wfn.org | ELCA Council Discusses Nomination Process for 'The Lutheran' Editor

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 11, 1999

ELCA COUNCIL DISCUSSES NOMINATION PROCESS FOR 'THE LUTHERAN' EDITOR
99-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   The advisory committee for "The Lutheran," the
magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will meet
July 12-13 to interview finalists for the editor's position and make a
nomination to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA Church Council
learned at its April 9-12 meeting here.
     The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between its meetings of the
Churchwide Assembly.  Assemblies are held every other year; the next is
August 16-22 in Denver.
     The council took action to turn over its role as a consultant in
the nomination process to its executive committee.  The ELCA
constitution specified a nomination process for the editor.  It said the
advisory committee shall nominate an editor "in consultation with the
presiding bishop of this church and the Church Council."
     The advisory committee includes 13 members.  Two are advisors to
the committee: the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, and the Rev.
Phillip L. Hougen, bishop of the Southeastern Iowa Synod.  Donald G.
Hayes, Winston-Salem, N.C. is the Church Council's representative on the
committee.
     The Rev. Edgar R. Trexler, editor of The Lutheran, announced
earlier this year he will not seek re-election.  He told the council of
the process to select a new editor.
     The advisory committee for The Lutheran is the search committee,
Trexler said.  As of March 12, the committee began accepting
applications through the ELCA Department for Human Resources. The
deadline to submit applications is June 1.  A four-member subcommittee
of the advisory committee will then review the applications and develop
a list of three to five candidates who will be invited for a formal
interview July 12-13, most likely in Chicago, he said.
     The name of one nominee will be chosen and announced prior to the
Churchwide Assembly.  The Church Council will receive the nomination at
its meeting in Denver August 15-16 and formally transmit the nomination 
to the assembly.  Assembly voting members will be asked to vote on the 
nominee with a yes-or-no vote, Trexler said.
     "This is the first time it has been used in this church," Trexler
said of the nomination process, adding it may seem more like a
"ratification than an election."  The open part of the process is
occurring now, he said.
     The council's decision to turn over its role in the nomination
process to its executive committee followed a discussion in which
council member Dale V. Sandstrom, Bismarck, N.D., expressed 
concerns that it appeared the council would not be consulted as the
constitution specified.  Some other council members agreed.
     "What's at stake is full support of the next editor," said the
Rev. Karen L. Soli, council member, Virginia, Minn.
     The council's Legal and Constitutional Review Committee made the
recommendation on the council's role.  Noting the need to maintain
confidentiality in the nomination process, the committee said the names
of the candidates will not be widely distributed.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html