ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 8, 2007  

Bruce Burnside Elected Bishop of ELCA South-Central Wisconsin Synod
07-081-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Bruce Burnside, St. Stephen
Lutheran Church, Monona, Wis., was elected to a six-year term as
bishop of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at the synod assembly in
Madison, Wis.  Burnside, 53, was elected May 5 on the fifth
ballot for bishop, 253-159 over the Rev. Michael C. Rehak,
assistant to the bishop, ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin.
     Burnside will succeed the Rev. George G. Carlson, 65, who
announced earlier he would not be available for re-election.
Carlson was elected bishop of the synod in 2001.
     Burnside led on the fourth ballot with 209 votes. Rehak had
117 votes, and the Rev. David J. Berggren, Our Savior Lutheran
Church, Sun Prairie, Wis., received 75 votes.  There were 31
names on the first or nominating ballot.
     Burnside will assume his new role as synod bishop on July 1.
He will be installed on Sept. 16 at a location to be announced.
     Born in Ashland, Wis., Burnside earned a bachelor's degree
in religious studies at Pacific
Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., in 1984.  In 1988 he earned a
master of divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary,
Columbus, Ohio.  Pacific Lutheran is one of 28 ELCA colleges and
universities; Trinity is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
     Burnside served as pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Sharon, Wis., and St. John's Lutheran Church, Boscobel,
Wis.  He became senior pastor at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in
1993.
     Burnside and his wife Cynthia are parents of an adult
daughter.  They reside in Madison.
     The ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin has 110,668
baptized members in 150 congregations.  The synod office is in
Madison.
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     Information about the ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin
is at
http://www.scsw-ELCA.org/ on the Web.


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