Title: David Olson Appointed Interim Bishop of ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod ELCA NEWS SERVICE
January 31, 2008
David Olson Appointed Interim Bishop of ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod 08-007-JB/WH*
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The synod council of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) appointed the Rev. David W. Olson, Clinton, Conn., to serve as interim bishop of the synod, effective Feb. 4. Olson is the former bishop of the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod and is now retired from active ministry. He will assume the role of interim bishop from the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, who left to become executive director of ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission (EOCM).
Olson, 69, was recommended by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and will serve until a permanent successor to Bouman takes office this summer. A new bishop will be elected at the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod assembly, May 15-17, Westchester Marriott Hotel, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Olson expressed appreciation for Bouman's ministry and said, "This is an exciting opportunity, and I'm very honored to be invited to serve as interim bishop. It's a blessing for me."
Olson said he is excited to serve "in a great, urban synod," where there is significant diversity with 17 different languages represented and which includes significant metropolitan area congregations similar to Minneapolis.
Olson said his top priorities as interim bishop will be to assist the newly elected bishop so that person will be successful, and to address anxieties that normally occur with a change in leadership.
"We sensed in Bishop David Olson a strong insightful leader, a pastors' pastor and someone who had chaired 14 synod assemblies," said Hans Vogel, Wantagh, N.Y., vice president of the synod. "We felt that all of these qualities were of equal importance during the transition period. The months ahead were not seen merely as a wait-and-see period but of continuing the vital mission and ministry of this synod."
Olson served as bishop of the ELCA Minneapolis Synod from 1987 to 2001. He was ineligible for re-election because of the synod's term limit for bishops.
Born in St. Paul, Minn., Olson earned a bachelor's degree in English from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., and a master of divinity degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul. St. Olaf is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities; Luther is one of eight ELCA seminaries. Olson did graduate study at Union Seminary, New York; Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass.; and Duke University, Durham, N.C.
Following ordination in 1964, Olson served Lutheran congregations in Baltimore and Crystal, Minn. He was director of the North Minneapolis Lutheran Coalition; associate director, contextual education, Luther Seminary; and director of cross cultural concerns and later, associate dean of students, Luther Seminary. He was assistant to the bishop, Southeastern Minnesota District of the former American Lutheran Church, before he was first elected bishop in 1987.
Olson has an extensive record of community and church service, and has written several publications. Among honors and awards, Olson was a Bush Summer Leadership Fellow in 1975 through a grant awarded by the Bush Foundation, St. Paul.
Olson and his wife, Nancy, are parents of three adult children.
---
* Wendy Healy is communications consultant for the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod.
Information about the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod is at http://www.mnys.org on the Web.
A news release about Stephen Bouman's new role is at http://www.ELCA.org/news/releases.asp?a=3776 on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog