Hickory, NC – The 2018-19 Lives Worth Living speaker series concludes with The Reverend Elizabeth Eaton, Monday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in P.E. Monroe Auditorium. Eaton is the first female presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Eaton was elected as 
ELCA’s fourth presiding bishop at the 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Eaton earned a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and a bachelor’s degree in music education from the College of Wooster. She was ordained in 1981 and served as pastor to three congregations in Ohio before being elected bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod in 2006 and re-elected in May 2013.
As presiding bishop, Eaton travels extensively, representing the ELCA in a variety of capacities. This has included a visit to a Syrian refugee camp, commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation with Lutherans from around the world in Namibia and participating in an ecumenical service commemorating the Reformation in the Lund, Sweden, cathedral with Pope Francis. The event is free and open to public. A reception will follow at The Crossing at Hollar Mill, 883 Highland Ave. S.E., Hickory, North Carolina, and all are welcome to attend. For more information, visit lr.edu/publicevents or contact Mindy Makant, Ph.D., LR associate professor of religious studies and director of the Living Well Center, at [email protected] or by calling 828.328.7188. Visit elca.org/about/leadership/churchwide-officers/presiding-bishop to learn more about the presenter.
Established in 2018, the LR Living Well Center for Vocation and Purpose strives to engage students, faculty, and staff in the ongoing discernment of vocation and purpose. The Living Well Center for Vocation and Purpose hosts the speaker series: Lives Worth Living. Speakers, including theologians, bishops, artists, and advocates for justice, will share their vocational stories and encourage participants to think in new ways about what makes one’s own life meaningful and purpose-filled.
Rev. Elizabeth Eaton
