Reflections On A Long and Blessed Life No. 69: Executive Director of of Parish Education for LCMS PartT 2 – 7/28/19

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I recall with regret that I was not a good husband and father while I served the church for four years in St Louis. I was so preoccupied with the challenges of my calling and all the turmoil in the denomination that I was not either physically or emotionally as available to my family as I should have been. Instead of me being the primary support for my spouse it was she who was ministering to me. I went for a couple years without once sleeping through the night. I worked way too many hours per week and was away from home too many days.

Meanwhile the lives of my wife and children continued. David, our eldest, was doing exceptionally well academically and was elected student body president of Concordia University Chicago. (Just as his father had been in 1950 and his grandfather in 1920) And he was faced with the reality that if he came out publicly as a gay person he would immediately be barred from serving as a rostered minister of the church into which he had been baptized. 

Tim and Peggy were a bit on the fringe of things at Lutheran High South as they advocated for persons who were continuously being fired from their calling at the church headquarters and seminary. Then they got wonderful financial aid at Valparaiso University and were outstanding students there (with Tim surviving being jailed for an ill -considered entry into an unoccupied campus building). And Peggy must have been the youngest freshman there when she enrolled as 16-year-old college freshman-having been in advanced placement classes when she first started school back in Hong Kong. Liz and John had mixed experiences at the Lutheran elementary school they attended- as John had a very controlling and fundamentalist teacher and Liz had encouraging, evangelical, caring and competent ones.

Jane had the new experience of living in the first house, which we were actually purchasing and even that got off to a bad start. The people from whom we bought the home could not get occupancy in their new home they were building so they and we lived together for some 6 weeks! Jane also faced the difficult reality that she listened to the cries (especially of wives) of co-workers who were all being evacuated from their homes at the directive of the then church leaders. She was powerless to do anything about it. She had to resist the urge to just go to downtown St. Louis with a protest sign in her hand. The stress level reached new high when she got a phone call with the voice on the other end anonymously announcing “ You are a terrible Mother. What your children are doing in supporting heretics will lead them straight to hell. And you will be the one who put them there!” The good news is that she also had a marvelous support group of a few women who joined her not only in tears but also in great moments of shared conversation, Bible study, music, laughter and mutual support. In the midst of it all this she found time to host my staff of over 45 for annual Christmas party meals and to provide room and board for two students who had to leave their dorms rooms at the seminary.

It is now 40 years ago that my family and I experienced our years in St. Louis. We choose to remember the support of friends, the joy of visiting the Budweiser Clydesdale horses which were pastured just the street from our home, the great love and care extended to us by many, new and deeper insights into the power of the Gospel and the ever growing conviction that the church must be a place  where all are welcomed and open to the incredible ways in which the Spirit gives life and hope.

Reflections on a Long and Blessed Life No. 68: Education Executive for LCMS Part I

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After only 4 years as Superintendent of Lutheran Schools for the state of Michigan I took the position of Executive Secretary for the Board of Parish Education of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. I took the position even though I had been in Michigan only 4 years. I took the position knowing that it was the “highest office” available to any  “called teacher” of The LCMS. I took the call at the urging of even my colleagues in Michigan because they felt they wanted a voice at the highest levels of the church. I rook the call even though I knew the LCMS had just elected a new President who had vowed to radically change everything in the church. I took the call because I felt it came through the work of the Holy Spirit.

There were some great things about my years in St. Louis. I had an incredibly supportive and capable staff of some 45 persons. During my tenure there we were able to carry on or introduce many effective new ministries: we added an Associate Director for Schools, a Director for Early Childhood Education, a Director of Effectiveness Training for Lutherans (which was the Lutheran version of Parent Effectiveness). We provided excellent weeklong couples training for pastors and their spouses. We conducted nationwide Sunday School conventions. We gained an important voice in Washington DC through the Council for American Private Education, I was invited to speak at important Christian education events around the world. I carried on or introduced very exciting new joint ministries with the then American Lutheran Church and The Lutheran Church in America. Together we produced some exciting material and events to deal with urban America and with people of color or language other than English. `I was named head of the entire Division for Parish Services and had important in-put on the annual expenditure of some $28 million of church-wide funding .I was able to secure several hundred thousand dollars worth of grants from “outside sources”. I was a part of group of church leaders who had a great inclusive vision of a church grounded in the Good News of God in Christ working together with fellow-Christians across the USA and around the world-for people of all ages and ethnicity or color.

