ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 18, 2003

ELCA Council Conducts Elections
03-209-FI

     CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected members to
its executive committee and other ELCA members to the ELCA
churchwide nominating committee and to the board of trustees of
the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between
churchwide assemblies.  The council met here Nov. 13-16 at the
invitation of the ELCA North Carolina Synod and joined in a
celebration of the synod's 200th anniversary Nov. 15 at Wake
Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C.  Churchwide assemblies are
held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando,
Fla.
     The council is made up of the church's four officers --
presiding bishop, vice president, secretary and treasurer -- and
33 voting members.  Eleven of the 33 voting members are elected
to a six-year term at each churchwide assembly.
     The four officers of the ELCA serve as members of the
council's executive committee.  At its first meeting after a
churchwide assembly, the council elects seven voting members to
the executive committee.
     The council elected to its executive committee:
+ Grieg L. Anderson, Portland, Ore.
+ Karl D. Anderson, Lakeville, Minn.
+ Linda J. Brown, Moorhead, Minn.
+ The Rev. Kirkwood J. Havel, Midland Mich.
+ The Rev. Diane H. "Dee" Pederson, St. Cloud, Minn.
+ Allan E. Thomas, Philadelphia
+ Janet Thompson, Eagan, Minn.
     The Church Council elected Daniel F. Wilson, a member of
Christ the King Lutheran Church, Miami, to the ELCA churchwide
nominating committee.  He filled a vacancy left when Carlos Pena,
Galveston, Texas, was elected vice president of the ELCA.
     The council also ratified the elections of four trustees for
the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA:
+ Victor M. Guzman, Christ Lutheran Church, Charlotte, N.C.
+ The Rev. David W. Hanson, Wilmette Lutheran Church, Wilmette,
Ill.
+ Janet H. Neff, Grace Lutheran Church, Royersford, Pa.
+ The Rev. Maria D. Valenzuela, American Lutheran Church, Sun
City, Ariz.
     The Mission Investment Fund enables individuals, ELCA
congregations, synods and ELCA-affiliated institutions
opportunities to earn interest on investments that are put to use
building, purchasing and improving physical structures of the
church through loans and expertise.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news