"Confidential" Letter Supports Wenthe For LCMS President

By: Rev. Jack Cascione

1. Commentary on the "Confidential" Letter
2. Text of the "Confidential" Letter
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A recent letter supporting Dean Wenthe for LCMS President is just confidential enough that Reclaim News has received a copy.  Now thousands will also have a copy of the "confidential" letter that may not have been intended to be all that confidential.

Good men may disagree on candidates and politics.  The letter has the printed, not signed, names of six good men.

Who sent the letter?  Our source says it came from Tom Baker.

Why send the letter? If Dean Wenthe were the obvious conservative candidate, there would be no need to send the letter.  However, a small group of good men are concerned that Preus will be the choice for LCMS conservatives even though a recent poll of conservatives shows that Preus has a two to one lead over Wenthe.

In 2001, Preus was clearly the more popular candidate which is why the Chicago meeting of the LCA couldn't afford to poll its membership on their choice for LCMS President.  Rather, a small group of men, including Tom Baker, picked Dean Wenthe as the LCMS Presidential candidate and he lost.

In 2004, the same thing will happen again if the small group of good men picks Dean Wenthe.

Preus received more votes for LCMS Vice President than Kieschnick did for President.  Dean Wenthe lost the election for the Presidency and four successive elections for each of the remaining four vice-presidential seats.

In 2004, Gerald Kieschnick will be a much stronger candidate than he was in 2001.

Whatever the logic of the small group of good men, they don't consider that if Kieschnick is reelected, all of the current vice-presidents, including Preus, will be voted out of office except Paul Maier.

It was a small group of men who were confident that they could place the future of the Synod on the lone heartbeat of A. L. Barry for nine years, without lining up any viable candidates to replace him.

It was a small group of good men who choose to ignore all the information about PLI and Texas District President Gerald Kieschnick's support for PLI. The information about PLI was sent to every 1998 LCMS delegate in a book titled "Reclaiming the Gospel in the LCMS."

Now, instead of waiting for the congregations to select the most popular conservative candidate, the small group of good men is going to split the conservatives again with the same candidate.

Three years later, the small group of good men is more interested in supporting a candidate who lost five elections instead of the LCMS First Vice President.  Such is the logic of insider LCMS politics.



CONFIDENTIAL

March 2003

Fellow Pastors and Concerned Laity:

Lententide greetings to each of you.  As we make our way to the foot of the cross, the importance of confessing the crucified Christ as the only way to the Father's mercy has never been greater.  The health of the church and the salvation of countless souls are dependent upon this Gospel.

As we reflected on this central and foundational need of the church, we wanted strongly to commend for your prayer and consideration the names of Dr. Dean Wenthe for President of Synod and Rev. Daniel Preus for First Vice President of Synod.

Only the Lord knows what His church will experience in the coming months, but we recommend these names for your support when the faithful confession of the Gospel is so urgently needed.

If you would like to learn more on our rational for these choices, please do not hesitate to call anyone of us and we would be glad to share our reasons for them.

Yours in Christ,

Dr. Robert T. Kuhn
Dr. Paul Zimmerman
Rev. David Anderson
Rev. David Dissen
Mr. David Hawk
Mr. Walter Dissen

April 3, 2003