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For Starters
— A roundup of articles on the topics of faith, finances and volunteerism
HIGHER ARTS
Survival Song—A Thrivent Financial member battling cancer has found courage in her music.
 Music always has been an important part of Amy Ogmundson’s life. The Ferndale, Washington, songwriter and member of Zion Lutheran taught herself to play guitar, piano and drums in her mid-teens. In February 2004, at the age of 18, she produced her first CD.
But that following November, Ogmundson was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer of the bones that affects children. She received 14 rounds of chemotherapy every three weeks, plus five weeks of radiation, at Children’s Hospital in Seattle.
Though weakened by the cancer, Ogmundson was not about to give up on her one true passion. She played music regularly with Children’s Hospital music therapist David Knott. One summer day in 2005, Knott told her about a musician named Matt Messina, who was organizing a benefit concert for the hospital and was looking for a young patient to headline it. Soon after, Messina and Ogmundson met for an interview that quickly turned into a jam session—Messina had found the show’s star.
In November 2005, after five rehearsals with Messina, Ogmundson performed at the fund-raiser at Benaroya Hall in Seattle in front of 1,700 people. It was just a year after her diagnosis. She sang two songs, one called “This Is My Getaway,” which she had written two years before. A full orchestra accompanied her song, and a standing ovation followed.
“Knowing how much the audience appreciated my courage being on stage bald and performing with a huge orchestra were the most exciting parts,” says Ogmundson. “It was a pretty amazing experience.” The now 20-year-old is in remission; all treatments stopped in September 2005.
—Holly O’Dell
More Seattle Sounds
Matt Messina has penned Symphony Seattle, his ninth annual symphony benefiting Seattle Children’s Hospital. The symphony is a love letter to Messina’s hometown, complete with a Starbucks barista joining the orchestra to make coffee on stage and Pike’s Place Market fishmongers throwing fish in time to the music. Symphony Seattle will be performed on Nov. 10, 2006, at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.
—Sarah Asp
Get more information at www.thrivent.com/magazine/links
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SERVICE SCENE
All Pro Dads—Kansas City-area dads score points with their families with help from their gridiron heroes.
 This past June, more than 400 dads exited the indoor practice facility at Arrowhead Stadium, home to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, armed with playbooks. They weren’t there to become QBs; they were there to become better husbands and fathers.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans joined the Chiefs in sponsoring All Pro Dad, a fatherhood program of Family First, a nonprofit organization based in Tampa, Florida. While the dads were intensely taking notes in their playbooks, their children were participating in a variety of games on the football field under the watchful eyes of volunteers from the Chiefs, All Pro Dad and Thrivent Financial.
“The dads were very enthusiastic about learning how to build stronger connections with their children,” says Fred Hollich, manager of Lutheran community services in the Kansas and Missouri Region of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
10 Ways to be an All Pro Dad
Love your wife.
Spend time with your children.
Be a role model.
Understand your children.
Show affection.
Enjoy your children.
Eat together as a family.
Discipline with a gentle spirit.
Pray and worship together.
Realize you’re a father forever.
Source: Family First |
Kansas City Head Coach Herm Edwards, as well as a number of his players, were on the field interacting with the children and their dads throughout the two-hour program.
“It was an awesome event,” says Dr. Jay Burlingame of Overland Park, Kansas, who attended with his children, David and Morgan. “It was well-organized and very meaningful.”
—Donna Mulder
Ready to get in the game, dads?
All Pro Dad is coming to Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Dec. 16, 2006. You can learn more about All Pro Dad—as well as how you can bring the program to your neighborhood—at www.thrivent.com/magazine/links.
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LABORS OF LOVE
 Christmas at the Old Church—Holiday songs rich with prairie history can be heard on this new CD.
Jay Nelson wanted to pay tribute to his hometown church, Singsaas Lutheran, near Hendricks, Minnesota, in a way that expressed the role its rich musical history played in rural America.
“There’s such a storied musical tradition that has come out of these prairie churches, and it never has been properly communicated or made accessible,” says Nelson, a Web site manager who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
 So on a warm day this past June, Nelson worked with his family, nearly all 130 members of the Singsaas congregation and other community members in and around Hendricks to produce the CD “Christmas at the Old Church.” On behalf of the Thrivent Financial Great Plains Region, local financial associate Janet Digre contributed $500 to the project.
An additional $900 has been applied for through the Care in Congregations® program of Thrivent Financial.
Nelson, who estimates that he spent hundreds of hours on the project, chose to feature Christmas hymns because he felt they best told the story of Singsaas, whose Christmas program dates back five generations. The CD features 12 songs performed by soloists, small groups and the choir, accompanied by piano, organ, trumpet and violin.
“The music turned out 10 times better than we could have ever imagined,” Nelson says. “It reminded me how great the people of our congregation are, the way they all help out on a big project.”
—Holly O’Dell
Learn more about the CD at www.thrivent.com/magazine/links.
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ASK THRIVENT FINANCIAL
Q: Can you recommend a tax-friendly way of passing along IRA assets to my grandchildren?
A: First things first: If you’ve worked for several employers and now have 401(k)s and/or IRAs with multiple financial services providers, consider simplifying by consolidating these accounts into a single IRA. Thrivent Financial can help, making it easier for you to manage your beneficiary designations (the person who receives the funds in the event of your death) and help with your retirement planning needs.
To specifically minimize the tax burden on young heirs, consider establishing a Thrivent Financial Next-Generation IRA®, which allows you to receive income from an IRA and extend distributions (withdrawals) well into the future when you name someone very young—a grandchild, in your case—as the IRA account’s beneficiary. The result: Your heir can take distributions based on his or her life expectancy, which can be a tax advantage.
You’ll want to consult your accountant and attorney along with your Thrivent Financial representative. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and its respective associates and employees cannot provide legal, accounting or tax advice or services.
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 A LUTHERAN MOMENT
First Responders
Who: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Where & When: New York City, 1939
What: What began in 1918 as the National Lutheran Council became the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). Founded to aid immigration and refugee resettlement during World War I, LIRS welcomes immigrants and refugees from all over the world and remains true to its mission: “In response to God’s love in Christ, we welcome the stranger, bringing new hope and new life through ministries of service and justice.”
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FINANCIAL FACT
 The Recipe for Investing Success
True or false: Knowing when to jump in and out of the market is the key to investing success. False! Over the long term, asset allocation—deciding how many “eggs” to place in each investment basket—is by far the most influential investor-based factor affecting a portfolio’s return. For a free evaluation of your asset allocation plan, contact your Thrivent Financial representative.
Source: Ibbotson Associates
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FOUNDATIONS
Holy Bowling
 Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, Connecticut, is full of architectural delights—and a few surprises as well.
Built in 1870 for another congregation, Trinity Lutheran adopted the Victorian Gothic-style building as its place of worship in 1916. The Portland brownstone exterior distinguishes the structure as one of the most architecturally significant in downtown New Haven, just blocks from Yale University.
Inside, a black and white-tiled narthex leads to a vaulted ceiling in the sanctuary, reaching 40 feet at its highest point. Painted blue, the ceiling is reminiscent of a view straight into the heavens. Stained glass encompasses the structure, including a rose window (the congregation’s unofficial symbol) and an original Tiffany window showcasing Jesus with a child.
But it’s the church’s basement that’s most, well, striking. Congregation members regularly use Trinity Lutheran’s four-lane manual bowling alley, installed in the 1920s. The space features the comforts of any other bowling alley: score cards, lockers, a soda machine and those oh-so-distinctive shoes.
—Holly O’Dell
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