wfn.org | Hanson Re-elected Lutheran Bishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota

[news@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 23, 2001

HANSON RE-ELECTED LUTHERAN BISHOP OF SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA
01-097-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson was elected April 21
to a second six-year term as bishop of the Saint Paul (Minn.) Area
Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  The
election was held during the synod's assembly at Concordia College,
St. Paul.
     On the third ballot Hanson received 353 votes or 74 percent of
the 476 ballots cast.  Other candidates on that ballot were the Rev.
Connie L. McCallister, Royal Redeemer Lutheran Church, St. Paul, and
the Rev. Joel L. Bexell, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Cottage Grove,
Minn.  There were 19 names on the nominating ballot.
     In 1995, while serving as pastor of University Lutheran Church
of Hope, Minneapolis, Hanson was elected to succeed the Rev. Lowell
O. Erdahl as bishop of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod.  He had also
served as pastor of Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, and
Edina Community Lutheran Church, Edina, Minn.
     Hanson, 54, was educated at Augsburg College, Minneapolis;
Union Theological Seminary, New York; and Luther Seminary, St. Paul.
     He and his wife Ione Agrimson Hanson, director of social work
for Children's Hospitals, Minneapolis and St. Paul, have six children
and one grandchild.
     The Saint Paul Area Synod is 164,949 baptized members in 121
ELCA congregations across Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington
Counties of Minnesota.

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