In Defense of Ft. Wayne

Brian Westgate has left a new comment on your post "In Defense of Rev. Fenton":

The Bride is pretty much dead. Fenton pretty much killed it. Nor is Gottesdienst pro-Rome/Constantinople.

As for Zion, it can't be blamed for Fenton or Neuhaus, and I presume she would prefer to be known as incarnational and sacramental.

And I know graduates of the Fort who care more for Luther's doctrine than for Rome and the East. Why are you so sure of students becoming fond of them BECAUSE of certain professors?
Brian Westgate

***
GJ - So we have a bunch of effects without causes? My role as Informaton Maven is to sift through mounds of data and come up with opinions.

I have studied at Concordia, Ft. Wayne, attended conferences there, and talked with graduates of the school. I attended a David Scaer class. I know about Ft. Wayne faculty members promoting Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy from its graduates. When a seminary has defections from its graduates on a regular basis, something is definitely going on.

Previously, under Robert Preus, Ft. Wayne had a D.Min. program that was 100% Church Growth, according to Kincaid Smith. The faculty endorsed Church Growth principles, according to Kurt Marquart. The faculty also voted that it was 100% orthodox. The faculty is mixed, like all Lutheran seminaries, thanks to political judgments meaning more than doctrinal decisions.

I looked over the Zion, Detroit website. There are many indications of those tendencies. There are LCMS circles headed out of the Lutheran Church and ELCA circles headed the same way. There will be more polarity and more desire to get rid of those pastors. I recall the polarity starting in the LCA when a worship professor at LSTC was turning out graduates who told their congregations they had never worshiped properly before.

Church Growth services are so assinine that people would be inclined to look for something that is real worship. The plethora of new hymnals has made any given form temporary.

Some pastors can use terms like confession and mass without bowing ultimately to Rome. However, the ones who study worship incessantly - without knowing Luther's doctrine - are going to fall over on the other side. I think they should leave the Lutheran Church as soon as they reject Lutheran doctrine.

I see Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy constantly promoting their confessions, such as they are. Meanwhile, the Lutheran leaders are either Baptist-Pentecostal or halfway to Rome, and promoting both errors. Many pastors are serious and faithful, but the overall situation is absurd. No?

In Defense of Rev. Fenton

Paul McCain and others denounced Fenton for leaving the LCMS ministerium:

Fenton's Admission
I just finished listening to John Fenton's radio interview about his decision to leave Lutheranism and join the so-called "Orthodox" Faith. Several important things jumped out at me:

1) He had serious doubts and reservations about Lutheranism before he went to the seminary. He had visited an Orthodox parish and read Ware's book on Orthodoxy and as he admits in his interview he had "considered dropping out of the seminary" several times, but did not. Here we have to be concerned that there was not a much more careful screening process at the seminary. Men who have these kinds of grave doubts and reservations about Lutheranism simply should not be permitted to continue in their studies. One should never be permittted to attend seminary as a way to work through such grave doubts and reservations.

2) Fenton clearly rejects the Biblical confession of the Gospel in rejecting the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction and wishes simply to chalk up the propitiation of God's wrath as an Anselmic theory. He has replaced the pure Gospel with adiaphora. In other words, for Fenton the "law of faith" is trumped by the "law of praying." Pretty liturgy is no substitute for the beautiful truth of pure doctrine.


3) Clearly this was a calculated and well orchestrated move out of his parish. A home was purchased, plans were made, and "Bishop Mark" of the Antiochian Diocese has green lighted the development of a "Western Rite" Orthodox parish in the Detroit area and Fenton's eventual ordination. Pastors who are aware of fellow clergy dabbling with Orthodoxy would do well to be aware that this is not simply some innocent "questioning" but often part of a well planned effort to leave Lutheranism, and there is, as I indicated, a clear program under way to recruit others. To laity and pastors: if you suspect a person is being tempted by the siren songs from Istanbul ask the pastor in question to tell you, in full and thorough detail, why they believe Eastern Orthodoxy is wrong. If they demur, there's a problem.

4) Finally, and most tragically, Fenton indicates to the interviewer that in spite of years of "discerning" and "studying" he said he realized he simply had to embrace Orthodoxy in spite of things he "doesn't understand" about it, simply on the basis of "trust" that it must be right. Isn't that both pathetic and sad?

Let us pray that in spite of the error he has embraced by joining "Orthodoxy," John Fenton will be preserved in the saving faith and pure Gospel he learned at his father's knee in the Small Catechism. And let us all take heed and warning from this episode.

***

Fenton's resignation statement is posted, with responses, in this link.

From the Free Republic - this comment is revealing: "A few times recently, Fr. Daniel (the senior priest of the Antiochian Archdiocese) has been away from our little mission and our mother parish for missionary work--specifically discussions with LCMS clergy contemplating conversion to Orthodoxy."

An intelligent response to Fenton's assertations can be found at this LCMS pastor's blog.


A Mass will be celebrated to install Fenton's replacement:

The Installation Mass.

***

GJ - I suspected, and confirmed, that Fenton graduated from Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne. Weinrich, David Scaer, and others prepare Lutheran pastors to become Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic. (By the way, I found links to independent Romanist congregations, including Romanist women priests with Sophia blogs, papal togs. Just Google search on John Fenton LCMS and you will run into it - no fault of his.)

Recent graduates of Ft. Wayne are inordinately concerned with everything except Luther's doctrine. Their infatuation with Roman/Eastern worship is parallel to the WELS fascination with Baptist-Pentecostal seeker services.

I speak in defense of Fenton's move because he was honest in leaving. Instead of dancing along the tightrope, he joined the association closest to his beliefs and practices. I wish more clergy would do that. That would rid WELS of its crypto-Baptist-Pentecostals, LCMS-ELS of its crypto-Papists, ELCA of its crypto-Unitarians. But no, instead of joining what they believe, these foxes and weathervanes pretend to be what they loathe while trying to change the confession and practice of their church bodies.

Moving to Eastern Orthodoxy or Rome was unthinkable in the past. Now it is rather common to find high profile people doing this. I read Zion, Detroit's history and found Richard Neuhaus had worked there. The congregation has a tradition of being high church, as anyone can see from the church website.

I imagine there will be increasing reaction against the high church groups like Bride of Christ and Gottesdienst, leading more men to leave the LCMS/ELCA/ELS for Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy.

WELS Budget Fiasco - The Gurgel-Mueller Years

Verbatim from the Kuske Report:

1. From 1996 to 2003 over $30 million of non-recurring funds were spent
2. Off-budget, almost $1.7 million in non-recurring funds was assigned to missions in Russia and Bulgaria. Off-budget means that it does not appear on the reports of the Operating Fund (See Appendix A).
3. The $22 million in the WELS Gift Fund (a.k.a. Gift Trust Fund) had been considered a “rainy day fund.” It was spent down to nothing by 2002. (See Appendix A for details)
4. In May of 2003 it was reported that $8.1 million (Later reports said $7 million) had been borrowed against trust funds and that there was a $1.5 million shortfall in the current fiscal year. The money borrowed against trust funds was scheduled for repayment, but repayments have been delayed.
5. One example of starting on-going programs with non-recurring funds is the addition of 19 world missionaries during this period. (See Appendices A and D.)
· By 2002 the consequences of the imprudence of using non-recurring dollars to fund on-going programs was very evident. A prescription for the serious problems that follow: More commitments, less income!
1. The “rainy day” fund was no longer available, when the cyclical economic downturn in late 2000 (exacerbated by 9/11) had adversely affected the WELS and the country. Further, after 2002 the Schwann Fund was not contributing the sizable gifts it had been sending to WELS. Restarted several years later.
2. The non-recurring funds that had accumulated over the year had been gaining interest that was used to support the budget. For each $20 million removed from the non-recurring funds $1,000,000 (or more) income in some form needed to be obtained. But the reality was that CMO offerings weren’t even keeping up with inflation. (See Appendix G.)
· The consequences of the imprudent use of non-recurring income resulted in budget cuts on the order of 25% to 30% starting in 2003. Use of non-recurring funds, both directly and indirectly, continued to the present and another $30,000,000 was disbursed, producing a total expenditure beyond income of $60,000,000. (See above)
1. More work of the Synod was moved off-budget (e.g. evangelism and youth ministry, which are now funded by the Revolving Funds) so that the non-recurring income and its income were reduced even more.
2. The world missionary corps was reduced by 17, but there were still more world missionaries in 2003 than in 1995. (Appendix D)
· The Board for Ministerial Education (BME) bore a disproportionately large proportion of the cutbacks.

McCain Count Seriously Wrong

According to Paul (Do you know who I used to be?) McCain:

Gregg, you need to tell the truth. The only reason I agreed to see you at the International Center was because you were without a position in the ministry an were selling insurance and tried to sell me a policy. This was before you alienated absolutely every person and every Lutheran Synod, micro-Synod and Lutheran congregation in the USA. Name even one single Lutheran pastor who supports you Gregg. I feel sorry for you.

This eruption came just because I mentioned that I knew him. Imagine if I had admitted he gave me a personal tour of the Purple Palace and got together with me a second time! Egads!

McCain makes it sound like he found me outside the doors of the LCMS office building, pushing my shopping cart full of personal possessions and aluminum cans, brushing away lice and fleas. After he claimed to have a $1 million AAL policy, I tried to sell him something?

I will put it this way - McCain is consistently wrong.

I recently had a long, friendly conversation with Pastor Herman Otten, McCain's former friend. I wonder if McCain alienated his former political ally - the very person who got the Barry-McCain administration into place - by constantly promoting Barry in his paper through secretly leaked materials from McCain. McCain publicly denied working with Otten. We don't really know it's true until we have an official denial from McCain.

