ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 5, 2012

Clayton Schmit named first provost of ELCA seminary
12-37-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Clayton J. Schmit has been named founding provost of the new School of Theology, which is to be formed when Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C., and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., merge July 1.
     The seminary is one of eight of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA); the university is one of 26 colleges and universities of the ELCA.
     With the merger, the university is establishing the School of Theology, which will include the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. The seminary will retain its own name and identity while integrating with the larger university system.
     "The merger of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with Lenoir-Rhyne University offers great promise for the expansion of the ELCA's work in theological education," said the Rev. Jonathan Strandjord, program director for seminaries at ELCA churchwide ministries. "Calling this first provost is a crucial first step in making this promise real."
     As the founding provost, Schmit will be the chief administrative officer of the seminary. He succeeds the Rev. Marcus J. Miller, who will retire this summer as the seminary's president.
     "I am very excited about the merger," said Schmit in a Lenoir-Rhyne news release, "and the new approach to theological education it represents. This is a new day for the seminary, and I look forward to working with both teams to explore the synergies and prospects that the merger represents."
     Schmit earned a Master of Divinity from the ELCA's Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.  He earned a doctorate from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., and currently is the Arthur DeKruyter Christ Church Oak Brook Professor of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 4.2 million members in 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

For information contact:
Melissa Ramirez Cooper
773-380-2956 or Melissa.RamirezCooper@ELCA.org
http://www.ELCA.org/news
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lutherans
Living Lutheran: http://www.livinglutheran.com