wfn.org | Swanson Re-Elected Bishop of ELCA Oregon Synod

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 8, 2001

SWANSON RE-ELECTED BISHOP OF ELCA OREGON SYNOD
01-113-RM*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Paul R. Swanson was re-elected bishop
of the Oregon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which
met in assembly in Portland, Ore.
Swanson, 57, has been serving as bishop of the synod since 1988.
     Swanson was re-elected to a six-year term May 4 on the assembly's
third ballot for bishop.  He received 209 votes of 297 cast.  Runner-up
was the Rev. Joan L. Beck, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Portland, with 49
votes, and third was the Rev. Zane O. Wilson, Springfield Lutheran
Church, Springfield, Ore., with 18 votes.  There were 31 nominees who
received votes on the first ballot.
     During the assembly's Saturday evening celebration of "Cinco de
Mayo," Swanson was making a presentation, when he received a call on his
cell phone.  After taking the call, he announced to the audience that
his daughter had informed him of the birth of his first grandson.
     Born in Bakersfield, Calif., Swanson is a graduate of Pacific
Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., and the Lutheran School of Theology
at Chicago.  Ordained in 1970, he served as pastor of First Lutheran
Church, Anaconda, Mont., and King of Kings Lutheran Church, Milwaukie,
Ore.  In 1984 he became an assistant to the bishop in the Pacific
Northwest Synod of the former Lutheran Church in America.
     The ELCA Oregon Synod has 47,262 baptized members in 122
congregations.  Its offices are in Portland.

* The Rev. Ronald W. McCallum, Cornelius, Ore., chairs the Oregon
Synod's communication team.

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