MLS Veteran has left a new comment on your post "How One District Pope Was Removed":
Dr. Jackson,
What is the issue you have with Paul Kuske?
I thought he was ultra conservative???
MLS Veteran
***
GJ - Kuske has an issue with Luther's doctrine. Kuske was the dean of men at Michigan Lutheran Seminary. His term there was called The Reign of Terror.
As Michigan District VP, Kuske created Lutheran Parish Resources with donated money, so Floyd Stolzenburg, who had been recently forced out of the LCMS ministerium (for cause), could pretend to be a WELS pastor. Floyd never was and never wanted to be a WELS member. He went to St. Paul's in German Village (Columbus, Ohio) and dissed the pastor - to the pastor's wife - after the service.
No one wanted Floyd as a consultant and they got another divorced pastor, Roger Zehms, to be their Church Growth consultant. So more money was donated to give Floyd his job.
Floyd, Zehms, Kuske, Kovaciny, and M. Schroeder (not the SP) pushed their Church Growth schemes. The District Mission Board--headed by Werning disciple Wally Oelhaven and Fred Adrian --promoted Church Growth without shame or hesitation. Meanwhile I published constantly against Church Growth and for Luther's doctrine.
Floyd constantly caused division and promoted false doctrine in his role as a Church Growth Consultant. Zehms, following his idol (and favorite teacher) Jungkuntz, stayed under the radar and let Floyd do the loud yakking. Kuske ran interference for Floyd. So did District Pope Robert Mueller. The plan all along, as Oelhaven admitted, was to sneak Floyd into the WELS ministerium via this fraudulent Lutheran Parish Resources.
Zehms suddenly found himself leaving Columbus. The circuit pastor told me Zehms ran afoul of one of the pastors. Floyd was allowed to run his little show alone. LPR soon ran out of steam. I was busy quoting the Church Growth people in WELS. Apparently that had some effect.
Kuske and Floyd started Pilgrim Community Church, the stealth mission of LPR. The normally comatose Columbus WELS members were shocked at the dishonesty and fraud of the whole affair. Pilgrim was a grim pill for Kuske and Floyd to swallow. Zehms was in on it, too, telling WELS members to stay away, not visit, and not join. The stealth mission flopped, just as LPR flopped.
Kuske and Schuman (another Church Growth fan) promoted Floyd at Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Kuske denied it on the record and got an Emmanuel member to deny it. However, Schuman and Kuske both wrote letters of recommendation for Floyd, something his old District President would never do. After all, Floyd was sued for divorce by his first wife and sued in court over one of his relationships. Floyd tried to get into a number of different denominations. Due to various factors, Floyd finally made it into Emmanuel. During his rule the lovely female treasurer of the congregation was arrested and convicted for embezzling money from the congregation. Floyd did not want a police investigation! The Columbus Dispatch gave Emmanuel plenty of coverage for this episode. The treasurer went to the hoosegow.
To summarize:
Kuske - for Church Growth doctrine and clergy adultery.
GJ - against Church Growth doctrine and clergy adultery.
Where are they now?
GJ - In sunny Phoenix, teaching graduate students, college students, and conducting services for orthodox Lutherans around the country.
Stolzenburg - Still at Emmanuel, Columbus.
Zehms left Columbus suddenly for WELS Lutherans for Life (renamed to get rid of that pesky name Lutheran). He left WLFL quickly for a call in Texas. He is retiring.
Kuske - Voted out of office as district vice pope. Recent champion of MLS.
Schuman - Forced to leave St. Paul's for false doctrine. Left the ministry, became an AAL agent, but not with them now (apparently).
Kovaciny - Went to Thoughts of Faith, Ukraine, worked under Jay Webber (ELS), joined the ELS (which Pope John the Malefactor denied to my face). Kovaciny became Floyd's pet missionary and bragged about the money he raised from Floyd's congregation. Floyd bragged about Thoughts of Faith and put them on their website. Webber had no objections to this since money flowed from Columbus. Kovaciny helped kick John Shep out as bishop of Ukraine. Kovaciny resigned from the ELS ministry. He stayed a little longer in Ukraine, funded by Floyd, then came back to the US.
M. Schroeder was kicked out of the WELS ministerium for doing what all the WELS leaders were doing - promoting unionism. DP Seifert kicked the congregation out, but not its money. WELS still gets cash from The Donor, as they call him. This is the WELS Doctrine of Telescopic Fellowship: "We are in fellowship with your money but not with you. Just drop the check in the mail."
Fred Adrian, DMB chair, resigned from the ministry.
A national WELS VP denounced me by name at a ministerial meeting. (Apparently I was doing good work. I was gone from WELS, but they needed to do an exorcism of sorts.) The big sin in WELS is "naming names" unless they are doing it. Another big sin is "He is not here to defend his good name, " but not if they are doing it. The VP was forced to resign from the ministry, lied about it to his relatives, then finally admitted it when he called me a liar and I produced the evidence (an official WELS notice).
When a friend visits a WELS congregation and admits he is from SoP in Columbus, the pastoral response is shock, a white face, and this exclamation: "That was Jackson's church!" It's been 16 years, friends - time to get over it.
A former member phoned and said, "Pastor, you would feel right at home in Columbus now. It's orthodox."
Gentle readers, note how the stealth mission concept, pioneered in the Michigan District by DP Mueller and VP Kuske, has grown like kudzu in WELS. Kuske was a bit red-faced when it was brought up at the Michigan District convention. Now WELS shamelessly promotes the same thing.
Clergy adultery and Church Growth doctrine are both safe in WELS. Evidence: California-Arizona-Las Vegas District.
