Strength and Stay

Ensuring Music, Faith, & Leadership for Our Future

A 40th Anniversary Campaign for Lutheran Summer Music

Each morning during Lutheran Summer Music (LSM), the entire community gathers together in the chapel to sing Carl Schalk’s setting of “Luther’s Morning Prayer”.

As the harmonies mix and voices combine, students and faculty form a deep bond through music, creating a sense of belonging and renewed faith, and amplifying all that we are devoted to at LSM.

LSM celebrates and renews the rich musical and liturgical heritage of the Lutheran church. Our founders believed that by providing high-quality training and performance opportunities to young musicians, they could cultivate a life-long love of classical and sacred music, thus renewing these art forms for generations to come.

Luther’s Morning Prayer

After over 40 LSM summers, the program remains committed to its original ideals while innovating for today’s students.

  • Students continue to experience significant growth in musicianship and form lifelong friendships

  • LSM’s nationally renowned faculty members uphold the highest standard of musical and educational excellence

  • LSM videos and livestreams reach hundreds of thousands of people across the country and beyond

  • Alumni continuously share stories about the lifelong impact of the program

  • The original vision of Carlos Messerli, Paul Bouman, and Carl Schalk has remained intact since 1982

LSM is, at its core, deeply personal, immersive, and life changing. Its transformative impact cannot be measured by a summer, by view counts, or by concert attendees. The connections that are deepened are immeasurable – getting to know oneself, becoming connected to others, and feeling closer to God. All of this happens through music, the through line that opens hearts and possibilities.

The Strength & Stay Campaign focuses on four priorities:

Be Part of a Powerful and Lasting Future for LSM

Now is the time to invest in our shared future. With a combination of current and legacy gifts, the creation of endowments, a focus on alumni enthusiasm, and your enduring generosity, it is our goal to raise $6 million to secure the future of LSM through the Strength & Stay Campaign.

The Strength & Stay 40th anniversary campaign is made up of parents, alumni, and friends of LSM—people like you—making 3-year pledges at all levels and remembering LSM in their estate plans. Over 100 individuals and families have committed, with 98% of the total $6 million campaign goal already secured!

Let’s have a conversation about how you can be involved. Learn more by contacting Thomas Bandar, Executive Director, or by selecting one of the following options:

With the Strength & Stay Campaign comes the formation of the J.S. Bach Society. Much like Bach’s enduring influence over classical and sacred music and the Church, the J.S. Bach Society honors individuals who have committed to LSM’s long-term impact by including Lutheran Music Program in their will or estate plans. Thanks to these individuals for their dedication to the sustainability and influence of LSM on students, congregations, and our community. So far, over 30 people have committed to remembering LSM in their estate plans.

Strength & Stay Campaign Committee Members

  • David Krause, co-chair

  • Jeanine Krause, co-chair

  • Brian Becker

  • Jim Hushagen

  • Cheryl Taylor Lemmons

  • Sylvia Luekens

“My daughter Jeanine (LSM ’89, ‘90) and I are proud to co-chair Strength & Stay, Lutheran Summer Music’s 40th anniversary campaign. We’ve been involved in LSM for over 35 years, going back to my relationship with Carlos Messerli and Jeanine’s years as a student. LSM sparked Jeanine’s vocation and life’s direction as a Baroque oboist, for which we are eternally grateful. Our family has committed a campaign gift that spans 3 generations: from my mother, my wife and myself, and our LSM alumni children Jeanine and Paul (LSM ’94, ’95). We want to ensure that Lutheran Summer Music continues to thrive for decades to come and conveys our love of sacred music to the next generation. Please take time to prayerfully consider joining us in making a pledge to the campaign and helping us ensure the program we all feel so deeply about continues for years to come.” ~ David Krause, co-chair