05/11/2018

Susan Briner elected bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod

The Rev. Susan J. Briner, Seguin, Texas, was elected May 6 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Southwestern Texas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The election was held during the Synod Assembly May 5-6 at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in San Marcos, Texas.

Briner was elected on the fifth ballot with 175 votes to 157 votes for the Rev. Paul R. Ziese, pastor of MacArthur Park Lutheran Church, San Antonio, Texas.

The bishop-elect currently serves as the bishop’s associate of the synod. She served as a pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Summerville, S.C., from 2003 to 2012.

Briner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Duke University in Durham, N.C., in 1984, and a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., in 2003. The seminary is one of seven ELCA seminaries.

The Rev. Ray Tiemann has served as bishop of the Southwestern Texas Synod since 2000 and will retire August 31, 2018.

Briner will be installed on September 1, 2018.