ELCA NEWS SERVICE August 15, 2003 ELCA Assembly Vice Presidential Election Goes To Fifth Ballot 03-CWA-34-KK MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The 2003 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) advanced two nominees for the position of vice president. The assembly will decide between Carlos Pena, Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, and Mary Froehlig, Southwest California Synod, on the fifth ballot Aug. 16. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 11-17 at the Midwest Airlines Center. There are about 2,100 people participating, including 1,031 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known: For the Healing of the World." After the fourth ballot Aug. 15, Pena received 441 votes, 46.5 percent of the total; Froehlig received 310 votes, 32.7 percent of the total; and Glenndy Sculley, Minneapolis Area Synod, received 198 votes, 20.9 percent of the total. No nominee reached the 60 percent of votes required for election. Prior to the fourth ballot, nominees addressed voting members with five-minute speeches. Pena, 50, made his introductory comments in Spanish. He listed gifts he could bring to the position as "gifts you [the church] have nurtured in me," including leadership experience, business knowledge and fairness. PeZa spoke of his love for the ELCA, which he joined as a young adult, saying he felt "a oneness with my fellow workers -- community, kindredship, and fellowship." PeZa called his nomination "evidence of growth in [the ELCA's] spectrum of membership." He concluded, "Let's make it clear to fellow Lutherans -- to everyone -- that this is a church for all people." Pena is a member of First Lutheran Church, Galveston, Texas. Froehlig, 43, shared biographical information about herself, and identified herself as Sansei, the third generation of Japanese Americans living in the United States. Lutheran campus ministry at the University of Southern California helped guide her to Lutheranism when she was a student. Froehlig expressed humility upon her nomination, adding, "I believe we [nominees] have been called to present our gifts and blessings to you." Froehlig said she is drawn to biblical references to "philia," which she defined from the Greek as "a willingness to go to a great extent in order to support your friends. What I hold central to my belief is that we love one another." She praised the experience of being part of the ELCA, and said, "I pray we will be able to carry this passion, this "philia," with us when we leave this place." Froehlig is a member of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Manhattan Beach, Calif. The position of vice president is filled by a lay person -- a person not ordained by the ELCA. Service is voluntary and involves chairing meetings of the Church Council, which is the ELCA's board of directors and the interim legislative authority between churchwide assemblies. -- -- -- Information about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be found at http://www.elca.org/assembly/03 on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news