Texas District President and Vice Presidents Refuse to Answer Lawyer’s Questions About Their Faith (Pt. 2)
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

Arlington Attorney, James Runzheimer, received the following answer from the President and the four Vice Presidents of the Texas District explaining why they would not answer any questions about their faith in writing. At the end of the letter they quote 1Peter 3:15 that speaks about the necessity of giving an answer to whoever asks about our faith. However, they refuse to answer. In the last paragraph they explain how we have God’s grace in Jesus Christ but do not say how we receive this grace. I’m sure this was just an oversight. Of course if they said we received God’s grace by the words of the Gospel then there would be little reason why they could not have answered questions 3 and 4. First we look at Runzheimer’s letter and then the letter signed by the Texas District President and the Four Vice Presidents.

 

January 28,1999

By Certified Mail, Return Receipt to:

Rev. Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick President of the Texas District
Rev. Carroll Kohl
Rev. Dr. David J. Joeckel
Rev. Donald Black
Rev. James Linderman
Re: Church Growth and Governance in the Texas District

Dear Gentlemen:

I am a lay person and a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Arlington.

I am deeply concerned about the increasing inroads of Church Growth ideology, methodology, and theology in the Texas District. Specifically, I have serious reservations of the endorsement of the "Becoming a Contagious Christian" workshop by the Texas District at Bethel Lutheran Church in Dallas this coming Saturday.

I am one of the sponsors for the upcoming visit of Rev. Jack Cascione to speak in Arlington on February 11, 1999. His presentation will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Arlington Community Center located at 2800 South Center Street, Arlington, Texas. I cordially invite all of you to attend.

I am enclosing an attachment. I would appreciate it if each of you would respond to each of the ten (10) questions and return it to me. You can send it to me by fax to (817) 295-2063. My fax is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or, if you prefer, I have enclosed a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your convenience.

I am making this request in the hope of establishing a dialogue between the leadership of the Texas District and the laity as to the issues I raise in this letter. We are commanded to "speak the truth in love." I send this letter in this spirit.

I am also responding in the spirit of what Dr. Kieschnick stated in the "Lutheran Witness", June 1998, pages 18 and 19, as among the critical issues facing the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod today:

(7) Relationships Do we need and desire relationships between pastor and people, congregations and national Synod, districts and national Synod that are characterized as distant, divergent, and distrustful, or as collegial, cooperative, and close?

(8) Church and Ministry Will we have a church that is characterized by unhealthy, autocratic clericalism, or by healthy congregational self-governance with healthy people, both male and female, and healthy pastors sharing the privileges and responsibilities of mission and ministry within the Biblically defined roles of each member of the Body of Christ?

I would also urge that each of you respond in the spirit of the Strategic Plan adopted by the Texas District in 1994. I specifically refer to Concept #5 "Information That is Open and Free-Flowing." Your plan specifically states that "Within the District information is readily available and openly communicated."

My interpretation of Dr. Kieschnick’s statement of critical issues (7) and (8) cited above, as well as the Concept #5, is that each of you, possessing a spirit of being servants to the congregations and laity of the Texas District, will respond.

I welcome any comments by you by telephone or the opportunity to meet with any of you if you are in the area.

In Christ,

James D. Runzheimer

 

Questions for the Texas District President, Vice Presidents, and Executive Staff

In view of Rev. Jack Cascione’s book Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS which speaks about the problems with Church Growth, Leadership Training, Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI), Promise Keepers, abandonment of traditional worship in many Texas District worship services, abandonment of Lutheran hymnbooks, Luther’s Small Catechism, and the Lutheran Agenda in violation of Handbook Article VI.4, abandonment of Walther’s "Church and Ministry" as the one and only position practiced in the LCMS, promotion of an undefined relativized Gospel, and the confession of manufactured creeds and statements of faith in place of the three Ecumenical Creeds, would you please promptly answer the following questions with a yes or no.

