The Rev. Juan Cobrda Re-Elected in Slovak Zion Synod

COBRDA RE-ELECTED IN SLOVAK ZION SYNOD

The Rev. Juan Cobrda, 66, was re-elected June 28 to a six-year term as bishop of the
Slovak Zion Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  The election came on
the third ballot during the Slovak Zion Synod Assembly, June 27-29, at Muhlenberg
College, Allentown, Pa.  The assembly re-elected Cobrda with 50 votes.  The Rev. D.
Gary Schreckengost, St. John Lutheran Church, Youngstown, Ohio, received 23 votes.
Cobrda was first elected the synod's bishop in 1993 to succeed the Rev. Kenneth E.
Zindle.  He is one of the last ELCA bishops to serve a four-year term.  The ELCA's 1993
Churchwide Assembly extended the term of a bishop's service to six years.  The Slovak
Zion Synod is the ELCA's only non-geographic synod.  It includes 8,240 Lutherans in 36
congregations scattered from Wisconsin to Connecticut.  It is also the only ELCA synod
organized on an ethnic basis, with historic roots in Slovakia and the surrounding regions of
Eastern Europe.  Cobrda was born in Pribovce Turiec, Czechoslovakia.  He was ordained
by the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina in 1958 and served as that
church's bishop from 1966 to 1976.  After studying at the Lutheran Theological Seminary
at Philadelphia, Cobrda served as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Trenton, N.J.; El
Redentor Church, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, (Firestone)
Akron, Ohio; and Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church, Chicago.  The synod office is located
near the residence of the bishop and is currently in suburban Chicago.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html