The January Reporter ran a very positive article about the Transforming Churches Network. I didn’t learn terribly much from the article and the group uses enough jargon to make a federal bureaucrat blush, so a trip to their web site requires some good translation skills. But Scott Diekman has written extensively about the group. In this post here at the Steadfast site, he praises TCN’s staff for their attempt to grow the church but criticizes some of the church growth methodology they use. He’s written a total of nine essays that look critically at the non-Lutheran basis of the network and some of their more controversial practices. You can find them all here.

Now, none of these controversies were mentioned in the Reporter article, of course. But I thought this letter to the editor in the February Reporter was fascinating. The letter writer is David Berger, librarian of the Concordia Seminary and all around great guy. Here’s his letter:

To lay to rest any concerns expressed in various quarters about the TCN corporation and its work, especially given its close relationship to LCMS World Mission, the following assurances are important:

• Because every aspect of helping congregations to “look outward,” i.e., to proclaim the Gospel beyond their doors, has theological implications and is grounded in theological presuppositions, all TCN consultants and personnel subscribe to the Lutheran Confessions, and its resources (print and online) conform to Lutheran doctrine and practice.
• TCN vigorously promotes Word and Sacrament ministry, including thorough catechetical instruction (teaching) and Baptism of children and adults, as foundational to both a congregation’s outward focus and its internal spiritual health.
• TCN recognizes that the varied services in [the Synod's hymnals], grounded in Scripture and in the historic practice of the communion of saints, clearly communicate and teach the Gospel; TCN thus discourages altering worship form and content to appeal to those whose first need is to be instructed in the faith, including how that faith is expressed and fed in the Divine Service.
• TCN promotes an open congregational polity that encourages all members to be alive in their faith in the work of the congregation and advises against vesting governance in a small, centralized body or in the pastor, whose call is to serve as spiritual shepherd of the flock.
• TCN upholds the scriptural principle of Christian vocation, i.e., the life of a Christian is one of faithful service to neighbor and family; in fulfilling various callings with our God-given abilities, we are “masks of God” through which/whom He calls others to Him. Cf. Eph. 4:11 ff., 1 Thess. 4:10 ff.
• TCN acknowledges that evangelism, God’s work of calling people to faith, neither supersedes nor replaces the Gospel itself — the good news of Christ’s saving work for sinners — as the heart and core of the church’s proclamation.
• Finally, TCN counsels against using membership size or growth as a standard of “accounting” for the faithfulness and spiritual health (or “success”) of a pastor or a congregation (cf. Eph. 1:4-14, Romans 8:28-30) and warns against turning grateful and loving witness, either corporate or individual, into a Law-driven activity.

Is it possible to check on these details and provide assurances regarding TCN theology and practice in a follow-up article?

Read more…

In the YouTube video that is on the front page of the LCMS.org site, President Kieschnick mentioned that he himself had hoped to go to Haiti but it was too dangerous for him to go.

President Kieschnick had hoped to join the LCMS World Relief and Human Care team on its trip but has postponed his trip. What’s not apparent from the video, but I’m sure you’ll want to know, is that the LCMS World Relief and Human Care team (the “other people” mentioned in the video) is still headed to Haiti. President Kieschnick is right in noting that it’s dangerous there. Let’s all pray for the safety of LCMS World Relief and Human Care executive director Matt Harrison as well as Matt’s team on the ground as they work to help our fellow Lutherans in Haiti as well as everyone else in need of mercy. And we pray that conditions may improve there so that President Kieschnick may go and visit as well.

While people in Synod may disagree on many things, we all can be thankful for the work of our World Relief and Human Care board. USA Today mentions the LCMS mercy arm here.

