Presenters

Jennifer Baker-Trinity, a deacon in the ELCA, serves as Program Manager for Resource Development, a shared position between the ELCA (Christian Community and Leadership) and Augsburg Fortress, an imprint of 1517 media. In this position, she attends to developing and teaching about resources that support the church’s worship. She lives with her family in Shoreview, Minnesota.

Thomas Bandar currently serves as Executive and Artistic Director of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, and maintains active parallel careers as an arts administrator, violist, and music educator. Through his successive leadership roles at the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Curtis Institute of Music—where he served as Associate Dean—he has guided an entire generation of gifted young musicians through their music education and transition to life as professional musicians. Thomas is a frequent guest artist at universities and conservatories around the country and can often be heard performing with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra.

Jeremy J. Bankson serves as Director of Music at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Dublin, Ohio, where he leads a dynamic and developing music ministry that includes several choirs and the Concerts at Prince of Peace Series. Prior to this position, he was Associate Minister of Music at First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Executive Director of the Abendmusik at First-Plymouth Concert Series, as well as the organ instructor at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. A native Nebraskan, Jeremy received his BM from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln where he also pursued graduate studies in choral conducting. Active as a composer and arranger, he has led workshops, clinics, and hymn festivals for ALCM, the Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians, the American Guild of Organists, Leadership Program for Musicians, Augsburg Fortress, and other churches and institutions around the country. His compositions can be found in the catalogs of MorningStar Music Publishers, Augsburg Fortress, and Concordia Publishing House.

Jean Boehler is Cantor at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, a vibrant, diverse, and urban parish in The Bronx, New York. She is founder and director of Arts in Mission–NY. Jean received degrees from Concordia University St. Paul (BA), Valparaiso University (MM), and the University of Wisconsin–Madison (DMA, organ performance). She is certified in Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze pedagogy. She has served as a workshop presenter and music director for regional and national conferences, and has contributed to Lutheran Service Book: Companion to the Hymns, as well as to the ALCM publications CrossAccent and In tempo.

Jeffrey Scott Doebler serves as Professor of Music and Director of Music Education and Bands at Valparaiso University. On November 3, 2018, he was named a Distinguished Hoosier by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. Professor Doebler holds music education degrees from Luther College (BA), Valparaiso University (MM), and the University of Minnesota (PhD). The recipient of numerous awards for teaching excellence, he is equally effective working with younger students, older students, and professional musicians. He has appeared professionally in thirty states, Canada, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and China. In a typical year he works with more than 3,000 students.

Karen S. Eddinger joined the staff of Trinity Lutheran Church, Reading, Pennsylvania, as its Minister of Music in August 2011. She previously served as Trinity’s Music Intern and Assistant Director of Music from 1981–89, during which time she began the church’s handbell program. Immediately prior to rejoining the staff at Trinity, Karen was Minister of Music at St. John’s (Hain’s) United Church of Christ in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, where she served for twenty-two years. She is a graduate of Westminster Choir College and a collaborative pianist at Albright College.

Clayton Faulkner is the editor of CrossAccent, the journal of ALCM. For the last 10 years he served as Director of Worship, Music, and Technology at Faith Lutheran Church in Bellaire, Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education, a Master of Arts in Worship, a Doctor of Worship Studies, and a Master of Divinity from Wartburg Theological Seminary. He is co-creator of the TUNE UP worship band gathering, an annual training event for worship musicians in Houston. He was a contributing author for Can We Talk? Engaging Worship and Culture, and has written several FAQ articles for the ELCA’s worship page.

Chad Fothergill is a keyboardist and historian who serves the church as a musician, writer, teacher, and composer. He is author of Sing with All the People of God: A Handbook for Church Musicians (Augsburg Fortress, 2020) and has contributed both writings and compositions to several worship resources. He is cantor to the Lutheran Summer Music community, interim co-director of the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University, and past editor of the ALCM journal CrossAccent. He has appeared as a performer, speaker, and hymn festival leader throughout the United States and Canada, and previously taught at Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Delaware. 

