New recordings, documents, and correspondence are posted here as the matter develops and as new information is received. The most recent items are listed first.
October 31, 2026 New information
A full timeline, thirty more meeting recordings, the LLC’s own book, and the site in Finnish
A new Timeline sets out, event by event, how the LLC came to expel the Minneapolis and Wolf Lake congregations and to move against Coastal California, from the 1970s to today, with the recording or document at each event. Filter it by topic – ministers removed, forgiveness, no doctrine named, the expulsion steps – or search by name. Open the timeline →
Thirty more recorded meetings from 2016 to 2022 are now posted, each with its full recording and a searchable transcript: the 2016 and 2018 ministers’ camps; congregation and board meetings in Minneapolis, Rockford, Menahga, Wolf Lake, Southern Minnesota, Elk River, Colorado, Glendale and Phoenix; LLC Board meetings with the Minneapolis and Wolf Lake congregations; and the 2021 and 2022 LLC annual meetings, including the vote to expel Minneapolis and Wolf Lake. See the recordings →
A new page, The LLC’s Own Book, sets the words of the book the LLC publishes and sells, Christ Is the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever, beside what LLC ministers and leaders have said and done, with the recording or document at each quotation.
The LLC’s Own Book adds a point on reading Scripture and quotations treated as a fault, and a section on how quoting the SRK’s own words was rebuked.
A new page sets out the LLC’s continent-wide meeting in Monticello, May 7–8, 2021, topic by topic, with its transcript: the Minneapolis and Wolf Lake speakers agreed with the LLC chairman’s statement of faith, and the LLC’s own synopsis records that no one disagreed with it.
The site, including the open letter, the timeline and every meeting transcript, can now be read in Finnish (Suomeksi). The timeline is a continuing work: if you have a recording, document or correction to add, please send it, or use the Report a correction button on any page.
September 12, 2026 New information
Another appeal to the SRK’s chairman
CCLLC has not been the only one to write to Valde Palola, the chairman of the SRK, on these matters. In a letter dated June 29, 2023, Craig Kumpula, a pastor at the Minneapolis Laestadian Lutheran Church, wrote to Palola directly. It raised many of these same concerns. It, too, was ignored.
The LLC calls off the October 1 vote – and plans to try again
On September 8, 2026, after being told again by CCLLC that the LLC was not following the law in its attempt to expel CCLLC (see CCLLC’s letter of September 3, 2026), the LLC’s executive director, Arvin Pirness, refused – and continues to refuse – to provide CCLLC the list and contact information for the congregations and their delegates, itself a violation of Minnesota law.
Instead, Mr. Pirness sent an email to the congregation members and delegates, enclosing CCLLC’s letter and stating: “Based on that review, we believe the LLC is satisfying the procedural requirements applicable to the process to date . . . .” (Arvin Pirness email, September 8, 2026.)
Three days later, Mr. Pirness conceded that his prior statement was not true – that the procedure the LLC had commenced was, again, in violation of the law. On September 11 he emailed the delegates once more (still having refused to disclose the contact information of members and delegates that Minnesota law requires), stating: “Upon advice from legal counsel, the special delegate meeting scheduled for October 1, 2026, is cancelled.” (Arvin Pirness email, September 11, 2026.)
Mr. Pirness and the LLC Board also continue to withhold the records CCLLC requested on July 2, 2026, in violation of Minnesota law – records the LLC’s own counsel said would be discussed only “in the event the Delegates do not vote to expel CCLLC.” And CCLLC still awaits any response to its repeated requests – most recently in its September 3, 2026 response – that the LLC state the grounds for the attempted expulsion under the Constitution and Bylaws.