04 August 2008

A Woman Pastor Leading a District Youth Gathering

...in the LCMS? Yup. Down Texas way. And she doesn't even believe in baptismal regeneration or the real presence! Here's the scoop from Pr. Larry Bean:

click here

Perhaps it's time to contact the District President of the Texas District, Ken Hennings, and give him your thoughts on having this speaker address the LCMS youth in his district:

president@txdistlcms.org

You might want to give your thoughts also to your District President and to the President of Synod.

Fellow frogs, the temp in the water is rising a bit, eh?

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reminiscent of the end of the Walther League, though the result today is by no means as certain.

Unknown said...

My children are all grown now, but these youth gatherings were offered to them when in youth group at our local church. (I'm old, but not that old!) The youth group would hold car washes and other fund raising things to go to these gatherings. But I made it quite clear to my teenagers that they would not be going - why - because to me they were just a way for the synod to pat themselves on the back and say - look at how many youth attended!!!!!-and there was nothing at these gatherings that could not be done locally. That is how I saw them then-and that is how I see them now. They offer nothing that is different or special, or that could not be offered on a local level. And now they are just getting silly and offering "tinsel and glitz".

WM Cwirla said...

We are continually told by synodical officials, Higher Things is not to be trusted because it is not an RSO of the Synod and therefore is not subject to the Synod's doctrinal review of content, speakers, and worship.

Higher Things utilizes only rostered pastors and workers, the approved hymnals of the Synod, and is subject to the same doctrinal standards as any pastor's sermon and Bible class.

So this is what the "official" program of the synod gets you? Hmmm.

Dan @ Necessary Roughness said...

Could I make a request?

The "woman pastor" is not the only thing wrong in this picture. Pastor Beane also notes what she believes and denies (Real Presence and infant baptism, for starters). That aspect alone should disqualify her from teaching Lutherans about religion.

Dan @ Necessary Roughness said...

Oh, the request being, don't just mention the fact that she's a woman pastor. Always mention in the same or the next breath her denial of Lutheran theology.

William Weedon said...

Done!

WM Cwirla said...

Not sure how much "speaking she'll be doing." She's very likely the leader of the praise band (aka Praise Babe). They are usually attractive females, since that's about the only way you'll get the guys to sit through those pop love ballads about Jesus.

I would also note that Denver Moore, one of the other speakers on the list, is a Baptist minister.

Anonymous said...

I think, as someone mentioned at Father Hollywood's blog, that the wiggle words are 'lead worshipper.' She's not leading the worship; she's just first among the other worshippers. There's a worship pastor.

That being said, Lord Jesus, help us! the whole gathering looks awful!

WM Cwirla said...

Oh, I forgot to mention that Fred Lynch, the hip-hop artist who is also listed as a speaker, is the pastor of The Oaks Fellowship, which is with the Assemblies of God. You can find out about them here:

http://www.oaksfellowship.org/min-seven.php

Being an official function of the Texas district, I assume that all speakers and worship have been previously approved by the synod.

Dcn Latif Haki Gaba SSP said...

"Dan,"
If such a woman were to speak nothing but the pure Gospel, she would be a walking lie, a contradiction in terms, and would embody in her self the rationale for condemnation.

Elephantschild said...

Yes, the water temperature is surely rising - that's why I'm grateful for the asbestos diving suits provided by confessional pastors. :)

And I can say this since I'm a girl: Mercy, that "lead worshipper" is super cute. Sigh. Having her up in front sure won't help young men keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, will it?

Dan @ Necessary Roughness said...

Gaba,

Of that I have no doubt, but enough people don't care about 1 Cor 11 and others enough to get up in arms about. You have to point-blank ask people, why would you let a heretic teach your kids?

Andrew, Esq. said...

Having grown up in a church similar to the one she seems to be a part of, my guess is that she's merely leading worship not teaching. Non-denominational, seeker churches are very fond of calling the head of every department a "pastor", which leads to silly titles like "pastor of daycare" and "prayer pastor" and "pastor of media".

Anonymous said...

Why does all this stuff seem to come from Texas and infect everything else like the plague?

Dan @ Necessary Roughness said...

Andrew,

A worship leader can't help BUT teach, through the songs/hymns that are chosen, through the prayers that are offered, through the commentary "Oh I know the Spirit is here because I feel great!"

Worship always teaches. :)

Anonymous said...

