Faribault pastor to be new Lutheran bishop
The Rev. Steven Delzer, Faribault, Minn., will be installed Saturday, Sept. 7, as the third bishop of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Rev. Mark Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, will preach and preside.
The service will be at 2 p.m. at St. John Lutheran Church, 1301 Lincoln Ave., Owatonna, Minn. All are invited to attend.
Delzer was elected to a six-year term at the synod’s annual assembly June 7-8 in Rochester, Minn. He previously served as lead pastor of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Faribault. He succeeds the Rev. Harold Usgaard, who has served as bishop since 2001 and was not eligible for re-election.
Delzer received a master’s degree from Concordia Seminary—Seminex, St. Louis, Mo., in 1975; a bachelor’s degree from Concordia Senior College, Ft. Wayne, Ind., in 1971, and an associate degree from Concordia College, St. Paul, Minn., in 1969. Before being called to Our Savior’s in Faribault, Delzer was an interim pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, West Union, Iowa (2000-2001) and at First Lutheran Church, Albert Lea, Minn. (2001-2002). Prior to 2000, he served congregations in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
The Southeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA, is a faith community of more than 125,000 baptized people in 175 congregations throughout the 15 counties of southeastern Minnesota. The Southeastern Minnesota Synod is one of 65 synods that make up the ELCA.