The Graven Award is funded by the Judge Henry N. and Helen T. Graven Endowment for The Ministry of the Laity: The Church in the World and goes to a person "whose life is nurtured and guided by a strong sense of Christian calling and who is making a significant contribution to community, church and society."

Judges Henry N. and Helen T. Graven were lay people from Greene, Iowa, who made significant contributions to the church, including the outline for the first pension plan for workers of the church. Mr. Graven, a federal Judge in Iowa, along with his brother, did much of the legal work in the combining of three separate Wartburg College sites into one.

Graven's son, Lloyd, an economic research consultant, spoke about his father's work as a Federal District Judge. He said, "Long before the U.S. Supreme Court started ruling on Civil Rights issues, my father fined the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake for not letting a black man in." He also said that his father believed it was important for Christians to contribute to society.

Past Recipients:
2003 - Mr. Gaylord Thomas
2004 - Mr. Carl Schalk