CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. Gerard Knoche Jr., New Hope Lutheran Church, Columbia, Md., was elected June 17 to a six-year term as bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) during the synod's assembly at Western Maryland College, Westminster, Md. On the fifth and final ballot, Knoche received 291 votes to 112 for the Rev. Phillip C. Huber, St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C.
The Rev. Glenn E. Ludwig, First Lutheran Church, Ellicott City, Md., was also considered on the fourth ballot. Ludwig received more votes than any of the other 100 nominees on the first and nominating ballot.
"My mother was never happy that I went into the ministry, but she always said, 'If you must do it, at least get to be a bishop,'" Knoche told the assembly, after the results of the election were announced.
Born in Baltimore, Knoche, 57, graduated from Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.; Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn.; and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. Ordained in 1967, he served as pastor for Grace Lutheran Church, Westminster, Md.; associate chaplain for Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa.; and director for Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Knoche succeeds the Rev. George P. Mocko, 66, who plans to retire as the synod's bishop at the end of August. Mocko was elected bishop in 1991, succeeding the Rev. Morris G. Zumbrun, and re-elected in 1995 to a term that was to end in 2001.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, will install Knoche as the synod's bishop in a ceremony Oct. 14 at a place to be determined.
The Delaware-Maryland Synod includes almost 100,000 Lutherans in 195 congregations across Delaware, the city of Baltimore and 18 counties in Maryland, and two counties in Virginia. Synod offices are in Baltimore.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities 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:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
