HOUSTON — Brad Hewitt, senior vice president of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, brought greetings on July 18 from the fraternal organization to delegates at the 63rd Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
Noting that Thrivent was founded by Lutherans to help Lutherans “prepare for, care for, and support one another in time of need, guided by the principles of the Christian faith,” Hewitt said during 2006, the organization gave $40 million to LCMS congregations and schools through chapter service projects, Care in Congregations, and GivingPlus programs. It also gave $4.9 million in grants to LCMS institutions and agencies through the Thrivent Foundation.
During 2006 Thrivent members and their congregations became the largest nongovernmental supporter of Habitat for Humanity, Hewitt said. They built more than 400 homes to help eliminate poverty housing.
Future Thrivent projects include allocating up to $500,000 in support of Fan into Flame and making available project grants of up to $50,000 to Ablaze! Covenant congregations to help them start new congregations.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has corporate offices in Minneapolis.
The July 14-19 convention theme is “One Message—Christ! His Love is Here for You.”
