Title: Wayne Miller Elected Bishop of ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 11, 2007
Wayne Miller Elected Bishop of ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod 07-104-MRC/JD*
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Wayne N. Miller, St. Mark Lutheran Church, Aurora, Ill., was elected June 9 to serve a six- year term as bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He was elected on the fifth ballot during the synod assembly June 8-9 in Rosemont, Ill., with a vote of 343-222 over the Rev. Lawrence J. Clark, executive director, Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta.
Miller, 57, will succeed the Rev. Paul R. Landahl, 69, who announced he would not seek re-election. Landahl has served as bishop since 2001.
Miller led on the fourth ballot with 214 votes. Clark received 165 votes and the Rev. Robert A. Davis, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Libertyville, Ill., received 156. There were 57 names on the first or nominating ballot.
Miller will assume his new role as bishop on Sept. 1. He will be installed on Sept. 9 at a location yet to be announced.
Born here, Miller earned a bachelor's degree in music education at Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., in 1972, and he earned a master of divinity degree from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) in 1984. Augustana is one of 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA; LSTC is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
After he was ordained in 1984, Miller served as assistant pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church here and pastor of the Augustana Center for Developmentally Disabled Children until 1986. He was associate pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Naperville, Ill., from 1986 to 1994, before he was called to St. Mark Lutheran Church, Aurora.
Miller currently serves on the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod Council and the executive committee, and he is a member of the local arrangements committee for the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
Miller served on the synod's worship and youth and young adult teams. He was a founding board member of the Suicide Prevention Services of Fox Valley, a member of the faith subcommittee of the 16th Judicial Circuit's Family Violence Coordinating Council, an instructor of Christianity at Aurora University, Aurora, and convener for the Aurora Area Religious Organized Network.
Miller and his wife Pamela Miller, leader of youth services at North Aurora Public Library, are the parents of two adult children.
The ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod has more than 116,000 baptized members in 217 congregations across four Illinois counties -- Cook, DuPage, Kane and Lake. The synod office is located here. - - -
Information about the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod is at http://www.mcsELCA.org on the Web.
*Jeffrey Drake, director for public relations, ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod, provided information.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog