ELCA News Blog
June 17, 2009   

Jon Anderson re-elected bishop of ELCA Southwestern Minnesota Synod

By Carrie L. Draeger, ELCA News Service*

The Rev. Jon V. Anderson was elected June 12 to a second term as bishop of the Southwestern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  Anderson was re-elected on the first ballot for bishop, receiving 488 of the 623 votes cast at the synod assembly at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.  The other 135 votes were cast for the Rev. Scott M. Grorud, a pastor at Faith Lutheran Church, Hutchinson, Minn. Gustavus Adolphus is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities. Anderson and Grorud were the only nominees.

Anderson, 49, was born in Glenwood, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in religion from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., in 1981.  Anderson earned a master of divinity degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., in 1985.  St. Olaf College is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities; Luther Seminary is one of eight ELCA seminaries.  Anderson served as a pastor of Lutheran congregations in New Ulm, Minn., St. Cloud, Minn., and as an associate pastor in Houston before being elected bishop in 2003.

Anderson and his wife Robyn are parents of three children and live in New Ulm, Minn.  The Southwestern Minnesota Synod has 133,094 baptized members in 269 congregations.  The synod office is in Redwood Falls, Minn.

* Carrie L. Draeger is a senior communication major with a concentration in journalism at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash. This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.