The Rev. Jim Gonia
Bishop Jim Gonia was elected to a six-year term on April 28, 2012, at the Rocky Mountain Synod’s annual assembly in Colorado Springs, Colo. He was installed on September 23, 2012. Bishop Gonia re-elected at the 2018 Synod Assembly for a second six-year term. His time in office concluded on July 31, 2024.
He served as a missionary in Madagascar from 1988 to 1998. From 1998 to 2009 he was called as the associate pastor of Atonement Lutheran Church in Denver. Prior to his election as bishop, he served the ELCA’s churchwide ministries as Global Mission Area Program Director for West Africa, Tanzania and Madagascar. In this position Bishop Gonia was responsible for overseeing the ELCA’s programs and relationships with Lutheran church bodies and partners in nine African countries.
Bishop Gonia received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind., in 1982; a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Northwestern Seminary (now Luther Seminary) in 1988; and a Master of Theology degree in Islamic studies at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., in 1997.
His wife, Kim, is an ordained pastor in the ELCA serving Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lakewood, CO. They have three children, all graduates of Lutheran universities: Caroline, Mallory, and Peter.
The Rev. Allan Bjornberg
Rev. Allan Bjornberg served three terms as the Bishop of the Rocky Mountain Synod. He was first elected in a special election on November 13, 1993, and was elected to his first full term in 1994. He was re-elected to a second term in 2000 and a third term in 2006. During his term of service, Bishop Bjornberg’s gift of leadership and witness also served the church through his roles as Chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops and co-chair of the Lutheran-Methodist Dialogue, which resulted in a full communion relationship with the United Methodist Church.
Bjornberg was born in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1969 he graduated from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. In 1973 Bjornberg earned a master of divinity degree at Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary (now Luther Seminary), St. Paul, Minnesota. Ordained in 1973, he served as pastor of First Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Albuquerque.
The Rev. Wayne Weissenbuehler (1935-2022)
Rev. Wayne Weissenbuehler was elected to serve as the first Bishop of the Rocky Mountain Synod, ELCA, following the formation of the denomination in 1988 as a merger of predecessor church bodies. He served for five years until he was called to serve as the senior pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Cherry Hills Village.
Ordained in 1963, he served St. John's Lutheran Church, Pittsburg, Kansas, and Christ the King Lutheran Church, Denver, Colorado, became assistant to the bishop of the Central District of the American Lutheran Church, and was elected their bishop in 1981. After his service as Rocky Mountain Synod Bishop, he served as senior pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church from 1993-2005, returned to work and teach at Wartburg Seminary, and served his last call at Faith Lutheran Church, Burlington, Iowa, from 2008-2014.
Bishop Weissenbuehler died at the age of 87 on September 2, 2022, in West Burlington, Iowa.