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You may be wondering what "Extravaganza" is. The ELCA Youth Ministry Network website tells us it is "...the annual gathering of children, youth and family ministry leaders from across the ELCA." (see here)
So it is a conference for people in the ELCA who teach youth of all ages. Below are a few of the workshops at last weeks Extravaganza 2023: 
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(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
As the newly installed first “pastor of public witness” of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bolz-Weber is controversial. She led 31,000 ELCA teenagers to repeat the words “I renounce the lie the queerness is anything other than beauty”. She frequently uses the F word and exposed children to a drag queen in a program at her former church. Bolz-Weber presented Gloria Steinem with a golden vagina sculpture to thank Steinem for her feminist work. The sculpture was made from melted-down purity rings that women from around the country sent to Bolz-Weber. Bolz-Weber denies that Christ died in our place to pay for our sins since she believes that would be divine child abuse on the part of God the Father. And this is the person the ELCA is elevating to be the public face of the ELCA. You can’t make this stuff up. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock ELCA’s pastor of public witness told her teen daughter she can stay overnight with her boyfriend11/1/2021
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
When her 18-year-old daughter asked to stay overnight with her boyfriend, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, newly installed “pastor of public witness” of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said “I want you to love sex, sweetie…I want you to be comfortable in your body and learn what it desires and how to communicate that to your lovers. So start that process now. Know your body. Speak up for what you want or don’t want. That will serve you your whole life.” Divorced Pastor Bolz-Weber has publicly talked about how she enjoys sex with her boyfriend, so it is not surprising she told her teenage daughter she could spend the night. She didn’t tell her daughter to wait until she is married someday. She talked to her instead about having “lovers“: “I want you to choose well, and to treat your lovers with respect and concern. And I hope for your faith to be a part of your sexuality and vice versa. Also, you know that high you feel with Justin? It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. But I want you to understand that if it goes badly or if and when you break up, there may be a commensurate low. And it will feel awful. But that doesn’t mean something is wrong”. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says that sex outside of marriage is wrong and that “fornicators will not inherit the Kingdom of God”. But Bolz-Weber is the person the ELCA makes their “pastor of public witness“. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock PS. Here is the full article from Bolz-Weber: https://www.christiancentury.org/article/first-person/talking-my-children-about-sex-without-shame The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continually demonstrates their departure from Biblical Truth and Christianity, as they encourage people to embrace and participate in sin. On Easter Sunday, the Salt House, a mission congregation of the ELCA, gave out Easter Sunday kits (gift bags) that included lotion. Pastor Sara Wolbrecht gave instructions for using the lotion during the Easter service saying: "I invite you to feel the joy of your body today by embracing the pleasure your body provides. So here is some lotion to moisturize and care for your body. You are also commissioned to enjoy the pleasure of your body today. Whether with your partner or on your own. That's right, pleasure yourself and/or your partner today. You heard that right. This is also what resurrection joy can look like in our bodies. Okay? Enjoy." (See video below beginning at the 24:50 mark) Help Exposing the ELCA continue this ministry by raising $75,000, an amount many ELCA pastors make in one year. Gifts can be given by credit card, or PayPal at www.paypal.com/paypalme/exposingtheelca. If you'd like to give by check send me a message (here) for more information. Salt House is an ELCA church in Washington state that is "partially funded by a grant from the ELCA's Congregational and Synodical Mission," (see here). The Salt House says it is about "radical welcome," which they describe this way: "We want to take this opportunity to be completely clear about what “radical welcome” looks like here at Salt House by answering a few simple questions:
  A Facebook post by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor Lura Groen refers to Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well as an attempt by Jesus to sexually seduce the woman. ELCA pastor Groen has rewritten the story to better reflect what she believes was really happening.  (Also see Rev. Groen's FB post here) This is heretical and demonic. The fact that Rev. Groen's view of scripture and Christ is allowed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says all you need to know about the denomination. It is time for you and your loved ones to depart from the ELCA, and please consider sharing this with others who also need to know about the realities of the ELCA.
Pacific Lutheran University is holding their Ninth Annual Lutheran Studies Conference, which they call "Naked and Unashamed: Sex, Shame and Faith." Pacific Lutheran University's website says:
"The conference itself provides tools and national experts on religion, churches and current political landscapes that influence our discussions of sexuality and identity. A session will review one church tradition, the ELCA, for its social statements on abortion, sexuality and gender justice. We will also explore ways spirituality and religion may heal or hinder a healthy sense of sexuality." See here.
