ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 14, 2004

Murray Finck Re-Elected Bishop of ELCA Pacifica Synod
04-099-TK*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Murray D. Finck was elected May
13 to a second six-year term as bishop of the Pacifica Synod of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at the synod
assembly at the Riverside Convention Center, Riverside, Calif.
     Finck, 55, received 303 of 392 votes on the first ballot for
bishop.  The Rev. Elwood K. (Woody) Hall, the only other name
formally on the ballot, received 36 votes.  Hall is pastor of the
Lutheran Church of Our Savior, San Bernardino, Calif.  The Rev.
James R. Hale, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Irvine, Calif., a
write-in, was third with 17 votes.  There were 27 names on the
first ballot.
     Finck was elected bishop in 1998, succeeding the Rev. Robert
L. Miller, who retired.  Finck served on Miller's staff as
assistant to the bishop from 1993 to 1998.  He previously served
as pastor for ELCA congregations in Garden Grove, Fresno and Los
Banos, all in California.  He was also a mission developer for a
congregation in Tollhouse, Calif.
     In 1969 Finck earned an associate of arts degree from St.
Paul's College, Concordia, Mo.  He earned a bachelor of arts
degree in 1971 from Concordia Senior College, Ft. Wayne, Ind.  In
1975 Finck earned a master of divinity from Christ Seminary-
Seminex, St. Louis.
     Finck and his wife Rhoda have three grown children: Erin,
Anne and Adam.
     The ELCA Pacifica Synod has 56,990 baptized members in 126
congregations.  The synod office is in Yorba Linda, Calif.
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     The home page for the ELCA Pacific Synod is at
http://www.pacificasynod.org/ on the Web.

*Tom Krogstad is supplement editor for The Lutheran for the ELCA
Pacifica Synod.

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