Drifting back to my main point - I had a an exceptionally friendly email from a WELS pastor. He reads Ichabod every day and loves it. Before that it was an email from a pastor's daughter, whose father enjoys Ichabod as well. Yesterday I also had a long conversation with a pastor about all kinds of things.

McCain knows from his extensive study of politics, that a motion to make a decision unanimous fails from one negative vote. Therefore, his main contention is seriously wrong, as people must have guessed.

Laity are writing and signing their emails while synod minders are posting anonymously. Both encourage me.

I am trying to encourage people to stand up for the truth rather than continue in their synod-worship. The only ones gaining from synod-worship are those who have lived off the synod dole and hope to continue in their life of luxury and ease.

Intelligent Post on LQ

Rev. Ed Wright (Thewrightrev)
Member
Username: Thewrightrev

Post Number: 58
Registered: 4-2007
Posted on on LutherQuest, Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 11:44 am:

--------------------------------------------------------
We look upon our ELCA 'brothers and sisters' with disdain, but we will follow in the same footsteps unless we look at ourselves first (the LCMS). I see women's ordination just around the corner, then who knows what's next? Oh, I want to be optimistic about our synod, but little by little we have compromised God's Word with poor exegesis so we/I blame the current administration, but in reality all of us pastors and members are guilty of wanting either our ears tickled or to tickle others ears. So, let's pray for our friends in the ELCA and at the same time understand, but by the grace of God go I.

ELCA News Service Still Silent

I routinely go to the ELCA News Archives for their news releases.

I expected plenty of news after the convention, such as:
1. Mobs surround ELCA headquarters, wave pitchforks and torches.
2. Last congregation leaves ELCA - now only staff left.
3. ELCA merges with ELS - Moldstad excommunicates Bishop Hanson.

Nothing has been posted since the convention. Perhaps everyone went on vacation - or into hiding. I expect something every day, at least a few new stories a week. So far - nothing for over a week.

Yes, the National Council of Churches Lives

The United Church of Christ - bellwether for the Lutherans - has been shrinking and losing the PR race for decades.

So has the National Council of Churches. There were some major efforts to unite all Protestant groups in the 19th century. One result was the Federal Council of Churches, renamed the NCC when the FCC got too Marxist and too loud about it. Of course, renaming the group solved that problem.


An ELCA pastor has been named to an NCC post, proving they have some cash left in their faltering budget. Her name is Ann Tiemeyer, graduate of Yale Divinity. The ELCA news blog is a good way to keep up with their news.

WordAlone - LCMC

WordAlone/LCMC
We are rapidly running out of names for Lutheran groups. I cannot remember exactly what LCMS is, but I know they are congregations from the ELCA. Some congregations within LCMS are completely out of ELCA. Others have a dual-membership. Apparently, WordAlone/LCMC had two main groups, charismatic and non-charismatic. The two factions have parted ways.

No one (except Ichabod) wanted to leave ELCA when it began in 1987. Now the exits are being stampeded. During the last 20 years, WELS and Missouri have done their best to identify with and work with ELCA. No wonder people are not rushing to join either WELS or Missouri.

Augustana Ministerium
One Lutheran name has already been recycled. The Augustana Synod was a group of Swedish-American Lutheran churches. They chose their name to distinguish them from the generic, non-confessional Lutherans of the time. My wife, my mother, and I all graduated from Augustana College. Conrad Bergendoff wrote a book about the ministers of the denomination, called The Augustana Ministerium. Now a group within the LCMS has called itself The Augustana Ministerium.

Sounds High Church To Me

For your information:

St. Andrew House - Center for Orthodox Christian Studies invites you to attend

"Faith of Our Fathers: A Colloquium on Orthodoxy for Lutherans"

An educational conference designed to present the basic precepts of
Orthodox Christianity to Lutheran clergy, spouses and lay leaders.

Monday - Tuesday, September 10 - 11, 2007
Detroit, Michigan


SPEAKERS:

Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit
Rev. Basil Aden - Rev. Calinic Berger - Rev. John W. Fenton
Rev. Gregory Hogg - Reader Christopher Orr
Rev. Gabriel Rochelle - Very Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon
Prof. A. Gregory Roeber

TOPICS:
Authority of Scripture - Trinitarian Theology
Nature of the Church - Virgin Mary and the Saints
Augustine's Influence on Lutheran Ecclesiology
Orthodox Confessions of faith - Justification

For complete information and registration,
visit us online at http//www.orthodoxdetroit.com.

Friends, look up that website.

Four of them are former Lutherans - two from ELCA and two from the LCMS.

Anonymous-Minder Blows Smoke

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Will SP Schroeder Be A Good Leader?":

The Kuske report never said tuition money was used for something other than the schools. If it did, he was wrong. All the tuition money goes to the schools. Unfortunately, this money is not enough to cover expenses. Synod subsidy was decreased from the schools.

Good work Mr. Jackson. Your fact checking makes we wonder if you work for the New Republic.

***

GJ - I suggest Anonymous-Minder reading what he pretends to cite. More money was collected in the name of the schools than forwarded to the schools. I am no accountant, and many things remain - shall we say - mysterious. The same can be said for many funds, which remain borrowed, as they used to say at Gurgel-Mueller's WELS-Enron.

Where did all that Schwan money go?

Verbatim from the Kuske Report:

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2007/05/kuske-report-on-wels-mismanagement.html

1. More work of the Synod was moved off-budget (e.g. evangelism and youth ministry, which are now funded by the Revolving Funds) so that the non-recurring income and its income were reduced even more.
2. The world missionary corps was reduced by 17, but there were still more world missionaries in 2003 than in 1995. (Appendix D)
· The Board for Ministerial Education (BME) bore a disproportionately large proportion of the cutbacks.
1. The budget cutting for the BME was approximately doubled in percentage because the money that parents/students paid for tuition/fees was commingled with CMO. Details and illustrations are on Page 7.
2. The funds that had been given directly to the schools and were therefore in the Revolving Funds, were used to balance the budget over the last couple of years. (See Appendix C.)
3. After $20,000,000+ of these non-recurring funds was spent, it has been suggested that the schools should solicit a $300,000,000.00 trust fund to keep themselves going.
· In its November meeting the SC was planning to spending $5.8 million more of non-recurring funds. Of that amount only $2.6 million will be used to fund the prep school for one more year. Prior to that, the recommendation was made to defund the prep schools almost immediately, even though they serve a very significant function of recruiting and training (especially) future pastors, teachers, and lay ministers. (See Appendix I.)
· After serious consideration was given to defunding the prep schools, the SC and the President of the Synod decided to explore alternate methods of recruiting workers. (See Appendix I.)


And...

COMMINGLED NET COST TO BUDGET
Expenditures, BME $30,581,481 Expenditure, BME $30,581,481
Subtract tuition and fees ($13,507,707)
Subtract Activity fees1 ($2,000,000)
Net cost $30,581,481 Net cost $15,073,774
x 25% x 25%
Budget cut at 25% 2$7,645,370 Budget cut at 25% 23,768,443
1 Since I know of nothing outside of the BME that has “activity fees,” I have assigned $2 million here of the $14+ million reported for “Activity Fees And Retail Sales.”
2 In this illustration the difference between $7.6 million and $3.7 million is the distortion that would have occurred because of imprudently commingling tuition with CMO.

As shown in the chart, when the budget cuts were applied, a highly disproportionate reduction in the support provided to the Synodical schools occurred. Some of the budget shortfall was covered by increasing tuition and fees. As a result parents were expected, not only to offer their children for strong encouragement toward full-time ministry, but also to increase payments to the schools sharply. Many apparently could not afford the increases. Enrollments have dropped. The dropping enrollment adversely impacted the funding of the school even further. Since the decreased enrollment was caused ultimately by the imprudent use of non-recurring funds, as explained above, it is disingenuous to now fault the schools for the drop and therefore withdraw even more support.

The revolving funds, especially of WLS and MLC, were used to support the budget
After the predicted drop in enrollment became reality, the SC turned to another direction. The schools of the BME (especially WLS and MLC) had over the years received donations that weren’t specifically designated. These non-recurring funds were next used to shore up the Synod’s budget. The amounts that were taken from these non-recurring funds crept up from about $4 million to $13 million. Details are in Appendix C. The term to accomplish this transfer of funds is “reclassification.” The mechanism that makes it difficult to follow this reclassification (which was done openly in the 2003 report) is that the amount from income used for BME is reported in the Operating Budget. That amount plus the amounted used from non-recurring funds is reported as the total expenditure for BME in the report of Consolidated Statement of Financial Position. (See Appendix C.)

I Believe in the Efficacy of God's Word

God's Word is the only foundation for the work of the Gospel. As Lenski and others once said, the Church is built upon one thing only - the Word of God.

The Word, preached and taught, brings the Gospel to people. The Word conveys the Savior to us. We call the Word a Means of Grace because God grants forgiveness only through the Word (visible and invisible, the Word and Sacraments).

When the Word is correctly taught, the positive affirmations are not left to hover in the air without contrasting them with the negatives (rejections).

If the Word is efficacious, then Reformed doctrine is wrong. Fuller be damned.

If the papacy is the Antichrist, a Roman Catholic bishop cannot march in a religious service with the faculty of Bethany Lutheran Seminary. A Roman Catholic archbishop (gay or straight) cannot teach the Word at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Those who arrange, cover up, and explain away such monstrous behavior must be disciplined or expelled.

