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1. Commentary on the "Confidential" Letter
2. Text of the "Confidential" Letter
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A recent letter supporting Dean Wenthe for LCMS President is just
confidential enough that Reclaim News has received a copy. Now
thousands will also have a copy of the "confidential" letter that
may not have been intended to be all that confidential.
Good men may disagree on candidates and politics. The letter has the
printed, not signed, names of six good men.
Who sent the letter? Our source says it came from Tom Baker.
Why send the letter? If Dean Wenthe were the obvious conservative candidate,
there would be no need to send the letter. However, a small group of
good men are concerned that Preus will be the choice for LCMS conservatives
even though a recent poll of conservatives shows that Preus has a two to one
lead over Wenthe.
In 2001, Preus was clearly the more popular candidate which is why the
Chicago meeting of the LCA couldn't afford to poll its membership on their
choice for LCMS President. Rather, a small group of men, including Tom
Baker, picked Dean Wenthe as the LCMS Presidential candidate and he lost.
In 2004, the same thing will happen again if the small group of good men
picks Dean Wenthe.
Preus received more votes for LCMS Vice President than Kieschnick did for
President. Dean Wenthe lost the election for the Presidency and four
successive elections for each of the remaining four vice-presidential seats.
In 2004, Gerald Kieschnick will be a much stronger candidate than he was in
2001.
Whatever the logic of the small group of good men, they don't consider that
if Kieschnick is reelected, all of the current vice-presidents, including
Preus, will be voted out of office except Paul Maier.
It was a small group of men who were confident that they could place the
future of the Synod on the lone heartbeat of A. L. Barry for nine years,
without lining up any viable candidates to replace him.
It was a small group of good men who choose to ignore all the information
about PLI and Texas District President Gerald Kieschnick's support for PLI.
The information about PLI was sent to every 1998 LCMS delegate in a book
titled "Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS."
Now, instead of waiting for the congregations to select the most popular
conservative candidate, the small group of good men is going to split the
conservatives again with the same candidate.
Three years later, the small group of good men is more interested in
supporting a candidate who lost five elections instead of the LCMS First
Vice President. Such is the logic of insider LCMS politics.
CONFIDENTIAL
March 2003
Fellow Pastors and Concerned Laity:
Lententide greetings to each of you. As we make our way to the foot of
the cross, the importance of confessing the crucified Christ as the only way
to the Father's mercy has never been greater. The health of the church
and the salvation of countless souls are dependent upon this Gospel.
As we reflected on this central and foundational need of the church, we
wanted strongly to commend for your prayer and consideration the names of
Dr. Dean Wenthe for President of Synod and Rev. Daniel Preus for First Vice
President of Synod.
Only the Lord knows what His church will experience in the coming months,
but we recommend these names for your support when the faithful confession
of the Gospel is so urgently needed.
If you would like to learn more on our rational for these choices, please do
not hesitate to call anyone of us and we would be glad to share our reasons
for them.
Yours in Christ,
Dr. Robert T. Kuhn
Dr. Paul Zimmerman
Rev. David Anderson
Rev. David Dissen
Mr. David Hawk
Mr. Walter Dissen
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