Save the LCMS!

May 2008 Meeting Minutes for the LCMS Board for Communication Services Reveal that the BCS Knew that the Issues Trademark Had Lapsed

Here is a link to the meeting minutes for the LCMS's Board for Communication Services (BCS) telephone conference call that took place all the way back in May of 2008. At that time, the LCMS BCS was discussing the political damage done as a result of the LCMS's decision to cancel Issues, Etc.

More importantly, these meeting minutes reveal that the BCS knew that Issues, Etc. trademark was no longer a registered trademark back in May of 2008.

These meeting minutes also show that in May 2008 the LCMS was intending to release all synod owned Issues, Etc. properties to Rev. Wilken and Mr. Schwarz.

Why did the LCMS change its mind? Why the 180 degree u-turn?

Why is the LCMS now threatening legal action on a trademark they knew was no longer registered and intended to give away?

Why is the LCMS spending tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees pursuing legal action when it is clear that the BCS had every intention of giving all Issues, Etc. properties to Rev. Wilken and Mr. Schwarz?

Something is terribly wrong here!

Kieschnick is Throwing the BOD Under the Bus

Mollie has posted the contents of a damage control email sent by Kieschnick's senior assistant Rev. Jon Braunersreuther. In that email Braunersreuther claims that President Kieschnick was not aware of "any lawsuit or threat of any lawsuit against Rev. Todd Wilken or Jeff Schwarz" and that the LCMS's Board of Directors alone are the one responsible for initiating this legal action on behalf of the LCMS.

Click Here to Read the email.

We know for a fact that this email sent on Kiechnick's behalf contains bold faced lies. Our sources tell us that Kieschnick was not only notified of the threatened lawsuit long before the issue was made public but that Kieschnick was personally behind the threatened lawsuit.

Also, President Kieschnick claims that the BOD are responsible for initiating these legal actions YET the email ADMITS that President Kieschnick has 'role as a member of the Board of Directors". How can President Kieschnick be a member of the BOD and also be completely unaware of the BOD's actions??

It is clear from this email that Kieschnick intends to throw the OTHER MEMBERS of the BOD under the bus and make them take the fall for his legal missteps.

Does Kieschnick Intend to Enforce LCMS Harmony and Concord By Legally Silencing Critics?

In the presidential memo that was published by LCMS President, Jerry Kieshnick in November of 2008, Kieschnick outlined the fact that his vision of the LCMS includes accomplishing the "desired objective" of achieving "greater theological harmony and concord" in the synod.

Ironically, at the EXACT SAME TIME that President published this memo on harmony and concord, a team of attorneys, working for the LCMS under Kieshnick's direction were drafting the legal document that offered Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz a reprieve from a threatened lawsuit IF both of them agreed to a gag order that would cause them to forfeit their rights to free speech as it pertains to the LCMS. Click Here for more information on this legal document.

This makes us wonder how President Jerry Kieschnick defines harmony and concord. If actions speak louder than words then we have to assume, based on President Kieschnicks actions that he defines harmony and concord as 'legally silencing his critics' so they can no longer question and critique his political and theological agendas.

An Open Letter to the LCMS Board of Directors

Chris Rosebrough has posted an open letter that he wrote to the Board of Directors for the LCMS. It is very well written and hard hitting. Rosebrough is calling on the BOD to "act swiftly to put an end to this threatened legal action and reign in President Kieschnick". Rosebrough's letter is not only worth reading, it is also worth emulating. Click Here to Read.

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway Asks the Tough Questions

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway of Get Religion and the Wall Street Journal is asking the tough questions that need to be answered regarding the LCMS' threatened lawsuit against Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz.

1. The public rationale for cancelling Issues, Etc. was to curtail deficit spending. Have all fees of LCMS legal counsel related to retaining rights to the name Issues, Etc., been waived? That is, are the synod’s lawyers working pro bono? Surely, in the synod’s current financial crisis, no synodical funds have been used in this quest to regain rights to the name.

2. Why is the synod trying to regain rights to the name? That is, what are the synod’s specific plans for using the name Issues, Etc., in the future?

Click Here to Read the Rest of Mollie's Blog Post

South Wisconsin District to Vote on Resolution to End Synod's Battle for the Trademark

The South Wisconsin District of the LCMS has chimed in on Kieschnick's threatened lawsuit against Issues, Etc AND they will be voting on a resolution calling on LCMS, Inc. to end their battle for the trademark. Click here for more details.