If Holy Communion an expression of doctrinal unity, open communion is nothing less than a repudiation of Lutheran doctrine.

Two Ingredients for WELS Reform

Put down your coffee cups and listen up. There are precisely two steps in cleaning up WELS. If either one fails, WELS is doomed, and I mean...insolvent, schools all closing, begging to merge with anyone who will take them in.

Here they are:

Ingredient I

Power is given away, not taken away. The synod, the District Popes, the Synod Council - no one can do a thing unless people let them.

The laity especially must take charge in leading a revolt against:
1) Sexual predator church workers;
2) Fellowship with ELCA, Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek, and the Church of Rome;
3) Pastors/teachers who publicly teach false doctrine;
4) Useless, overpaid synod-workers.
5) Misuse of funds.

At the same time, the laity must vocally and consistently support the new Synod President's correct decisions.

Ingredient II

Doctrinal purity is the only path to accomplishing God's will. The clergy have been brain-washed in Church Growth unionism for several decades. The careerists will continue to push this dead fad because Ron Roth, Henry Hagedorn, and Wayne Mueller will smile upon them.

If the laity insist on doctrinal reform and the expulsion of false teachers, money (the least of all concerns) will make its appearance in miraculous abundance. Another money drive - lacking the doctrinal reform - will be Dead On Arrival, prompting the CG leaders to work for new leadership, their pope, Wayne Mueller.

Will SP Schroeder Be A Good Leader?

Email volume is up considerably, from laity in WELS who are not being fooled. One person wondered about how well the new SP Schroeder would lead.

Schroeder will have to struggle against the entrenched Church Growth Curia established for 20 years at The Love Shack. President-in-Waiting Wayne Mueller remains in charge of that network. CG incompetents (and worse) find their careers are insinkable if they network with the right people.

Several things should be noted about the change in leadership in WELS:

1. Gurgel had no choice in leaving office, thanks to all the money that was used to prop up synod salaries, instead of going to the intended recipients. The Kuske report claimed that increased tuition was one such fund, where tuition and fees were jacked up but used by the synod for non-school purposes. This rapid 30% tution increase put both preps and the college in danger of closing. Also, the siphoned money remains borrowed - not paid back.
2. Thanks to grassroots support, Schroeder was the leader when he got to the convention. No one else had a chance. People worked hard to make sure Schroeder would get the votes. Ichabod pointed out how important family connections are in WELS elections. His family is respected as "the good Schroders."
3. I am guessing that the recent, enormous drop in mission offerings were due to an underground revolt against the Gurgel-Mueller team. For offerings to drop $8 million in one year, when the general trend is a 2% increase, something is happening synod-wide.

Everyone Is Noticing ELCA

From Townhall.com - http://www.townhall.com/columnists/FrankPastore/2007/08/19/sex_and_the_lutheran_youth_group

Sex and the Lutheran Youth Group
By Frank Pastore
Sunday, August 19, 2007

How do they do it?
I mean, how can the leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) tell their kids with a straight face not to be sexually active outside of marriage when they’ve just voted last Saturday to no longer enforce the celibacy requirement for their unmarried staff—both straight and gay?

Lutheran minister Robert Kreisat (R) is embraced by his partner of 37 years Edward Mather after hearing the New Jersey Supreme court decision on same-sex marriage in front of the Supreme court building in Trenton, New Jersey, October 25, 2006. Saying that times have changed, New Jersey's highest court on Wednesday guaranteed gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples but left it to state lawmakers to define how the state wants to define marriage. REUTERS/ Tim Shaffer (UNITED STATES)

The ELCA and other pro-gay denominations have been ordaining gays for decades. That’s nothing new. What’s new is that now staff can openly have lovers while on the job and there will be no disciplinary action for violating the celibacy requirement.

The message to the kids is loud and clear: We can have sex with our boyfriends and girlfriends, but you can’t.

What hypocrisy.

This is what happens when sin and the Bible collide: either the Bible will change the sin or the sin will change the Bible.
In this case, it’s homosexual passion that’s changing the Bible.
Not only have they decided, essentially, to rewrite the Bible and declare homosexuality no longer a sin, but now they’ve gone beyond that to include fornication too. Adultery can’t be far behind.

Look for other liberal denominations to follow suit.

So, this means an unmarried youth pastor can openly discuss the sex life he has with his boyfriend without fear of losing his job, while at the same time supposedly providing spiritual leadership to teenagers and counseling them to “wait until marriage?”

How Cheap!

A WELS pastor worked 35 years and retired with no Social Security. His pension check is $280 a month. That is a disgrace.

Yet the drones at the Beehive, aka The Love Shack, have run through millions and millions of dollars, paid themselves huge salaries, hired their pals to join the throng, and closed schools. Will they retire on so little?

Why not make the pay and retirement fit the work? Those who applied the Word through the Means of Grace should get the most and retire with the most. Those who drink coffee all day, lost track of millions of dollars, wreck Milcraft, promote false doctrine, and close schools - they deserve nothing.

God will reward His faithful servants. As Walther wrote, you were despised on earth, but you will shine like stars in heaven.

Is Contemporary Charismatic Music Anti-Christian?

I was charged with confusing my musical tastes with Biblical standards.

I would be entirely wrong, if:
1. Worship did not reflect doctrine.
2. Worship did not influence doctrine.

KJV Deuteronomy 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

What do we find in the classic Reformed church building? There will be a pulpit, a minimal altar, a pool for the Baptists and Disciples of Christ. A Roman Catholic church has a minimal pulpit and a maximum altar.

Lutherans emphasize both the Word and the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

"Error loves ambiguity," as Krauth wrote, and unionists like Valleskey like to confuse people with ambiguity by saying the Reformed downplay the Means of Grace. That is how someone becomes president of WLS. No, the Reformed ridicule the Means of Grace and reject the efficacy of the Word.

Now let's look at Church Growth congregations. I have been in them. Oh yes. I write what I know. Willow Creek, where I visited the Sunday Seeker Service, has no cross at all. I walked around the building looking for one, finally found a picture of a cross in a basement Sunday School room.

Willow Creek has no organ and really no worship service on Sunday. The purpose of the Sunday gathering is to entertain. WELS leaders, slobbering at the size and glamor of Willow Creek, paid good money to have pastors study the same baloney emanating from Hybels. Therefore, WELS has instituted Seeker Services, hidden the Sacraments, and imitated - as maladroitly as possible - the entertainment side of evangelism.

The ELS has fallen for the same things, not as obviously. The LCMS and ELCA have tried all these silly methods as well. When I attended the Ad Fontes conference in Pennsylvania, one ELCA pastor got up to defend user-friendly services. I love the cute terms these people adopt.

One contagious pastor has not celebrated Holy Communion in years. Does his doctrine affect the worship at CrossWalk? Definitely.

Where does CCM come from? Not from the same doctrine as the Doxology, Old Hundreth. Some Calvinist hymns are so Biblical that they are Lutheran standards as well. CCM is from the Pentecostals first of all.

When Fuller began promoting the myth that they were converting people to Christ through marketing methods, they dumbed down everything they could pollute. Pentecostal music and non-threatening, passive Seeker Services became the norm. One Fundamentalist said, "Fuller graduates ruin every church they touch."

Church Growth leaders are pragmatic and non-theistic. Some may believe in God, but that is really irrelevant to them. They despise traditional Christianity in any form. Church Growth doctrine dictates Church Growth worship, only CG worship is the worship of man, his potential, his emotions. Leonard Sweet is the perfect Church Growth leader - that is why WELS loves him and pays him money to pollute their minds.

If a song in church is designed to make me emotional and sentimental, the song is not a hymn and does not convey worship of God. Read the lyrics of these songs as prose, with a straight face, and ask whether the same words could be read from the pulpit.

How many Reformed hymns have been written about Holy Communion? None. How many Baptist hymnals have a single hymn about Holy Baptism, especially about infant faith and the efficacy of the sacrament. None.

When the non-Lutheran Protestants speak about, preach about, and sing about the Holy Spirit, they separate the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word and Sacraments (the Visible Word). So how can a Lutheran sing -

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Repeat, repeat, repeat. (To be sung properly, FALL has to have a real thump to it, like jumping down from a dining room chair.)

The author of the song above, Daniel Iverson, is associated with the Billy Graham crusades and their hymnal. From their viewpoint, how does the Holy Spirit come to people? Not through the Word. Not through preaching - not exactly. Not ever through the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit pounces on people when and where He chooses, but more often when they dream dreams, persuade people with logic, and market the Gospel by studying and applying statistics.

Baptist worship is designed to move people to make a decision for Christ. They should get good and weepy, then come forward for a decision or rededication. I have been a Graham crusades and at his School of Evangelism in Wheaton. I have been everywhere, so listen up.

Josh McDowell (Lord, Liar, Lunatic - Kelm's favorite) is Graham on steroids and meth. If we can just throw enough facts and logic at people, we can argue them into the Kingdom.

All these variations are perversions of the Gospel and will necessarily change the worship service. Also, no one can worship that way (tongue-speaking, falling down in a trance, dancing in the aisle, arm waving, bawling or laughing inappropriately) and remain a Means of Grace Christian.

Willow Creek is far calmer. There is no real hymn singing, but there is pop music. The message is Law with no Gospel, a familiar characteristic of Reformed homiletics. Often the Law portion is followed by the prescription - more Law!

CCM is opposed to Lutheran doctrine and Lutheran worship. Just listen to the CG guys make fun of traditional worship. They get people to laugh in mockery with them. It sounds like the demons in Hell listening to stand-up comedy.

