Title: Benoway Elected Bishop of the ELCA Florida-Bahamas Synod
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 8, 2001
BENOWAY ELECTED BISHOP OF THE ELCA FLORIDA-BAHAMAS SYNOD
01-116-KR*JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Edward R. Benoway, 53, was elected
bishop of the Florida-Bahamas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) May 5. Benoway currently serves as assistant to the
bishop in the synod, and is based in Lutz, Fla.
Benoway, who was elected at the synod assembly at the Hyatt
Orlando Hotel, Kissimmee, Fla., will assume the bishop's role July 1.
He will succeed the Rev. James A. Rave, who was appointed interim bishop
last year by the synod's council. Rave succeeded the Rev. William B.
Trexler, who resigned as bishop to accept a call to serve a congregation
in Virginia. Benoway will be installed Nov. 18 at a site to be
announced.
Benoway was elected 345-252 over the Rev. Jack R. Palzer, Calvary
Lutheran Church, Apollo Beach, Fla., on the sixth ballot. He led on the
fifth ballot with 260 votes over Palzer with 167, and the Rev. Thomas J.
Slater, Christus Victor Lutheran Church, Naples, Fla., who received 150
votes. There were 100 nominees who received votes on the first ballot.
Benoway currently serves the synod's Southwest Mission District, a
position he has held since January 2000. He previously served as pastor
at St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Pompano Beach, Fla.; Grace Lutheran
Church, Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, Tampa,
Fla. He also served as associate pastor at St. John Lutheran Church,
Winter Park, Fla.
Benoway was a voting member at the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly
in Denver. He served four years as dean of the Broward-Bahamas
Conference of the synod, was a member of the synod council of the ELCA
Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, and was a member of the board of trustees
of Newberry College, an ELCA higher education institution in Newberry, S.C.
Benoway holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Newberry
College and a master's degree in counseling from the University of South
Carolina, Columbia, S.C. He completed his seminary education at
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, in 1973, and was
ordained in Florida the same year.
Benoway and his wife, Linda, have four grown children.
The Florida-Bahamas Synod has 91,656 baptized members in 216
congregations. Its offices are in Tampa.
* Karen J. Rieley is director of communication for the Florida-Bahamas
Synod.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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