Mollie Z. Hemingway over at Steadfast Lutherans has a post that brings to light the fact that KFUO’s new budget is $3,761,960, a whole $71,168 increase over prior year. Mollie reminds us that the whole reason for the cancellation of Issues, Etc. was to save money as the program was 40% of the AM station’s deficit.
Now that they have cut Issues, Etc. shouldn’t their operating budget be, oh I don’t know, lower than last year. I guess LCMS, Inc. believes they will need to spend money to save money.
Another interesting point brought up in the comments by Mark Dowell is LCMS’s budgetary changes as a percentage in various categories without the inclusion of Ablaze! funding:
Budget Categories % Change
Missions 94%
KFUO 110%
Ecclesiastical Services & Commissions 128%
Synodical Officers & Administration 125%
General & Administrative 145%
Higher Education (Pastoral & University) 87%
District & Congregational Services 102%
Communications 125%
Human Care 84%
Note the decreases in missions, human care, and higher education of church workers all the while the corporation that is LCMS, Inc. grows.
My Mom's sitting here with me and she says, "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians."
ReplyDeleteNo kidding. I want an explanation of the increase in "general administration."
The whole purpose of any corporation is to grow itself. This is the way things work in the secular world as well and we shouldn’t be surprised that the LCMS is doing what it’s doing given all the other indicators.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that I thought of when I saw the numbers was that it takes money to make money. LCMS has been paying a lot of money for consultants and not just at the synodical level. There is no doubt that some consultant somewhere has told somebody that leadership comes from the top and all of LCMS, Inc.’s problems could be solved with more leaders leading. I can’t know the verbiage that was used but that was undoubtedly the case made. If it works in the business world…
As always, Mom's right. Yeah Mom!