Who is next? It's time for pastors to put similar resolutions on the docket for their upcoming district conventions!

Kieschnick's REAL MOTIVES Exposed!!!

Chris Rosebrough of Extreme Theology and the Fighting for the Faith radio program which airs on Pirate Christian Radio has uncovered the REAL MOTIVE for Kieschnick's threat of a lawsuit against Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz. Click Here to Find Out!

LCMS Tithe Money Hard At Work?!?!

Do you want to know how Jerry Kieshnick is spending hard earned LCMS tithe dollars during these tough economic times?

Answer: Paying the LCMS top-dollar law firm to desperately fight to get the Issues, Etc. trademark back (a trademark that the LCMS ABANDONED in 1999).

The Brothers of John the Steadfast have tracked down all of the legal filings and briefs regarding the Issues, Etc. trademark.

Click Here to read and download these legal briefs then ask yourself how many tens of thousands of dollars the LCMS is wasting fighting for a trademark they abandoned in 1999 and had no intention of using after March of 2008?

Pirate Christian Radio is Sailing Circles Around KFUO AM

Maybe the reason why Jerry Kieschnick is threatening to sue Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz is because Pirate Christian Radio's broadside against KFUO AM has left the LCMS's radio station dead in the water and Ablaze™.

According to Quantcast Pirate Christian Radio's internet traffic in the U.S. is substantially higher than KFUO AM's. In fact, since PCR's launch on June 30, 2008 KFUO AM has never had a day where their web traffic has exceeded that of Pirate Christian Radio's. The graphic below from Quantcast tells the story.

Kieschnick Threatening Lawsuit Agaist Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz

Apparently it wasn't enough for Jerry Kieschnick to cancel the Issues, Etc. radio program. He wants to silence the resurrected Issues, Etc. radio program and is threatening legal action against Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz.

Here are the details.

It's Time

The Rev. Matthew Harrison has released a paper introducing his diagnosis and prescription for restoring genuine confessional unity in the LC-MS.  A copy can be downloaded here. This paper is a refreshing change from the top-down Ablaze! propaganda and the current administration's attempt to engineer "change" within the LC-MS.  Anyone sincerely interested in the future of the LC-MS should read this paper and consider what Rev. Harrison is saying.

HR:  http://harrisonforpresident.wordpress.com/

Todd Wilken Sets the Record Straight About the LCMS Cancelling Issues, Etc.

Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz are setting the record straight about why the LCMS canceled Issues, Etc.  These two Open Mic segments are MUST LISTEN programs.

David Strand's Q & A

----

Why Did LCMS Inc. Cancel Issues, Etc.?

The Future of the LCMS?

Find more videos like this on The Wittenberg Trail

Run Missiouri!! Purpose-Driven Methods (aka Ablaze™) Don't Produce Christian Disciples

Granger Community Church is considered to be one the brightest stars in the Purpose-Driven Church universe and is the 6th most influential church in America.  Thousands of churches (including LCMS churches) have purchased, downloaded and preached Granger's sermons. Past and present pastors from Granger are considered 'rock stars' and thought leaders in purpose-driven / seeker-sensitive circles. But how effective are these Purpose-Driven / Seeker-Sensitive methods at making true converts and true Christian disciples? Well, Granger just released the results of their Reveal Now survey and the data is bleak. In fact, Granger and their 'pastoral' staff get an F.  Here are some of the low lights.

47% of those attending Granger DO NOT believe in salvation by grace. (This means they are NOT Christians, regardless of whether or not they identify themselves as those who are 'Growing in Christ' or 'Christ Centered'.  The correct term for them would be 'false converts'.)

57% of those attending Granger DO NOT believe in the authority of the Bible.



56% of those attending Granger DO NOT believe Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

This is exactly what we should expect from churches that spend their time trying to be 'relevant' and scratch itching ears rather than preaching and teaching God's Word in season and out of season.  Or to put it another way, Christless Christianity is completely impotent when it comes to making Christians and Christian Disciples. These survey results prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These results are a complete train wreck and highlight the fact that it is time to abandon the circus church approach once and for all and get back to the 'boring' and 'irrelevant' work of preaching and teaching God's Word, the Lord's Supper and proclaiming Jesus Christ as crucified for our sins.

Twelve Theses on Worship from the New 95

The recent uproar over GLORYbound2008, the Texas District youth gathering, reflects how worship has become a tool for change in the LCMS. This is especially true when it comes to youth, who by their very adolescent natures want to have things "their way." What better agents of synodical change than the youth? Even hard to convince adults will look the other way if it appeals to the youth and keeps them coming to church. And the relentless drive to change the LCMS from orthodox Lutheranism to purpose-driven Evangelicalism continues.

