Two new members of the 112th U.S. Congress that convened Jan. 5 are members of LCMS congregations. Both are Republicans.
Elected in November to the U.S. House of Representatives, they are Dr. Larry Bucshon, representing Indiana’s 8th District, and Cory Gardner, representing Colorado’s 4th congressional district.
They join four returning representatives who are members of LCMS congregations: Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.).
At the time of his election, Bucshon, 48, was chief of cardiothoracic surgery and medical director of the open heart recovery intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Evansville, Ind. He previously served in the U.S. Navy Reserve medical corps for nine years.
Bucshon and his wife, Kathryn, who also is a physician, are members of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Evansville, which they attend with their four children.
Gardner, 36, is a former member of the Colorado House of Representatives
Gardner and his wife, Jaime, are members of St. John Lutheran Church, Yuma, Colo., which they attend with their 6-year-old daughter, and where he serves as an elder.
Twenty other Lutherans in Congress are listed as members of congregations of either the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
When new members of Congress are reported to be Missouri Synod Lutherans, Reporter verifies that information with the congregations of which they are members.
Posted Jan. 26, 2011
