Rodger Prois elected bishop of ELCA Western Iowa Synod

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Rodger C. Prois, Storm Lake, Iowa, was
elected April 27 to a six-year term as bishop of the Western Iowa Synod
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Prois was elected
on the fifth ballot during the synod assembly April 26-28 in Sioux City,
Iowa.
Prois serves as interim pastor at St. Mark Lutheran in Sioux City,
Iowa, and New Life Lutheran in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. He will be installed
as bishop Sept. 1 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cherokee, Iowa.
Prois was elected on the fifth ballot with160 votes to 153 votes for
the Rev. Peter Soli, director of evangelical mission and assistant to the
bishop of the ELCA Western Iowa Synod. The Rev. Michael Kroona, pastor of
Trinity Lutheran in Webster City, Iowa, was also a nominee on the fourth
ballot with 64 votes to 98 votes for Soli and 109 votes for Prois.
Prois was director for evangelical mission in the ELCA Western Iowa
Synod from 2009 to 2012 and associate director for ELCA World Hunger and
Disaster Appeal from 2006 to 2009. He was pastor of Atonement Lutheran
Church in Bloomington, Minn., from 2003 to 2006.
Prois attended Brown College in Minneapolis, and he studied under a
fellowship at the Alternate Media Center of New York University.
Following his studies, he began a career in the financial services
industry. Prois attended Luther Northwestern Seminary (now Luther
Seminary) in St. Paul, Minn., where he received a Master of Divinity
degree in 1993. Luther is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
Prois’ first call was as mission developer at New Promise Lutheran
in St. George, Utah. He went on to serve as a redeveloping pastor for
Living Hope Lutheran in Chaska, Minn., and lead pastor at Atonement
Lutheran in St. Cloud, Minn.
Prois and his wife Christine have two adult children and will become
grandparents in July.
Information about the ELCA Western Iowa Synod, based in Storm Lake,
is available at http://www.wisynod.org.