ELCA News Blog
June 4, 2007
Craig Johnson re-elected bishop of ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper*, ELCA News Service
The Rev. Craig E. Johnson was elected June 1 to a second six-year term as bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at the synod assembly May 31- June 2 in St. Peter, Minn. Johnson, 59, was re-elected on the first ballot with 449 votes to 51 for the Rev. Susan L. Engh, Wayzata, Minn. There were 22 names on the first or nominating ballot. Johnson's new term begins Aug. 1.
Born in St. Croix Falls, Wis., Johnson is a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, and Northwestern Theological Seminary, Minneapolis (now Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.). He was associate vice president for church relations at Gustavus Adolphus from 1996 to 2001. From 1973 to 1996 Johnson served as pastor of Nativity Lutheran Church, Shreveport, La.; Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; and Transfiguration Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Minn. Gustavus Adolphus is one of 28 college and universities of the ELCA; Luther is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
Johnson and his wife Cynthia (Cindy) are the parents of three children.
The ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod has 230,000 members in 175 congregations across seven Minnesota counties. The synod office is in Minneapolis.
* Danette M. Griffith, director of communication, ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod, provided information.
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