ELCA Assembly to Consider Three Candidates for Vice President

Milwaukee (ELCA)-KK — Three candidates have advanced following the third ballot in the process of electing a vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Mary Froehlig, Southwest California Synod; Carlos Peña, Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod; and Glenndy Sculley, Minneapolis Area Synod will be placed on the fourth ballot to be voted upon Aug. 14.

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 11-17 at the Midwest Airlines Center. There are about 2,100 people participating, including 1,031 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known: For the Healing of the World."

From a field of seven remaining candidates, Froehlig received 221 votes, 22.9 percent of the total; Peña received 180 votes, 18.6 percent of the total; and Sculley received 140 votes, 14.5 percent of the total. None of the three received the two- thirds of the total votes that is required for election. Each of the three will speak before assembly participants prior to the fourth ballot Aug. 15.

Froehlig is presently a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Southern California School of Religion, and has served as an ELCA synod vice president and regional steering committee chairperson. Peña is president of Kleen Supply Co., Inc.-Galveston and C.M. Distributing-Houston, and has served as a synod vice president, served on the ELCA Church Council and regional social ministry and public service boards. Sculley serves the Minneapolis Area Synod as an assistant to the bishop and worked in the churchwide Department for Synodical Relations.

The position of vice president is filled by a lay person — a person not ordained by the ELCA. Service is voluntary and involves chairing meetings of the Church Council, which is the ELCA's board of directors and the interim legislative authority between churchwide assemblies.