Title: Lutheran Services in America Named Board ELCA NEWS SERVICE June 6, 1997 LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA NAMED BOARD 97-20-058-FI MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- About 280 social ministry organizations operating in about 3,000 locations joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in a corporate partnership -- Lutheran Services in America (LSA) -- and named a board of directors. LSA is one of the largest organizations of housing, counseling, child care, adoption, refugee resettlement, health care, nursing home and AIDS ministries in the United States and Caribbean. The social ministry organizations elected nine of the LSA's 18 board members: * The Rev. Robert C. Greene, president, Lutheran Social Services of the South, Austin, Texas; * Jane Hartman, president, Bremwood Lutheran Home, Waverly, Iowa; * David A. Jacox, president, Bethphage Mission Inc., Omaha, Neb.; * David Keller, president/CEO, Luther Manor, Milwaukee; * Edith M. Lohr, president, Lutheran Social Services of New England, Natcik, Mass.; * The Rev. Nelson C. Meyer, president, Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio, Columbus, Ohio; * Dianne Nissen, president, Lutheran Social Services-Southern California, Alhambra, Calif.; * Emelda Rasmussen, president, Northfield Care Center, Northfield, Minn.; and * William Thayer, president, Madrid Homes, Madrid, Iowa. The 5.2 million-member ELCA appointed six members: * Norene N. Goplen, director, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Oregon, Portland, Ore.; * Kathy Kelker, board chair, St. John's Lutheran Home, Billings, Mont.; * The Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop, Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh; * The Rev. Charles S. Miller, executive director, ELCA Division for Church in Society, Chicago; * Dr. Jane Mitcham, assistant to the bishop, ELCA North Carolina Synod, Salisbury, N.C.; and * The Rev. Lee H. Wesley, president, Lutheran Social Services of Metropolitan New York. The 2.6 million-member LCMS named three: * The Rev. Richard L. Krenzke, executive director, LCMS Board for Human Care Ministries, St. Louis; * The Rev. Donald W. Sandmann, president, LCMS New Jersey District, Mountainside, N.J., and * Dr. John P. Schuelke, executive director, LCMS Board of Directors, St. Louis. The board elected Meyer as its chair, and it appointed Joanne Negstad to a two-year term as LSA's president and CEO, with offices in St. Paul, Minn. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html