...they JUST don't get it. Anyone else hear echoes of "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" Yeah, I'm beginning to feel like I LIVE in Oz.
Here's Mr. Strand's latest:
Dear Friend in Christ:
I want to sincerely thank you for your e-mail message regarding the discontinuation of the “Issues, Etc.” program on KFUO-AM Radio. It is good that you are interested in the programming choices of the station. Please know that your comments have been heard and taken to heart.
Some people receiving this message have written before in some fashion on this topic and, sometime ago, received a different response. Others are receiving this message in response to original queries or comments they raised.
In any event, whether you have written one or two or more times, and no matter which “Issues”-related point or points you may have raised, the best and most comprehensive response I can offer at this time is to refer you to a statement on the Synod’s website.
If you haven’t already read this statement, I respectfully invite you to go to www.lcms.org and click on the link called “An updated statement on ‘Issues, Etc.’ ”
I invite you also to listen to “The Afternoon Show” on KFUO-AM, weekdays from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Now and into the future, it will be the constant endeavor of KFUO-AM management to offer the best in Gospel-based programming throughout the day—programming that reaches out to Lutherans, other Christians, and the unchurched, and all within a budget we can hope to sustain.
Please continue to keep the radio ministry of the Synod in your prayers. Please also prayerfully consider what you might do, if so inclined, to support this important work.
Thank you.
Sincerely in Christ,
David L. Strand
Executive Director
Board for Communication Services
24 comments:
Pr. Weedon --
I received the same letter -- it's the second one I've received from him.
It makes me feel discounted and even kind of invisible, to get this type of response.
When the suits start harping -- and they will -- about how we're causing disunity, don't forget who started this whole thing.
Strand and whoever else was behind these firings started it -- the blame is squarely on their shoulders.
Not ours.
Hey!!!
I got one of those! It was addressed to "A Friend in Christ" in the recipient list. Obviously a mass mailed "form" letter email. In my opinion one of the highest forms of insincerity in communication with people. I almost deleted it... without reading ... until I saw who it was from.
Somehow I doubted the sincerity in his "thanking me" for my e-mail message.
THought it was interesting how he said "some people receiving this"... geesh.. how impersonal!
As an IT technology person... I know just how easy it wouldbe to simply create an auto responder on an email server / system that... has rules to look at subj lines or text and "automatically" send a predefined email from a template to a user...
Or it could be just a form email that was SPAMMED to everyone who "emailed" him from one of the auto mailers various folks have set up to email Pres Kieschnick and others... I used one... actually got an "out of office" response form Pres Kieschnick... go figure.
As Fr. Weedon noted... they simply do not get it... *sigh*
Matt B.
This is the hard evidence of how we have no voice whatsoever in this church body and why we have to blog to be heard.
This is simply institutional madness at some profound level. I have literally run out of words.
I too received the exact same email within the past 30 minutes.
Yeah, just a form letter. How comforting to know that our Synod really CARES about the hurting folks who have voiced their concern about his behavior and his actions. Good grief!!!
By the way, I wrote him back right away:
David,
WAKE UP. This kind of response is never going to do, my friend. Come clean and answer the question that have been put to you by those to whom you are accountable: the members of the LCMS. You are in my prayers.
Bill
I believe that the only thing that will get BOCS attention is the almighty dollar. The only vote that I have is the one where I refuse to support KFUO since my support was tied to IE. Last year I gave money to IE and KFUO was just the beneficiary.
This is very sad.
Won't lie, I'm just in college, but it hurt a bit.
Mr. Strand, I'm praying for you too.
Here is my response:
"I have read the statement. It says nothing. It is logomachy and, dare I say, "synodspeak".
"I will not listen to this replacement program. I will not support KFUO-AM/FM. I will suggest to everyone I know not to support KFUO-AM/FM.
"I will wait patiently for the real answer to why "Issues, Etc." was canceled. The answer that our beloved synod has chosen to give is not an answer.
"It is a shame that a church body resorts to logomachy to hide the truth. Do not the people of God expect to hear the truth from her leaders?
"I will support Rev. Wilken and Mr. Schwarz in any future endeavor they may wish to pursue.
"Please, for the love of Christ and His Church, tell the truth. Stop hiding behind logomachy and "synodspeak". Let the trumpet make a certain sound from Kirkwood Road once again.
"Mr. Strand, please do your Christian duty. Please speak the truth in love for the sake of the Church. Please do it sooner than later. What have you and our beloved synod to hide? Thousands of people around the world are waiting.
"You have my prayers."
It becomes more and more difficult to keep a civil, Christian tone with the folks at 1333 Kirkwood Road.
Lord, have mercy.
It is exactly what it seems to be. "You may speak all you like, our mind is made up." It does hurt.
