wfn.org | Freiheit Elected Lutheran Bishop of Central-Southern Illinois

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 12, 2000

FREIHEIT ELECTED LUTHERAN BISHOP OF CENTRAL-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
00-159-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Warren D. Freiheit, First English
Lutheran Church, Peoria, Ill., was elected June 10 to a six-year term as
bishop of the Central-Southern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) during the synod's assembly at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Springfield, Ill.  On the fifth and final ballot, he
received 250 votes to 165 votes for the Rev. Dennis Meyer, Prince of
Peace Lutheran Church, St. Joseph, Ill.
     The Rev. David Cox, assistant to the bishop, Springfield, was also
considered on the fourth ballot.  There were 64 names on the first and
nominating ballot.
     Freiheit, 52, succeeds the Rev. Alton Zenker as the synod's bishop
on Sept. 1.  Zenker was elected in 1994 to a six-year term, succeeding
the late John P. Kaitschuk as bishop, and plans to retire at the end of
August.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, will
install Freiheit as bishop in a ceremony Sept. 15 at the Roman Catholic
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Springfield.
     Born in Preston, Minn., Freiheit is a graduate of Wartburg
College, Waverly, Iowa, and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.  He served
as pastor for Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lincoln, Ill., and the Lutheran
Church of the Resurrection, Oak Forest, Ill., before moving to Peoria in
1986.
     He and his wife Sandra are the parents of two grown daughters.
     The Central-Southern Illinois Synod includes 61,000 Lutherans in
159 congregations across 76 Illinois counties.

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