For at least the third time, The Board for Higher Education (BHE) has taken up the question of the Pastoral Leadership Institute under the leadership of Dr. Norbert Oesch. The goal of PLI is to set up a third seminary in the LCMS to teach pastors "Leadership" by promoting the "Church Growth Movement" and running congregations like corporations.

Oesch is seeking Recognized Service Organization (RSO) status from the BHE. This will make PLI eligible for financial support from all Districts, Financial Institutions and Organizations in the Synod. At the same time PLI will remain a privately held corporation.

PLI has already received grants of more than a third of a million dollars from the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF), and additional grants from the Synod's Foundation, Aid Association for Lutherans, Lutheran Brotherhood and more.

It is reported that the BHE voted again to table the question of PLI receiving RSO status until October. The BHE has selected a committee of its own members to give a report on the theology of PLI. Among those on the committee are the two Seminary Presidents, Wenthe and Johnson, with Dr. Ralph Reinke a member of the BHE serving as Chairman. Reinke, former President of Seward and former head of CPH, has already stated his support for PLI.

Saint Louis Seminary President, John Johnson was one of the four original organizers of PLI. On February 6, 1998, Dr. Oesch wrote: "In 1996 the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) asked four of us to answer a question, namely, 'If the LCEF were to use some of its operating expenses to stimulate something that would make a difference in our church body, what would that be?' Unanimously we responded, 'Invest in pastoral leadership training.'. In consultation with Concordia Seminary President, Dr. John Johnson, with Dr. Bill Meyer (Executive Director) of the Board for Higher Education, and with President, Gerry Kieschnick of the Texas District, the idea of a Pastoral Leadership Institute was shaped. Although I was part of the shaping, I was overwhelmed when I was asked to bring it into reality."

The co-called conservative watch dogs of the LCMS, "Affirm" and "Lutheran Concerns Association" completely ignored the reports of PLI's objectives also promoted by the LCMS' Council of District Presidents (COP) in a book titled, "Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS" by Rev. Jack Cascione. Christian News sent a copy of this book to every delegate at the 1998 LCMS Convention. (573-237-3110)

Due to the lack of action by the "watch dogs" at the "98 Convention" and their refusal to support others who were opposed to PLI, the BHE is close to successfully establishing a third LCMS Seminary without the approval of the Convention.

Now, two years later, with PLI getting close to reestablishing a pro-Seminex Seminary in the LCMS, Balance's "Vision", published by Dr. Tom Baker has decided to raise objections to PLI. Lutheran Concerns Association has also decided to place the issue of PLI on its Agenda at its annual meeting scheduled at Nordic Hills, in Itasca, Illinois on Wednesday, April 26th. This may all be too little, too late. Both organizations were silent about PLI at the 1998 Convention. Both organizations have viewed themselves in a paternal relationship with the laity and thus have not seen the necessity to gain their support. Both organizations would not support passage of a resolution endorsing the confession of the Gospel in the three and only three Creeds in all LCMS congregations in 1998.

The Fort Wayne Seminary, with an outstanding reputation for theology, also views itself and directs its students in a similar paternal relationship with the laity. Only 6 of the 33 faculty listed in the Annual, will agree in writing to Walther's original polity of Voter Supremacy in LCMS congregations, even though their Chairman of the Board of Regents, Rev. David Anderson, insists that the entire faculty supports Voter Supremacy.

In a recent report from Reclaim News, we announced that Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas, a PLI Mentoring Congregation, under Dr. William Thompson, and a PLI Mentoring Pastor and founding Director of PLI, had to renegotiate its $l4,000,000.00 loan from LCEF. The congregation has dropped from 2800 to 2200 a week in attendance and laid off more than 30 of its nearly 100 staff members. They have one Voters' Assembly a year and no motions can be made from the floor. This is corporate congregational management in action!

We have a report that the LCMS Foundation, which has been funding PLI, now has Mr. Mark Stunkel, a close friend of Norbert Oesch and the former president of his congregation in Orange, Calif. as the new Treasurer of the LCMS Foundation. Stunkel is replacing Norm Sell, who, coincidentally, resigned after the Foundation announced a $40,000,000.00 loss in 1999 after investing in "exotic unhedged derivatives."

In addition, we have a report that PLI Board Chairman, Rev. Greg Smith, Senior Pastor of Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in Afton, Missouri has stepped down as a PLI Mentoring Pastor and has removed his congregation from the list of PLI Mentoring Congregations. Pastor Greg Smith is also listed on the Articles of Incorporation for PLI as "Incorporator & Registered Agent."

Smith's congregational president Roger Volk, and his treasurer Ann Vazquez, have both resigned. We are not publishing their letters of resignation but the following is a letter from a larger group in the congregation. We publish this letter as an example of the kind of tyranny LCMS lay people are suffering in their congregations while the so called "watch dogs" in the Synod have been completely silent about PLI.

---

Dear Members of Christ Memorial, Afton, MO

This letter was precipitated by the resignations of our congregation's president and treasurer on the evening of the voter's meeting on Monday, February 14, 2000. Both resignations were for the same reason: inability to work with the Senior Pastor (although Ann's pregnancy was an added factor). This now brings us to the total of three presidents who have resigned for this reason. Marilyn Bader (Youth Director) and Pastor Chip Winter were two paid personnel who resigned for the same reason. Many individual members of our church have also quietly transferred their memberships away from our congregation or simply left the church.

Members who go to Celebration (the new north campus of the congregation) probably don't feel that it is difficult (impossible?) to work with the Senior Pastor. There is a different feeling toward Pastor Greg at the North Campus and this has been recognized by the 'traditional' members. Since the two groups have moved apart, there has been an ongoing difficulty for members at the South Campus to know what is going on, where the money is being spent, who is authorizing it, where the pastor spends his time and why the Elders are not insisting on detailed reports of how the ministerial staff's time is being spent.

Few members know that the Elders granted Pastor Greg the time to spend 2 weeks in India this coming summer. Few of us knew the implications when the North Campus was purchased. Few of us know several years ago how much the consultants were draining our congregation's budget. Few members know that there are 48 people on the payroll (full and part-time). Most members find Pastor Greg inaccessible (either on phone or at church). Many members feel the upstairs office of Pastor Greg (with several secretaries running interference) make him difficult to see.

We are seeking the Lord's guidance in this matter, as we know Pastor Greg is also. We are not "of the devil" because our viewpoint disagrees with Pastor Greg even though Pastor Greg has stated this. We, too, feel that the Lord is speaking to us and guiding us as much as when Pastor Greg implies that only he is speaking God's will. His effectiveness among many of us has diminished to the point where we must with Ann Vazquez.'I am a sheep without a shepherd!'

Concerned Members of Christ Memorial, Afton MO

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.

April 19, 2000

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