Brother Weedon,
Thank you for keeping us up to date. This letter is an example of how hurting we are as Synod. "the best most comprehensive..."
In other words, "you've got what you've got, now be happy."
What a slap in the face to those who have posed legitimate questions directly and patiently waited for answers.
There is one glimmer of hope in his email, "at this time." The pressure must stay on to get these answers now at a later time.
*Sniff*...I thought Mr. Strand thought enough of me to send me a unique letter :-(.
my response:
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 8:04 PM
To: 'David Strand'
Subject: RE: Response to your email regarding Issues, Etc.
Rev. Strand:
I guess your endeavor in the recent past was to stop offering the best in Gospel-based programming.
You guys were so wrong to do what you did.
Jon Townsend
Mmmm... now I admit I am not the brightest... some subtle nuances may escape me, and I might miss sarcasm or wit...
I am trying to tally the facts up...
Issues Etc was losing money
KFUO AM is a gospel ministry, not in the business of making money (like the FM side)
Given some of the numbers recently disclosed here and elsewhere, the AM side is a huge losing proposition
Issues was cancelled for budgetary and "stewardship" reasons...
Now we have a new drive time show on AM... that I am betting will not draw near the listening audience of Issues (as paltry and small as Synod thought that audience was), still no advertising, still no revenue generating activities, and I also bet that there will not be near the money rolling in for this show that Issues had in donations (again, as paltry and insignificant as they may have been by Synodical standards).
Mmmm... I see this show bleeding to death already...
Again... as has been the case with every other aspect of this debacle, things simply do not add up.
I must be dumb... I don't get it.
Matt B.
At least y'all are getting an answer.
It is MUCH more than we ever got when the blasphemies of Yankee Stadium took place.
I would think you would be happy ;)
+ Robert
What cracks me up is this: "the best and most comprehensive response I can offer at this time is to refer you to a statement on the Synod’s website." Really? That's the best and most comprehensive? The one that is gives no explanation as to the "programmatic" reasons, and bases its business ... er, "stewardship" reasons on fraudulent accounting?
It's like something out of Brazil or Brave New World.
I also received this form letter -- in response to a letter I had sent NOT to Mr. Strand, but to Dr. Kieschnick!
Anastasia
Please don't let the suits get away with the "disunity" blame, either.
If they do that, it's not disunity.
There is a huge difference between irrational uproar, and being co-dependent.
None of this criticism is irrational.
But what if this is the best we ever get?
Because I don't doubt that it is and will be the best we get.
I don't doubt for an instant that Strand, Kieschnik, et al have no intention of being influenced by anything we say or ask or even demand. They've given their responses, and no doubt subsequent responses will continue in the same vein. We'll learn nothing new from them, though we pretty much know all we need know. For what good it does.
Susan in Tupelo
There is a joke about lawyers.
How do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving.
I'll go an repent now.
Two words: tone deaf.
"Now we have a new drive time show on AM... that I am betting will not draw near the listening audience of Issues (as paltry and small as Synod thought that audience was), still no advertising, still no revenue generating activities, and I also bet that there will not be near the money rolling in for this show that Issues had in donations (again, as paltry and insignificant as they may have been by Synodical standards).
Mmmm... I see this show bleeding to death already...
Again... as has been the case with every other aspect of this debacle, things simply do not add up.
I must be dumb... I don't get it."
Matt, you're not dumb.
Here's why this show won't be yanked.
1. As Pastor Weedon pointed out, the show is pure fluff. Kind of like the direction things are going in some "worship" services. No waves. No thought provoking dissertations. Just simple, mindless "Alleluias" here and there.
2. Because this show is more ideologically in sync with the direction of pop culture, the $250,000 that Issues, Etc. "lost" can now be tallied as a budgeted expense.
It's my belief that Praise and Worship go together like Law and Gospel. Praising God most definitely pleases Him. But if we fail to worship Him, all the praise in the world does nothing.
Trading in Issues for The Afternoon Show is like trading in our liturgical worship services for a Saturday night "Praaaise JESUS!" concert. It is, unfortunately, the status quo. This is the exact move that is expected.
"It's like something out of Brazil or Brave New World."
Christopher,
What is the problem with Brazil now, that its national identity has to be slandered by comparing it to the truth-hiding techniques of (L?)CMS bureaucrats?
I am "out of Brazil" and, though a poor, miserable sinner, I don't think I qualify as a Kijnik inteligentsia (what a preposterous term!) agent.
Let's keep nationalities out of this mess. This is not something out of Brazil. It is out of the United States of America. Own your own, and leave others alone!
Rev. Gerson Flor
Georgetown, ON
Rev. Flor. Chris wasn't trying to insult anyone's country.
Brazil is a Terry Gilliam movie. It's done in the same vein as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. It's very good, albeit very odd. I recommend it. :)
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