collaborative to End Homelessness, which has made inroads in finding housing for dozens of homeless and families.

Wesley United also had to close its Sacred Grounds Coffee Sanctuary, which had been open several mornings a week as a gathering place for the homeless, Hunter said.

Security was part of the problem: “This is a big building, and we don’t have the resources” to monitor every nook and cranny, she said. Members occasionally found heroin and used needles in the building.

Now congregation members are working to simplify and define Bridges’ mission, she said.

The name has an ironic inspiration. The idea was planted when Hunter was at a training session to help pastors overcome their churches’ challenges, she said. The trainer told participants to take a 20-minute walk to see what kind of vision God might inspire, she said.

“I’m a cynical Gen-Xer,” she said with a laugh, “and I thought, ‘God doesn’t give visions on demand.’ But before I got out the door, I thought of bridges. I had been here only a couple of months, and I didn’t realize the importance of bridges in La Crosse.”

Later, during a meeting about the congregation’s future, a member asked whether it should have a new name, and Hunter explained her bridge experience.

“We are one of the closest churches in town to the (Cass Street) bridge,” she said, and the idea meshed with the congregation’s “main focus to connect the people with God. The mission is to make disciples for God.”

Means to accomplish that goal include returning to weekly Communion services, a practice that began disappearing from many Methodist churches as far back as the Revolutionary War, Hunter said. Many pastors returned to England, leaving a shortage of ministers.

“Because of the shortage, many congregations only got Communion when the circuit rider came around,” and even today, many Methodist congregations offer Communion monthly or quarterly, said Hunter, whose husband, Martin, is pastor of Onalaska United Methodist Church.

Bridges also will offer small group opportunities such as Bible studies, she said.

Congregation members are considering mission endeavors, perhaps including efforts to ensure that people have clean water and to address the increasing problem of pollution from one-use plastic items, Hunter said.

“A lot of people need clean water,” she said, and the United Methodist Church’s Global Ministries strives to meet those needs through initiatives in Nicaragua, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Plastic pollution has gained traction recently with news and photos of vast amounts of plastic bottles and other plastic debris floating on the ocean, she said.

“With plastics, everybody can be involved,” Hunter said. “It’s a social justice issue because low-income people usually end up being those most affected.”

As far as Bridges’ finances, “we have been blessed with a couple of bequests that we will use to pass from one generation to the next,” Hunter said. “It won’t be used for daily expenses but as a grace period to invest for the next generation and hopefully grow.”

Members scratched the idea of closing up shop and moving to rented quarters, Hunter said.

“This is a huge building with tremendous historical importance — a special sacred space,” she said.

The building is acknowledged as such, having been declared a La Crosse historical landmark in 1988. The Wisconsin Historical Society describes it as “one of the four most architecturally significant 19th century structures in La Crosse.”

“We want to give it one last try,” Hunter said.

 The largest Methodist church in America, closed.
Location, Maryland. What is their secret for shrinking?

Dealing with Synodical Abuse - Avoid the Synod "Helpers" Entirely: They Are Judas Goats

Do not visit the rogues' gallery on a full stomach.

Various people have contacted me about the abuse they have suffered from the various Lutheran synods, and that includes the microscopic ELS, CLC (sic), and ELDONA.

Avoid the Judas Goat Synod Helper
The first guideline is - avoid the sympathetic synod helper. He is a Judas goat appointed to guide the sacrificial lamb in the right direction, up the ramp to the slaughter. Then he saunters down, blames the victim, and collects his reward.

For you city slickers - the Judas goat term comes from the goats that led the sheep onto the truck or train to be hauled away for slaughter. Once they are loaded, from following his lead, the goat goes back to his owner for a reward.

WELS Pastor John Seifert played this role more than once, and look where it got him - a chance to further ruin the Michigan District as the president. He did all those things he clucked his tongue about, "Tsk, tsk, if only we had better leaders, etc." He would talk someone into taking action and abandon the person with a weak excuse. He did that as Circuit Pastor and as District President.

 "Nothing happened, my Precious. Heh."

Nothing Happened - 
So many people have said "Nothing happened!" that it should be made into a hymn:

Nothing happened, thus the leaders said.
We cannot risk the loss of bread.
Lead this poor lamb to parts unknown
And you will have a new church home.
Sung to Old Hundredth or another convenient tune.

The Love Letter Pastor fired? "Nothing happened!" the circuit pastor shouted at me. So I asked, "Then why did the parish constitution get changed overnight, after he was fired for cause?"

The ELDONA hate-fest, featuring roast Ichabod? "Nothing happened?" Thus one can repudiate UOJ and still be a pathological liar. They had a conference book burning (free books from Martin Chemnitz Press) since the author was not available for the roast. "Make these books disappear," the toadie hissed at the colporteur.

Destroying evidence is policy.
Too many obvious errors caused ELCA a $40 million lawsuit, which they lost.

