Doctor William Thompson of Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio has
resigned from the LC-MS Clergy roster. Concordia has the largest loan,
$14,000,000.00, from the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) in the history
of the LC-MS. Reclaim News published the
folly of the entire project in February 1999 in an article titled, "Texas
Mega-Church Monopoly Risks 10's of LCEF Millions" and other related
articles.
Now in April of 2001, it is reported that Concordia, San Antonio has laid
off a third of its nearly 100 staff, dropped in attendance from 2800 a week to
2200 a week, continues to decline in attendance, and can no longer make the
payments on its loan. They are only able to pay the interest.
The question is how did Reclaim News know it was a "risky
loan" but the LCEF didn't? How did Reclaim News know the LC-MS
Council of District Presidents is a failure at church finance and
administration? How did Reclaim News know this when "Affirm,"
"Vision," "Balance," "Rally," and whatever else
they call themselves have yet to discover the problem? How did these all these
"church leaders" let so much money slip through Synodical hands?
They would never publish our articles in the Lutheran Witness. The
only one with the courage to republish our articles and print the truth is Christian
News.
Concordia, San Antonio is often used as a training center for Doctor
Norbert Oesch's Pastoral Leadership Institute (PLI). The LCEF loan to
Concordia was used to put up five buildings, which are also used to house PLI
but they never built a sanctuary! We are talking about $14,000,000.00 of lay
people' s money.
The December, 1997 issue of the REPORTER noted on page three that the
Council of District Presidents (C.O.P.), under the "leadership" of
newly elected President Arleigh Lutz plans to retrain 300 selected LCMS
pastors over a period of six years. Without prior notice and without
consulting the LCMS Convention the C.O.P. accepted funds from the Lutheran
Church Extension Fund to retrain LCMS pastors to lead and start "Church
Growth" style congregations in the LCMS with PLI. The C.O.P. is also a
donor to PLI as is the LC-MS Foundation and LCEF.
The next issue of Reclaim News will reissue the February 1999
release titled, "Texas Mega-Church Monopoly Risks 10's of LCEF
Millions."
Thompson is one of the pastors who issued Oesch a call to be the head of
PLI. The Texas District President, Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, is the PLI liason to
the C.O.P.