KJV Deuteronomy 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

Slick Brenner used to say that judgment was coming upon WELS. Many think that day has now arrived.

The Blind Leading the Blind - Abandoning the Role of Teacher and Preacher

Some Google searches will reveal the same WELS sermon being preached at various WELS congregations. A friend told me of attending a meeting where a Love Shack drone gave a meditation on a Biblical text. Later, at another meeting, a different staff-member gave the same meditation, verbatim.

Here is the basic concept - a minister studies the Word and give his interpretation based upon that effort. If he is in error or unclear, he can be corrected.

WELS has been plagiarizing the Reformed and Pentecostals for years. Valleskey and Kelm were famous for copying whatever they learned at Fuller. WELS even produced materials with the same title and similar content as Fuller programs. One was on spiritual gifts, rehashed by Valleskey. Werning (Who's Who in Church Growth) copied pages of materials into his books, and Werning books were heavily promoted by WELS mission (CG) counselors. They really helped. The more WELS relied on Fuller, the faster the sect shrank.

One WELS mission pastor gave Willow Creek sermons verbatim, with the same pauses and dramatic flourishes, week after week. He was supposed to stop but did not. He was let go, but the layman who objected was hounded out of the congregation. The Hybels-parrot was featured in Radloff's Mission Counselors Newsletter.

Do you remember how AnswerMan said the WELS Pentecostal praise bands should not rock and roll with the unwashed? Let's be honest. What's the difference between WELS singing Reformed lyrics and the Reformed singing Reformed lyrics? I know. The Reformed do it far better. I love the Assembly of God beehive hairdos and swirly gowns, too.

But, how much more toxic is a sermon preached and published on a Lutheran website, coming directly and almost verbatim from Baptists and Presbyterians? I would email AnswerMan, but I fear he is studying at Willow Creek again.

Claiming another's work as one's own is dishonest, grounds for firing in most businesses and academic institutions. If the WELS leaders were not such blatant plagiarists themselves, something might be done.

Sermon Dishonesty

Judge for yourselves. Here is a sermon sample from a website:

http://www.sermonsearch.com:80/content.aspx?id=13641

(Sermon)Following is an excerpt of "Daddy, Please Slow Down (14 of 17)" by Andrew McQuitty.

This content is part of a series. Daddy, Please Slow Down (14 of 17)E. Andrew McQuitty2 Samuel 13 and 14Introduction: A. ILLUS: 1. Ruth rode on my motor-bike/ directly in back of me;/ I hit a bump at sixty-five/ and rode on ruthlessly. That catchy little poem humorously describes a not-so-funny reality in our culture: many get going so fast in life that they leave their loved ones behind--and don't even realize it until it's too late. I think that's especially true of Dads. 2. According to U.S. News and World Report (10/28/85, pp. 46-49), 53% of teenagers report spending less than thirty minutes a day with their fathers. Of 1,000 teenagers interviewed, 25% do not discuss their daily activities with their parents, 42% had not received parental words of praise during the past twenty-four hours, 50% had not gotten a hug or kiss, and 54% had not heard the words I love you.B. Fathers in the fast lane1. Why is this? Many dads are just out of time. Pressured to do all and be all--a success in his career and a leader and a husband as well as a father, the typical dad today passes himself coming and going. He's a father in the fast lane, passing everyone on the freeway of life. And then he hits a bump. Maybe it's a health crisis, a problem with one of the children, a marital infidelity. Because he's been going so fast for so long, that one bump is enough to dislodge his wife or his children or both. Suddenly, he's tooling along the road of life alone, wondering what went wrong.2. Folks, that's precisely what happened to King David in our study of 2 Samuel, He was throttling along at a high rate of speed, conquering enemies, building kingdoms, enriching his treasuries. He was phenomenally successful. He was going hazardously fast. Then, his Harley hit a bump called Bathsheba. The impact tragically impacted his family, and he rode on minus three of his sons. What caused the destruction of David's family was not primarily the bump, but the high rate of speed with which he hit it. The Lord used the bump to discipline David into being a better father. The lesson for us dads from the life is David is, simply, slow down. This morning, let's look at what life in the fast lane did to David as a father--and how we can avoid following suit. I. David's life in the fast lane caused him to be. . . A. Out of line1. Scripture: a. Review 11-12. David's great sins flowed from his lifestyle of spiritual apathy, self-indulgence, and rationalization. As we've seen, that lifestyle made him vulnerable to a pretty woman bathing on a rooftop and to the mentality that justified covering adultery with murder. b. Result: 13, 14. Amnon and Absalom merely took some pages out of their father's playbook! These two were teenagers when they saw David model manipulative and treacherous behavior, cover up his sin, deny responsibility, and ignore the hurt that resulted from his actions. Thus when Amnon saw a beautiful woman, he figured he ...
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Here is a sermon from a WELS congregation's website:

http://www.holycrosstucson.org/Sermons/fathers%20Day%202007.htm

Father's Day Back
2 Samuel 13 and 14

Daddy, Please Slow Down

How many saw the story about the man strapped in his wheel chair getting the back of it stuck in the grill of a truck. The driver unaware, and in a hurry, fired up the rig and drove off. The truck was finally pulled over, and man rescued unharmed other than the fright factor. According to U.S. News and World Report, 53% of U.S. teenagers claimed they spend less than thirty minutes a day with their fathers. 25% did not discuss their daily activities, 42% had not heard parental words of praise in the last twenty-four hours, 50% had not gotten a hug, and 54% had not heard the words I love you.Why is this? Pressured to be and do everything in their career, be the coach of the kid's team, as well as a leader in the community or their church, a parent and a spouse, we often find ourselves in the fast lane, passing everyone else on the freeway of life. And then we hit a bump. Maybe it's a health crisis, a problem with a teenager, or marital infidelity. Because we've been going so fast, for so long, that one bump is enough to dislodge the entire family. Suddenly, we are riding the road of life alone, wondering what went wrong.That's precisely what happened to King David in our study of 2 Samuel, He was conquering enemies, building kingdoms, and enriching his treasuries at a phenomenal rate of speed, until he hit a bump in the road called Bathsheba. His sin tragically impacted his family, as he rode on, minus three sons. So, this Father's Day let's look at and learn what life in the fast lane did to David as a father, as well as the mercy of our heavenly father, who used David to build the greatest earthly Kingdom Israel has ever known. The lessons are as simple as what I heard and saw from a young child being dragged through the grocery store. At the beginning of aisle 8 I heard her crying Daddy, Please Slow Down. At the end of aisle 9 I saw her smiling and sitting proudly in the cart as dad pushed her slow enough past the mac and cheese boxes so she could put some in the cart. David's life in the fast lane caused him to get out of line with scripture. Earlier, God had Samuel tell us how David's sins came directly from his spiritual apathy, self-indulgence, and rationalization. It's a lifestyle that made David prone to the temptation of adultery, and a mentality that justified covering it with murder.The result was Amnon and Absalom merely took a page out of their father's play book! They had seen David model manipulative behavior, cover up his sin, deny responsibility, and ignore the hurt he caused others. So when Amnon saw a beautiful woman, he figured why not. That was Dad's strategy? Amnon raped his half sister Tamar which angered her full brother Absalom, who remembered Dad liquoring up and murdering a man in the way of the woman David wanted. So Absalom got Amnon drunk and murdered him.Watch out parents. What we rationalize, excuse, or even practice in moderation can tempt our children to indulge in excess. David seemed to think he could live one way and raise his sons another way. Not! Children can be impressed by our words but they are impacted by our lives. When it counted, Amnon and Absalom didn't ask what would Dad say? They simply did what Dad did. David's life in the fast lane meant he was no longer communing with God, writing psalms or giving God the glory. His life was out of line with Scripture. His sons simply followed David's ungodly ways.David's life in the fast lane also caused him to be out of touch with his sons. So out of touch was David, he ended up giving them permission to perpetrate their crimes. He allowed Tamar to go to Amnon and all his sons to go to Absalom's party where Amnon died! David didn't spend enough time with his children to really know them. Being out of touch made him incapable of practicing proper discipline.Absalom hated Amnon for raping Tamar. But Absalom waited two years for his dad to be a father. Even though it said clearly in Leviticus, and Deuteronomy Amnon's rape meant he was to be stoned or exiled, David, did nothing. And what about his daughter Tamar? After her molestation, she lived the rest of her life in desolation never marrying or having children which was an ultimate defeat and disgrace. Father's apathy sent a clear message of I don't care. Absalom despaired and took matters into his own hands.David wept when he heard Absalom murdered Amnon. But David didn't see what a monster his indecisive behavior created in the heart of his son? Absalom had already lost respect for David when he did nothing to discipline Amnon for the rape. Perhaps Absalom thought the murder of David's first born son, Amnon, would at least get a rise out of Dad! But no! Absalom was crying out for discipline, limits, and strength from his father. What he got was weakness and indecision. All this only fueled Absalom's plan for a full-blown revolt against his dad.According to most o chapter 14, David would have been content never to see his son again. His solution was to become an absentee father. Besides, David was a busy man. He had more important issues to take care of than a son who didn't like him. It took Joab and his scheme with the widow to shame David into just allowing Absalom back into Jerusalem. But even then, David wouldn't see Absalom for two years after he had been gone the precious three!All together it had been seven years since Absalom had any contact with his father. When Joab, who was responsible for getting Absalom back to Jerusalem couldn't get him an audience with the King Absalom burned Joab's fields. As time progressed, Absalom's hurt at his rejection and anger over David's lack of being a father boiled up into a civil war within Israel between the supporters of Absalom and David. This led to the grisly death of Absalom when his neck got caught in an oak tree and Joab's men finished him off. Dads in the fast lane often have less contact with their children. The lack of contact minimizes the conflicts which make it seem like things are O.K. But we don't keep kids out of trouble by leaving them alone! Problems don't go away because we avoid dealing with them. They usually get worse. Parental apathy is devastating to a child. Why? Because the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.So parents, as we get our lives back in line with scripture, remember Galatians 6:7,8, DO NOT BE DECEIVED: GOD CANNOT BE MOCKED. A MAN REAPS WHAT HE SOWS. THE ONE WHO SOWS TO PLEASE HIS OWN SINFUL NATURE, FROM THAT NATURE WILL REAP DESTRUCTION; THE ONE WHO SOWS TO PLEASE THE SPIRIT FOR THE SPIRIT WILL REAP ETERNAL LIFE. Godliness is making the outside line up with the inside. It is being what you want your kids to think you are! If we can't find, or don't make, time to shore up our own spiritual integrity, we are simply going too fast. Everyday our thoughts, words, and actions sow seeds God says will come to fruition. What seeds are we sowing? Seeds of lust, materialism, greed, bitterness and hatred? Or seeds of purity, righteousness, generosity, love and forgiveness? They all grow.Parent's, it's time we get back in touch with our children. Time alone does not heal if not accompanied by active, purposeful steps toward healing. We have to listen, and we should have something constructive to bring to the discussion. It's like the son raised by his grandparents. As a graduation present he went to see his father in N.Y. It was the first time in 20 years, since Dad divorced and left when he was 4. Walking to lunch in Manhattan the young man said, "I hear a cricket." His Dad called him crazy. But the boy insisted, reached into a concrete planter and pulled out a cricket. Dad asked, "How did you do that?" The boy said, "It all depends on what you're listening for. Then the boy took a handful of change and threw it on the sidewalk. Twenty people stopped. Ten were on their knees in seconds. The boy said, see, "It all depends on what you're listening for."Parents doing things for our children, is no substitute for doing things with our children. TV shows and movies may solve a family crisis in one sitting, but real people don't. It takes time, and lots of it. Teachable moments, heart to heart talks, and stories our children will tell their children do not occur on cue. They happen in the context of simply being together. Being together a lot! This is one where raising children and the golfers struggling this weekend have something in common. Error increases with distance. But the opposite is also true: Success increases with proximity. Show me a parent close to their child, and I'll show you an effective parent.Yes, life moves pretty fast for most of us, but if we are here today, out of control does not mean out of hope. There still is time to slow down! One of the great things about slowing down is that even when we hit a bump, nobody falls off! Parents getting their lives in line with scripture, in touch with their children as they spend time with them will still hit some bumps along the way. But having slowed down, the bump won't be fatal. We'll take our children with us down the road of life, until we enjoy eternal life together. Instead of Daddy please, how much more Godly to hear thank you Daddy for slowing down.Back