As always, you can contribute funds to LCMS World Relief and Human Care early and often at this link.

since last week, when failed Democratic candidate for Senate Martha Coakley misspelled the name of the state she was seeking to represent. Yikes. Ouch. Ooft. This is the header from the JesusFirst campaign e-mail they just sent out:

The Webster-Kirkwood Times has a story saying as much, based largely on an interview with Frank Absher, a broadcast veteran and St. Louis radio historian. Here’s the meat of the story:

In a November interview, Kermit Brashear, an attorney for LCMS, suggested that critics of the sale might be mollified by a provision in the sale contract to continue classical music broadcasts on the station’s HD2 channel. Gateway would lease the high definition frequency 99.1-2HD to LCMS to continue classical music for at least two years.

However, that plan for a lease-back is in violation of FCC rules on licensure. FCC regulations prohibit a seller from reserving the right to use the facilities of the station for any period whatsoever.

Other glitches in the proposed radio station ownership transfer involve the financial viability of the sale, and the issue of whether KFUO was properly offered for sale to all of the potential interested buyers.

“On the issue of financial viability, I have looked at the federal tax returns of Gateway and it has been running deficits in the six-figures for the last two years,” said Absher. “Now, maybe they will come in with a 2009 return that shows they are in the black. That’s yet to be seen.”

Gateway, which operates Joy FM, located at 97.7 FM, has conducted a fund drive and now claims to have more than $1 million in pledges from supporters of Christian radio.

“There has been another complaint issued by the Radio Arts Foundation against the LCMS, and that complaint has some legal validity,” said Absher.

“The complaint says that LCMS made it clear in its dealings that it wanted to keep a Christian owner for the station – and that is clearly discriminatory,” noted Absher. “All offers from legitimate interested buyers must be entertained.”

Later in the story, Brashear says that objections to the station purchase have been trumped up by inaccurate reporting in St. Louis regarding the sale. He defended the sale as having a “viable commercial contract” with a qualified buyer.

The LCMS held a big worship conference in St. Louis this week. For those interested, Dan at Necessary Roughness has posted some of his notes from the first lectures. For instance:

Dr. Jeff Gibbs, professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, held the first presentation in the gym, so I couldn’t post snippets on Twitter. His presentation, “Worship that is Scriptural and Confessional,” was golden. If the audio is made publicly available, it will be worth your time to download and listen to it. Because I couldn’t Twitter his points, here are some notes:

• Theology is like the first shingle of a house: if it is allowed to be off even a little bit at the beginning, the row of shingles will be completely messed up down the road.
• Christianity is not an escapist religion. Just dying and going to heaven is not the complete story. We also have the resurrection of the body. Death is a separation of body and soul as judgment of the sin still in it. Jesus begins the new creation in his own body. Worship is a piece of God’s story for all creation.
• Corporate worship is inevitably shaped by tradition because our God is the God of history. Corporate worship began in the gap of Scripture between Malachi and Matthew. God did not demand weekly worship, but God used and uses that tradition to build the church.

In the previous post, I linked to two stories put out by the Synod’s Communications team about the relief efforts being managed by the Synod’s World Relief and Human Care office:

• LCMS World Relief and Human Care responds in Haiti with emergency funds after devastating earthquake
• Working with Lutheran partners to send emergency relief to devastated Port-au-Prince

I will make an additional contribution to World Relief and Human Care’s Haiti efforts in honor of the first person who notices what is missing from these stories.

If you’re looking for how to help with relief efforts in Haiti, you can do no better than contribute extra funds to the LCMS’ own World Relief and Human Care. There’s a link on the main LCMS.org web site to donate or you can click here to go directly to the place where you enter your credit card number.

The World Relief and Human Care team already has extensive contacts in the area. They’ve put together an interactive map where you can locate various Lutheran congregations, seminary buildings and personnel and get a report on how they are doing. For instance, you can see where the Rev. Marky Kessa, the president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti is and learn that he is okay.

The Synod’s Communications team has already put up two stories about LCMS World Relief and Human Care efforts.

