Wayne Miller Elected Bishop of ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod

     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.
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     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