Does PLI Leader, Norbert Oesch, Have A Call? PSWD-DP Says No!

By: Rev. Jack Cascione
Doctor Norbert Oesch, "Called," or not "called?" That is the question.

One would have hoped that all of the "experts" about the pastoral office in the LCMS Pacific Southwest District would know the answer.  One would think that Doctor Norbert Oesch, who claims the qualifications to teach LCMS pastors to be leaders through his Pastoral Leadership Institute, would know when he had a "call," when he accepted a "call," and who "called" him.

We offer this fact.  The Lutheran Annual of the LCMS is the official published clergy roster for the Synod.  Doctor Norbert Oesch's name doesn't appear in the 2003 Lutheran Annual.  Pastors' names don't mysteriously disappear out of the Annual unless they are removed.

In response to the Reclaim News Article released on February 3, 2003, titled, "Dr. Norbert Oesch Not Listed In 2003 LCMS Clergy Roster," Mr. Stan Slonkosky asked Dr. Norbert Oesch, District President Larry Stoterau, and Linda C. Hoops, of the LCMS Church Information Center, if Doctor Norbert Oesch was on the LCMS clergy roster.

Doctor Norbert Oesch replies 02/03/03: "Rev. Cascione is wrong (Not unusual in my experience. For example my call to the Pastoral Leadership Institute came from the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.  The task force of pastors who helped shape the concept did in fact use the term 'call' in a document to me, but they erred in doing so.  I accepted the call from the district only.)  I am still on the roster of the LCMS.  I am on CRM-eligible for a call, but not waiting for one since I am committed to the ministry of the Pastoral Leadership Institute.  We checked with the department responsible for keeping the roster and they apologized to my assistant for the error. Updated information on me should be available to you from the office of the president of the PSW District."

District President Larry Stoterau replies 02/03/03: "Pastor Oesch is a member in good standing on the clergy roster of the LCMS. If he is not in the Lutheran Annual it is a clerical error and nothing else."

Linda C. Hoops, LCMS Church Information Center replies 02/03/03: "According to our Rosters office, Dr. Norbert Oesch was inadvertently omitted from the 2003 because of a classification error.  When that office was informed of the mistake, it corrected its database, which is updated weekly and appears on the web site.  Unfortunately, the correction came too late for the 2003 Annual, but his name will appear in the 2004 publication."

Once again Doctor Oesch is mistaken.  There is no longer a category called CRM.  Pastors on the LCMS roster who do not have a call, are now identified as candidates.  It "may be" that such a status is granted for no longer than four years.  By my count, 1998 subtracted from 2003 is five years with no call and counting.  Doctor Oesch also claims that the call document was sent to him but fails to say that a letter about his "call" was also sent to his congregation.

On January 16, 1998, a group of LCMS Pastors, misrepresenting themselves as a call committee for PLI, wrote to St. John's Lutheran Church in Orange, CA that they had issued a "call" to Dr. Norbert Oesch to be the Executive Leader of PLI as follows:

"Dear Mr. Stuenkel and Members of St. John's, Orange: . . . After much prayer, the Pastoral Leadership Institute has issued a call to your pastor, Dr. Norbert Oesch, to serve as our executive director. We respectfully request that this be made known to the members of St. John's as together we call on the Holy Spirit to guide all in this matter."

The letter is signed by Rev. Greg Smith, Chair, Pastoral Leadership Institute, in behalf of Dr. William Thompson, Rev. Michael Ernst, Dr. Stephen Wagner, Rev. Stephen Hower, Rev. Vernon Gundermann, Rev. John Kieschnick.  Coincidently, these pastors are also influential in "Jesus First."

The simple fact is that this "call" to Oesch was a bald face lie to St. John's Lutheran Church in Orange, California.  Pastors can't call pastors in the LCMS and these pastors all knew it.  Only congregations call pastors.  This is not the Catholic Church.

When questions were raised about the legitimacy of Oesch's "call" President Loren T. Kramer, (the District President before Stoterau) wrote on March 15, 2000, "........you asked whether the Pacific Southwest District (PSWD) has extended a call to Pastor Norb Oesch to serve as director of the Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI).  The answer is yes and it is reflected in the minutes of the Board of Directors dated February 5, 1998."

In August of 2000, the LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters wrote that no District has the authority to issue a "call" for a pastor to serve the entire Synod.  The CCM wrote: "Bylaw 4.07, e, states: 'Jurisdiction with respect to everything which is administered by or for the entire Synod resides in the Synod itself. . . .'"

In other words, the Pacific Southwest District had no authority to issue a call to Doctor Oesch to serve the Synod.  First, the seven pastors had no right to call Doctor Oesch and then we discover District President Kramer didn't read his LCMS Handbook.  Kramer had no authority to call Doctor Oesch to serve an independent corporation called PLI.  Kramer may as well have called Oesch to serve in the White House.  He was just another DP who could no longer distinguish the Lord's work from his own.

Kramer makes PLI a District and Synod wide ministry, which must mean a financial arrangement with PLI.  However, in reply to Congressman William Dannemeyer's question about the legitimacy of Doctor Oesch's call, Stoterau wrote on 05/23/02: "When informed of the understanding of the Bylaws of Synod that districts cannot call someone to serve beyond their district, Dr. Oesch resigned his call issued by the Pacific Southwest District."  Stoterau also wrote: "Concerning financial arrangements, the Pacific Southwest District has no financial arrangements with PLI."

However, on its 2000 tax return, PLI lists its staff as "contract labor" to the PSWD.  If the PSWD and PLI can massage the doctrine of the "call" and God's Word, why not massage the US tax laws?  How can PLI be "contract labor" to the District when they have "no financial arrangement with PLI?"

Walther's Thesis III on the Pastoral Ministry states: "The ministry is not an arbitrary office but one whose establishment has been commanded to the church and to which the church is ordinarily bound till the end of time."

This is another excellent doctrine now on the scrap heap of expediency.  A majority of the LCMS District Presidents promote, help to financially support, and recruit pastors for PLI.

Pastoral Leadership Institute needs more than 1.2 million dollars a year from Districts, congregations, corporate donors, and individuals to train LCMS Pastors to be leaders, leaders who know how to get around doctrine and get things done.

February 10, 2003