Nadia Bolz-Weber, an ELCA pastor, will be the evening speaker for the conference. Rev. Bolz-Weber is widely known and embraced by the ELCA despite her heretical teachings and disgusting words and actions. (See here)
Another speaker at PLU's conference will be Dr. Mary Streufert, the ELCA Director for Justice for Women from the Office of the ELCA's Presiding Bishop. Dr. Streufert reportedly once presented images of a female Jesus during the "Faith and Feminism – Womanist – Mujerista Conference" (see here) held at the goddess worshiping ELCA congregation known as "herchurch." The title of Dr. Streufert's presentation was "Jesus Christ Beyond the Divide: A Christian Feminist Proposal."
Dr. Streufert as well as Dr. Mary Lowe, from Augsburg University, will collaborate, presenting "Gender Justice and Faith: 2019 ELCA Social Statement.” The description of this presentation indicates, "...they will introduce three themes in the statement: sexism as sin, intersectionality as an approach to the problem of sexism, and the ELCA’s ongoing effort to view sex and gender in non-binary ways." (See here and below) 
Opening remarks of the conference will be by Dr. Marit A. Trelstad, PLU Chair of Lutheran Studies and Professor of Constructive and Lutheran Theologies at PLU. (See here) Pastor Jen Rude, of PLU Campus Ministry, will be speaking at another session. She is openly gay and the former program director for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. (See here)
The morning of the conference there will be a pre-conference where the "Focus of this time will be to review the content of ELCA Social Statements on Abortion (1991), Human Sexuality (2009) and Gender Justice (2019) and to discuss their implementation/impact and current issues congregations are facing in terms of gender and justice in their congregations...We may also have representatives from Extraordinary Ministries and Reconciling Works present as ELCA-focused ministries." (See here) Extraordinary Ministries and Reconciling Works are pro-LGBT organizations.
Below is an article by our friend Rev. Tom Brock with more details about the conference:
A few days ago a show by Bancroft TV was posted on Youtube titled "Being Polygamous And Christian Is Not A Sin | LOVE DON’T JUDGE."
The show spotlights two women and a man who are a "throuple" - or having a sexual relationship between three people. Appearing on the show is Leila Ortiz, who was elected this summer as bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod. (Rev. Ortiz was previously Assistant to the Bishop in the same ELCA synod.) Ortiz is interviewed, after we are told by the narrator that the trouple, “Having been asked to leave their Pentecostal church... went in search of a church that would accept their relationship." ELCA Bishop elect Leila Ortiz then recounted their meeting and her learning about their polygamous relationship:
“There’s still many people who would be scandalized and would even be scandalized by my acceptance of them. And that’s okay, that’s okay. I’m very grounded in my faith.”
This is an ELCA bishop proclaiming support for polygamous relationships. Polygamy is against God's will as He clearly outlined in Scripture. (See here) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become so opposed to the Truth of God's Word that threesomes are fine. This is where the ELCA is headed and it will continue to get worse.
The following post is from ELCA pastor Lura N. Groen: 
Pastor Reported to Have Taken Others Shopping For Sex Toys, Was In Town Speaking At ELCA Seminary7/27/2019
Rev. Dr. Amy Butler got in some trouble recently. The pastor at Riverside Church in Manhattan (not ELCA), was in the Twin Cities speaking at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Luther Seminary for the 2019 Festival of Homiletics: Preaching and Moral Imagination. Not long after, the New York Post reported "Pastor out at famed Riverside Church after sex toy shopping spree." (See here)
When not shopping, Rev. Dr. Amy Butler addressed those gathered at Luther Seminary saying "The story of Noah and the arc is pretty much a terrible story…The plotline centers around a natural disaster that destroys the whole world…and God is a terrible character in this story.” Read a summary of what Rev. Butler said here.
This all began with a podcast about polyamory. "Polyamory...is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the consent of all partners involved." (See here) Invited to speak on the podcast was "theologian" J.D. R. Mechelke, an ELCA Luther Seminary student who is getting his M.A. and is also a high school youth minister for an ELCA church.
