We recently received a letter of "shock" from the Indiana District President in response to our article titled "Traditional LCMS Mission Congregation Keeps Growing." This article includes President Sims' letter and our reply.

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INDIANA DISTRICT
The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod
1145 S. Barr St.
District Office
Ft. Wayne, IN 46802
2I6-423-1511
800-837-1145

June 20, 2000

Rev. Herman Otten
Editor Christian News
3271 Boeuf Lutheran Rd.
New Haven, MO 63068-2213

Dear Rev. Otten,

Greetings in the name of our Resurrected Lord!

I read with shock and surprise your front-page article on "Traditional Mission Congregation Growing" the week of June 19, 2000. Somebody didn't check the facts and the article is a perfect example of false information. Let me clarify the facts for you:

1. Advent Lutheran Church had its beginnings as a deliberate plan of Carmel Lutheran Church to mother new mission starts over a ten-year period. Carmel, a growing congregation in its own right, was blessed by our Lord, and today there are a thriving, growing congregations at Geist, (Holy Cross); Fishers (Family in Christ); Zionsville, (Advent); and Westfield, (Lord of Life). Carmel Lutheran provided tremendous support (financial and members) to ALL of these new mission starts on the northern rim of Indianapolis.

2. An aside, I would have loved to be the pastor who received $75,000 to preach the sermon at their first service.

3. What shocked me the most was the paragraph on Page 13 that stated, "There was little support from the Indiana District Office..." Let me describe for you the little support received from the District:

a. All appropriate grants for mission work were given (not loaned) to Advent: Building and Worker grants totaling $80,000.

b. No district executive ever said that you won't grow without contemporary worship.

c. The District President, Mission Executive and LCEF Vice President went to bat for Advent when they didn't meet all the criteria for receiving a multi-million dollar loan for their building. The loan was granted as a result of those district office efforts.

d. The District President and Mission Executive always speak of Advent as one of the good, growing missions of the Indiana District.

e. Advent was promoted by the district to such an extent that its building and property received an award at the LCEF conference in San Diego last November. They are one of the congregations publicized on the LCEF Website.

f. The district provided interest support to Advent for some time at a cost of $31,700 to the district.

g. I would be safe in saying that Advent Lutheran Church has more support from the district, in every way, than any of the other mission starts of the district, to the tune of $23,700 extra. Not to mention the spiritual, moral, and prayer support we have given.

h. We applaud Advent's growth and use of traditional worship, architecture, hymnals, liturgy, etc. The means of Grace are responsible for all growth, and for that we give all Glory to God.

i. By the way, none of our growing churches or missions have buildings that resemble warehouses and auditoriums. And all of our congregations are held to the standards of their constitutions in regards to worship and doctrinally pure hymnbooks; Article III, 7 of the Synodical Constitution.

Rev. Fiene and the members of Advent have always been supportive of the District and Synod and we have worked well together in the ministry that our Lord has given us.

It would be good for you to check the veracity of the articles submitted to you before publishing them. The lack of accuracy article brings into question the accuracy and truthfulness of all other articles in your publication.

Here's to truth in journalism.

In His service,
Rev. Timothy Sims
President

cc. Rev. Jack Cascione
Rev. William Hosemann
Rev. Arleigh Lutz
Rev. John Fiene

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Dear President Sims:

You may be shocked and saddened but there are no errors in fact in the article titled, "Traditional LCMS Mission Congregation Keeps Growing."

The church in Zionsville resulted from my brother, at that time a member of Carmel Lutheran Church, asking the Voters' Assembly of Carmel for funds to start a mission congregation in Zionsville. The amount of support from Carmel is a reported $300.00 per month for a little more than a year, for a total of $4,000.00. One of the members of Carmel who is now a member of Advent in Zionsville convinced the Voters to give that support.

The mission at Zionsville began with my brother's, and not the Indiana District's or Carmel's, initiative. The two other laymen at Carmel who convinced the Voters' Assembly to give my brother's mission congregation their support really picked up the ball and worked hard for Advent's growth and success.

One of them, whose son is now the Mayor of Indianapolis, has personally overseen the location and building of the congregation and accomplished a phenomenal amount of work for Advent without seeking any credit for himself. Perhaps you should consider mentioning the outstanding work of laypeople at Advent. Some laypeople will go to great lengths to keep their hymnbooks and traditional worship. Without these laypeople we clergy wouldn't have anything to talk about.

I never said the Indiana District didn't give financial support to Advent Lutheran Church. I said there was little support, meaning there was little support for the traditional worship, hymnbooks, and liturgy at Advent.

District Executive Dubbelde, a very helpful fellow, informed my brother that the church wouldn't grow that fast if they used hymnbooks. He also encouraged a call list of pastors who supported Church Growth, and tried to block the call to Pastor John Fiene.

Fiene was the pastor of a church in Connecticut. He was the inspiration for the adaptation of the award winning New England architecture of Advent Lutheran Church.

I see now that you write: "We applaud Advent's growth and use of traditional worship, architecture, hymnals liturgy, etc. The means of Grace are responsible for all growth, and for that we give all Glory to God."

This is an outstanding statement. We wish that all of the LCMS District Presidents, who are now unanimously supporting PLI, including you, would write like this.

You reference Carmel's support for "Lord of Life Lutheran Church" and "Family of Christ Lutheran Church." You know very well that both of these congregations promote contemporary worship. Do you applaud these as well?

You referred to Article III.7 of the LCMS Constitution but you do not reference Article VI.4 which reads, as a condition of membership, "Exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks, and catechisms in church and school."

It appears your comments supporting the worship "style" of Lutheran congregations depends on the moment, to whom you are speaking, and the desired effect.

You haven't shown nearly the shock to the writings of Paul Bretcher in your District as you have shown to my one article.

Be prepared for another shock. Your District Executive, Larry Jung, who is as confused on the facts of Zionsville as are you, lists himself as having two titles, Executive for Finance and Vice President LCEF Indiana District. Isn't this a conflict of interest?

According to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors (317 956 1912), referred to me by the Indiana Board of Licensing for the Indiana Realestate Commission (317-232-2980), it is a conflict of interest for a paid officer of a corporation holding the title Executive for Finance to also be the Vice President of Lutheran Church Extension Fund that lends the funds and approves the loans. Isn't Jung receiving a commission from LCEF while also being paid by the Indiana District?

I hope you answer Rev. Herman Otten's questions about Dr. Paul Bretcher, whose writings you don't seem to find nearly as shocking as mine.

Sincerely
Pastor Jack Cascione

July 16, 2000