The Religion News Service had this one sentence report in its "Wednesday's roundup" :
Speaking of Tea Parties, the anti-establishment insurgency that could give Republicans control of Congress also ousted the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; incumbent Gerald Kieschnick was depicted as a power-hungry megachurch wannabe, and delegates elected the church's disaster response chief in his place.
The author of the quote is obviously someone who wants to sell "newspapers" by using journalistic sensationalism. I don't think it's at all accurate to depict the people who voted for Rev. Harrison as anti-establishment, nor would I call President Kieschnick a "power-hungry megachurch wannabe."
HT: Johannes
5 comments:
Clue me in -- what is the establishment in the LCMS? The delegates voted for sweeping changes, yet voted for a conservative, confessional president. I think it is more of a realistic vote, if we can tolerate realism in the church. We need to focus on the ministries we want to emphasize, while in the constraints of the budget we have. Hopefully, congenial leadership means we will have more contributions. The Synod needs all of our prayers.
"and delegates elected the church's disaster response chief in his place"
Is the Religion News Service implying that the outgoing administration has been a disaster?
I added another paragraph of my own thoughts after the quote. I really don't think there's anything accurate about the quote - the author is either biased or just trying to "sell newspapers." It doesn't seem to me that there's ever been a group of people in the LCMS who had an anti-establishment attitude - that would mitigate against the two kingdoms (unless maybe it was the Seminex walkouts). And I wouldn't portray President Kieschnick the way the article portrayed him either.
First it was sports reporters trying to be political commentators. Now it's a religion reporter using the language of the Left Hand Kingdom to describe our Convention. I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised.
It's a lot like having a reporter who's not a pilot write a story on something related to aviation - it just doesn't quite work. Although in this case it's mainly just journalistic sensationalism.
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