President Kieschnick Objects to Reclaiming the Gospel in Texas:
Says Gospel is Alive and Well in Texas
By Rev. Jack Cascione

 

Texas District President Gerald Kieschnick wrote me on February 8, 1999, "Please be assured, my brother in Christ, that the Gospel is alive and well in the Texas District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Please also be assured that the Gospel is alive and well through-out the LC-MS." The letter was received after I had left for Texas.

Just coincidentally, a few months earlier, President Kieschnick wrote the following words about the Gospel to all the clergy in the Texas District. "A few days prior to the writing of this article, I spoke with a retired pastor and his wife who are in the process of finding a new church home. They have decided that to do so would be in the best interest of themselves and of the congregation from which he recently retired.

In the course of the conversation, they shared their observations regarding the friendliness of the congregations they visited, the presence or absence of a clear expression of the Gospel by the preacher, the liturgical and Christo-centric nature of the worship at both traditional and non- traditional services, etc.

The bottom line for this retired clergy couple is a deep concern with what they observed and experienced:
Rare was the congregation which demonstrated any awareness of newcomers in their midst. In all but one case, not a single person so much as greeted them.
Rare was the preacher who clearly enunciated the central truth of the Gospel, namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting our trespasses against us.
Rare was the preacher who used or even read a text as the basis for the proclamation portion of the worship service.
Rare was the worship service which, at least for them, accomplished the significant purpose of providing the worshiper with an absolute sense that he or she had come into the presence of Almighty God during the worship hour." (The rest of the article went on to address these concerns.)

I don’t think Kieschnick can have it both ways, either the Gospel is "alive and well in Texas and the LCMS," as he writes in February 1999, or it is not, as he writes in November of 1998. There is also the question of the Lutheran Brotherhood survey published by the Lutheran Witness Reporter that showed the Gospel is being lost to a majority of Lutherans. Does Kieschnick want us to believe that Texas is an exception to the following statistics?

"67% of Lutherans agree or probably agree with the statement ‘Although there are many religions in the world, most of them lead to the same God.’
"Also, 56% of the respondents agree or probably agree with the statement ‘God is satisfied if a person lives the best one can.’"
"48% of the Lutherans agree or probably agree with the statement ‘People can only be justified before God by loving others.’ In addition, 43% probably disagree with or aren’t sure of, or have no opinion about the statement ‘Only those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior can go to heaven.’
60% of Lutherans agree or probably agree with the statement, ‘The main emphasis of the Gospel is God’s rules for right living.’
When asked about the statement, ‘A child is already sinful at birth,’ 41 % disagree or probably disagree with the statement, and 11% said they aren’t sure or have no opinion.

My point of contention is that tens of millions of LCEF dollars are being poured into Texas mega-church real-estate where creeds are rewritten, Lutheran hymn books are non-existent, liturgy is abandoned, confirmation instruction is reduced to 6 hours, and traditional instruction in Luther’s Small Catechism is a thing of the past. At the same time the Texas District promotes Willow Creek, Bill Hybles, the Leadership Network, and a Strategic Plan of reorganization according to Church Consultants Group located a mile and half from the Michigan District Office. According to the Lutheran Annual the Texas District received an increase of more than 1.7 million dollars from 1992 to 1997 for a annual total of $8,684,579.00 from member congregations. During the same time the District added three deployed offices and lists 15 people, not including secretaries, "at the District Office" (to quote the Lutheran Annual) and dropped its giving to the Synod by more than $400,000.00 to $2,025,000.00. Reports from some pastors are they have only opened two mission congregation in ten years. There may be a few more, but how many more?

Such practice and trends are common to many other LCMS Districts caught up in the self-aggrandizing megalomania of the current "Church Growth, Leadership Training" bureaucratic fanaticism. Their motto is, "Turn a Congregation into a corporation for Christ." I focused on Texas for a number of reasons, foremost of which there are a small but highly organized and committed group of LCMS pastors resisting the attacks on the Gospel largely orchestrated by the District Office. The question is, where could I go to be the most effective as Kieschnick certainly wants his own staff to be? The answer is Texas.

At each location I spoke there was a District Vice President who explained why he and the District President would not agree in print to any of the following questions:
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.

District President Kieschnick, I disagree with you. The Gospel is being annihilated in Texas.

Your Concerned Brother in Christ,
Pastor Jack Cascione


TEXAS DISTRICT THE LUTHERAN CHURCH-MISSOURI SYNOD
7900 E. Highway 290
Austin, Texas 78724-2499

February 8, 1999

Rev. Jack M. Cascione
Redeemer Lutheran Church
31011 Greater Mack Avenue
St. Clair Shores, MI 48082-1446

Dear Brother in Christ:

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, through whom we have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation and apart from whom we have no hope of such precious gifts from God.

My office has received a copy of the notice of your planned speaking engagements in Texas on the subject: "Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS Texas District."

Having given your topic prayerful and careful consideration, I’m writing this brief note to express my evangelical objection to and heartfelt regret at your choice of words in both the theme of your presentation and in the points on which you have chosen to speak. This objection and regret concerning the theme of your presentation are shared with you upon the counsel of Dr. A. L. Barry, President of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, with whom I spoke on the phone seeking such counsel.

Please be assured, my brother in Christ, that the Gospel is alive and well in the Texas District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Please also be assured that the Gospel is alive and well throughout The LC-MS.

We invite you to join us in the prayer that the mission and ministry of the congregations and professional church workers in Texas and throughout The LC-MS will continue to be both faithful and effective. We pray that, by God’s grace, many people will be brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ through the communication of His Word and the administration of the Sacraments as God’s Holy Spirit works in the hearts of people through these blessed Means of Grace.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Sincerely, In Christian Love,

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick
President, Texas District

GBK:lb
cc.    Dr. A. L. Barry, President, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
        Rev. C. William Hoesman, President, Michigan District of The LC-MS
        Board of Directors, Texas District of The LC-MS
        Circuit Counselors, Texas District of The LC-MS

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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 5, 1999