The headlines are numerous with this one so let's dive in and take a look at what this ELCA seminary student had to say, beginning with this blasphemous quote: - "Some would say that the Last Supper, Jesus is proposing to the 12 friends and so it's very gay and very polyamorous." Here is J.D. Mechelke's full statement beginning with a question from the podcast host:  More from the ELCA seminarian: - "In the evangelical world, there are a lot of the songs and prayers that are used talk about, there's this very intimate, individualistic relationship that people have with God and it's very erotic sometimes. My favorite example is this old song. It's not old, but '90s, "In the secret and the quiet place, I want to touch you. I want to see the--" "You start to think, 'That's kind of erotic and yet it's evangelical.' It's that we're doing that, which is fine. There are queer theologians that are taking that and saying, 'Maybe we have this erotic thing going on with Jesus.' Also thinking about it, 'This is my body.' You're taking somebody's body in your mouth, and so there's some phallic-." - "There's this idea of the polyamorous crisis that's gained traction, but usually the safe way to say it is that God loves everybody. This isn't very safe to say, but God's a total slut in that sense." - "Oh, God, I love when Jesus says 'bush'...I don't think of the burning bush, I think of something else."  (I believe the ELCA seminary student misspoke or there was a transcribing error in the second paragraph, and the first sentence that should say "...there's this guideline for pastors basically that says you can [not] have sex outside of marriage.") If you are wondering what church would be most welcoming to polyamory, J.D. Mechelke answers: "If a church is openly for gay and queer folk, my guess is that you probably won't have that much push back (on) polyamory..." See here for transcript or see the video below) (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Reverend Nadia Bolz-Weber, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and speaker at the ELCA Youth Gathering, has stated publicly that she enjoys having sex outside of marriage with her boyfriend. She signed a statement by a group of ELCA leaders called “Naked and Unashamed” which wants to overthrow the old 1990 ELCA rules that said pastors should not have sex outside of marriage. The ELCA bishops are presently working on a new set of standards for ELCA clergy to reflect the fact that the ELCA now ordains practicing homosexuals. The bishops state:: “We express our profound grief and deep regret for the times when Vision and Expectations (the 1990 rules) has been misused to single out, marginalize, and block people seeking to be leaders in this church when their peers were not always held to the same vision and expectations. This has caused considerable pain that has disproportionately been borne by those who have been historically marginalized or excluded from leadership in the church because of their gender, sexuality, race, or status. We apologize to those whose treatment under this document has made them feel targeted and less than the beloved children of God that they are.” I think this means, in part, that the bishops feel bad for not supporting practicing homosexual pastors and their partners in the past. That all changed in 2009 when the ELCA voted to allow non-celibate homosexual pastors. The proposed new statement reads that “Those who serve as (ELCA) pastors and deacons reflect a variety of sexual orientations and diverse gender identities…the greatest sexual intimacies should be matched with marriage. Pastors and deacons, as public witnesses to this church’s respect for marriage, are therefore to live in accordance with the understanding that deepening degrees of sexual intimacy are aligned with deepening levels of commitment to one another and the relationship. Such relationships are to be exclusive, monogamous, consensual, and in the ELCA, require marriage before cohabitation for those serving as pastors and deacons.” Thus, in this new statement, cohabitation (living together) is forbidden for ELCA pastors. I believe this means that a homosexual pastor living with a partner in a sexual relationship now needs to get “married”. This is tragic. What if the homosexual pastor gets “married” and then later comes to realize that homosexual behavior is sin? But now the pastor has been saddled with a “marriage” at the insistence of the bishops of the Church. This is the strange new world of the ELCA. And what about a heterosexual pastor like Bolz-Weber who engages in sex with her boyfriend, presumably in a “loving, monogamous relationship”? Since only cohabitation is explicitly forbidden by the proposed statement, is she allowed to continue to be sexually active and face no discipline? The statement is in its rough draft form and hopefully the language will eventually make it clear that both cohabitation and fornication are forbidden. But we shall see. I believe the greatest error of the statement is telling homosexual pastors they must “marry” their sexual partners. Back in 2009 the ELCA agreed that the conservative view regarding homosexual behavior would be honored alongside the liberal view. Where is the conservative view being honored in the ELCA today? What if an ELCA bishop were to say “I hold to the conservative view and I refuse to ordain a practising homosexual”? Would such a bishop be allowed in the ELCA? You can read the entire proposed new statement in the link below at the very bottom. And I hope it will make you consider leaving the ELCA if you are still a member. