wfn.org | Trexler Will Not Seek Re-Election as Editor of the Lutheran

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 21, 1999

TREXLER WILL NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION AS EDITOR OF THE LUTHERAN
99-02-12-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA)-- The Rev. Edgar R. Trexler, noted church author and
longtime editor of The Lutheran magazine in the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) and the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA),
announced Jan.13 he will not seek re-election at the ELCA Churchwide
Assembly in Denver.
     Trexler's term officially ends Oct. 31, 1999.  The Churchwide
Assembly will elect a new editor this August under the provisions of the
ELCA Constitution.
     "As the first and only editor of this church's magazine, Dr. Trexler
has given The Lutheran its independent character and its high quality,"
said the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA. "He has
constantly found ways to make the magazine more readable and attractive. 
If there is a hall of fame for church periodical editors, Dr. Trexler
certainly deserves to be in it."
     Trexler, who will be 62 when his term ends, has been editor of The
Lutheran since the ELCA was formed in 1988. Under his leadership the
magazine has maintained a circulation of 650,000, making it the largest
denominational periodical in the world.  In 1997 the Associated Church
Press (ACP) named The Lutheran "Best in Class" for denominational
publications.
     "For nearly 34 years, I have been privileged to be part of The
Lutheran  magazine," Trexler said. "When I joined the staff in 1965 on a
two-year call, I could never have anticipated the opportunities for
professional and personal growth that have come my way -- extensive travel
at home and overseas, the global mission and ecumenical experiences,
learning to know many personalities of the religious world -- along with
editing the largest denominational magazine in this country for 21 years
and the largest Lutheran publication in the world.  My ministry of
journalism in this church has exceeded any script that I could have
written."
     "But there is also the sense that it is time for that tenure to come
to a close," he said. "Priorities shift and one looks at life a little
differently."  
     Trexler--known to many as "Trex"--cited a demanding schedule, a
desire to live closer to family in North Carolina and staffing
considerations among the reasons for announcing his decision now.
     "For all my adult life I have had to choose between doing what I
wanted to do and living where I wanted to live ... and now, living where
we want to live is winning out," Trexler said.
     Trexler and his wife Emily, whom he married in 1960, plan to move to
Hendersonville, N.C., near the Great Smoky Mountains, where they are
building a home.
     Last month, one of Trexler's closest colleagues, the magazine's
managing editor, Roger Kahle, died suddenly of heart failure.  
     "In order to move ahead promptly with filling that position, and
also to allow for the search process to begin for a new editor, it is
important that my decision be public now," Trexler said.
     "When I think of Trex, I think of a man of enormous dignity," said
Hazel H. Reinhardt, Edina, Minn., chair of the 11-member Advisory
Committee for The Lutheran. "He's even-tempered, very composed.  He's
shown incredible love and commitment to the Lutheran Church."
     Trexler has done an exceptional job as editor in developing an
excellent staff and "a first class denominational publication," Reinhardt
added.
     Trexler's career is rich with a variety of experiences in the
Lutheran church.  He was editor of The Lutheran, the magazine of the
former LCA, from 1978 to 1988.  He served as the magazine's associate
editor from 1972 to 1978 and was features editor from 1965 to 1972.  
     Trexler was ordained by the former United Lutheran Church in America
in 1962 and was pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Lyons, N.Y., from
1962 to 1965.
     Trexler is author of articles published in numerous church
magazines, and has traveled extensively throughout the United States and
the world.  Most recently, he reported on the church's ecumenical
relationships with the Reformed churches, efforts to establish full
communion with the Episcopal Church, and numerous international ecumenical
relationships of the Lutheran Church with The Vatican, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul and the Russian
Orthodox Church in Moscow.  His work also include reporting on the church
and struggles with apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, and on religious
repression in Eastern Europe and Central America.
     In 1979 he was part of the first group of Lutherans to visit China
in 30 years.  In 1990 he reported on the first Lutheran ordinations in
Cuba since Fidel Castro came to power.
     In 1974 his series of articles from partner churches in Japan was
judged by the ACP as "best series for articles published in church mission
magazines" that year.  In 1991, the ACP gave him its "Award of Merit" for
editorial writing.
     Trexler is a noted author and editor of books.  His book about the
ELCA merger, "Anatomy of a Merger," was released by Augsburg Fortress in
November 1991.  He wrote a study guide about the Lutheran World
Federation, published in 1978.  He authored "Mission in a New World" in
1977; "The New Face of Missions" in 1973; "Creative Congregations" in
1972, and in 1969 he edited "Ways to Wake Up Your Church."
     Trexler was a member of the Task Force on Communications of the
Commission for a New Lutheran Church (CNLC).  The CNLC developed merger
plans for the ELCA from three predecessor church bodies.
     Trexler is a 1959 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, N.C. 
He attended Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C.,
where he earned a master of divinity, cum laude, in 1962.  He earned a
master of arts in journalism from Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., in
1964.  
     He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Lenoir-
Rhyne College in 1978 and from Midland College in Fremont, Neb. in 1990. 
He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Wittenberg
University, Springfield, Ohio, in 1994.
     Lenoir-Rhyne honored him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in
1991 and Newberry College, Newberry, S.C., presented him with its
Distinguished Service Award in 1992. Lutheran Theological Southern
Seminary gave Trexler its Bachman Award for Distinguished Leadership in
1993.   
     From 1975 to 1984 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of
Lenoir-Rhyne College.  In 1997 Trexler began a new term on the board and
presently serves.
     The Trexlers live in Naperville, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, and are
members of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Aurora, Ill.  They have three
children: David, 35, Mark, 33, and Karen, 29.
     According to the ELCA Constitution, the advisory committee for The
Lutheran, in consultation with the presiding bishop and the Church
Council, nominates the editor for The Lutheran.  The nominee's name is
forwarded to the Churchwide Assembly for consideration.  Editors are
elected for a four-year term.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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