And those 4 years were by far the worst 4 years of my life and If I had not resigned when I did I may well have died of a heart attack or similar at the age of 49.As mentioned above, a new president had been elected and he and his supporters were determined to get rid of any staff or point of view that was incoherent to their very fundamentalistic theology, centralized power, narrow vision of the church. I need not go into detail, I will simply state that when I was asked to sign a statement which forbade me to continue my work with non-LCMS Lutheran leaders, to never consider any biblical interpretation of Bible other than literal, to publicly pray only with LCMS Lutherans, to not attend Holy Communion anywhere other than in LCMS churches, etc. I could not accept those conditions of my employment and so I resigned. Tragically, I had also to terminate the calls to ministry of many staff members who had been faithful servants of the church.

In retrospect I am grateful for the experience even though I feel that I was unsuccessful in my attempt to bring reconciliation to a fractured church. I learned anew the powerful message which is central to my faith. God is love. God is good. God reaches out to all God’s children with grace acceptance and hope. That is the God I worship and the God who sustains and drives me and all that I undertake.

Reflection on a Long and Blessed Life No.67: Ann Arbor Life in the Late ‘60’s Part II

 As reflected upon in my previous BLOG my four years as Superintendent of Lutheran Schools of Michigan was a great experience. One aspect of that which I did not mention was that his was from 1968-72-years of great turmoil, unrest, assassinations, urban riots, weed-smoking long-haired college students etc. etc. Since Ann Arbor is, of course the home of the U of Michigan we were in the midst of it all. 

I remember seventeen year old son David agreeing that I could join him as we headed toward the U of M campus to experience my one and only rock concert. We were still quite a ways off when the aroma of smoking weed filled the atmosphere.

Peggy went to a public junior high. She said that she had to learn which girls’ bathroom to avoid and when to say “Hi” walking down a corridor and when to just look straight ahead. But she had found the one rest room, which was safe to use, and she always found that. On the other hand I recall a different very good experience with Peggy. It was a Saturday night and she had attended a house party with friends and when it was time to be over I drove and picked her up. As I watched he partygoers leave I noticed that the youth seemed to all be black-and a few Chinese. When Peggy got into the car I asked her, “Where you the only white person at this party?” She reflected for a moment, surprised by my question, and then said, “Yes, dad, I guess I was. I never noticed.”

Ann Arbor provided the first opportunity for son Tim to play Little League baseball and I was always impressed by the energy and enthusiasm he brought to that and to the basketball court of St. Paul’s Lutheran School. What he lacked in size he made up for with energy, zest and real commitment to the game. I also clearly recall two goals he had at the time, namely, to play on the U of M football team and to then also play in the U of M Marching Band for the half-time show. 

Liz had to endure a very authoritarian teacher who forced her into silence that was not over until she finally got Mrs. Foelber as her teacher and that was great. Liz’s flute-playing was exceptional and she was often in concerts

John had a ball as he joined his best friend Bruce as they explored and built fortresses in the big open-spaced field just across the street from our home. I also recall that once when he got bored in kindergarten he just left the campus walked the short distance away where he was sure that his brother David was doing some lawn maintenance

Jane kept on healing and fighting weight gain later to be discovered caused by a drug she was taking. She was always taking the kids to one place or another. It was great for her and me to head to Frankenmuth for some Zehnder’s chicken. She probably saved her neighbor’s life. One day little 4 year old Amy came over from next door crying “My mommy needs you !” Jane hurried over to discover that her Mom had, in fact, attempted suicide brought on by post-partum depression. Her life was saved.

A few years ago Jane and I revisited our home there-on Nixon St. We were thrilled to see the two little evergreen trees that Tim had planted. They were now (50 years later) fully grown and adding a stately presence to the entire back yard.

Reflections on a Long and Blessed Life No. 66: Superintendent of Michigan District Lutheran Schools Part I

 As I was nearing the end of my service on behalf of the EBENEZER Thankoffering I was very unsure as to what my next calling would be. Then suddenly I had two very attractive offers. The first came from Concordia University: Chicago.  It was a professor position in the education department with the quiet understanding that I would immediately complete my Ph.D. studies for which the University would provide funds. The indication was that a long-term assignment envisioned for me was a significant administrative position

The second call was to serve as Director of Christian Education and Superintendent of Lutheran Schools for the Michigan District of the LCMS.

It was a tough decision. I chose the later because I wanted a closer more direct connection with teachers and their schools. It was a good decision. My four years in Michigan were very satisfying and fulfilling.

