Anderson Elected Regional Bishop

The Rev. J. Roger Anderson, an administrator in the old Lutheran Church in America, was elected Friday in Los Angeles as the bishop of a five-county region of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, defeating American Lutheran Church Bishop Nelson Trout, 303-196, on the final ballot.

Anderson, 51, of Thousand Oaks, has been assistant to Bishop Stanley Olson in the Los Angeles-based district office of the Lutheran Church in America. Olson is a candidate for the bishop’s post in Northern California.

Anderson will take office immediately as bishop for 60,000 baptized members in 173 congregations in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern and San Luis Obispo counties. Delegates meeting at the Hyatt Airport Hotel postponed a decision on where the California West Synod will be headquartered.