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock PS If you want to read what ELCA Pastor Bolz-Weber said in a podcast about how great sex is with her boyfriend, I have edited out her foul language below. As you read it, keep in mind she is an ELCA pastor in good standing with the denomination and spoke to 31,000 ELCA teens last summer: Reverend Nadia Bolz-Weber: “But I get together with my boyfriend and start having sex and it was like 'holy s___,’ I was like, it felt like an exfoliation of my whole spirit. I'm like 'This is so good for my brain chemistry, and my body, and my heart. And I’m like f___ man, why in the world would the Church say ‘Don’t do this?’ Like I could tell it was what I needed, and it was so good.” For new proposed standards for ELCA pastors: https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Trustworthy_Servants_Common_Draft_3-4-2019.pdf --  ELCA Bishop Tells 'The New Yorker' Magazine, Nadia Bolz-Weber's Sexual Reformation is Long Overdue2/9/2019
The New Yorker magazine wrote a feature story on Rev. Bolz-Weber this week, titled "The Lutheran Pastor Calling for a Sexual Reformation," which provides a window into the life, thoughts and vile nature of this beloved ELCA pastor, which I will highlight. The most important revelation came from Nadia's bishop, Rev. Jim Gonia, of the Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He begins by comparing Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber to Martin Luther, "He talked about farting and drinking and he was kind of like Nadia.” The feature writer continues, "Gonia summed up Luther’s idea like this: 'Now that we don’t need to worry that we’re good enough for God, how do we direct our attention to our neighbor?'” Then we have the ELCA leadership's public approval of Nadia, who wants to undo Biblical teaching reserving sexual relations to one man and one woman within marriage. Here is the whole paragraph from the article to give you context: "Bolz-Weber argues that this idea should be extended to sex. For millennia, the Church has taught Christians to deny their physical selves, and to consider carnal urges sinful. 'We keep looking for a set of laws that will save us,' Bolz-Weber told me. 'Relying on grace can feel shaky. If it’s free it must be worthless.' As a result, both men and women lead fractured lives, believing that their sexuality is at odds with their spirituality. 'This idea that salvation comes through sexual repression,' Bolz-Weber said, 'that shit comes out sideways.' In “Shameless,” she sets out to build a sexual ethic around human flourishing rather than around rules encoded by men centuries ago. This begins by recognizing that with sex, as with everything else, 'it’s not about being good—it’s about grace.' This, she argues, is actually just the natural extension of classical Lutheranism. 'She’s the most classical Lutheran preacher you’ll ever meet,' Gonia said, adding that the reformation she’s calling for is long overdue. 'We have so intellectualized our faith—there’s a need to bring head, heart, and body into the forefront of our lives, for the future of the Christian tradition.'" People of the ELCA, the leadership approves of what Nadia Bolz-Weber is preaching. This is public confirmation, along with ELCA leadership having her speak to 31,000 ELCA youth this summer as they assembled for the church-wide gathering. They are on board with these harmful sexual ethics she and many others preach that clearly go against God's will for people. Why are you still part of this vile denomination? Here is a run down concerning things from The New Yorker article (in which I am quoted): - Nadia Bolz-Weber and her two children recently went to a sexually explicit exhibition called "Au Natural" that included casts of penises, nudity, and a sculpture that is masturbating. It also presented a sculpture of Jesus made from cigarettes. - "When she was twenty, she joined Vox Femina, a feminist performance-art group whose acts, she told me, weren’t so different from Lucas’s egg massage." (referring to one of the art exhibition performances) - She use to be a call-center psychic. - She had an abortion, saying she could not afford a child. And she does not think abortion is wrong. - She divorced her husband and loves having sex with her boyfriend, which has caused her to feel closer to God. - Her son is gay, and at 16 years old Nadia bought him condoms when she heard he had a new boyfriend. - She calls the belief, that homosexuality is wrong, "bigotry." - Bolz-Weber was once a counselor at a Unitarian summer camp where some campers would sunbathe nude. As you can see below, ELCA pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber is publicizing The New Yorker piece as if she is happy with what it says.
Famous ELCA Pastor Talks of Sex With Boyfriend, Writes Book Rejecting Sex Reserved for Marriage2/7/2019
What you are about to read, by the most famous and sought after pastor in the ELCA, goes completely against Scripture. Run away from this denomination as soon as you can.
Nadia Bolz-Weber is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and is highly revered in the denomination and with ELCA leadership. That, despite the heretical and controversial things she has said and done and keeps saying and doing. (See a list here, here and here) Recently, Rev. Bolz-Weber appeared on a podcast by Kevin Garcia that was titled "Making Sex Shameless, w/ Nadia Bolz-Weber." 
