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| Former LCMS Synod President Gerald Kieschnick is an Aggie, like Kudu Don Patterson. |
I found Gerald Kieschnick's wedding anniversary (54th) on his Facebook page and left a cheerful greeting. We have been FB friends for a long time. I was FB friends with the one who replaced him, Matt Harrison, but Matt unfriended me, just as his campaign manager Paul McCain did.
The order of recent Synod Presidents has been:
- Jack Preus II, brother of Robert, father of Jack III. Jack Preus I was governor of Minnesota.
- Ralph Bohlmann, the second (and last) SP to have an earned doctorate.
- Al Barry, whose campaign manager was Paul McCain.
- Gerald Kieschnick.
- Matt Harrison, whose covert manager was Paul McCain.
I am discussing this synodical trivia because I lived through and observed those presidential campaigns. I remember LCA people being horrified that Jack Preus became president. Al Barry was supposedly the hero who replaced Ralph Bohlman the liberal, and Matt Harrison was the man destined to save Missouri from Kieschnick.
I do not think any synod president stopped the move toward union with the ALC/LCA. That has continued. But I am quite willing to assess the blame equally among the clergy and laity. They all work together through Thrivent, a convenient funding source and mysterious manager of cohabitation-without-marriage events.
Where Would They Be without Thrivent?
Harrison said LCMS was getting $50-60 million a year, and that was some years back.
We do not have Thrivent funding our little group, not even free napkins. Without Thrivent we fund or promote books from three sources and give away a lot of Lutheran books. We also broadcast openly (no secret codes) and have 25,000+ worship or education views. We did not start a world mission, but one came to us and we support that effort in the Philippines.
Tis funny how groups with millions of dollars have to spend a million to get a mission parish going. They loan the money to the members (how kind!) and take all the profits when the mission folds. Yes, synods know how to bank with the long view in mind.
All that wisdom piled up means the "conservative" Lutherans promote and sell bad translations (ESV, NIV) just like ELCA.
All of them meet at Fuller Seminary to learn how to "do church." That is the language of their graduates - Drucker MBO, cell groups, and doing church.