• LCMS World Relief and Human Care responds in Haiti with emergency funds after devastating earthquake
• Working with Lutheran partners to send emergency relief to devastated Port-au-Prince

Another hit by Publius Aequillus:

From Professor Howard Hill and the “Music Man” to visions of the 1970s with the echo of “Survey Says” from the Family Feud, the President’s BRTFSSG has provided us nostalgic reflection on American cultural references of yesteryear. The dated, stodgy, and tired metaphors continue to dribble out of President Kieschnick’s Office. Recently, we have learned that the President has authored a book titled Waking the Sleeping Giant: The Birth, Growth, Decline, and Rebirth of an American Church. According to Google Books, Waking the Sleeping Giant will be published by Concordia Publishing House in 2009, although CPH’s catalog presently does not list the book. The release of the book in late 2009 or early 2010 certainly coincides nicely with the Pre-Convention Gatherings and the Convention itself in July 2010. This is the first book to be published under Kieschnick’s name.

Since Google Books only provides the books title, author, publisher, and date, we have not had an opportunity to read or review the book. We eagerly await the book’s release so that a review of its contents can be made available. In the meantime, the book’s title Waking the Sleeping Giant is ripe for comment.

Any title containing the words “sleeping giant” likely evokes the apocryphal story that Billy Graham, the famous Baptist evangelist, once called the Missouri Synod a “sleeping giant.” (If Billy Graham did, in fact, call the Missouri Synod a “sleeping giant”, we were not able to uncover any hard evidence – such as a date, a quote, a location, or an event at which such a thing was said. He was fond of the phrase “sleeping giant” and I’ve heard that he used the phrase for Andre the Giant, who was indeed sleeping when he met him; New York’s football team, which at the time was having a bad season; as a term of endearment for his beloved wife.)

What a quick search on Google will reveal is that since the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, a number of churches including the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Anglicans, and the Episcopalians were called “sleeping giants.” Anyway, considering that the “evangelical” and “mission society” movements of the late 19th century emerged from these traditions, it is not surprising that they call themselves “sleeping giants” waiting to be awakened to establish Christ’s kingdom on earth. In the 1960s and 1970s, even Rome got to be called a sleeping giant. So who knows? Missouri, at least apocryphally, has been called a “sleeping giant.” And certainly people would rather be called a sleeping giant than a slumbering sloth. But what a tired metaphor! Considering that President Kieschnick is famous for saying, “It’s not your grandfather’s church,” sleeping giant sure evokes a grandpa, 1950s image rather than something more trendy or cutting edge. It makes the way our great, great grandfathers (Pfotenhauer, Pieper, Schwan, Wyneken, and Walther) spoke of the church and her mission seem downright cutting edge.

So what of the “sleeping Nephilim”? How does one rouse a sleeping giant? Lighting the proverbial fire under the butt might wake the giant. Setting the sleeping giant Ablaze surely should wake the giant, or perhaps kill it with heterodox, evangelical theology. More than likely, the smoke from the smoldering Ablaze will simply irritate the giant. “It’s Time” for change in Missouri.

When it comes to “sleeping Nephilim” in the Bible (Genesis 6), the only solution was a worldwide deluge. Noah and his family were saved in the Ark. The Lord’s sharp Word must kill us and bring us to repentance and then make us alive, trusting always in his forgiveness. Baptism now saves you. Let us trust in the waters of Holy Baptism and Christ’s forgiving and powerful Word. Christ is Lord of his church, sleeping or not.

It bears an uncanny resemblance to another book!

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

At least three petitions challenging the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s proposed sale of radio station KFUO-FM to Gateway Creative Broadcasting have been filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

One group of petitioners, the Committee to Save KFUO-FM, is made up of local members of the synod. Another, the Radio Arts Foundation, is a new nonprofit entity formed around the core of the old Radio Arts Board, which sought to buy the station from the synod.

Both those petitions cover essentially the same points.

One is whether Gateway, which has considerable debt and has run at a deficit in recent years, is financially qualified to buy the license under either the terms of the agreement or FCC rules.

Another is whether the synod and Gateway filed the necessary “material terms,” items required by the FCC that include promissory and security notes.

Hey, they don’t call it the bureaucracy for nothing! We’ll see if we can get links to the petitions here.