Here is the author's bio -


Bio for Andrew McQuitty
Dr. McQuitty spent his high school years in Paris, TX where his father served as Senior Minister of a Presbyterian church. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL and of Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, TX. Andy earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1997, receiving the C. Sumner Wemp Award in personal evangelism as well as the John G. Mitchell Award for outstanding scholarship and effectiveness in ministry. Andy has served as a youth pastor in Washington state, and as Associate Pastor of a Bible Church in Garland, TX. As Sr. Pastor of Irving Bible Church since 1987, he transitioned the church to a contemporary style of ministry with a strong emphasis on world missions and the arts. Under his leadership, IBC has grown from 300 to 1,500 in worship, with extensive children's and youth ministries. Andy is an avid reader, golfer, gym rat and writer. But his favorite pastime is passing time with his family. Andy is husband to Alice and father to Julie, Elizabeth, Bonnie, Jonathan and Jeffrey.
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Pastor Curt Grube lists the sermons as if they are his own. The sermon page has a link for sending the "new" ones.

Here is "In God We Trust" from the sermon website:

http://www.sermonsearch.com/content.aspx?id=25451

(Sermon)Following is an excerpt of "In God We Trust" by James Merritt. In God We Trust
James Merritt
Proverbs 3: 5-605-29-05Introduction1. At first glance, I thought it was a great victory. The past week a Federal Appeals Court ruled that the phrase "In God We Trust" on a government building, does not violate the separation of church and state. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia, ruled on May 13th that the national motto may remain on the facade of a county government building in Lexington, North Carolina.2. Then listen to what the court has to say and I am quoting Judge Robert King. "The Fourth Circuit has 'heretofore characterized the phrase 'In God We Trust' when used as the national motto on coins and currency as a 'patriotic and ceremonial motto' with 'no theological or ritualistic impact.'"3. Quite frankly, if those four words, "In God We Trust" have "no theological or ritualistic impact" then you could just have easily substituted Mickey Mouse for God.4. It raises for me a big "why?" I don't mind telling you that there are a lot of "why" questions that I carry around every day. For example:* Why are there Interstate highways in Hawaii?* Why are there floatation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?* If a 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?* Why is it that when you transport something by car it is called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship it is called cargo?* Think about that little indestructible black box they use on airplanes - why can't they make the whole plane out of that same substance?* Why is it when you are looking for an address you turn down the volume on the radio?* Why do they sterilize needles that they use for lethal injections?* Why did Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?* Why do they call it a tv set when you only get one?* Why do they lock gas-station bathrooms - are they afraid somebody is going to clean them?5. I want to raise two questions today. Why should we trust in God and if we really do trust in God, what would that mean for the way we live our lives? I am going to be very honest with you. It is a lot easier for me to stand up here and tell you to trust God than it is sometimes for me to trust God. I heard about a little boy who was envying his older brother's new bicycle and since he wanted a new bicycle too, he went to his big brother and asked him how to get one. His older brother said that he had prayed for this bicycle and he suggested that his little brother start praying for a new bicycle as well. After thinking about it for a little while, he realized his older brother was a lot better at prayer than his was, so he went back to him and said, "I've got a better idea. Why don't you just give me your bicycle and you can ask God for another one?"6. I could give you many reasons why you ought to trust God, but let me just give this one to think about. When we trust God, God guides us. God doesn't make Xerox copies ...
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Here is the Pastor Grube's "In God We Trust"

http://www.holycrosstucson.org/Sermons/pentecost_5_2007.htm

Pentecost 5
Proverbs 3:5-6
In God We Trust
As a country, we have a motto that appears in different places having to do with our government. You see it on documents, buildings, and on our money. "In God We Trust"Individuals and groups have worked hard in recent years to remove that phrase, but so far have been unsuccessful. As one Judge wrote, "The Fourth Circuit has 'heretofore characterized the phrase 'In God We Trust' when used as the national motto on coins and currency as a 'patriotic and ceremonial motto' with 'no theological or ritualistic impact.'"But wait a minute: If those words have no theological or ritualistic impact, why do we use them? Such a question probably belongs with, why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? If a place is open 24 hours, why do they have locks on the door? Why do they use sterilized needles for lethal injections? And if they can make an airplane's little black box indestructible, why can't they make the whole plane out of that stuff? Rather than speculating, rather than turning the 4th of July into a political rant, come with me today to the book of Proverbs as we consider trusting in God.Let me start by admitting, it's a lot easier to stand up here and tell you to trust God than it is sometimes, even for me to put it into practice. It's like the boy who envied his sister's new I Phone. Since he wanted one too, he asked her how she got it. She told him she had been praying for one, and suggested he start doing the same. He thought about it for a bit and responded, it's obvious you are a lot better at this praying thing than I am, so why don't you just give me your phone, and you pray for another.Now before we do the same with this Trust In God theme, let's get to our text. The passage we are going to look at is one of the more practical and helpful passages in all of the Bible. God used one of the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, to record His words saying, TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT. (Proverbs 3:5-6)There are really two simple parts to this passage - our part and God's part. Our part is trusting. God's part is guiding. When God has Solomon write TRUST IN THE LORD, He is having Solomon use a Hebrew word that literally means to "to lie down on" or "to stretch out on." For example last night when we went to bed, what did we do? Did we cautiously approach our bed, poke it a little to see if was real? Did we first put one foot in and wait to see if it would hold us. I suspect we simply laid down, stretched out, with our full weight on the mattress, never giving it a second thought. That is the same approach we take when it comes to trusting God.Thus God finishes the first phrase TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART. We are to put our whole heart into trusting God, because if our trust is only half-hearted, what is the other half? Doubt. There really is no such thing as half-hearted trust. You either trust God totally or you don't really trust God at all.We all know what an important part trust plays in relationships if they are going to hold together. If one spouse doesn't trust the other one that marriage is in for some rough sailing. It's like fictitious story about Adam and Eve. It starts out like Genesis where Adam wakes up one day to find this beautiful woman God had given him called Eve. Everything was fine until Eve began to get suspicious about Adam staying out late. She confronted Adam, asking him if there might be another woman involved? Adam assured her she was only one God had made for him. Not satisfied with his answer she tossed and turned till Adam fell asleep. When he awoke he found Eve poking him in the chest counting his ribs.There is a reason why God demands total trust and that is because, He deserves nothing less. Think about it. His Holiness makes it impossible for Him to fool us, because He cannot lie. His infinite wisdom makes it impossible for Him to fail us. He cannot make a mistake. Trusting in Him will never let us down.We are also told, LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING.(Proverbs 3:5)This part of the verse centers around the Hebrew word "shan-ann", which means "to support yourself by leaning on something or someone else." While God never suggests we simply put our mind in neutral or ignore common sense, he is saying do not support yourself, do not build your whole life simply around what we think or what we feel we ought to do.For whenever we put what we think ahead of what God says, we will be walking in darkness, not the light. God has Solomon add in v.7 DO NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES. (Proverbs 3:7) And there is a reason for this statement. God explains it through Jeremiah in chapter 10 where the prophet declares, I KNOW, O LORD, THAT A MAN'S LIFE IS NOT HIS OWN; IT IS NOT FOR MAN TO DIRECT HIS STEPS. (Jeremiah 10:23) In other words, anytime we decide we are going to take matters into our own hands, call our own shots and leave God totally out of it, we are headed for disaster.Any of us who have been around for a few years have learned the Godly thing to do may not always be the reasonable thing to do, or what somebody else thinks you ought to do. People thought Noah was crazy to build a boat on dry land. Who didn't question Joshua marching around Jericho seven times. When David fought Goliath, Saul wanted him to use a sword and a shield, but God gave him a sling shot and a rock. But not one of these great heros of faith were disappointed in the outcome of trusting in God, and neither will we be.IIGod seals this deal when He has Solomon write in v.6 IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT. I hope we didn't miss the emphasis here? We are to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways. That means, in our social, financial, recreational, vocational life, and personal life, we are to acknowledge God.The word "acknowledge" literally means to "recognize" or "to see". Simply put, in every part of life, look for God. It doesn't matter whether we are going to play or pray, work or worship, go on vacation or to our vocation, acknowledge the Lord? It's about letting God be seen through us. It's about letting God speak through us. It's about God working through us.Even though the promise, HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT may seem conditional, it isn't. As our Epistle reading reminded us, YOU ARE ALL SONS OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS. There is that trust thing again. And then the rest of the verse, FOR ALL OF YOUR WHO WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST HAVE CLOTHED YOURSELF WITH CHRIST. Trusting totally in the Lord, or Clothed with Christ, HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT.Think about that for a moment - We can live our life on one of three levels. Level 1 is - I do what I want to do, which is where most of the world lives today. Level 2 is - I think I do what I ought to do, which is where a lot of Christians live today, but that is not the highest level. The highest level is - I do what God leads me to do. That comes from this ultimate trust in Him.One last example comes from the connections some of you have with the Air Force, Navy, or other branch of the military. An aircraft carrier is one of the tiniest landing strip a pilot will ever negotiate, and it's always, to some degree, a moving target. The real key to a successful landing is not the captain of the ship, it's not the technology of the plane, or the pilot, but the LSO officer, usually an experienced pilot who observes the incoming planes and signals the pilot at the last minute to set it down, or to pull back on the stick and try again. Pilots must put themselves totally in the hands of the LSO. For us who are HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE (Galatians 3:29) life is like waking up everyday on the deck of the U.S.S. God. Some days the sailing is smooth. Other days we fly through some real turbulence. But every day we carry our cross or, IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM. (Proverbs 3:6) We don't LEAN ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING (Proverbs 3:6) Instead, every day, including our last one we trust in the divine LSO THE CHRIST OF GOD (Luke 9:20 ) Peter confessed in our Gospel reading. He will see to it our trust in and commitment to His ways leads to a safe landing every time.

