Title: Parsons Resigns as Lutheran Bishop in Alaska
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 12, 1998

PARSONS RESIGNS AS LUTHERAN BISHOP IN ALASKA
98-21-132-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Donald D. Parsons, 58, has announced his
resignation as bishop of the Alaska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) effective June 30.  The synod council has
appointed the Rev. Larry J. Jorgenson to serve as interim bishop effective
Aug. 1.
     Jorgenson is executive director of Lutheran Social Services of
Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska.  He will serve the synod in a 15-month contract.
The synod's next assembly, around early October 1999, will elect a new
bishop.
     Parsons had announced his intention to return to parish ministry
earlier.  He will become pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Beaverton,
Ore., on Aug. 1.
     Born in Ellsworth, Kan., Parsons graduated from the University of
Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, with a degree in forestry, and from Luther
Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.  Prior to entering seminary, he
worked as a range conservationist for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
     Parsons was ordained in 1968 and served as pastor of three Oregon
congregations -- Zion Lutheran Church, Port Orford; Bethany Lutheran
Church, Gold Beach; and Zion Lutheran Church, Redmond -- and of Amazing
Grace Lutheran Church, Anchorage, before becoming bishop of the Alaska
Synod in 1988.
     Parsons married Claudia Anderson in 1963.  They are the parents of
one son and one daughter.
     The ELCA's Alaska Synod is 10,750 Lutherans in 30 congregations
across the state.  Its office is in Anchorage.

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