Four Nominated for NALC Bishop

Four pastors have been nominated to serve as the next bishop of the North American Lutheran Church. The 2011 NALC Convocation Aug. 11-12 in Hilliard, Ohio, will elect a new bishop to serve a four-year term.

The Rev. John F. Bradosky, the Rev. James T. Lehmann, the Rev. Paul A. Schultz, and the Rev. Jacob Larry Yoder have been nominated to serve as the NALC’s chief pastor and evangelist.

Yoder, 68, is a professor of religion at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C. He also serves as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Newton, N.C. He is a graduate of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and Lenoir-Rhyne College. He earned his doctorate from Duke University.

Schultz, 37, is pastor of First English Lutheran Church in Marysville, Ohio. He is a graduate of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Lehmann, 59, is pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Thomasboro, Ill. He is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Bradosky, 59, has served as General Secretary of the North American Lutheran Church since January. Prior to that he was senior pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Dayton, Ohio. He is a graduate of Hamma School of Theology and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

NALC Bishop Paull Spring, 72, has said that he will not be available for reelection. Bishop Spring and other provisional leaders were elected to guide the NALC through its first year by Lutheran CORE’s 2010 Convocation which served as the Constituting Convocation of the NALC. These provisional leaders were elected to one-year terms so the congregations that join the NALC could elect their own leaders at the 2011 Convocation.

NALC congregations had the opportunity to nominate individuals to serve as bishop. The NALC Constitution requires that the names of those nominated to serve as bishop be sent to NALC congregations 90 days prior to the Convocation that will elect the bishop. The four nominees were those received at the time the notice was to be sent.

Additional nominations may be made from the floor at the Convocation. All nominees must be received as NALC pastors by the date of the Convocation.

The NALC Constitution explains that “The Bishop shall serve as the chief pastor and chief evangelist of the NALC, responsible for ensuring the priority of the Great Commission in the life of the church.

“The Bishop shall carry out a pastoral ministry within the church, serving as pastor for the pastors and congregations of the NALC. The Bishop shall preach the Gospel, forgive sins, administer the Sacraments and judge doctrine (Augsburg Confession XXVIII). The Bishop shall carry out a ministry of visitation throughout the church, will be a defender of the faith and will promote the mission of the church,” the constitution says.