Apostolic succession
The first bishop of the ECC was Karl Julius Barwin, who was elected at the church body's organizational meeting in Peoria, Arizona, in 1976. In 1982, Barwin was reordained a priest and in 1984, was consecrated as a bishop by three independent bishops who claimed valid Apostolic succession. Five years later, he was reconsecrated by eight other bishops who also claimed valid Apostolic succession. After Barwin's death on March 30, 2009, the ECC went defunct, but it was revived in 2014, when it received a new bishop. At that time, the ECC reported parishes in five states. The ECC disbanded in 2016, and its last parish joined the North American Lutheran Church.