Speaker

Rev. Dr. Laura Barbins

Rev. Dr. Laura Barbins is bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She was elected bishop on September 11, 2020, took office December 1, 2020, and is serving a six-year term. Prior to her call to the Office of Bishop, she was the pastor of Celebration Lutheran Church in Chardon for 19 years, interim pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Fairview Park, Ohio for one year, and associate pastor for Youth at Holy Trinity Church in Nashville, Tennessee for two years. Holding a PhD in New Testament and Homiletics, Barbins has also been adjunct professor for Preaching at Trinity Seminary at Capital University in Columbus since 2018. Trinity is one of seven ELCA seminaries.

Barbins earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia and a Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (now United Lutheran Seminary) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. United is another of the seven ELCA seminaries. She also earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Bishop Barbins and her husband have four daughters. In her spare time she enjoys gardening and travel.