Announcing the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners

Rev. Jen Beamsley

Faithful Servant Award

The Rev. Jen Beamsley is currently serving as Senior Pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Washington. She began her call at St. Mark’s in December 2025.

Ordained in 2005, Jen has spent her ministry in both congregations and synod leadership, with a deep love for moments when the church is becoming something new. Before her current call, she served as Steward of Transitions for the Northern Illinois Synod accompanying congregations through seasons of change, holy uncertainty, and Spirit-led next steps. Prior to that, she served at St. John Lutheran Church in Joliet as both Associate and Senior Pastor.

Alongside her parish work, Jen serves with Backstory Preaching, an online ecumenical learning community. As a Mentor and Community Host, she connects preachers with the practices, resources, and community so they can craft sermons that are Spirit-led and life-giving for both preacher and listener.

Jen’s ministry is grounded in a call to help God’s people come alive with the Good News through preaching that connects, leadership that builds trust, and teaching that deepens our apprenticeship in Jesus’ way. She loves the church and the people of God, and thrives in communities where faith deepens, leaders grow, and Christ’s love takes visible shape in the world.

She’s been a church nerd her whole life, with a particular fondness for worn pews and the holy disruption of loud babies in worship.

Jen and her husband, Chris, have been married since 1993 and are grateful for their grown daughters, Anna (married to Zach, with their grandson Henry) and Cecelia (and her partner, Ryan). When she’s not pastoring, you’ll likely find Jen outdoors, in a garden, on a nature path, cooking something in the kitchen, or curled up with a good book and her dog, Lola. A lifelong learner, she delights in discovering patterns and connections across life, faith, and the everyday moments where grace takes root.

Rev. Lynn Bird

Excellence in Parish Ministry Award

Raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lynn attended the University of New Mexico, where she received a BA in English/Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Music Degree.  She completed her Master of Music degree in Organ performance and Church Music at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.  Lynn has led music ministry in a wide variety of denominations as Organist, Choral Director, Director of Liturgical Arts and as Assistant to the Director of Admissions for Lutheran Summer Music Program before becoming a pastor.  She completed a Master of Divinity degree at Lutheran School of Theology-Chicago in Hyde Park and was ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament in 2013.  

Lynn’s pastoral call to Zion focuses on Worship, Spiritual Formation, Leadership Development, Stewardship and Pastoral Care.

She loves gardening, good conversations, time with her family, and looking for God’s goodness in all things.

Rev. Dr. Ralen Robinson

Emerging Voice Award

Pastor Ralen is a native Philadelphian, but don’t let that make you think that she only spent time in Pennsylvania. Over a near-decade in ministry, she has worked in the woods of New Jersey, New York’s big apple, the metropolis of Boston, the rainforest of Costa Rica, and has even spent a year in the old cities of Jerusalem.

Ralen received her BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Wagner College, where she thrived as a leader in many on-campus and off-campus organizations. Following graduation, Ralen participated in Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM), spending a year volunteering and immersing herself in the culture and religious history of Jerusalem and the West Bank. After her year of service, she traveled back to Philadelphia to continue her call to ministry by attending seminary.

While in seminary, Ralen worked as a contract chaplain for an inner-city hospital. She also wrote for ELCA magazines, which she still does today. In the spring of 2020, Ralen graduated from United Lutheran Seminary with a Master of Divinity and a certificate for Black Church studies. Then, in the spring of 2025, she graduated with her Doctorate in Homiletics from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She believes her faith and a good pair of shoes can take you a long way.

Rev. Roger Willer

Called to Lead Award

The Rev. Dr. Roger A. Willer is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recently retired after nearly 20 years in service as the Director for Theological Ethics in the Churchwide Office of the Presiding Bishop. In that capacity he led or co-led every ELCA social teaching statement or message since 2007. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago (2009) in theology and is a contributing scholar in theological ethics for both church and academic audiences. In his retirement, he is serving as consultant in the Office of the Presiding Bishop for several ongoing ELCA projects, including Reconsiderations of Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust and the ELCA Consulting Group on Artificial Intelligence and the Church.

His most recent publications suggest his diverse academic interests. He currently has a contract to produce A Primer on ELCA Social Teaching: How, Why, What For (tentative title). This is a volume in the For the Sake of the World series from Augsburg/Fortress Publishers. The series is aimed at lay audiences and will feature each ELCA social statement and major messages. In 2024 Dialog: A Journal of Theology published his “Religious Organizations and Government: An Ecclesial Lutheran ‘Take’.” The previous year he wrote the entry on “Science” in Volume III of the newly published Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics. His current scholarship continues to focus on political theology and fleshing out the claim that ELCA social teaching documents are weaving a coherent evangelical Lutheran ethic of social responsibility.