06/11/2014
More ELCA Bishop Elections as Assembly Season Presses On
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. John S. Macholz, Rochester, N.Y., was elected June 3 to a six-year term as bishop of the Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) during the Synod Assembly June 1-3 at the Riverside Convention Center in Rochester.
Macholz was elected on the fifth ballot with 236 votes to 154 votes for the Rev. Marie Jerge, current bishop of the synod. Jerge, who was first elected in 2002, served two terms as bishop.
“This election is for the whole church and how we go forward in God’s Holy Spirit,” said Macholz. “I ask for your prayers as we begin a new phase in the life of our church.”
Macholz is pastor of Atonement Lutheran Church in Rochester, where he has served since 1990. He served as pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Troy, N.Y., from 1980 to 1990. He has served as the dean of the synod’s Genesee Finger Lakes Conference since 2006 and was dean of the Hudson Mohawk Conference (mathematics) from 1988 to 1990.
Macholz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Bronxville, N.Y., in 1975 and a Master of Divinity degree from Christ Seminary-Seminex in St. Louis in 1980.
Information about the Upstate New York Synod is available at http://upstatenysynod.org.
CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Rev. Michael L. Rhyne, East Freedom, Pa., was elected June 7 to a six-year term as bishop of the Allegheny Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) during the Synod Assembly June 5-7 at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona, Pa.
Rhyne was elected on the fifth ballot with 139 votes to 113 votes for the Rev. Lynn M. Miller, assistant to the bishop of the ELCA Allegheny Synod, based in Altoona. On this ballot, 252 votes were cast and 127 votes were needed for an election.
Rhyne has been pastor of Geeseytown Lutheran Church in Hollidaysburg, Pa., and Newry Lutheran Church in Newry, Pa., since 2009.
Rhyne earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in communication studies and drama from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a Master of Arts degree in acting from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. In 2009, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., and was ordained in the same year at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Altoona. Prior to entering seminary, Rhyne was in theater and taught at Huntington College in Montgomery, Ala.; Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.; and at Troy University in Troy, Ala. Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
Information about the ELCA Allegheny Synod is available at http://www.alleghenysynod.org.