Craig A. Schweitzer was elected July 17 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the ELCA Western North Dakota Synod. The election took place during an online synod assembly. An in-person synod gathering had been scheduled earlier in the spring, but concerns about COVID-19 led the Synod Council to move the gathering to an online format. Schweitzer is the first bishop in the ELCA to be elected in an online assembly.
Schweitzer was elected on the sixth ballot, with 165 votes. Desireé Uhrich, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Minot, N.D., received 120 votes.
