Gulf Coast Synod Assembly Highlights: Saturday, June 2

Fourth Ballot
The first order of business for the day was the casting of the fourth ballot for bishop. Sixty percent of the votes cast would have elected our new bishop, but no one received that number. Before this ballot was cast, Presiding Bishop Hanson said he normally didn't advise voting members about their votes, but this time he would make an exception. "Vote for Mike," he said. Here are the totals of votes each candidate received in the fourth ballot:

• Mike Button (121)
• Mike Rinehart (112)
• Mike Aus (102)

You can see how close this vote was. Pastors Button and Rinehart would go on to the fifth and final ballot.

Question and Answer Session

The management team of the synod had prepared a list of five questions to be asked of each remaining nominee (with the other nominee being sequestered so he could not hear the answers of the other). I wish I had written down the questions to share here, but I did not. After the questions had been asked and answered, Bishop Hanson led us in a final time of scripture and prayer. After that, we cast the fifth ballot.

Fifth Ballot

A simple majority was required to declare an election on this ballot. The results:

• Mike Rinehart (219)
• Mike Button (117)

Bishop Hanson then declared Pastor Rinehart to be the Bishop-Elect of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. His six-year term will officially begin on September 1, 2007. The service of installation will be at Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston on Saturday, September 29, at a time to be announced. In a nice twist, this pre-selected date happens to be the feast of St. Michael and All Angels!

Personal Reflections on the Bishop's Election

I am extremely proud of the voting members of this assembly -- pastors and lay people alike. This was an occasion that could have been filled with politicking, but I detected none. Of course, prior to the assembly, there was lots of talk (from me, too) speculating on whom we might elect. But that's different than campaigns being mounted. At the beginning of the process, Bishop Hanson reminded us that we were voting to discern the Holy Spirit's call to a particular office in the church. I believe that the process was treated in just that way.

I also thought that the commitment and competence of the final eight nominees was extremely high. The oversight (the Greek word for bishop, episkopos, means "overseer") of the synod would have been in good hands had any of the eight been selected.

In no particular order:

• Of course, many of us know Pastor Mike Button from his many years of dedicated service at Faith Lutheran Church in Dickinson.
• I knew Pastor Mike Aus from his years as an intern at St. Stephen Lutheran Church (now New Life) in Pearland. In fact, Pastor Aus' wife, June, was the nurse for one of my Swea City parishioners at Hennepin County Hospital in Minneapolis (while Mike was a "middler" at Luther Seminary).
• Pastor Liz Stein is a good friend, too. We were colleagues in the Texas Cluster of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Doctor of Ministry program, graduating together in 1995. She has a decisive way of getting to the core issue. She currently serves as the (unpaid) Assistant to the Bishop for Leadership. As the new chair of the candidacy committee, I work with Liz a lot.
• Many of you know Pastor Rob Moore, Assistant to Bishop Blom, from his part in the surprise party you held to celebrate my twentieth anniversary of my ordination. Pastor Rob and Heidi were involved in churchwide youth ministry in the LCA many years ago.
• Pastor Robin McCullough-Bade was director of Christian Education at St. John's Lutheran Church in Des Moines, my home congregation. Robin and her husband, Pastor John McCullough-Bade, have been key leaders in keeping the needs of congregations in East Texas and Louisiana before the whole church in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I am going to have some more to say about disaster response in a future post.
• I got to know Pastor Herb Palmer a little bit when we were both supervisors of seminary interns. We would attend the semi-annual internship cluster gatherings. Herb always had great insights on what helping a future pastor's formation was all about. He was always soft-spoken, but I learned that behind that quiet exterior there was a pastor with high expectations for himself and for those he supervised. Yet, along with those high expectations, there lurked a compassion that was always ready to listen.
• Pastor Robert G. Moore is the senior pastor at Christ the King in Rice Village. I've gotten to know him a little more in the last year as I have served with him on the board of the Melanchthon Institute. He has his Ph.D. in New Testament studies from Rice. I have experienced him as a meticulous administrator with a great sense of humor. He has a "convert's" appreciation for the Lutheran liturgical tradition, having been raised a Southern Baptist and serving as a pastor in that denomination.

Looking back at the totals from the various ballots cast in this election, it was interesting to see that the eventual Bishop-elect barely made the list of those nominees who would continue to be considered. In retrospect, I believe that was the Holy Spirit at work, guiding us to the person God had in mind to lead our synod. I'm looking forward to Bishop Rinehart's service among us.

I need to say a word about Presiding Bishop Hanson. I so appreciated his leadership! He continually called the church to Scripture and prayer throughout the election (and in his speeches as well). We came to know and love his quick wit.