The Rev. Dr. Phyllis Blair Milton, Pastor at Holy Communion in Portsmouth Virginia, was elected June 11 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The election took place during the Virginia Synod Assembly, June 9-11, at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.
Bishop Elect Milton was elected on the sixth ballot, with 175 votes to 172 votes for the Rev. Kelly Bayer Derrick, Assistant to the Bishop of the Virginia Synod.
The Rev. Dr. Milton has served as Pastor at Holy Communion in Portsmouth since 2022. Prior to that, she served as Interim Associate Pastor at First Lutheran in Norfolk from March-November in 2021; Pastor and School Chaplain at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and School in Hampton from 2013-2021; Synodical Minister for Christian Formation for the Virginia Synod from 2012-2017.
Milton earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State University in 1976, Masters degrees from Georgia State in 1980 and Bethel Seminary in 1995, and her Doctorate of Ministry in Church Leadership Development and Organizational Systems from Bethel Seminary in 2004 and completed her Lutheran Semester at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in 2010.
Bishop-elect Milton will be the first female bishop and first African American Bishop in the history of the Virginia Synod, ELCA. She will take office September 1 and will be installed on Saturday, October 21 at First Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro.
The Virginia Synod is comprised of 145 congregations around the Commonwealth of Virginia. Information about the Virginia Synod is available at https://vasynod.org/ and more information on the election can be found at: https://vasynod.org/2023-virginia-synod-assembly/.
