wfn.org | Johnson Elected Lutheran Bishop of Minneapolis Area Synod

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 4, 2001

JOHNSON ELECTED LUTHERAN BISHOP OF MINNEAPOLIS AREA SYNOD
01-140-FI/AH*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Craig E. Johnson was elected to a
six-year term as bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) June 2 at the synod's
assembly at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.  Since 1996,
Johnson has served as associate vice president for church relations
at Gustavus Adolphus, a college of the ELCA.
     Johnson will succeed the Rev. David W. Olson as bishop on Sept.
1.  Olson was ineligible for re-election because of the synod's term
limits for bishop.  Olson has been the synod's bishop since 1987.
     Johnson will be installed as bishop Oct. 22 at a site to be
determined.
     On the assembly's fifth ballot for bishop, Johnson received 532
votes to 275 votes for the Rev. Christopher P. Nelson, Bethlehem
Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.  The Rev. Ann Svennungsen, Trinity
Lutheran Church, Moorhead, Minn., was a candidate on the fourth
ballot.  There were 66 names on the first and nominating ballot.
     Born June 7, 1947, in St. Croix Falls, Wis., Johnson is a
graduate of Gustavus Adolphus and Northwestern Theological Seminary,
Minneapolis (now Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.).  He served as
pastor of Nativity Lutheran Church, Shreveport, La.; Mount Olivet
Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; and Transfiguration Lutheran Church,
Bloomington, Minn.
     Johnson and his wife Cynthia (Cindy) are the parents of three
children.
     The ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod has 230,000 members in 175
congregations across seven Minnesota counties.  Synod offices are in
Minneapolis.
---
* Ann E. Hafften is communication associate for the ELCA Minneapolis
Area Synod.

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