David Hein teaches music at Alverno College, Milwaukee, where he directs the Alverno College Choir and teaches courses in music therapy. He is principal organist and sanctuary choir accompanist at The United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. David has taught music at elementary through undergraduate levels as well as maintained private voice, piano, and organ studios. Prior appointments include Assistant Professor of Music at Marian University, Artistic Director of Fond du Lac Children’s Chorale, as well as full and part-time roles in Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, UCC, and Catholic parishes. His published choral music can be found in the catalogs of Neil A. Kjos and Choristers Guild. He holds music degrees from St. Olaf College and Michigan State University.

Organist Martin Jean has performed widely throughout the United States and Europe and is known for his expansive repertoire. He was awarded first place at the international Grand Prix de Chartres in 1986 and at the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance in 1992. In 2001 he presented a cycle of the complete organ works of Bach at Yale, and his compact discs Charles Tournemire’s The Seven Last Words of Christ and The Complete Symphonies of Louis Vierne, both recorded in Woolsey Hall, have been released by the Loft label. He is Director of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Professor of Organ at Yale University, and previously served on the board of Lutheran Summer Music.

Hannah Koby is a church musician most recently living in Wittenberg, Germany. Two summers as an LSM student led to studies at Valparaiso University (BM Church Music/Organ) and the Cleveland Institute of Music (MM Organ Performance), and she will return as LSM’s Associate Cantor in 2022. Hannah is a deaconess student with the Lutheran Diaconal Association, and in 2021-2022 is serving as diaconal intern in global ministry with the ELCA Wittenberg Center in partnership with the LWF Center Wittenberg (Lutheran World Federation). Until the summer, Hannah will be busy leading worship and making music in the churches of Wittenberg.

Anne Krentz Organ serves as Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, Illinois. Her responsibilities include worship planning, service playing, and direction of the choral and instrumental music program which includes adult, youth, and children’s choirs, a handbell choir, and a variety of instrumental ensembles. She holds degrees from Valparaiso University, the University of Illinois, and Concordia University Chicago. Her choral, handbell, organ, and piano compositions are published by Abingdon Press, Augsburg Fortress, Choristers Guild, Concordia Publishing House, Hope Publishing Company, and MorningStar Music Publishers. Anne is a past-president of ALCM.

Mark W. Lawson is President of ECS Publishing Group, parent company for E.C. Schirmer, Galaxy Music Corporation, and MorningStar Music Publishers. Mr. Lawson is responsible for publication development, strategic focus, and management of the three publishing imprints as well as for ARSIS Audio. ECS controls the rights to more than 20,000 copyrights and publishes music and books for schools, churches, professional ensembles, and opera companies. Mr. Lawson currently serves on the executive board of Chorus America. He is active in the National Music Publishers Association, and the Church Music Publishers Association.

Linda Martin, a Bethany College (KS) graduate, has broad experience serving as a classroom music teacher, voice teacher and coach, accompanist, directing choirs and performing soprano solo roles.  Her students and choristers in Kansas, Alabama, Iowa, and Missouri range in age from children through adult. At Bethesda Lutheran (Ames, IA) she successfully established a choir school and at Immanuel Lutheran (Kansas City, MO) launched Alleluia Worship and Arts, a program of worship education for children. She has been a champion for the arts by creating community outreach programs for the Iowa State Center and throughout Greater Kansas City in collaboration with multiple arts organizations. Linda has presented workshops and served on boards of directors for Choristers Guild and ALCM.

Lois Martin has been a church organist, choir director, music director, and pastor for many years. She is a graduate of Susquehanna University, with a degree in church music studying organ with Dr. Susan Hegberg, and from Colgate Rochester Divinity School with a masters degree in church music, and a Master of Divinity. While at Colgate she studied at The Eastman School of Music, studying organ with David Craighead. She is a spiritual director, having studied at Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation in Bethesda, MD. Lois and her husband Thomas Martin, MD live in Belleville, PA and are members at Grace Lutheran Church, State College.

Nancy Menk holds the Mary Lou and Judd Leighton Chair in Music at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana. In addition to her duties at Saint Mary’s College, she is founder and conductor of the South Bend Chamber Singers and serves as Music Director of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus. She also teaches graduate conducting at the University of Notre Dame. She holds degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (BS, MA) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM, DMA). She is editor of the Saint Mary’s College Choral Series, a distinctive series of select new music for women’s voices published by earthsongs of Corvallis, Oregon.

