CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. William B. Trexler, 57, has announced his resignation as bishop of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, one of 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), effective Jan. 1, 2001. He has accepted a call to serve as pastor of First Lutheran Church, Norfolk, Va.
The Florida-Bahamas Synod Assembly, meeting May 3-5 at Lake Yale, Leesburg, Fla., will elect the synod's next bishop. In a letter to the synod's 220 congregations, Dr. Cecilia M. Johnson, synod vice president, said the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, will appoint an interim bishop to serve from the first of the year until the synod's next bishop takes office.
The 1995 Florida-Bahamas Synod Assembly elected Trexler to a six-year term that began Aug. 1, 1995. He succeeded the Rev. Lavern G. Franzen, who served as the synod's bishop since the ELCA was formed in 1988.
The Florida-Bahamas Synod includes 93,000 Lutherans, 500 of whom are pastors, associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers of the ELCA. Synod offices are in Tampa, Fla.
Born in Rocky Mount, N.C., Trexler is a graduate of Duke University, Durham, N.C., and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C. He earned a doctorate from Southern Seminary in 1991.
Ordained in 1970, Trexler has served as pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Miami; Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Greenville, S.C.; and St. Mark Lutheran Church, Jacksonville, Fla. From 1975 to 1976, he served as Atlanta-based staff of the former Lutheran Church in America's Division for Parish Services.
Trexler and his wife, Karla, are the parents of two sons and a daughter.
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