We’re lucky enough to have another missive from Publius Aequillus, where he discusses whether greater consolidation of power in the office of the Synodical President is a good idea:

“Others would heal Joseph’s wounds with tighter church governance. They say, if our presidents, visitors, and commissions had more authority, if they could prescribe things to congregations and the congregations had to obey, then life would be brought to those dead bones. Without question, if such a yoke were laid upon the necks of the children, many external works would be produced. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be that difficult to get the money to begin flowing. But that would in no way elevate spiritual life. In fact, it would suffer a terrible retrogression. The Gospel tolerates no hierarchy.”

– Friedrich Pfotenhauer, “Revitalization of the Synod Shall Come from Neither Missions nor More Synodical Power: The Word is the Only Remedy,” 1936

In the final BRTFSSG Report dated 15 October 2009, President Kieschnick is quoted regarding the purpose for the restructuring of the Synod. He states, “A primary focus of our church body must be on renewing the health and vitality of existing congregations and on starting new congregations…” He then goes on to state that there are two major reasons to restructure the Synod: “The first is mission… The Second is stewardship.” He leaves a third implicit reason unstated: To consolidate power.

President Kieschnick’s first assertion is that his BRTFSSG plan is necessary to further the mission of the church. He asserts that whatever can be done to help congregations in mission and outreach must be done. In President Kieschnick’s convention video on the BRTFSSG he says, “We must renew in our people a sense of urgency about God’s mission. Our Synod’s purpose is not to create a perfect structure, but to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ… Enhancing mission is a primary reason for improving structure and governance.” Yet, President Kieschnick and the BRTFSSG are extremely vague on just how such a change in structure and governance will actually enhance mission and outreach. He provides no concrete rationale or reason on how a revised structure and governance will promote mission or assist the congregation in outreach. These are vacuous words. Pfotenhauer saw the danger of such talk when he wrote, “An attempt has been made to elevate the spiritual life in the home congregation by rousing the Church to missions and directing her sight to the misery of the churchless and especially the poor non-Christians… rambling afar in the opinion that the Church must be saved and enlivened with mission is Schwarmgeisterei (fanaticism).” President Kieschnick’s assertion that his BRTFSSG will revitalize mission must be recognized for what it truly is–pure fanaticism!
Read more…

Remember last year when David Strand fired Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz and canceled Issues, Etc. without explanation? When people expressed outrage that the Synod’s only nationally syndicated program had been canned, Strand said — amazingly — that the show had been canceled due to the low number of listeners to the program. Well, not that anyone believed him at the time, but check out these statistics below. Why, again, did Kieschnick’s team at Synod, Inc. get rid of Issues, Etc.?

A Comparison of Unique and Total Website Visitors
Issues, Etc. vs. KFUO AM & FM

(click on the graph for the original PDF)

Unique Visitors only counts a person once no matter how many times they visit a site in a given month. Unique Visitors are typically used to determine how popular a site is.

Visits are initiated when a user enters a site during an internet session. Visits are considered live until the user’s interaction within the entire internet session has ceased for a 30-minute period. Visits are unique to a session.

Editor: We have had reports that it is hard to link to this post; I’ve created a page you can link to at: http://steadfastlutherans.org/?page_id=8092.

As we consider the direction of the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, it’s worth keeping in mind some of the statistics below. Here are looks at the number of baptized members, adult confirmands, missionaries, funding and deficit spending. These are numbers reported by the Synod itself over the past decade and are found in board minutes, reports and other officially published materials. We’ll look at what these statistics mean in coming days.

Click here for printable PDF file.

Read more…

I previously mentioned my agnosticism on the sale of KFUO (FM) and, in fact, my view that the LCMS got a pretty good deal on the sale. And I have to tell you, I’m one of the very few people out there who feels that way, from the sounds of it! I have been hearing from Lutherans who I haven’t talked to in decades and folks all across the country. People are not happy about this sale. Their objections vary somewhat. Most people just don’t like that the Synod has found itself so mismanaged for so many years that we’re in a place where selling off the radio station is even considered. Lots of people are angry about the secrecy. Many people think this sale is a sign of further Synod, Inc. attempts to sell off seminaries and other valuable assets. Some view the broadcasting of classical music to be a point of pride for the LCMS. Some view the fact that the owner will broadcast false doctrine over the same airwaves to be particularly shameful.

