On the other hand, his proposed school is not going to compete with a Concordia. By his own admission, he's using New Saint Andrews and Wyoming Catholic as his models. Neither of those schools competes with BC or Notre Dame. They are there for a very unique set of students. LCC will do the same. (BTW, LCC will not be "super majority" Lutheran, but *exclusively* Lutheran.*) There is only one course of study. No social workers with a Christian/Lutheran ethos will be graduating from there. No Lutheran DCEs, Parish musicians, or teachers. No theatre majors. And it's going to be small. First, by intention; he only wants a certain size population and then they'll build a new school somewhere. Second, by interest. There aren't going to be that many students who have that strong of an interest in a college like that.
*I found it interesting that the applicants will have to sign a statement subscribing to all Lutheran doctrine in order to get in. I personally struggled with infant baptism for about three years at the end of high school and early college. I don't think I could have signed any such document at the time. From what I can tell, LCC wouldn't have wanted me to attend. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.
Report to moderator Logged
I don't know what "report to moderator logged means at the end, Jim (??), but the ACELC link remains as clear as a bell - it is directed specifically at the Concordias, and specifically utilizes the maxim "bad company corrupts good morals" as a way to encourage people to ditch the Concordias for the new entry. Whatever the bishop and founder of the new school states is or may be one thing. But presumably he has allowed the ACELC to present this on their website in the way they present it, which is as a direct ditch encouragement. What would you take from "bad company corrupts good morals?"
If the Preus family wants to establish an independent school - and I was on record stating that they have that option - then do so, but not by poaching by intimation that the Concordias are somehow less authentically Lutheran. By allowing the ACELC outlet to publish his thoughts in the way they frame it, the two are linked. Plus the encouragement from the Praesidium of Synod level.
Anyway, when I think of "exclusively" Lutheran it doesn't mean denominational adherence. That's not the Preus way. It's doctrinal adherence. So somebody not Lutheran in denominational affiliation but Lutheran in the sense of the doctrinal position could attend. Which I think is the right way to go for them. If they believe a lot of folks are LINO (Lutheran in Name Only), then the standard should be adherence to the doctrinal positions outlined. By them. Agree or disagree, that's what you're going to get then. I disagree, by the way, because my belief is that the Concordias have authentically Lutheran teaching, and yet the Concordias may not line up completely with what the new school is going to propound. The way the ACELC article talks about it, the Concordia problem is one of infection. The non-Lutherans are infecting the Concordias; hard to see, hard to trace, and then - boom - a pandemic.
Dave Benke
I agree that ACELC post is trying to redirect potential students from the Concordias to this new school. My point is that the new school is not trying to be another, better Concordia. It is offering a different educational model. If Trinity Lutheran tries to get members of Faith Lutheran to transfer, that is just straight up competition. If Lutheran Homeschool Collective tries to convince parochial school families at Faith and Trinity that homeschooling is a better option, that is a different kind of thing.
The Concordias often don't help themselves when it comes to appealing to LCMS students. My congregation in Green Bay had a couple of really sharp high school students interested in going to a Christian school. One of them was a niece of an LCMS DP, I believe, and they had deep roots. She toured Mequon and came away completely unimpressed because the college student tour guide was not a Christian, didn't seem to think the Christian element was important, and kept on talking to the high school kids like the real attraction was the Milwaukee night life. I talked her parents into giving it another shot, so they toured again. Same thing. She ended up going to an Evangelical college out of state.
Here in Munster we have strong CUC and Valpo connections, being less than an hour from both. Our CUC-connected families were not at all amused by the facebook video last year of the nincompoop professor making a scene while getting arrested on campus. They want to know how on earth anyone at CUC thought it was a good idea to hire that guy. As for Valpo, well, symbolic and highly public things like changing the mascot from Crusader to Beacons out of PC deference simply irritate the die-hards. They are unforced errors or own-goals that make a lot of people look around and think that someplace a little (or a lot) more intentional about its religious purpose is for them.
