ELCA News Blog
July 27, 2006  

ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod interim bishop to take office Aug. 1

by Katherine R. Hinck*, ELCA News Service

The Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) named the Rev. Lee M. Miller, former bishop of the ELCA Upstate New York Synod, to serve as interim bishop beginning Aug. 1.  Lee Miller succeeds the Rev. Marcus J. Miller who stepped down in May to become president of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS), Columbia, S.C.  LTSS is one of eight ELCA seminaries. The Northeastern Ohio Synod Council appointed Lee Miller in consultation with the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop.

A special synod assembly is planned for Dec. 2 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to elect a permanent successor to Marcus Miller.  The elected bishop's term will begin Feb. 1, 2007.  That person will serve a full six-year term.

The Northeastern Ohio Synod includes 84,388 members in 207 congregations in 20 counties of northeast Ohio.  The synod office is in Cuyahoga Falls.

*Katherine R. Hinck is a senior journalism and religion major at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.  This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.