Remember our New 95 Theses? They haven't gone away; they're just hanging there on the Wittenberg door waiting to be put to use. Some readers complained about their being anonymous, but anonymity is a strength here. It forces everyone to deal with the issues, not the persons or personalities who might be raising them.

Here are the twelve on worship.

72. Worship is doctrine put into practice.

73. As one worships, so one believes.

74. As one believes, so one worships.

75. Christian worship consists in God’s service to us through His giving and our receiving in faith the gifts of Christ’s Word, Body, and Blood, and our service to God by our prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

76. Worship that is focused principles for Christian living obscures the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His gifts and is detrimental to faith and salvation.

77. While Christian liberty allows that worship forms need not be altogether the same in every time and place, unity in faith and practice requires that worship forms must not be altogether different in every time and place.

78. Worship forms serve as identifying banners in the confessional field of battle.

79. Peculiar and novel worship forms obscure the unity of the churches and extol the creativity of the worship leaders.

80. In matters neither commanded nor forbidden in the Word of God (adiaphora), the churches of God are free to change ceremonies according to circumstances, as may be most beneficial and edifying to the churches of God. (Epitome, Art X.4)

81. Such changes must avoid all frivolity and offenses, particularly with regard to those who are weak in faith (Epitome, Art X.5).

82. Where the Gospel is at stake, concessions in ceremony must not be made so as to suggest unity with those who deny the Gospel (Epitome, Art X.6)

83. Therefore, it is contrary to the doctrine of adiaphora to hide the substance of Lutheran doctrine behind a non-Lutheran style of worship.

Texas District Youth Ablaze!™

Testing - one, two, three. Testing.

With Issues, Etc. back on the air and the LCMS continuing to go down in Ablaze! of glory, we at Save the LCMS! have been on the sidelines watching the action and taking a well-deserved break. Watchdogging can be tiring work. But recent news out of the Texas District caught our eye. The internet was Ablaze! once again in a firestorm over the speaker list of GLORYbound2008!, the youth gathering of the Texas District.

The story originally broke with a blog by Pr. Larry Beane aka Father Hollywood. The follow-up to that blog is here. This has been picked up by several other blogs, most notably the venerable Brothers of John the Steadfast.

Borrowing a page from the KFUO obfuscation playbook (remember "business/stewardship reasons"?), the people in charge did a hasty revision of their web site to cover their tracks. Now you see it, now you don't. In case you missed the slight of hand, here it is again in slow motion:

GLORYbound! 1.0
GLORYbound! 2.0

At issue is the speakers list for this district-sponsored youth event. The lead name on version 1.0 was pop praise singer Kari Jobe, who happens to be the "worship pastor" of the non-denominational (aka Evangelical) Gateway Church in Southlake, TX. The speaker list also included Fred Lynch, a hip-hop Pentecostal preacher associated with the Assemblies of God, and Denver Moore, a part-time Baptist minister. All of this is happening under the official eye of the Texas District of the LCMS.

Fall is typically the season for district youth gatherings. If Texas is any indication, this Fall should be Ablaze! with color.

Time for More Cuts at KFUO AM!

Chris Rosebrough of ExtremeTheology.com has a GREAT idea that will save KFUO AM an addition $150,000 per year.  Rosebrough's cost cutting idea is for KFUO AM to cancel Tissues, Etc. (aka The Afternoon Show) and become an affiliate station for the New Issues, Etc.

According to Rosebrough, if KFUO AM did this then they'd be making a profit in the afternoon rather than losing money on employee and production costs.

The Debut of the NEW Issues, Etc.

Today is the day! It feels like Christmas!

The New Issues, Etc. Debuts at 3:05PM CST.

Pirate Christian Radio is having a special "Pre-Game Show" an hour before the debut.

The New Radio Studio and Sample of the New Journal

Pirate Christian Radio has updated their site and they now have a pictures of the new radio studio for the new version of Issues, Etc as well as a sampling from the new journal.  It's worth a look. Click Here.

Issues Etc. Resurrection?

Is there a new Issues Etc. in the works?  You may want to visit this website (make sure you computer's speakers are turned on).  It looks like Todd and Jeff have been been busy busy busy.

Hurray!  Let there be rejoicing in the land!