Sally Messner is Director of Worship and Music at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Livonia, Michigan, where she plans and leads congregational singing with organ, piano, voice, and a variety of other instruments. She is founding musical director of the Elm Ensemble, a liturgical project bringing together professional and amateur musicians with great sacred music to help keep the church in dialogue with diverse voices from Christian history. She earned a Bachelor of Music from Valparaiso University and a Master of Sacred Music from Luther Seminary. Sally has a passion for helping people connect their whole selves to their voice so they can maintain vocal health and engage in lifelong singing. 

Pastor John Morris is Senior Pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Dublin, Ohio. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University and the Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. John served for many years on the Institute of Liturgical Studies Advisory Council at Valparaiso University, has assisted at many churchwide worship services as sacristan, chaired worship committees in the Southern Ohio Synod, and led various workshops and events in the area of liturgical worship. In his spare time, John is an avid gardener and beekeeper.

Katherine Museus Dabay is the University Pastor (ELCA) of Valparaiso University. Prior to joining the Valpo team she served as Associate Pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Franklin, TN. Kate holds an M.Div. from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. in History of Christianity from Luther Seminary.

Frederick Niedner is Senior Research Professor in Theology at Valparaiso University. He writes for numerous publications that support the ministry of preaching and teaches biblical studies in a variety of adult education venues and contexts.

Omaldo Perez is Cantor at Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg, Ohio, where he supports and contributes to the musical and liturgical life of the congregation. As a church musician, his interests range from early baroque practices to improvisation to musical diversity in today’s church. He has helped lead music for synod gatherings and has been a guest musician for ELCA events. In addition, he has contributed to Sundays and Season, ALCM publications, and serves in advisory roles for both the Institute of Liturgical Studies and ALCM.

David Sims is the Music Development Manager at Augsburg Fortress, where he directs the development and production of choral, instrumental, and assembly song resources, including All Creation Sings. From 2014 to 2021 he served as Cantor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis, where he plaed organ, assisted in worship planning, and directed two adult choirs. He previously worked as an organ builder and church musician in Indiana. David grew up in the cornfields of central Illinois and holds degrees in Church Music and Organ Performance from St. Olaf College and Indiana University, having studied with Catherine Rodland and Larry Smith. His compositions are published by Augsburg Fortress and GIA.

Joel Stoppenhagen will be a senior at Valparaiso University, majoring in music education and studying organ with Dr. Stephen Schnurr. A native of Fort Wayne, Joel began studying the organ at age 11. With the support of countless wonderful church musicians in the Ft. Wayne area, Joel continued playing throughout high school and attended Lutheran Summer Music for two summers, where he studied with Chad Fothergill.

In addition to occasionally leading music in the Chapel of the Resurrection at VU, Joel serves as the music director of St. Paul Lutheran Church of Chesterton, Indiana. There he plays the organ for services and directs the handbell and choir ensembles. This past semester, Joel began a research project on the life and work of the late Phil Gehring. He has recently begun work in the VU Archives, making the Phil Gehring Collection available for use by coming generations of musicians and researchers.

Rev. James Wetzstein is a PhD candidate in Liturgy at the University of Notre Dame. He is interested in the spiritually formative power of the built liturgical environment. His dissertation addresses the artistic legacy and interpretative theories of the American Lutheran sculptor, Ernst Schwidder (1931 – 1996). James has provided liturgical design consultation services for dozens of congregations across the country and served as the consultant for the Chapel at the Old Latin School project in Wittenberg, Germany. In his 18th year at Valparaiso University, James serves as University Pastor (LCMS) in collaboration with his ELCA colleague, Rev. Katherine Museus Dabay. As University Pastor, James is a regular presider at the Chapel’s services, mentors student leaders, and provides pastoral care for students, faculty, and staff.

Christopher Wilson is director of percussion for McKendree University and the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, as well as a lecturer in percussion at Southeast Missouri State University. Wilson received degrees from the Boston Conservatory, Eastern Washington University, and the University of Northern Colorado (DMA) studying percussion performance with a secondary area in wind conducting. His principal teachers include Gray Barrier, Nancy Zeltsman, and Martin Zyskowski. Dr. Wilson is a proud endorser of Pearl Drums and Encore Mallets.