This was a great interview. I was never involved in athletics at CUAA, but I am grateful for the amazing environment that coaches like Chance were essential in cultivating. As a music and theology student, I saw how essential the recruitment and cooperation between athletics and other departments was, especially for our amazing music ensembles (which had many athletes in them), and for evangelism and ministry. I’m looking forward to the interview with Bishop Hardy! He’s a good man who surely has a different perspective on these issues than a lot of your guests. It might also be fruitful to ask him about English District involvement in CUAA both historically and especially during this crisis, since he was president there until a few months ago. As a member of an English District church, didn’t see the same sort of push to support CUAA as in the Michigan District during the last year, which seems uncharacteristic historically to me. Could be an interesting topic to discuss.
I’m very concerned about the lack of candor and communication coming from Synod Headquarters over the direction of our Concordia University System and viability of the existing campuses. From what I gather it looks to me as if the Synod wants total control of the system without any financial responsibility or even accountability. I am concerned where the asset money is going from the sale of Portland, Selma, Bronxville, and the endowments and gifts.
Portland, Selma, and Bronxville were essentially asset-less when they closed, so the sale of their physical plants went to pay off the debt they accrued. Selma sold for peanuts because the value of the campus was minimal. Bronxville was in debt up to their eyeballs. And Portland made a deal with the devil to start an online program which doomed them financially. They're currently being sued for 300 million dollars - Google "Concordia Portland lawsuit" for details. As for endowments, the Concordias have always been notoriously under-endowed. There are no deep endowments to speak of, nor have there ever been.
I pray for the maturity and ability to put the best construction on the comments and concerns of fellow Christians, and especially other Lutherans, but this “Lutheran Identity” debate is pure nonsense. The concerns of some in our synod are born of fear - fear of losing power and influence in a synod that necessarily needs to evolve into something that has other organizational goals in addition to offering Word and Sacrament to the descendants of German and Scandinavian immigrants. Establishing and maintaining universities, churches, and the other institutions of synod is hard. Destroying them is easy. The call is coming from inside the house, and if we continue to treat people who are motivated by fear as if we are all walking together in Christ, then we won’t have anything left by the time they are done.
I am not a big proponent of sports departments at the Concordia Universities. I think it is a worldly pursuit. I did not realize so many non-Lutherans attended the Concordia Universities through the sports programs. I think it is a bad environment to have either non-Lutherans or it sounds like even non-Christians in certain situations involved in a close Christian community for higher-learning. Does this not conflict with worldly actions? What about the warning, "a little leaven works through the whole batch". It is a corrupting influence and an unwise decision. Has Concordia compromised their "core" standard of belief? This is a very clever deception that hurts the institution and God's people.
This was a great interview. I was never involved in athletics at CUAA, but I am grateful for the amazing environment that coaches like Chance were essential in cultivating. As a music and theology student, I saw how essential the recruitment and cooperation between athletics and other departments was, especially for our amazing music ensembles (which had many athletes in them), and for evangelism and ministry.
I’m looking forward to the interview with Bishop Hardy! He’s a good man who surely has a different perspective on these issues than a lot of your guests. It might also be fruitful to ask him about English District involvement in CUAA both historically and especially during this crisis, since he was president there until a few months ago. As a member of an English District church, didn’t see the same sort of push to support CUAA as in the Michigan District during the last year, which seems uncharacteristic historically to me. Could be an interesting topic to discuss.
I’m very concerned about the lack of candor and communication coming from Synod Headquarters over the direction of our Concordia University System and viability of the existing campuses. From what I gather it looks to me as if the Synod wants total control of the system without any financial responsibility or even accountability. I am concerned where the asset money is going from the sale of Portland, Selma, Bronxville, and the endowments and gifts.
keep asking questions. The students, staff and church at large need to know what is going on!!! Jesus needs to be preeminent!! Not Synod.
Portland, Selma, and Bronxville were essentially asset-less when they closed, so the sale of their physical plants went to pay off the debt they accrued. Selma sold for peanuts because the value of the campus was minimal. Bronxville was in debt up to their eyeballs. And Portland made a deal with the devil to start an online program which doomed them financially. They're currently being sued for 300 million dollars - Google "Concordia Portland lawsuit" for details.
As for endowments, the Concordias have always been notoriously under-endowed. There are no deep endowments to speak of, nor have there ever been.
I pray for the maturity and ability to put the best construction on the comments and concerns of fellow Christians, and especially other Lutherans, but this “Lutheran Identity” debate is pure nonsense. The concerns of some in our synod are born of fear - fear of losing power and influence in a synod that necessarily needs to evolve into something that has other organizational goals in addition to offering Word and Sacrament to the descendants of German and Scandinavian immigrants. Establishing and maintaining universities, churches, and the other institutions of synod is hard. Destroying them is easy. The call is coming from inside the house, and if we continue to treat people who are motivated by fear as if we are all walking together in Christ, then we won’t have anything left by the time they are done.
I am not a big proponent of sports departments at the Concordia Universities. I think it is a worldly pursuit. I did not realize so many non-Lutherans attended the Concordia Universities through the sports programs. I think it is a bad environment to have either non-Lutherans or it sounds like even non-Christians in certain situations involved in a close Christian community for higher-learning. Does this not conflict with worldly actions? What about the warning, "a little leaven works through the whole batch". It is a corrupting influence and an unwise decision. Has Concordia compromised their "core" standard of belief? This is a very clever deception that hurts the institution and God's people.