wfn.org | ELCA Mission Investment Fund the 'Pick of the Week' on CNBC

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 27, 2004

ELCA Mission Investment Fund the 'Pick of the Week' on CNBC
04-029-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Mission Investment Fund of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will be in the
spotlight on CNBC, a financial news channel on cable television,
the mornings of March 2 and 5.	The Fund will be Terry Bradshaw's
"Pick of the Week" and will be the subject of two 60-second
segments.
     CNBC will broadcast the first segment between 6:30 and 7
a.m. on March 2, during its "Wake Up Call" program with Liz
Claman and Brad Goode.	The second segment will air between 7 and
7:30 a.m. on March 5, during "Squawk Box" with Mark Haines.  All
times are Eastern Standard Time.
     Bradshaw's Pick of the Week segments highlight companies and
organizations "whose achievements reflect the grit and
determination required to succeed in extraordinary times."  Pick
of the Week segments shed light on the positive experiences that
occur each day in American business.
     "We all want to make wise investments that grow our money.
One organization, the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA, allows
investors to increase the value of their resources while helping
to build the Lutheran church. Investors get a good return on
their funds while doing something worthwhile," Bradshaw said,
introducing the segments on CNBC.
     "The Mission Investment Fund fulfills Lutheran
congregations' needs for capital that would otherwise go unmet,"
he said.
     CNBC staff videotaped interviews with Christina
Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer and the Mission Investment Fund's
president, the Rev. Arnold Pierson, the Fund's vice president for
church relations and communication, and Eva Roby, the Fund's
executive vice president for administration, for the segments.
     "We are delighted that the Mission Investment Fund of the
ELCA has been selected for Terry Bradshaw's Pick of the Week,"
Roby said later.  "Churches have unique financial needs and young
congregations in particular have few alternatives when attempting
to fund capital projects," she said.
     "It is extremely gratifying to be recognized by this well-
regarded program for our efforts to provide low-interest loans to
ELCA congregations and to provide opportunities for investors to
earn interest on their financial resources," Roby said.
     The Mission Investment Fund offers investment opportunities
to ELCA congregations, their members and ELCA-affiliated
institutions such as colleges, universities and social-service
agencies.  With the invested monies, the Fund makes loans to ELCA
mission congregations for purchases of land and construction of
initial church units, and to established ELCA congregations for
renovating or expanding existing facilities, relocations and
purchases of land.  Nearly 500 loans are in effect throughout the
United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
     More than one-third of the ELCA's 10,721 congregations,
thousands of individual Lutherans and numerous ELCA-affiliated
institutions are investors in the Fund.
-- -- --
     Information about the Mission Investment Fund -- including
current interest rates and the full offering of investment
opportunities -- is available at http://www.elca.org/mif/ on the
ELCA Web site.

EDITORS:  Additional information about the investments and loans
the MIF offers can be obtained by calling toll-free (877) 886-
3522 or by sending e-mail to mif@elca.org.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news