Earlier this month, we reported the long overdue resignation of Wayne Frederiksen of Our Savior Lutheran Church & School (OSLCS) in Arlington, VA due to his active support for homosexuality and transgenderism. Despite the scandals being known for years, the resignation only came after internal LCMS pressure resulted from the reporting of Ad Crucem News. The scandals included the attendance of his lesbian daughter’s “wedding” and the adornment of a queer stole. In his capacity as a Lutheran school, children were also taken to The Kennedy Center to watch a gay coming-of-age production called Finn. His resignation should have been a defrocking, but the district president defended him every step of the way.
Evidently, Wayne Frederiksen has friends in the LCMS who decided to start a GoFundMe for Frederiksen entitled, “In Thanks for the Service of Pastor Wayne Fredericksen.” The fundraiser seeks $5,000 and, as of writing, nears the goal.
The description gives the following account is given by Frederiksen for his actions:
“This week, I was informed that the President of the Synod was reviewing accusations that were brought up against me concerning my ministry. The accusations included the pastoral care I offered to a transgender individual five years ago, including a picture of me wearing a stole created by the individual as an art project with images of which I was not aware of the meaning. I do not own the stole nor did I ever wear it in worship. The photo’s purpose was to show the individual’s professor how the stole looked on a person. Alongside this, my attendance at my daughter’s legal union to her female partner renders me ineligible to continue serving as a pastor in the LCMS, including as Senior Pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church. While I did not participate in the ceremony, offer prayers, or give my daughter away, my presence with her in photographs has been cited as one of the reasons for this decision.
As this week unfolded, it became evident that my continued service on the clergy roster would no longer be possible. After prayer and reflection, I share with you, heavy of heart, that I will resign from the clergy roster of the LCMS effective December 1, 2025.”
While modern thought will contend that children over the age of eighteen being reprobates should not be held against the pastors, 1 Timothy 3 does not have a limiting principle. Frederiksen’s indulgence of his daughter was and continues to be a sin. Parents are morally obligated to disassociate such children in sin, which is both consistent with direct commands in the Mosaic Law and the examples of Scripture, most notably David and Absalom. While the failed children is a disqualification for a prospective elder, it is a reproach against the pastor when it can be proven to impact his abilities. Doubtless, attending a gay “marriage” ceremony demonstrates an inability to discern the issues when the issues hit home. For this reason, the state of adult children matters. Frederiksen conveys no remorse in his statement.
The fundraiser was started by a laic named Josh Salzberg who supports Frederiksen with the following statement:
To be clear: the intention of this fundraiser and any subsequent donations is not to challenge LCMS doctrine or teaching on sexuality or gender. This is about supporting the Fredericksen family. Whatever religious or cultural background you come from, we can all empathize with the complex and nuanced choices that arise in all relationships, especially within families.
With that in mind, I believe a donation will not only be a show of mercy and support for the Fredericksen family, but for every ordained pastor and commissioned church worker in The LCMS concerned about the implications of an apparent prohibition on attending legal unions or other new restrictions on family relationships and pastoral care.
The issue of homosexuality is neither complex nor nuanced. Merely the culture has degraded to where a generation of impotent pastors are intimidated by queers. Scripture is unambiguous on the issue and is very prescriptive that parents are not to indulge their sinful children. Salzberg alludes to the belief that other pastors are scared since they too hold similar positions.
Notable donors would include Emily Pacyga, Executive Director of Tabor Church in Chicago; Phil and Heather Robarge, the pastor/wife at Tabor Church; Greg Finke, former pastor of Messiah Church in Midland, MI who now sells church growth; Jon Diefenthaler, President Emeritus of the Southeastern District of the LCMS; Kristi Kirk, President of Concordia University Texas; and Benjamin Haupt of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Several of the names seem like members of Tabor Church indicating communications within that church to promote the fundraiser. Others are higher profile people in the LCMS.
Josh Salzberg is an LCMS laic who attends First Lutheran Church in Culver, CA. Salzberg is a cofounder of Lutherans for Racial Justice, which is an anti-white, racial Marxist organization that caters towards the LCMS. They even have a Responding to ICE toolkit which provides resources to help illegals evade or deceive law enforcement. Most of the materials are PDFs and articles from other sources compiled under a shared folder. The other founder is Matthew Gonzalez of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx, which receives the donations to Lutherans for Racial Justice.
It is unsurprising that the BLM activists in the LCMS are compromised on the issue of homosexuality since the ideological overlap between the BLM movement and the Alphabet Mafia is nearly one-to-one. The LCMS will continue to tolerate compromise in its midst in the name of Diversity Equity, and Inclusion. They will tolerate unseemly levels of compromise like those Wayne Frederiksen committed. They will tolerate his supporters who condone his wickedness while punishing the likes of Ryan Turnipseed on zero Scriptural basis for being right-wing. What they tolerate will continue in the LCMS, and based on the supporters, the LCMS is quite sympathetic towards a disgraced pastor like Wayne Frederiksen.
