ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 10, 2003 ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission Awards Sixteen Scholarships 03-182-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) awarded $126,254 in scholarships to provide full tuition for 16 women and men attending ELCA seminaries. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, presented the scholarships here Sept. 25 from the church's Fund for Leaders in Mission. The 16 new scholarships brought the total to 39 full-tuition scholarships and one partial scholarship in effect. That committed $308,000 from the Fund for the current academic year, bringing the total since September 2000 to $747,000. The Fund for Leaders in Mission is an ELCA initiative to build an endowed scholarship resource that provides tuition assistance to qualified candidates studying at the church's eight seminaries. By Aug. 31 the Fund endowment balance reached $5.3 million said Cynthia Halverson, Fund director, ELCA Foundation. Scholarship recipients have demonstrated potential for leadership in the church and financial need. Potential for leadership is determined by academic performance and by volunteer experience in the congregation and community. Hanson noted the various life experiences and ministries of those awarded scholarships, yet all were grounded in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He thanked the seminarians for their demonstrated love for the church, and he thanked "the people and parishes formative in your life." Hanson expressed gratitude to the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation for infusing the Fund "not only with cash but with energy." The Thrivent Foundation has offered $1 million to match with $1 for every $2 given to the Fund before Aug. 31, 2005. Halverson said the Fund received $389,588 during the first seven months of the Thrivent challenge, with another $585,000 pledged to be given, and is well on its way to the $2 million goal to meet the challenge. The purpose of the challenge is to "leverage and multiply the gifts of Lutherans across the country," said John O. Gilbert, chairman of the board, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. The Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation is a private foundation funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, based in Minneapolis. The Fund for Leaders in Mission is administered through the ELCA Foundation, which encourages lifelong stewardship in support of all ministries of the church. "We cannot afford to have pretty good ministers. We need excellence," the Rev. H. Frederick Reisz Jr., president of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., told those gathered for the Sept. 25 ceremony. Reisz admitted that tuition expenses saddle many seminary graduates with a debt that matches their salaries as new pastors. Yet, he said, his seminary could not afford to give raises in 2003. So, the Fund for Leaders in Mission is important for the seminarians, the seminaries and the congregations of the ELCA. The seminarians selected in 2003 to receive full tuition scholarships from the Fund were: + Tracey L. Breashears, Faith Lutheran Church, Little Rock, Ark., student at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa + Kimberly S. Conway, Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Manassas, Va., student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio + Amanda M. Cormack, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lawrence, Kan., student at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif. + Dirk van der Duim, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Denver, student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) + Andrew Jackson Evenson, Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gibbon, Minn., student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) + Timothy Graham, Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., student at Wartburg + Kristin L. Hunsinger, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Defiance, Ohio, student at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) + Sarah Elizabeth Lang, Lutheran Church of the Nativity, Arden, N.C., student at LTSP + Jason Matthew Lee, St. David Lutheran Church, West Columbia, S.C., student at (LTSS) + Benjamin E. Leese, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, East Berlin, Pa., student at Trinity + Jeanette D. Leisk, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Westborough, Mass., student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG), Pa. + Janice K. Moody, Trinity Lutheran Church, Danville, Pa., student at LTSG + Thalisa (Lisa) Michelle Parker, Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Chicago, student at LSTC + Karena (Kari) Heather Reiten, Gift of Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, student at PLTS + Megan Thorvilson, Mountain Lutheran Church, Adams, N.D., student at Luther + Rebecca Wold, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Roseville, Minn., student at Luther The Fund's goal is to support full tuition for every qualified student at an ELCA seminary who has a commitment to ordained or lay ministry. Lay ministries of the ELCA are associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers. To achieve its goal, the Fund will need to maintain an endowment of $200 million while supporting current seminary scholarships. -- -- -- Information about the Fund for Leaders in Mission is at http://www.elca.org/fo/FundforLeaders/ on the ELCA Web site. Information about the ELCA's eight seminaries is at http://www.elca.org/dm/te/seminaries.html Information about the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation is at http://www.thrivent.com/fraternal/foundation on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news