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Here is the bio for James Merrit, who wrote the sermon -

Bio for James Merritt
A 21st century prophet, Dr. James Merritt, pastor of Cross Point Church near Atlanta, Georgia and host of the television broadcast Touching Lives. Sharing God's powerful message through a powerful medium, Dr. Merritt's purpose remains to bring lost souls to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Powerfully saved at the age of nine and accepting the call to preach at the age of twenty-one, Dr. Merritt received his undergraduate degree from Stetson University and his Master of Divinity and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. In June of 2000, Dr. Merritt was elected as President of the Southern Baptist Convention which currently hosts a membership of well over 15.8 million individuals and over 40,000 churches across the United States. Dr. Merritt has also previously served on numerous committees for the Southern Baptist Convention including Chairman of the Executive Committee and the President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Pastors Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Each week, viewers from around the country listen to the pure and simple presentation of the gospel message. Dr. Merritt's messages resound with a resonating call for personal evangelism and are characterized by their expository instruction. Delivering the transforming gospel, Dr. Merritt applies its relevance to your life!
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Orthodox Lutheran Praise Bands

http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuQA_qaID=1&cuTopic_topicID=1067&cuItem_itemID=18113

Q:
My church put together a praise band and we recently started practicing. In a planning meeting a while back, the guy leading the praise band mentioned how it would be great for us to get together with praise bands from other churches in the area and worship together at each others churches from time to time. This suggestion did not sit well with me, so I spoke up that by doing so we would be blurring the doctrine of fellowship. The guy just rolled his eyes and said that I sounded like our pastor with that comment. The other members commented that I didn't understand fellowship correctly. At the time I just let it pass...it was just a suggestion at that point and not being implemented. Now that we have begun to practice, it was brought up again. I stated my two cents again, only this time they didn't respond to it at all and basically ignored me. They now have plans to start rehearsing with another local congregation to join talents and play at one of their mid-week services. Thus, I have since backed out of the band with voicing my reason why I was no longer going to participate. My question is, as our pastor seems to be unaware of the plans of the praise band, would it be proper for me to inform him of them out of concern for the other members of the band? Or should I just let him find out on his own?

A:
The Bible principles governing church fellowship expressions and applications are not to be viewed as something a Christian like you, or your pastor, or a church or a synod arbitrarily made up. They are in the Bible. So they are not to be treated as mere suggestions or possible "rules" to be obeyed or disregarded according to personal preference.
I am assuming from your description of this situation that the "other churches" are those who believe and teach differently than we do on various Bible subjects. If so, we do not share or enjoy unity in the confession of our faith and therefore are not to express unity or pretend we have unity in the faith through joint worship. We are not to give people clinging to error the impression that this is nevertheless OK or that some false teachings are OK in the eyes of the Lord. So what you describe is not something against "church rules" or a "pastor's desires"; it is sin and a disregard of revealed Scripture. Remembering this helps you answer your own questions.

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GJ - AnswerMan's entertainment value never ebbs. As most people know, pop bands in church were promoted decades ago by Pentecostal congregations. Soon all the Church Growth gurus were promoting praise music and pit bands in the chancel. Praise music is just another name for Pentecostal music. Another label is Contemporary Christian Music, CCM, often called Contemporary Charismatic Music.

Luther Parish Resources, Paul Kuske's brain child (liebeskind), promoted an ecumenical and untalented rock group called Soter (Greek for Savior). They had an all WELS rock concert at the Jenera, Ohio congregation, then played badly at the WELS national youth gathering in Columbus. I objected, but that was a waste of breath.

CCM - in all its manifestations - encourages unChristian and anti-Christian attitudes. One might as well arrange altar calls for the service but draw the line at working with other denominations on their altar calls.

AnswerMan is being deceptive in his solemn pronouncement. WELS has been working with, studying under other denominations for decades. Their favorite theologian for now is Rev. Leonard Sweet, a leftist Methodist.

A good way to encourage and promote faith in the Savior would be to use musical talent to learn, for the first time, the great Lutheran hymns of our heritage, to use them in real liturgical services, and to follow the example of those hymn-writers like Gerhardt in marking and avoiding the Reformed.

KJV Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Do Money Issues Cause Loss of Faith?

Anonymous said, in part:

"I don't believe our "Lutheran leaders" are fat cats trying to get wealthy off our students' tuition. Those I know personally are faithful servants who are serving their Lord and His church to the best of their ability. I ask you to please follow scripture's directive in 1 Timothy 5 by honoring and recognizing them as such. I encourage you to exert your critical energy toward a more noble and God-pleasing attack on satan's schemes to steal souls from the flock.

Nice straw man fallacy. Student tuition is not enough to make the synod leaders wealthy. They also need the Schwan funds, Thrivent funds, and the Milcraft estate. Is there something in the Bible about preying on widows and orphans? Or is that Shakespeare, or McGavran?

I honor sound teachers, but they are not in synod leadership positions. The synods (not just WELS) do not tolerate any variation from their agenda. Look at Pope John the Malefactor (Little Sect on the Prairie). He threatens and excommunicates, just like Rome.

There is no difference between WELS and Missouri leadership absorbing offering money for themselves while hiking up the cost of education. By making robotic conformity the price to pay for a minister's salary, the synod leaders guarantee that apostasy will reign.

I hope the defensive and thin-skinned responder(s) will focus on the need to repudiate false doctrine, wherever it is taught, whoever may teach it.

Copy and paste some of your Ichabod comments and send them to Leonard Sweet and his disciples. Find out who is erecting a shrine to Sweet in WELS and expell them. Demand the rejection of Reformed doctrine and methods in the synod.

Stop listening to Roman Catholic leaders.

Luther said that Satan likes those shepherds who fatten the sheep for the slaughter, as the crypto-Methodists are doing. Satan does not tolerate the growling of the guard dog.

WELS pastors turn Pentecostal for the same reason Ft. Wayne graduates turn Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. They are trained in false doctrine, want to please their false prophet teachers, and jump ship. Others just walk the tightrope between Lutheran doctrine and false doctrine, leading others to do the same.

Comments, Again

Comments from the laity are signed, for the most part, and intelligent. In the last few hours I received about 10 personal (signed) emails from laity.

I also hear from clergy who sign their emails. Ichabod comments from the clergy are never signed. Most of them are angry, incoherent, and illogical. After all, Ichabod is not required reading. It's not like Understanding Church Growth or Sweet's Starbucks book, at your favorite seminary. I figure there are two clergy, tops, who send in anonymous comments. It could be just one - with a split personality.