Please Check One:

  1. (yes) (no) I support Walther’s Church and Ministry as the only correct teaching and practice for all Texas District Congregations.
  2. (yes) (no) I oppose the confession of any manufactured creeds and statements of faith in place of the three Ecumenical Creeds in all Texas District Congregation worship services.
  3. (yes) (no) I believe that the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds are correct statements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and agreement with them, without addition or deletion, is necessary for membership in the LCMS.
  4. (yes) (no) The only way to heaven is by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
  5. (yes) (no) I insist on the name "Lutheran" on all Texas District Congregations and mission congregations.
  6. (yes) (no) In accordance with Handbook Article VI.4, I advise all Texas District Congregations that they must practice exclusive use of Lutheran hymnbooks, Luther’s Small Catechism, and Lutheran Agenda in Church and School.
  7. (yes) (no) I oppose the marketing, management, and business philosophy taught by Peter Drucker and the Leadership Network becoming the practice of LCMS congregations.
  8. (yes) (no) I oppose the restructuring of LCMS congregations promoted by PLI that turns the pastor into a CEO and places a Board of Directors over the affairs of a Voters’ Assembly as a replacement to the polity taught by C.F.W. Walther.
  9. (yes) (no) I oppose the changes being introduced into congregations by PLI that were announced in 1997 because the Synod was not allowed to vote on it in Convention in 1998.
  10. (yes) (no) I oppose so-called "contemporary worship" because it has no definition and therefore cannot qualify as worship or church practice in any sense of the term and because it is little more than the product of the minister’s religious fantasies.

February 8, 1999

Mr. James D. Runzheimer
Attorney at Law
201 E Abram Street, Suite 700
Arlington, TX 76010-1163

Dear Mr. Runzheimer:

Greetings in the Name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

This letter is in response to your letter of January 28, 1999, addressed to the president ad vice-presidents of the Texas District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Thank you for your deep concern for the church. Your reservations regarding a specific workshop to be held in a congregation of the Texas District are duly noted. We assure you that no member of the Praesidium or of the staff of the Texas District accepts everything presented in any seminar or workshop without fully and carefully weighing and evaluating it in the light of Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. We believe the same is true of the pastors and lay leaders of the Texas District who attend such workshops. We all believe it is important to keep the wheat and throw away the chaff.

Thank you also for your desire to establish "a dialogue between the leadership of the Texas District and the laity as to the issues" raised in you letter. We are certain that you can appreciate the difficulty in our conducting such a dialogue with every individual member of every congregation of the Texas District. For that reason, we encourage dialogue within the context of the local congregation, with the involvement of the pastor who has been duly called by the congregation to provide theological guidance to the people of the congregation. Nevertheless, we are always open to a genuine dialogue on those issues that relate to the Texas District’s mission of strengthening congregations to reach the lost, disciple the saved, and care for people, locally and globally. If you are ever inclined to do so, any one of us would be more than happy to visit with you in person, face to face, in truly dialogical fashion, about every one of your questions.

We have chosen not to complete the questionnaire which accompanied your letter. Many of the questions deserve much more than a simple :yes" or "no" answer. Since you are an attorney, we trust that you understand whereof we speak. We assure you that in our conversations and meetings we do give attention to the topics included in your statements. We take such matters quite seriously as we provide leadership, counsel, and guidance to congregations, pastors and educators, the official members of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Peter instructs us as Christians: "In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...’(1 Peter 3:15).

It is our hope and prayer that you receive this letter in the same spirit of love, gentleness, and respect with which it is being sent and with which we truly hope, pray, and believe your letter to us was sent. For you may be assured, without the shadow of a doubt, that the reason for the hope that we have is God’s grace in Jesus Christ, given to the world by God as the only hope of the salvation of sinful human beings.

May our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you, our brother in Christ.

Sincerely, In Christian Love,

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President, Texas District
Rev. Carroll C. Kohl, First Vice President
Dr. David B. Joeckel, Second Vice President
Rev. Donald G. Black, Third Vice President
Rev. James R. Linderman, Fourth Vice President.

Rev. Jack Cascione is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS - MI) in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He has written numerous articles for Christian News and is the author of Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS: How to Keep Your Congregation Lutheran. He has also written a study on the Book of Revelation called In Search of the Biblical Order.
He can be reached by email at pastorcascione@juno.com.

March 22, 1999