Reverend Ulrik Vilhelm Koren, president of the Norwegian Lutheran Synod, who will be the principle speaker at the Synod's annual convention, is considered the leading force in the national movement of the Synod. Few leaders have played such an important role as he. We give below a few points on his interesting past:

Ulrik Vilhelm Koren was born in Bergen, Norway, December 22, 1826. He graduated from the Bergen Cathedral College in 1844, and from Christiania University in 1852. He became a teacher at Nissen's Latin and Technological School in the same year.....

He was called to Little, Iowa, on May 10, 1853. He was ordained on July 21, and arrived in Little, Iowa in December. He was the first Norwegian minister west of the Mississippi.

Reverend Koren was secretary for the Synod from 1855 to 1861; a member of the national church board from 1871-1876; vice-president of the Synod from 1876 to 1894; president of the Iowa district at the same time; and since 1894 he has been the national president. He secured the land on which Luther College [Decorah, Iowa] was built, and was a teacher at the school from 1874 to 1875. He compiled the hymnbook used by the Synod.....