May favorite thing, while I was a part of the Vineyard movement, was when the worship babes would arch their backs a bit while their eyes rolled to the back of their head. It was, well, for a single man fresh out a branch of the service where there were no women, kind of a turn on. I know this doesn't do anyone's sanctification a bit of good, but what the heck.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure how much we can fuss about the "female" pastor part of this woman being involved with the LCMS Youth conference it seems that they hold the same position on women pastor's as the LCMS (on paper at least). It is common in these types of bapto-pento- evangico circles to hold to male headship and to give a woman a pastoral title with no authority.

Please see this link for the full statement from Gateway: http://www.gatewaypeople.com/index.php?action=abt_position_papers

Role of Women in Ministry
Gateway Church strongly believes in recognizing and supporting the con¬tribution of women in the ministry of the church. We believe in the value of women in all aspects of ministry with the exception of those areas that exercise governmental authority within the church. Furthermore, we believe God has ordained the family unit to serve as a model for the entire church with the father as the head of the home and functioning as a servant-leader as described in Ephesians 5. We therefore believe that both men and women can reach their fullest potential in ministry within the structure of the biblical family model. We believe a woman can teach and lead within any of the vast array of ministry roles and positions as long as she demonstrates a biblically-qualifying lifestyle. She must also submit herself, along with other servant-leaders, to those leaders God has placed in positions of governing authority, specifically, the Senior Pastor or the Elders of the church. We believe that the positions of Senior Pastor and Elder are (because of their governmental responsibility) reserved only for men. With the exception of these two positions, we consider all ministry positions and opportunities to be open to women.
more...

If this is true, then perhaps the only thing we can fuss about is their different views on the Holy Spirit, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

Another thing,,, I saw this conference information last March and it seems that they still do not have any speakers for this Youth Conference. That seems odd.

Lutheran Lucciola said...

Is this the same youth gathering, that last year had an inflatable children's pool with rubber duckies in it, to teach TEENAGERS a Jesus lesson?

I want to be a Praise Babe, with that glassy-eyed, happy look on my face they all seem to have.

William Weedon said...

Lucciola -

First belly dancing, now praise babe? Come now! Oh, wait a minute...

J.G.F. said...

Oh boy.... looks like Ablaze is having another flare-up....

Too bad so much of our "firefighting" efforts is forced to be within the Church today. What could the TX District be thinking???

William Weedon said...

JGF,

Hard to recognize as the Synod we were ordained into, no?

Lutheran Lucciola said...

Yes, I gave up belly dancing, but this whole thing is a fantastic racket. I can see the Praise Babe gig can make some serious dough. Maybe even as much as fortune telling.

(The scary part, is there is a part of my brain thinking about this.)

Frank Gillespie said...

"Is this the same youth gathering, that last year had an inflatable children's pool with rubber duckies in it, to teach TEENAGERS a Jesus lesson?"

LL, that was the national youth gathering, this is run by the good folks in Texas

Anonymous said...

I'm a college student who was baptized and confirmed in the Texas District, and I've been to my share of these gatherings -- 2 district and 1 national. I was offered the opportunity to go to a 2nd national, but optioned to go instead to Christ Academy at CTS.

These gatherings are exactly what everyone makes them to be -- emotion-driven, pop-Christianity-filled, irreverent mockeries of the Divine Service. And I should know: I was born into a family of non-denoms, but by the Grace of God converted to Lutheranism at the tender age of 8 (I'm still the only Lutheran in my family).

Lutheran Lucciola said...

Oh, thanks, Frank!
I was getting my ridiculous, pandering youth gatherings mixed up.

Frank Gillespie said...

LL, ain't hard to do...sadly

Rev. James Leistico said...

to paraphrase this blog from July 23 - "It's as though AC IX is an embarrassment and doesn't really norm our practice anymore!"

WM Cwirla said...

It is common in these types of bapto-pento- evangico circles to hold to male headship and to give a woman a pastoral title with no authority.

This is most certainly true and an important point. Truth be told, their statement is not far from our understanding, although we would not specify "governmental role" they seem to have some notion of authority and headship.

And, we dare not pick up too many stones, since Lutherans these days seem confused about such words as pastor, minister, deacon, etc.

I do think there are serious issues here as to whether leading worship is a pastoral function or a band function.

J.G.F. said...

>>Hard to recognize as the Synod we were ordained into, no?

Indeed! Where did it go?????

Unknown said...

Is she going to have a pole?