I succeeded Dr. Sam Roth who had served the District for tens of years. He was great-and it was time for fresh blood and new energy. It was also extremely fortunate that the 2 associate director positions were open-and the District was very open to my in-put on who that would be.

I was blessed to work with three outstanding colleagues. Don Kell had been a very successful principal and his expertise was exactly in those areas where I felt weaker. Roland Boehnke had been a very successful parish pastor with special skills in relating to young adults. And Elinor Donohue continued in her role as Administrative Assistant and she was the best.

The District had 117 schools headed by 116 male and one female principal. They were always responsive and actually appreciated our visit to their schools-which they saw as support and not as threat.

I spent a great deal of time in government relations-always working with The Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools which included Lutheran, Catholic, many Christian and some independent schools. These contacts got me on a special education committee of the State Senate and eventually also an appointment with then President Nixon. Equally unusual was that I was probably the only Lutheran ever invited to attend a national meeting of all the Catholic bishops of the USA. 

The Lutheran schools shared a great diversity-ranging from the incredibly well designed, fully equipped, generously congregation funded, with all Lutheran students school of St. Lorenz in

Frankenmuth to Gethsemane Lutheran School in inner city Detroit with heavy black staff and student body-fully dependent upon tuition. The rest of the schools were everything in between. I had a special love for the urban schools and so it hurts me deeply to report that of the 17 Lutheran schools in Detroit, which we served then-not a single one is still in operation today. 

Another disappointment: We succeeded in getting the State legislature to approve financial subsidy for non-public schools and actually received our first very generous allocation. Then a constitutional amendment (Proposition C) to ban all aid to non-public schools was passed by a

state-wide referendum and we lost all further state funding.

A couple non-district positions, which I held during that time, included serving as the national Vice-Chair for the Citizens for Education Freedom Foundation and Chair of the Conference of Education Executives of the LCMS. There I worked with experts who are still remembered for their competence and dedication including Ben Eggers, Dean Dammann, Wally Hartkopf, Dick Engebrecht, Art Wittmer, Don Rosenberg, Ed Keuer, Eldor Kaiser, Willie Tewes and others.

We served congregations and schools small and large from inner-city Detroit to the smallest towns-and what still amazes me: I usually was there exactly on time-as the state of Michigan Highway Department did an incredible job of keeping the roads open even after a couple feet of snow fell unexpectedly.

Reflections On A Long And Satisfying Life No. 65: World Conference

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While winding down my assignments for EBENEZER I was blessed to concurrently be doing something else which had been a decade long dream of mine: organizing and chairing a World Conference on Lutheran Education with an emphasis on schools. With the support and generous funding from the Board for World Missions the gathering took place in Hong Kong in 1968.

After most insightful en- route stops in Lebanon and India I called the gathering to order at the Hong Kong International School in Hong Kong. Present were Lutheran school leaders from the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Ghana, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil and New Guinea. Top Lutheran education leaders of Lutheran constituents around the world including Martin Koehneke, James Mayer, Walter Wangerin, Francis Schaeffer, Delbert Schultz and Bruno Reith shared insights.

Powerful morning worship services at the beautiful new chapel of HKIS were coordinated by Walter Wangerin. A most inspiring aspect of each morning’s worship was that the entire group gathered in a circle around the altar and shared the Eucharist for which the words of consecration had been spoken in a different language by each person using his own native tongue.

Each country’s representative had the opportunity to speak of the successes and challenges of the Lutheran schools in their particular country. These varied greatly and ranged from very simple literacy efforts among the aborigines of New Guinea, through schools for lower caste poor people of India to the high American university admission standards of HKIS. Daily Bible studies were led by Koehneke. At the conclusion of the conference the representatives adopted a “Manifesto on Christian Education.”

Hong Kong was the ideal site for this event. Visas were easily procured. The beautiful Repulse Bay Hotel was perfect for lodging and breakfast and was within walking distance at the HKIS meeting site. The entire group shared a most enlightening tour of the Lutheran Schools of Hong Kong which included the prestigious Concordia Lutheran School and the very humble roof-top Boys and Girl Clubs…and ended with all doing their best at utilizing the chop sticks provided for a sumptuous 12 course closing Chinese feast. 

Tragically a few years later a new Mission Board disagreed with the Manifesto and broke off all official relations with many of the fellow Lutherans who had attended the conference. Yet for a few shining days Lutherans from around the world gathered and supported one another in their shared goal of building schools designed to ensure that each student had the opportunity to encounter a loving God who had come to set them free and desired that each one more nearly become all that God intended them to be.