Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod re-elects leader

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has re-elected its current leader.

The church announced Saturday that the Rev. Matthew Harrison will serve a second three-year term as president.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Harrison is the synod's 13th president since 1847. His re-election was expected. He received 66 percent of the ballots cast.

The second-largest vote getter was the Rev. David Maier, who received 30 percent of the vote. He's president of the synod's Michigan district. Receiving 4 percent of the vote was the Rev. Herbert Mueller Jr. He's the synod's first vice president.

The 2.4 million-member church is based in Kirkwood. It's the second-largest Lutheran denomination in the country after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with twice as many members.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com