Tracey Breashears Schultz Elected Bishop of the ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod

The Rev. Tracey Breashears Schultz, Houston, Texas, was elected May 17 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The election took place during the synod assembly, May 16-17 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel in New Orleans, La.

Schultz was elected on the third ballot, with 153 votes. The Rev. Richard Rhoades, senior pastor of First Lutheran Church of Galveston in Galveston, Texas, received 48 votes.

The bishop-elect has served as the bishop’s associate for leadership in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod since 2019. Schultz served as pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Houston from 2012 to 2019, and as associate pastor of MacArthur Park Lutheran Church in San Antonio from 2007 to 2012.

Schultz earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., in 1995; a Master of Divinity from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, in 2007; and a Doctor of Ministry from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) in 2014. Wartburg and LSTC are two of seven ELCA seminaries.

She will be installed Sept. 7 at Living Word Lutheran Church in Katy, Texas.

The Rev. Michael Rinehart will begin working with GSB Fundraising after serving as synod bishop since 2007.

Information about the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod is available here.