ELCA Presiding Bishop's Statement on the Life of Coretta Scott King
It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Coretta Scott King, a human rights advocate whose life was filled with both struggle and accomplishment. She learned at an early age what it was like to live in a segregated society by walking five miles a day to...
'Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity' pledges 312 new homes in 2006
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Thrivent Financial for Lutherans committed $21.7 million to Habitat for Humanity International in an effort to build 312 homes across the United States in 2006, said a Thrivent Financial news release. Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity makes the Minneapolis-based Thrivent Financial the single...
Lutherans to Take Part in 'Souper Bowl of Caring'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- This weekend while the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks meet on the field in Detroit to determine the 2006 Super Bowl champion, Lutherans will join with other churches and organizations throughout the United States and Canada to raise funds, collect canned goods and donate service hours to...
Lutheran Men in Mission Ships Thousands of Bibles to Men's Ministries
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), shipped nearly 6,000 Bibles in January to the organization's representatives in the church's 65 synods, according to Doug Haugen, LMM director. Each synod will be able to use six Bibles in...
Wangerin's "Book of the Dun Cow" to premiere off-Broadway
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service A musical adaptation of "The Book of the Dun Cow" by the Rev. Walt Wangerin Jr., Valparaiso (Ind.) University's award-winning author and well-known speaker, will open in an off-Broadway premiere Feb. 4 in New York City. The show will be staged at the...
Kristi Bangert Named Executive Director, ELCA Communication Services
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced Jan. 31 that he has appointed Kristi S. Bangert to a four-year term as executive director, ELCA Communication Services, effective Feb. 1. Bangert, 59, who joined ELCA Communication Services in 1997,...
CLU dedicates George "Sparky" Anderson Field
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service With some 500 baseball fans in attendance Jan. 28, California Lutheran University (CLU), Thousand Oaks, Calif., formally dedicated George "Sparky" Anderson Field, the new home of the CLU Kingsmen baseball team. The field is named in honor of Anderson, a Thousand Oaks resident...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Urges Defeat of 'Budget Reconciliation' Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the leaders of four other mainline church denominations called on the U.S. House of Representatives to defeat the fiscal year 2006 Budget Reconciliation package, which, the church leaders said, cuts safety...
Lutheran agency to host town hall meeting following State of the Union
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service Crane's Mill Continuing Care Retirement Community, West Caldwell, N.J., will be the site of a "town hall" meeting on CBS-TV following President Bush's State of the Union message to Congress Jan. 31. The retirement community is a ministry of Lutheran Social Ministries of...
Lutheran theologian featured in TV show on 'The Rapture'
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Discovery Times cable television channel plans to air "The Rapture" several times beginning Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. For the program, producers interviewed the Rev. Barbara R. Rossing, professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and author of...
Extravaganza 2006 coming Feb. 2-6 in Phoenix
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Ministry Network will host Extravaganza 2006, Feb. 2-6 at the Hyatt Hotel in Phoenix. The network is an organization committed to strengthening and empowering adults who work with young people in congregations of the ELCA. "Turned"...
Michael Neils Resigns as Bishop of ELCA Grand Canyon Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced Jan. 26 that Michael J. Neils, bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, resigned as synod bishop and as an ordained minister of the ELCA. Neils informed the synod of his...
Documentary 'Bonhoeffer' focus of centennial celebration of his birth
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born Feb. 4, 1906, in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, took part in the plots planned to assassinate Adolph Hitler. He was arrested, imprisoned and eventually hanged at Flossenbuerg, Germany, on April 9, 1945 -- three...
ELCA Colleges Host 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, will be the featured speaker during the 18th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum held March 10-11 at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. The 2006 forum, "Striving for Peace: Sustaining the Planet," will focus on threats to peace posed by...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Preaches in Historic Ecumenical Service
NEW YORK (ELCA) -- In a culture that values consumerism, fears diversity, seeks unity, demands certainty, shuns ambiguity, accepts deception and is often defined by arrogance and dominance, how do churches today work together to live out their mission? That question was the focus of a sermon by the Rev....
ELCA Prepares First Draft of Possible Social Statement on Education
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Task Force on Education of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has written the first draft of a possible social statement on education. The task force met here Jan. 20-22 to apply what it learned while producing a study document and from responses it received...
St. Olaf College Choir conductor receives $200,000 'great teaching' award
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service Baylor University, Waco, Texas, named Anton Armstrong, conductor of the famed St. Olaf Choir, recipient of its 2006 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching -- the single largest award given in the United States to an individual for teaching excellence. Armstrong, Harry...
Lenoir-Rhyne College board extends president's contact
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service The Lenoir-Rhyne College board of trustees extended the contract of Dr. Wayne B. Powell, college president, for three additional years. Powell, 55, assumed office in December 2002 and was given an initial contract through 2008. The board's action extends his contract to 2011....
'Joy to the World' viewership 2.6 million
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service "Joy to the World," a Christmas special on ABC-TV produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was seen by more than 2.6 million viewers in at least 116 television markets, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., a research and ratings firm....
ELCA Presiding Bishops to Present 2006 Hein-Fry Lecture Series
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Since the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was formed in 1988 by the merger of three Lutheran church bodies, it has been led by three presiding bishops -- the Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, 1987-1995; the Rev. H. George Anderson, 1995-2001; and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson,...
