Some of you have been following this story every since I posted about it last week. Since then Jud Lounsbury, the author of the two stories about Walker and tongues-speaking at The Progressive, has joined the discussion in the comments section of the post. So has Dave, a former member of Elmbrook Church and someone whose theological sensibility on these matters I respect. Dave has sniffed out some of the problems with the Lounsbury stories. Here is his comment:
I’m kind of late to the conversation, but since I was a member of Elmbrook for several years, and have maintained several friendships despite moving away, I was very surprised by what I read here. Speaking in tongues was not a practice at Elmbrook, nor at any of its sister churches when we we there. I believe Mr. Lounsbury has some unfortunate wires crossed here. There are two Meadowbrook churches in Wisconsin, and they both have websites. The one in Wauwatosa (a suburb of Milwaukee) has a website that can be found at www.mbctosa.org. The website for the church in Green Bay can be found at www.themeadowbrookchurch.com. Mr. Lounsbury weaves back and forth in quoting the Milwaukee Journal article and the church website, so it’s hard in this comment to isolate them, but all the doctrinal statements that are backed up by expired links in the article match quite well with the doctrinal statements on the website of the Green Bay church. If that is the church Governor Walker goes to, then Mr. Lounsbury has a point. But if Walker goes to the church in Wauwatosa, then I would say that the statements about that church’s beliefs and practices are not accurate (specifically the roles of women, and speaking in tongues).
I should add here that Walker attends the Wauwatosa church.
After I wrote my original article, Meadowbrook wiped-clean their website. It may still be available on some cached sites, I don't know. The Daily Banter also wrote about it before they cleaned the site: http://thedailybanter.com/2015/02/scott-walkers-church-members-speak-tongues/
In addition, Elmbrook, (Meadowbrook's parent church) has confirmed to me, by email, that they do in fact speak in tongues during their prayer sessions.
And they say on their website: “In this half day “experience” we will be intentional in turning our focus to the Presence of God through different styles of prayer including liturgical, traditional and charismatic.”
http://www.elmbrook.org/event/2013-10-12-a-prayer-experience/
The Elmbrook event link is another dead link. Who emailed you from Elmbrook? I would like to confirm what's going on. I was a member there for many years and never once encountered what you are writing about.
Meadowbrook's Statement of Faith certainly looks more like a traditional evangelical one rather than a charismatic one. However, there appears to have been a recent leadership change there, and John Mackett is no longer the Pastor. A link from the internet Archive gives Mackett's bio: https://web.archive.org/web/20130623011100/http://www.meadowbrook-church.com/about/staff.cfm. The bio mentions that he served as an adjunct at The King’s Seminary (Van Nuys, CA), which is associated with the moderate charismatic Jack Hayford: http://www.tku.edu/about-tku/. I don't know if that is qualifying evidence or not. It's possible there are charismatic and non-charismatic factions within the church.
MD: Thanks for this. It seems like Mackett is the key here. Perhaps he did promote tongues-speaking. His Pentecostal credentials seem legit, but it still surprises me that an Elmbrook Church would hire him.
I still think that it is a bit disingenuous to claim that the “Brook” churches are Pentecostal and somehow use this to attack Walker. The Banter article reference to Meadowbrook as a “Pentecostal” outfit seems a bit much.
I still think that it is a bit disingenuous to claim that the “Brook” churches are Pentecostal and somehow use this to attack Walker. The Banter article reference to Meadowbrook as a “Pentecostal” outfit seems a bit much.
Even if Walker is Pentecostal, and does “pray in tongues”* ain't nobody's business but his own.
http://www.gotquestions.org/praying-in-tongues.html