And There Are No Notes
LCMS policy is to destroy all notes, just as the Church of Rome packs up their files and takes them to the Vatican, which can deny  any knowledge, possession, or guilt.

WELS always has a 5 to 1 or 10 to 1 advantage at any meeting, and they already have their script written in advance. When I quoted them as removing Floyd Luther Stolzenberg if proven a blatant false teacher - which I did - the toady said, "I have my notes from the last meeting and there is nothing like that here." He took on the beatific look of a boy who stole the pie and ate it all, a dead giveaway among synodical liars. Many people knew of this promise, so they had to back-peddle a bit. But that only fired up their need for revenge.

Bet on this - if the court requests documents from any synod source, the evidence will disappear. When the Tabor case exploded, Schaeffer told me, "The police asked for files. I opened them and they were empty!" (Stolen pie look, well rehearsed)

When Fred Adrian's vicar was sued  for seducing a minor girl as part of his vicarage work, WELS told the court they had no policy and knew of no other cases. The lawsuit went against the synod and the parish, since they had the deep pockets. I met with the girl's lawyer and filled the attorney in on the many abusive cases I knew about. The judge ordered WELS to come up with the truth, which led to a $400,000 settlement.

Adrian, truly an idiot's idiot, told the congregation, "Don't worry. The insurance policy will pay for it." He was glad the girl was getting money but also said, "They are appealing the case." Typical WELS double-talk.

By the way, WELS retaliated against me various ways, even though I was gone from their slimepits.

Herman Otten, the synodical cover-up expert, was offended that I sent the Adrian-Zerbe news article to him. He refused to print it.

If anyone still reads Christian News, he will discover that Otten is handled by synodical leaders like John Brug - to spike stories. The more truthful and damaging the story is, the more he will find reasons to kill it, or at least bury it on page 17 (child porn at WELS headquarters).

Picture the object of pastoral and synodical abuse. He or she will think these clergy creatures are sympathetic and will work the case through the process. But what the synodical agents are doing is painting the person into a corner. Once there, if the person is upset for obvious reasons, they say, "Another malcontent. We were so patient and listened. We tried to help and what do we get? - ingratitude."

 Freedom is not taken - it is given up.

And They Cannot Remember - Or Never Knew
Give up trying to remind a synodocrat of something he witnessed. He forgot.

And often, he never knew. That is why the dredges get moved around from district to district. Their history is too well known but that is erased with a move. Absolution via the moving truck.

Talk To a Good Lawyer First, Not To Any Synod Critter
I like lawyers. They are - like autosomal recessives - in the family. Abe Lincoln did not go to law school or get a law degree, but was very successful in court because he knew the law.

I have employed many lawyers and spent very little on them. Often an initial discussion is enough. They take away all kinds of anxieties from bad situations. That is their job, and they do it well. We are newborn lambs with most legal issues, so we are necessarily weak and wobbly.

One creepy dishonest bill collector was suing me for not paying a $10,000 loan which was taken out by someone with another SS number. The debtor was Black, too. Nevermind, I got put on the docket. The creep said, "Go ahead. Talk to your lawyer." I did, ten minutes later. The lawywer talked about credit fraud and credit libel and how much I could win against the creep. Instant repentance and humility followed. Case closed, withdrawn, proof sent.

Dost thou think the synod critters are not talking to their attorneys? I would love to see the legal bills for each synod. Not a line in the budget, you say? That would be harder to find than the synod salaries and benefits.

An initial visit with a lawyer is often free. Sometimes it is a nominal amount. Always ask at the first visit and any time after, because not asking means paying their charges, which were never brought up. It is the law, and they wrote it.

That visit should end any direct discussion with the synod critters. Then the individual should say, "Sorry, you have to talk to my attorney." Crooked people are afraid of lawyers. Sometimes they rant and rave about that - a good sign.

I cannot predict what will happen through the lawyer. It may only be writing a warning letter to the synod. It may be the beginning of a lawsuit where the attorney only collects if he wins.

I can predict what happens when trusting a synod critter - you will be buried alive in slander, and they will take shots at your family as well. All for the glory of God, they say. Judgment Day is waiting for them.

As Slick Brenner said to his fellow pastors, "The sins are piling up for WELS. They will pay a terrible price in the future."

As anyone can see, the synodical response is to protect and promote the abusers, the drunks, the addicts, the adulterers. One pastor was known to be an adulterer in his urban parish. His next gig was seminary professor.

That is a clear message. "You want to criticize a member of our gang? We will bury you in mud and promote him." That is a clear message to everyone else.

The hopelessly compromised are the best teachers and ministers. They will always be loyal to Holy Mother Synod, from whom they have received so much grace without faith.

 Imagine an entire blogsite devoted to silencing discussion:
Steadfast (ha!), LutherQuest (barf!), etc. etc.