The content that follows shows you what the ELCA is becoming. This is what ELCA seminaries produced and are producing. Nadia Bolz-Weber is not some outlier. She is one of many the ELCA has elevated to a position of power and great influence, speaking throughout the ELCA and even to multiple ELCA Youth Gatherings. During the interview the host asked Nadia to give a little synopsis of her new book, "Shameless." Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber replied (language warning): “. . . it came out of my own experience, I was raised, obviously very very fundamentalist Christian, with all the crazy shit about gender roles and sex and extramarital sex and all that, but it was before the purity movement you know, but I was raised with all that, rejected it, led this very different life. But then I discovered the Lutheran Church, and the ELCA is one of the most progressive denominations in the country and yet, there is a document you have to sign when you’re ordained called “Visions and Expectations” that says you would be faithful in marriage, or I think its 'celibate or chaste in singleness.' Well, the origin of this document was it was originally sorta' forged through the denomination by a group that was trying to keep the homosexuals out of the pulpit. It was a way, it really was a way, of keeping the homos down. Because you would have to be celibate in your singleness, and gay people couldn’t get married – and that shifted, and they were like, 'oh shit,' right? And everybody had to sign this. And it’s insane because what happens is that there are all these people who get married right out of seminary, because they can’t afford to live separately, you know, they need to live in intern housing, and so they get married sooner than they should. Or they have sexual relationships that they are forced to keep secret or not be honest about. Or they are completely repressed, and we have single, grown-assed adults who don’t have, who are not flourishing in their sexual lives because the church says they shouldn’t. So none of those things are great, really. And so you know, (Nadia then talks about her ex-husband)...we never connected, like there was no intimacy in our marriage, and for whatever reason, it just didn’t happen for us. And so, you know, people are like, ‘Wow, you don’t do cross-fit any more?’ And I’m like, ‘I was doing cross-fit because I wasn’t having sex!' You know what I mean, it was just a way of like managing. And now I’m like all soft, and I got long hair, and I’m so much happier. So what happened was, I get divorced, like the most amicable divorce you can imagine. No lawyers, no acrimony. It was great, right, it was like actually really lovely. But I get together with my boyfriend and start having sex and it was like 'holy shit,' I was like, it felt like an exfoliation of my whole spirit. I'm like 'This is so good for my brain chemistry, and my body, and my heart. And I’m like fuck man, why in the world would the Church say ‘Don’t do this?’ Like I could tell it was what I needed, and it was so good. And then 10 days later, after we get together...I have to go to Europe for 3 1/2 weeks on a book tour, because the U.K and the German edition of my book came out...3 ½ weeks after years of sexlessness and 10 days of having sex, right, my mind was like swirling, I was like ‘What the fuck is happening?!’" "I’m walking down a street in London...we (a friend) just cried and ate, we had both just gotten divorced, and we were like insane. So for 10 days we trampsed around England and Scotland, and eating and crying...I as like ‘Wait a minute, why did the Church make me sign that thing? How is it better for my church if I’m not getting laid?’ Look, the church will entrust me with the care of souls and will not entrust me with my own grown-ass woman sexuality, to make good decisions for myself? Like don’t fuck the flock, clearly, I get that part... I’m like, “what the fuck.” So I messaged, I whatsapped Eric, my boyfriend… and granted, this was with an unwarranted urgency, and I’m going, and he gets on Skype, and he’s not Christian, he’s never a Christian, and I go ‘Why do you think the Church has tried to control sex for so long?’ and without skipping a beat, my beloved said, ‘Umm...I guess I always assumed that the Church saw sex as its competition'…I was like, I’m writing a book." Nadia continues, "Here’s the harm that these teachings have directly caused myself and these people (who Nadia interviewed), and if the teachings of the Church are harming people, we need to rethink these teachings. We should never be more loyal to an idea or a doctrine or an interpretation of a Bible verse than we are to people. So that’s the premise of the book.” (Listen here. Starting at 22:20 minute mark.) Continuing on, “I want people to have better sex too. I want people to feel uninhibited with their lover and to lose themselves in that. And uhm, you know, I think Christianity has led to a lot of really bad sex. And a lot of people shut down and not connected to their bodies. And terrified to talk about sex with their partner, even.” (Listen here. Starting at 41:40)
What ELCA pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber is saying, pushing for a new teaching on sex to replace the Biblical and traditional view of where sexual relations are to take place, is evil. It is from the pit of hell. It is against God's will and God's Word.
Let's recap what Rev. Bolz-Weber said (and apparently what she says in her new book): - She calls the ELCA document that pastors sign, reserving sex to marriage, "insane." - She calls fundamentalist thought on extramarital sex "crazy shit." - She says she is having sex with her boyfriend, (hence, sex outside of marriage. This is in violation of "Vision and Expectations," an ELCA document for pastors that she signed.) - She questions why the Church would not allow sex outside of marriage. - She calls the Biblical teaching on sex "harmful." - She says "people" should come before God's Word, if God's Word causes "harm" to some people.
As I said earlier, this is not one crazy ELCA pastor talking. This is a belief held by many ELCA pastors, leaders and future ELCA pastors. See below the social media post by ELCA pastor, Javen Swanson, and my blog about "Naked and Unashamed" (here).
Below is Pastor Swanson's tweets with active links.
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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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