One layman used to post with so many names on LutherQuest (sic) that I called him Sybil.

The Future of Apostasy

The somewhat conservative Universalists merged with the radical Unitarians, who used to believe in God, to form the UUA. They are the cutting edge, to use a Fuller term, of denominational evolution. Follow the UUA to predict your synod's future.

Behind the UUA (in radicalism) is the rapidly failing United Church of Christ, comprised of Congregationalists plus the Evangelical and Reformed, the E and R being an earlier merger. Yale was founded as a conservative school to combat the influence of Harvard. Harvard turned Unitarian while Yale remained Congregationalist.

Led by David Preus, the ELCA pushed forward its relationships with the Reformed and eventually established altar fellowship with the UCC. What the UCC earlier proclaimed (after the more radical UUA), ELCA now teaches without qualms. The basis for altar fellowship now means - "We don't believe anything either!"

WELS and Missouri used to get huffy about how liberal the LCA was, how unionistic those liberals were. Now the hero du jour for WELS is one Leonard Sweet, a very lefty Methodist who makes the Wisconsin CG leaders look positively modest. They used to pretend Fuller Seminary was conservative and teaching them non-doctrinal methods, but now the mask is off. Sweet is quoted, with adoration, on WELS.net.

Someone would have to be as ill-informed as a WELS seminarian's wife to think Wisconsin, Missouri, and the Little Sect are not in fellowship with ELCA.

And yes, the four-letter synods are collapsing, financially and in membership, just like the UUA and UCC. The caboose must necessarily follow the engine of apostasy.

ELCA Dissolving

Ichabodians will recall that Pastor Rick, a classy guy, criticized me for being a member of more than one Lutheran synod. This apparently excused him from bragging about his anti-Christian reading (Sweet and Hybels).

Consider for a moment what someone has posted on the ALPB discussion group:


Re: That Goodsoil Eucharist
« Reply #107 on: August 12, 2007, 01:08:22 AM »

Quote from: Paula Murray on August 11, 2007, 04:52:29 PM

No one has to lead a congregation out of the ELCA, Jerry, the problem will be keeping them there.

That is true to my experience here. For almost 3 years now, I have been regularly asked by members of this congregation why we have not already left the ELCA. I expect, given the news coverage that we are receiving now (one of my daughters heard about this on the radio this afternoon), that more of the members here will be urging the congregation to leave the ELCA.
Mel Harris

I left the LCA in 1987, before the merger even took place. I also wrote about why I left the LCA and joined WELS.

Four things disgusted me about the Wisconsin Synod:
1. WELS worked with the ELCA on a host of religious projects and did not want their apostate sister-church offended.
2. WELS embraced the Church Growth Movement at every level (synod, district, Columbus, seminary) and lied constantly about it.
3. WELS leaders were so corrupt that they would grab a sexual predator kicked out of the ministry and defend the predator's false doctrine.
4. WELS pastors did not have the guts to fight anything.

I do not see much difference between the synods and the pastors. The messages supporting the facts reported here come from the laity. The abusive comments (many squelched because they are so repetitive) are from clergy.

Parlow on Salvation by Works - He's All For It

GJ - This WELS sermon has been passed around a bit. I believe the question marks were added by an editor. I will assign the name of the editor: pseudo-Parlow. Apparently the same sermon had already been published. I have reprinted that below. The copy I received matched up, side by side. This version is more work to compare.

Pastor John Parlow January 1, 2006
Web page’s byline: ”Magnets with Means Making a Difference”


Did anyone come down to breakfast this morning and announce -- "I'm so hungry, I feel as if I haven't eaten since last year!"??

It's fun to play with all the brand-new possibilities open to you on January 1. Go jogging this morning, and you've exercised every day this year. Get through lunch without eating potato chips or a candy bar, and this year reflects a whole new healthy and perfectly-kept diet regime. So far this year, perhaps you have never cussed at someone, never yelled at the kids, never forgotten to floss, never thrown your dirty clothes on the bathroom floor and never forgotten to read the Bible in the morning! On January 1 your whole life can be transformed. For one day at least, all your good intentions can be jump-started, and all your bad habits can be unplugged. At least for a few hours (or minutes?), the year is a perfect reflection of your best self.

But January 1 is followed inevitably by January 2 and January 3. Someday soon you will opt for staying in a cozy bed a few more minutes rather than plunging out into the cold on that jog. Pretty soon candy wrappers will start appearing in your desk drawer again. By the 4th or 5th, you will surely have been aggravated enough at a bad driver or a dropped glass or a stubbed toe to have let loose a blue streak of bad words or unsanctified thoughts. By the 7th, your socks are back on the bathroom floor and your dental floss is gathering dust. By the 10th you fall asleep before you can even get the Bible open. ? For all but a few of us, most New Year's resolutions get packed away with the last of the Christmas decorations. By Epiphany our behavior and the whole New Year are just as tarnished as they were before January 1.

The problem with most of our resolutions is that they are too safe, too sensible and too self-centered. We resolve to make tiny cosmetic changes in our lifestyles -- but refuse to consider restructuring our lives and changing the paradigms by which we live. Luke's single story about the boy Jesus offers us an example of what it would mean if we were to transform our lives by making the ultimate resolution, the mother of all New Year's resolutions, the resolution that ends all resolutions -- to declare that from this day forward we will be "about [our] Father's business."?

Joseph and Mary, their friends, neighbors and relatives, all made the required pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. But as soon as the allotted time for the holiday was over, they hit the road -- anxious to get back to all the chores and responsibilities that filled their lives. Joseph, a craftsman working with stone and wood, undoubtedly had projects awaiting his attention. Mary would have had the hundreds of time-consuming tasks it took to keep her family fed and clothed. Like most of us at the end of an extended vacation, they were probably looking forward to getting back to the comfortable familiarity of their own hearth and home.? But the young Jesus refuses to let his relationship with God be regulated according to some prearranged, culturally imposed schedule. Instead of going along with the return-to-business-as-usual attitude, Jesus answered the most important call of all -- to be about his Father's business. What would it mean if we were to act in a similar fashion? What would it mean to live, not according to human expectations or cultural patterns, but according to what God required of us? What does it mean to be about God's business, rather than other people's business, or even other people's definition of God's business? Jesus discovered at this early age that answering God's expectations can get you in trouble -- even with your own family. In fact, focusing on God's business may put an unexpected crimp in the family business. "Business-as-usual" may not be the way God does business. And the world and the church find that unnerving.? The ultimate New Year's resolution does not challenge us to cut fat grams, or quit smoking or get to aerobics class twice a week. The ultimate resolution a Christian can make is to live in the light of divine love and intentions, not human inventions. The New Year's resolution to end all resolutions is to live under the umbrella of God's forgiveness and love and motivated by those divine gifts to make it my business and your business to be a part of God's business.?

But this just begs a bigger question: What is God's business? ? The apostle Paul put it this way – read Romans 12:1. God's business is transformation. An electrical transformer takes high voltage and transforms it into energy that we can use in our everyday lives. Without a transformer, there could be no light in the darkness, no safety in the storm. At Bethlehem, God came to us and gave us Jesus the Christ, who transforms in his life the love and power of God into the impulses of grace and salvation that the world desperately needs. So what does the Christian who resolves to be a part of God's transforming work on January 1 do on Monday, January 2? There are two essential requirements: First, we must go deeply into the Word. Second, we must go widely into the world.? First, the Word. When the young Jesus felt called to live beyond business-as-usual and answered the call of God's business, he first went to the temple. In other words, he steeped himself in the meanings and messages of God's Word. Knowing what God intends for men and women, learning what God has already said and done and promised for this world, is a necessary first step in the transformative process. Second, the World. Being about God's business doesn't mean we do nothing but sit in the temple -- in the church -- all day long and discuss theology. Remember that while Jesus started out in the temple, he then obediently followed Joseph and Mary back out into the world. We cannot be a part of transforming the world unless we stand in its midst. That is the trouble with our traditional New Year's resolutions -- they never step outside the confines of our own self-centered existence. ?? What if instead of resolving to lose 10 pounds this year,? you resolved to attend worship every week and dedicate five hours a month to add some spiritual weight through Bible study attendance. What if instead of resolving to get more exercise this year,? you resolved to exercise some spiritual muscles and organize a small group Bible study in a local nursing home??? What if instead of resolving to spend less time in front of the TV and more time reading some good books,? you resolved to teach those struggling with illiteracy to read those books to you??? What if instead of resolving to spend more "quality time" with your family, ?you resolved to take your whole family on a mission project for a week, or a month or even longer???

Your life, your commitment to the ultimate resolution, can help the love of God through Christ to transform the world. Today is January 1. A fresh New Year lies unblemished before us. What do you resolve to be on January 2 and for the rest of your life? Amen.

****
GJ: Here is the original. Compare.

Homiletics Online January 1, 1995 Web page’s byline:
“For Those With Too Much Integrity to Preach Someone Else’s Sermon”

Did anyone come down to breakfast this morning and announce -- "I'm so hungry, I feel as if I haven't eaten since last year!"?

