The Rev. Kirby Unti, pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in the Renton Highlands, has been elected to a six-year term as bishop of the Northwest Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Unti, 61, was elected in May at the 2013 Synod Assembly in Lynnwood.

Unti will assume the bishop’s office on Aug. 1. The installation is Sept. 15, officiated by the Rev. Mark Hanson, the ECLA presiding bishop.

Unti earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in 1974 and a master of divinity from Pacific Theological Seminary. He was ordained in May 1978.

He served as the assistant pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Bellingham. In 1980 he became pastor of St. Matthew in Renton.

He and his wife Kim have four grown children.