The original article can be found on the Gottesdienst page here.
While Pr. Beane makes several very good points throughout his article, I have two points of contention with the overall theme.
1. Firstly I find that Pr. Beane grossly overestimates how many lifeboats exist in the LCMS. Doing a brief survey of churches in my area, I see a lot of Evangelical practices creeping into the daily life of the church from the removal of priestly vestments, the use of heterdoxical books in bible studies, and the removal of the common cup from the Service of the Sacrament. And then taking a broader picture, the net cast by the Radical Lutheran influence of 1517, Forde and Paulson grows ever wider like a cancerous tumor. I don't see lifeboats, I see boats that have already sprung a leak, taken on water, and cannot support the weight of the survivors.
2. Secondly, this article betrays a very insular attitude. Let's all rush to the safety of our local fiefdoms and let the institutions crumble if they must. For the local church to remain healthy, a hierarchy is needed, to keep it in check. If the old hierarchy crumbles, a new one is needed to maintain orthodoxy and order. Lifeboats left adrift on a vast ocean cannot survive without the resources of a mothership. After the Titanic sank, the 705 survivors found rescue on board the Carpathia. If the LCMS sinks, then the survivors must tether themselves to a new institution, one sturdier and less unsinkable than the last, one that keeps watch for potential ecclesiastical icebergs.
In the name of Christ. Amen.