Before we get into some of these discussions, I wanted to point you to a petition signed by 41 prominent members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod to the Synod’s Board of Directors. Sarah Bryan Miller at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch previously reported that the Board of Directors responded to this petition by ignoring it. Well, now she put the petition and the names of those who signed it online.

And before we look at the petition, it’s worth noting that there was a time when the Board of Directors was marginally controlled by people with a different political persuasion or church vision than President Gerald Kieschnick. That hasn’t been the case for years. The board and President Kieschnick are politically aligned and what they choose to do (and not do) reflects the views of Synodical President Kieschnick. While he is a full voting member of the board, he’s been lying low on this issue. Of course, from the sounds of it, the entire board is being pretty tight-lipped about what they’ve chosen to do — and why. This is not terribly surprising given the financial picture of Synod as a result of marked giving declines during Kieschnick’s tenure. Here’s the petition:

May 8, 2009 (List of names augmented June 29, 2009)

Dear Members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Board of Directors,

Not unmindful of your responsibilities, and aware of the challenges presented Synod by current economic conditions, we ask you, nevertheless, to reconsider your decision on behalf of our Synod that authorized the sale of KFUO-FM. A sale, in our view and that of many others, would be very unfortunate. We are convinced that:

• A vital mission of proclamation, nurture, outreach, and community relations is being conducted by KFUO-FM and these missions can be expanded and enhanced in the future;

• A sale would damage the good name and reputation of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in its headquarters city and around the world;

• A sale would disenfranchise and severely disappoint many thousands of individuals and organizations that have provided virtually all the financial and volunteer support for the station throughout its history;

• KFUO-FM is the source sustaining KFUO-AM. Its sale would surely be followed by AM’s demise.

• There are attractive alternatives for retaining KFUO-FM, thereby also ensuring the future of KFUO-AM. These should be explored with time and opportunity being given for their advancement.

Respectfully yours in Christ,

The names of those who signed the petition can be found after the jump: Read more…

Last month, I pointed out that the LCMS’s Board for Communications Services had approved the radio show “Time of Grace” as a registered service organization, and had waived the requirement that the show have an LCMS pastor on its own board. This didn’t sit well with many commenters.

But the thing is that there is barely more pastoral oversight of the other programming at KFUO AM.

The station had a full-time staff pastor. But, well, David Strand and the BCS fired him in early 2008. So who has been doing the pastoral oversight of the programming of KFUO AM since?

There’s Pastor Tom Baker who hosts “Law and Gospel.” But he works for the Concordia Mission Society; not KFUO AM. There’s Pastor Mark Hawkinson who hosts “Moments of Assurance.” But he’s not a full-time employee of KFUO AM either.

Let’s move up the chain of command at KFUO AM. Is the station’s program director Chuck Rathert, a pastor? No. Is the station’s Director of Broadcast Operations Dennis Stortz, a pastor? No. Is the Director of the Board for Communications David Strand, a pastor? No.

For the first time in 85 years, there isn’t a single pastor on the full-time staff or in the management at KFUO AM. Why?

Remember, this is the synod’s Christian radio station.

What about the BCS, the synodical board that oversees KFUO AM, are there any pastors there? Yes, two: Pastor John Bush of St. Paul, Trenton, Michigan and Pastor Kevin Vogts of Holy Cross, Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.

So, Pastor Bush and Pastor Vogts are the only pastors in the entire chain of command of KFUO AM. The BCS meets only 4 times a year. Do David Strand and his Board for Communications Services consider this sufficient pastoral oversight of the synod’s Christian radio station?

Do you think the programming of the AM station reflects sufficient pastoral oversight?