CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected Else Thompson to a second four-year term as director of the ELCA Department for Human Resources. The council also made appointments to several churchwide boards and committees.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 9-11. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 11-17, 2003, in Milwaukee.
On the recommendation of the presiding bishop, the council re- elected Thompson, 54. She has served as director of the department since 1998. Her second term begins Jan. 1, 2002.
Among her duties, Thompson oversees personnel policies of the churchwide organization, guides staff selection, provides for employee assistance programs, ensures equitable employee-relations practices and maintains personnel records.
Before joining the ELCA, Thompson was director for human resource planning at Aid Association for Lutherans. AAL is a fraternal benefits organization based in Appleton, Wis.; it plans to merge soon with Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits organization based in Minneapolis.
The ELCA Church Council appointed several of its own members to advisory committees in the church: the Rev. Michael G. Merkel, Bethesda Lutheran Church, New Haven, Conn., to Corporate Social Responsibility, a program of the ELCA Division for Church in Society; the Rev. Joseph G. Crippen, St. John Lutheran Church, Northfield, Minn., the Rev. Fred S. Opalinski, Trinity Lutheran Church, Latrobe, Pa., and the Rev. Karen S. Parker, assistant to the bishop, Pacifica Synod, Huntington Beach, Calif., to the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs; and Grieg L. Anderson, Portland, Ore., to The Lutheran, magazine of the ELCA.
The council named Rosemary Bennett, Grace Lutheran Church, Phoenix, and James E. Tremain, Salem Lutheran Church, Fremont, Neb., to complete the unexpired terms of Donna A. Coursey, Seattle, and Bolivar Roman, San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the board of the ELCA Division for Higher Education and Schools.
It named Frank Hanna-Williams, St. Peter Lutheran Church, Tillamook, Ore., to replace the Rev. Loren E. Halvorson, St. Paul, Minn., who completed his six-year term on the steering committee of the ELCA Commission for Women. It ratified the appointment of the Rev. Lawrence J. Clark, Bethany Lutheran Church, Chicago, to complete the unexpired term of the Rev. Michele L. Robinson on the steering committee of the ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
The council re-elected the Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, to the board of trustees of the Endowment Fund of the ELCA and board of advisors of the ELCA Foundation and elected three new members to serve six-year terms on those boards: Brian Hofland, Trinity Lutheran Church, White Plains, N.Y.; Tonia J. Lindquist, Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Portland, Ore.; and the Rev. Richard W. Martyn, First Lutheran Church, Fullerton, Calif.
It ratified the reappointment of Bradford E. Cook, Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church, Manchester, N.H., and the Rev. J. Philip Wahl, Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Savannah, Ga., to six-year terms on the Churchwide Committee of Hearing Officers, and named the Rev. Leslie G. Svendsen, St. John Lutheran Church, Northfield, Minn., to that committee.
The council ratified the appointment of Alfred V. Sagar, Ascension Lutheran Church, Jackson, Miss., to the advisory committee of the ELCA Department for Human Resources, to complete the unexpired term of Paul E. Brammeier, Wheaton, Ill. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, made the appointment.
The council named several members to the board of trustees of the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA. Each was nominated by a related churchwide board. Robert C. Gorsuch, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Madison, Wis., and Lisa K. Stump, St. John Lutheran Church, Des Moines, Iowa, were nominated by the ELCA Church Council's budget and finance committee; Norma J. Larson, Spirit of Life Lutheran Church, Port Orchard, Wash., by the Division for Outreach; and Willis "Bill" O. Serr II, Epiphany Lutheran Church, Dayton, Ohio, by the Division for Church in Society.
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
