Bailing Water: The Janke sequel..

Sunday, March 9, 2008

The Janke sequel..

Anonymous said...

Those in the Wisconsin Synod know that district presidents rarely, if ever, fail to run for reelection and rarely, if ever, receive a call. Janke was just called out of the district almost at the same time he decided not to run for reelection (Johnson's Creek, WI). Two highly improbable events. Hmm?

March 9, 2008 9:59 PM

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Janke has done enough damage in the AZ/CA district. Now he can move back to the holy land.

I wonder if the fallen angels that Janke drove out can be reinstated?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...: If you actually knew the story, which many of you don't (and just as an aside, most people on this blog don't know the truth about much of what goes on in WELS but they like to think they do)...Janke's congregation cannot afford to keep two pastors. So both pastors at the congregation were put on call lists. It just so happened Janke received a call.; March 10, 2008 at 10:22 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought that either the district or the synod paid for much of the District President's salary. Does anyone know?; March 11, 2008 at 5:24 PM
Anonymous said...: The synod provides the salary for a full time associate for the congregation served by the district president. The rationale is that the DP must devote much of his time to district business and that his congregation should not be deprived of pastoral care. When a district president leaves office, the funding for the associate will be provided to the congregation served by his replacement. If the congregation served by the departing district president is not large enough to support two pastors on its own, one of those positions will no longer continue. In this case, either of the pastors could have received a call. The Holy Spirit led St. John, Jefferson (not Johnson Creek) WI, to call Pastor Janke.; March 12, 2008 at 6:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Anon writes,

"The Holy Spirit led St. John, Jefferson... to call... Janke."

The will of the voter's assembly of Jefferson congregation is the will of the Holy Spirit? Wow.

(Sounds like enthusiasm to me. The Wisconsin Synod sure is pietistic.); March 12, 2008 at 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous:

When your congregation calls a pastor or a teacher, don't your voters ask God the Holy Spirit to guide you in your decision? To say the Holy Spirit is involved in the calling process is sound, confessional Lutheran theology. Does this statement say the Holy Spirit wants DP Janke at St. John's in Jefferson? That can only be said after he accepts the call. This has nothing to do with pietism.; March 12, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Anonymous said...: I don't believe that is what he was saying. You were reading into his words too much. Consider Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." The voters assembly always convenes and asks that the Holy Spirit lead them to choose the right man for their needs. After prayerful consideration, in which they asked the Holy Spirit to guide their decision, keeping Matthew 18:20 in mind, it can be correctly said that "The Holy Spirit led" a congregation to call the man they did. Paul in speaking to the Ephesian elders says in Acts 20:28 "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." If the Holy Spirit has made elders, leaders of a local congregation overseers, it can be correctly said that the Holy Spirit led that congregation to call that man to be their pastor. If he accepts, than we can be confident that he was the man the Holy Spirit wanted. If not, the Holy Spirit still used the situation for his purpose and God's glory.

To call it pietism or to say it sounds like enthusiasm is quite a stretch. I'm not sure you even fully understand what "enthusiasm" is.; March 12, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Indeed, one calls upon the Spirit of God, but that is not what the poster posted. "The Holy Spirit led St. John, Jefferson... to call... Janke."

One cannot claim that a human decision is the Holy Spirit's leading despite how many times it is piously said, as it was by you;

"That can only be said after he accepts the call."

So his acceptance is the will of God? Enthusiasm.; March 12, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...: How do you explain that Christ gives us the command and authority to call pastors? How can that authority be given except through the Holy Spirit? I fail to see what is pietistic, enthusiastic, or unscriptural about saying "The Lord led St. John's to call pastor so and so."

You need to do a better job of explaining your position other than saying "It's pietistic...it's enthusiam." You better be ready to explain yourself, because according to scripture, it's not.; March 12, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Anonymous said...: So is it wrong then for a pastor to say, "The Holy Spirit led me to accept/return the call he gave me?"

And if the Holy Spirit doesn't lead a congregation to call, who does, and why do we call it a "divine" call?; March 12, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Doesn't everything happen according to the will of God? Good and bad? Last time I checked this is true.; March 12, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous:

You better brush up on your theology. I was going to quote some respected WELS theologians, but I figured that would be roundly criticized by the WELS hating readers of this blog. So here's a quote from John Fritz, dean of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in the early part of the 20th Century. I've never, ever heard anyone refer to him as a pietist. So here goes:

"A Christian congregation is divinely authorized to extend a call, and a pastor so called is called by the Holy Ghost Himself." Fritz then references Acts 20:28, "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood."

Pietistic? I don't think so.; March 12, 2008 at 12:33 PM