It's fun to play with all the brand-new possibilities open to you on January 1. Go jogging this morning, and you've exercised every day this year. Get through lunch without eating potato chips or a candy bar, and this year reflects a whole new healthy and perfectly-kept diet regime. So far this year, perhaps you have never cussed at someone, never yelled at the kids, never forgotten to floss, never thrown your dirty clothes on the bathroom floor and never forgotten to read the Bible in the morning!On January 1 your whole life can be transformed. For one day at least, all your good intentions can be jump-started, and all your bad habits can be unplugged. At least for a few hours (or minutes?), the year is a perfect reflection of your best self.But January 1 is followed inevitably by January 2 and January 3. Someday soon you will opt for staying in a cozy bed a few more minutes rather than plunging out into the cold on that jog. Pretty soon candy wrappers will start appearing in your desk drawer again. By the 4th or 5th, you will surely have been aggravated enough at a bad driver or a dropped glass or a stubbed toe to have let loose a blue streak of bad words or unsanctified thoughts. By the 7th, your socks are back on the bathroom floor and your dental floss is gathering dust. By the 10th you fall asleep before you can even get the Bible open. For all but a few of us, most New Year's resolutions get packed away with the last of the Christmas decorations. By Epiphany our behavior and the whole New Year are just as tarnished as they were before January 1.

The problem with most of our resolutions is that they are too safe, too sensible and too self-centered. We resolve to make tiny cosmetic changes in our lifestyles -- but refuse to consider restructuring our lives and changing the paradigms by which we live. Luke's single story about the boy Jesus offers us an example of what it would mean if we were to transform our lives by making the ultimate resolution, the mother of all New Year's resolutions, the resolution that ends all resolutions -- to declare that from this day forward we will be "about [our] Father's business."

Joseph and Mary, their friends, neighbors and relatives, all made the required pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. But as soon as the allotted time for the holiday was over, they hit the road -- anxious to get back to all the chores and responsibilities that filled their lives. Joseph, a craftsman working with stone and wood, undoubtedly had projects awaiting his attention. Mary would have had the hundreds of time-consuming tasks it took to keep her family fed and clothed. Like most of us at the end of an extended vacation, they were probably looking forward to getting back to the comfortable familiarity of their own hearth and home.But the young Jesus refuses to let his relationship with God be regulated according to some prearranged, culturally imposed schedule. Instead of going along with the return-to-business-as-usual attitude, Jesus answered the most important call of all -- to be about his Father's business.

What would it mean if we were to act in a similar fashion? What would it mean to live, not according to human expectations or cultural patterns, but according to what God required of us? What does it mean to be about God's business, rather than other people's business, or even other people's definition of God's business? Jesus discovered at this early age that answering God's expectations can get you in trouble -- even with your own family. In fact, focusing on God's business may put an unexpected crimp in the family business. "Business-as-usual" may not be the way God does business. And the world and the church find that unnerving.The ultimate New Year's resolution does not challenge us to cut fat grams, or quit smoking or get to aerobics class twice a week. The ultimate resolution a Christian can make is to live in the light of divine intentions, not human inventions. The New Year's resolution to end all resolutions is to live under the umbrella of God's expectations and to make it my business and your business to be a part of God's business.But this just begs a bigger question: What is God's business? God's business is transformation. An electrical transformer takes high voltage and transforms it into energy that we can use in our everyday lives. Without a transformer, there could be no light in the darkness, no safety in the storm. At Bethlehem, God came to us and gave us Jesus the Christ, who transforms in his life the love and power of God into the impulses of grace and salvation that the world desperately needs.

So what does the Christian who resolves to be a part of God's transforming work on January 1 do on Monday, January 2? There are two essential requirements: First, we must go deeply into the Word. Second, we must go widely into the world.1. The Word. When the young Jesus felt called to live beyond business-as-usual and answered the call of God's business, he first went to the temple. In other words, he steeped himself in the meanings and messages of God's Word. Knowing what God intends for men and women, learning what God has already said and done and promised for this world, is a necessary first step in the transformative process.2. The World. Being about God's business doesn't mean we do nothing but sit in the temple -- in the church -- all day long and discuss theology. Remember that while Jesus started out in the temple, he then obediently followed Joseph and Mary back out into the world.We cannot be a part of transforming the world unless we stand in its midst. That is the trouble with our traditional New Year's resolutions -- they never step outside the confines of our own self-centered existence. What if instead of resolving to lose 10 pounds this year,you resolved to eat according to a diet that could sustain the whole world?What if instead of resolving to get more exercise this year,you resolved to exercise some spiritual muscles and organized a prayer-chain across your community?What if instead of resolving to spend less time in front of the TV and more time reading some good books, you resolved to teach those struggling with illiteracy to read those books to you?What if instead of resolving to spend more "quality time" with your family, you resolved to take your whole family on a mission project for a week, or a month or even longer?

Your life, your commitment to the ultimate resolution, can help the love of God through Christ to transform the world. Today is January 1. A fresh New Year lies unblemished before us. What do you resolve to be on January 2 and for the rest of your life?

Response to Church and Change

John Bauer (Church and Change) Clobbered by the Word

Bauer:
I've taken a few days before responding. Here goes.

With all due respect, the criticism of the CHARIS announcement articulated below is based on a definition which writer provides. Anyone can argue from their own presuppositions and definitions. Nowhere has CHARIS advocated "humanistic non-evangelical shortcuts." These words are themselves human contrivances. So in the five paragraphs following the "clearer definition," the writer has succeeded only in arriving at a conclusion based on a self-defined first premise.

I am not advocating the study of any "methods" or strategies outside of means of grace ministries. But to condemn all methods based on human reason creates a restriction that no WELS pastor could live with. I am assuming that every pastor who graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary took at least one course in homiletics. What is homiletics other than preaching methods, i.e., the use of human reason to interpret text, plan an outline, think of illustrations, etc? And when a pastor plans a worship service, doesn't he use certain human methods to organize the liturgy? Aren't there methods involved in selecting hymns? And in the practical realm, aren't decisions about whether or not to canvass a community, host a blood drive, place a worship service advertisement in the paper, start a day care center-- aren't these the utilization of human reason to make judgments about how a church makes its presence known in a community? Aren't they methods? Does that make them "humanistic?"

Unfortunately, many of these arguments end up in black and white distinctions. No one that I know is saying that conversion comes about by any other means than the means of grace. It is God the Holy Spirit working through word and sacrament. But the means and methods by which God's people reach out into their communities, make connections, establish relationships, serve others - - all so that the opportunity to proclaim the Word is obtained - that is what the symposium is about. Let's try another equally valid definition of "church growth methods" just for argumentation's sake. (And by the way, no where in the Symposium literature is there an indication that "church growth methods" are going to be examined or promoted.) Let's define church growth methodologies as "those plans, strategies, and actions which are aimed at equipping and mobilizing God's people to more directly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an unbelieving world in any and every circumstance and context so that more and more people may come to know Jesus as their Savior." I just made this up. But try the definition on for size and then see if the same conclusion of condemnation can be arrived at.

John Bauer
________________________________

Paul D. Lindhorst Does the Clobbering - Via the Word
From: church_and_change@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:church_and_change@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rev. Paul D
Lindhorst
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 10:40 PM
To: church_and_change@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [church_and_change] 3rd Annual Church Door Symposium


On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 19:27:57 -0600 "John Bauer"
writes:

The CHARIS Institute, Inc.
Announces its 3rd Annual
CHURCH DOOR SYMPOSIUM
"Effective Evangelistic Churches"
March 6 and 7, 2006
At Wisconsin Lutheran College

Much has been written by conservative Lutheran theologians which is critical of "church growth" methodologies. At the same time, utilization of practical strategies within "means of grace" ministries is a proper use of God-given reason and should be explored so that others can benefit from the knowledge and experience of churches which have been shown to be effective at sharing the gospel.

In my opinion, a clearer definition of true "Church Growth" methodology would be "Humanistic, non-evangelical short-cuts used to effect substantial numerical increases in attendance and membership" methodology.

Two questions: 1) How could one possibly benefit from the study of a methodology whose very essence is intrinsically founded on man's wisdom and not on God's powerful means of grace? 2) Therefore, why would one even attempt to incorporate such a humanistic methodology into their own means-of-grace ministry? The product of such a union would be (at best) a watered down means-of-grace ministry.

Allow me to loosely paraphrase 2 Cor. 6:14,15: Do not be yoked together with humanistic church growth vendors. For what do God's means of grace and humanistic church growth methodologies have in common? Or what fellowship can God's means of grace have with humanistic church growth? What harmony is there between God's means of grace and humanistic church growth?

Maybe Paul's "Keep away from them" warning ought to be considered here (and at other similarly proposed venues). Peter's warning may also be a beneficial addendum to Paul's: Why keep away from them? "[Because] your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Be careful, your faith really isn't that strong, no matter how long you've been a believer or how often you read your Bible. Only the One in whom your faith is founded is strong - the One who builds us up alone through the truths of His Word, not through the humanistic, false teachings of the heterodox.

Consider this: Paul and Peter never went humanistic in their approach to ministry. They simply proclaimed to those inside and outside the Visible church the truths of God's law and gospel to all who would listen. By doing so, they continued their "on the job training" and their personal "getting to know the culture education." They then taught their sheep to do the same. That's Great Commission, evangelical, means of grace ministry.

I truly believe that if we'd spend our time doing the same, there wouldn't be this perceived need on the parts of so many of us to go and find "better" and "more effective" ways of doing (in our own corners of the world) what the Lord has already equipped us to do with the tools of His powerful Word and sacraments. I do understand that we all can and ought to learn and grow from fellow like-minded believers. Yet, let's continue to place our trust and confidence when it comes to the "effectiveness" of our ministries where it belongs - on our Lord Jesus and His powerful Word & sacraments, and not on "better, more effective ways" of "doing ministry." Remember, no "better, more effective way" has or will ever save anyone.

Paul D. Lindhorst