wfn.org | DeGroot-Nesdahl Re-Elected Bishop of ELCA South Dakota Synod

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 1, 2001

DEGROOT-NESDAHL RE-ELECTED BISHOP OF ELCA SOUTH DAKOTA SYNOD
01-138-CK*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl was
re-elected May 31 to a six-year term as bishop of the South Dakota
Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
DeGroot-Nesdahl, 51, was re-elected at the synod assembly at
Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., one of 28 ELCA colleges and
universities.
     DeGroot-Nesdahl has served as bishop of the ELCA South Dakota
Synod since 1995.
     DeGroot-Nesdahl was elected on the first ballot. She
received 345 of 642 votes cast by assembly voting members. Other
candidates receiving votes for bishop were the Rev. Gregory P.
Johnson, Trinity Lutheran Church, Tea, S.D., 126 votes; the Rev.
Robert D. Hansen, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Beresford, S.D., 91
votes; the Rev. Paul K. Erbes, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church,
Gillette, Wyo., 46 votes; the Rev. Randall S. Eisenbeisz, Hayti
Lutheran Church and New Hope Lutheran Church, both in Hayti, S.D.,
34 votes.
     DeGroot-Nesdahl's new term begins Sept. 1.  She will not be
eligible for a third term because the synod limits bishops to two
terms.
     "I am honored and grateful," DeGroot-Nesdahl said in
response to her reelection. "I believe the Spirit is at work in
our process to select a bishop. The people discerned God's call
here, and it was for me to continue."
     DeGroot-Nesdahl, who was born in Rugby, N.D., earned a
bachelor's degree from the University of North Dakota, Grand
Forks, N.D.  She earned a master of divinity degree from Wartburg
Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, one of eight ELCA seminaries.
     In 1996, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Wartburg
Seminary.
     Before she was elected bishop, DeGroot-Nesdahl was assistant
to the bishop of the ELCA Western North Dakota Synod.  She served
several congregations in North Dakota and Wisconsin after she was
ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1977.
     She and her husband, Gary, are the parents of three
children.
     The ELCA South Dakota Synod has 120,191 baptized members in
254 congregations.  Its offices are in Sioux Falls.
---
 * Carol Knapp is synod supplement editor for The Lutheran and newsletter editor for the ELCA South Dakota Synod.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html