ELCA aseembly June 2018

This past week (June 13-14), Pastor Mary Piotrowski and Ms. Deb Noel attended the annual assembly of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod in Tucson, Arizona, representing St. John’s. Pastor Mary and Deb had the happy opportunity to visit with Mrs. Sally Almen (far left), who had visited St. John’s in April with her husband, the current Grand Canyon Synod Bishop, and with Elizabeth A. Eaton, who is the fourth Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (far right).

At this meeting, The Rev. Deborah Hutterer was elected the sixth bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  She will assume the office on September 1 and will be installed on September 8 at 10 a.m. The service will take place at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Phoenix, Arizona.

Bishop-Elect Hutterer, 63, currently is the chief development officer for Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest. She was ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament on August 18, 2004, following her graduation with a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. She graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Augsburg University in Minneapolis in 1999.

Before being called to service in Arizona, she served as transformational ministry pastor in St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pontiac, Ill., executive director of Faith in the City in Minneapolis, and parish life coordinator in Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Baldwin, Wis.

She is a member of Desert Cross Lutheran Church in Tempe, Ariz.

The assembly was held at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Oro Valley, Ariz.

The ELCA’s Grand Canyon Synod covers all of the state of Arizona, southern Nevada, and includes St. George in Utah. The synod’s 89 congregations include 44,000 members.