Weaver Chapel

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A 2004 Wittenberg graduate was awarded one of 16 full-tuition scholarships, and a 1999 Wittenberg graduate received a partial-tuition scholarship awarded to 15 students to attend seminaries affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) through the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, presented the scholarships recently in Chicago.

Mark Huber ’04, of Pataskala, Ohio, is studying for his master of divinity on a full scholarship at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. As a student at Wittenberg, Huber was also the recipient of an undergraduate fellowship from the Partners in Excellence program of The Fund for Theological Education Inc., a prestigious ecumenical award.

Dana Hendershot ’99, of Cedar Springs, Mich., is studying for her master of divinity on a partial-tuition scholarship at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She has also served as a youth director in Michigan.

According to Wittenberg pastor, the Rev. Rachel Tune, in the inaugural year of the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission scholarship, Wittenberg produced one of the first eight scholars in Kevan Penvose, a 2000 graduate of Wittenberg and a 2004 graduate of Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

“When you think of all 28 ELCA colleges and all the other private and public colleges and universities feeding into our eight seminaries, it is a wonderful reflection on Wittenberg to have produced three of the 98 scholarships in the five years since this scholarship began,” Tune said.

At the Oct. 8 ceremony, Hanson told the gathering of award recipients and their families the seminarians awarded scholarships personified the “ecology” of the ELCA. They are the products of Lutheran households and ELCA congregations, youth and outdoor ministry programs, and colleges and universities, he said.

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.

The Rev. Donald M. Hallberg, executive director, ELCA Foundation, said the Fund’s long-term goal is to have at least $200 million in its endowment, so it can provide full-tuition scholarships for every student at ELCA seminaries who is committed to a future in parish ministry.

The Fund for Leaders in Mission has awarded $1.2 million in 98 scholarships in the past five years. There are 75 students at ELCA seminaries now receiving tuition support through the Fund and related partnerships.

Several of the ELCA’s 65 synods and 10,657 congregations have created partnerships to award scholarships, including the ELCA Eastern Washington/Idaho Synod, the ELCA Oregon Synod, the Santa Cruz and Sunrise Conferences of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, the ELCA’s Southeastern Minnesota and Southwestern Minnesota Synods, St. John Lutheran Church, Knoxville, Tenn., the former Calvary Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh, and St. Armand’s Key Lutheran Church, Sarasota, Fla.

Information about the Fund for Leaders in Mission can be found on the Web site of the ELCA Foundation.