Dr. Joel Helmer serves as professor of geography and Chair of the Department of History, Geography, Intercultural Studies and Modern Languages at Concordia University, Nebraska, where he has taught since 2007. He teaches a variety of geography and environmental science courses and regularly leads international travel courses, with recent trips including Peru, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, and Vietnam. 

Dr. Helmer holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Oklahoma State University, an M.A. in Geography from the University of Akron and a B.S. in Secondary Education from Concordia University, Nebraska. His teaching includes courses such as GPS and Drone Technology, World Regional Geography, Introduction to Human Geography and Introduction to Geographic Information Systems.

Dr. Helmer’s book Nebraska's Bucks and Bulls: The Greatest Stories of Hunting Whitetail, Mule Deer, and Elk in the Cornhusker State was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2020. A passionate traveler and outdoorsman, he has visited all 50 U.S. states and 25 countries. He enjoys reading, hunting, fishing and working on his acreage. Dr. Helmer and his wife, Holly, who serves as catalog librarian at Concordia, have three children, all of whom are Concordia alumni: Will ’20, Harrison ’21 and Hannah ’25.

Dr. Amy Stradtmann is an Associate Professor of Education and Director of Middle-Level Education at Concordia University, Nebraska, and is responsible for the literacy education program at the undergraduate level. Before teaching at the collegiate level, Amy spent almost thirty years in Lutheran education, serving both as a teacher and administrator in both primary and secondary settings. Her passion in ministry has been working with middle school students, parents, and faculty and mentoring new teachers.

Dr. Sara Wing serves as co-investigator for the Nebraska WORDS Project, where she helps lead the WORDS team and partners directly with teachers through classroom observations and personalized coaching sessions. Her extensive background uniquely positions her to support educators across diverse settings. Before joining WORDS, Sara brought instruction to life in multiple roles: first-and-second-grade classroom teacher, reading interventionist, special education teacher, non-public Title I lead, and enrichment teacher. Her experience spans both public and parochial schools in rural and urban communities, giving her deep insight into the varied needs of Nebraska's educators.

Adam Kirsch currently serves as the Executive Director and Principal of the Lutheran High School of Kansas City. He has over 20 years of experience with previous service at Racine Lutheran High School and Milwaukee Lutheran High School in various roles including teacher, coach, athletic director, curriculum coordinator, assistant principal, and principal. Mr. Kirsch is a 2003 graduate of Concordia University-Nebraska in Secondary Education and received his Master of Science degree in Educational Administration from Concordia University-Wisconsin in 2010. He and his wife Lauren have three children in Lutheran Schools.

Rev. Russ Sommerfeld recently retired as interim director of the Institute for Rural and Small Town Ministry of Concordia, University, Nebraska. He was Concordia’s Assistant to the President for Church Engagement (2021-2023), interim president (2020-2021), assistant professor of theology (2016-2020).

His areas of interest include pastoral care, relationship evangelism, conflict reconciliation, multiple congregation parishes, group dynamics, post-seminary pastoral education, ministry and health care, hospice care, and congregational polity. He has taught undergraduate courses in the History and Literature of the Old Testament, Faith and Life and the Christian Teacher’s Ministry.

Prior to coming to Concordia, he served as president of the Nebraska District-LCMS (2003-2015), senior pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kearney, Nebraska (1995-2003), pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Arapahoe, Nebraska (1986-1995), Immanuel and St. John’s Lutheran Churches, Canton and Moundridge, Kansas (1980-1986). He also served as a part-time hospice chaplain in a rural and small town area (1992-1995). He provided pastoral guidance to the formation of the Jamaican Lutheran Mission Society comprised of small town LCMS congregations.

He has served on a variety of boards including the Regents and the Foundation for Concordia University, Nebraska, the Lutheran Ministry Foundation and Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, the advisory Board for the Good Samaritan Health Systems Hospice and Home Health Care of Kearney, Nebraska, as well as a Board member for Buffalo County Community Health Partners, the Buffalo County Health Ministry Network.  He was on the national Board of Directors of Wheat Ridge Ministries of Itasca, Illinois. And on the Board of Directors of Ambassadors of Reconciliation of Billings, Montana.  He is an active member and past president of the Seward Rotary Club.

He is a caregiver for his wife Donna “Nino”. They are blessed with two adult sons and a daughter, and four granddaughters.

Rev. Dr. David J. Peter is professor of Practical Theology and dean of faculty at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has been a faculty member since 1998. He previously served as chairman of the Department of Practical Theology (2010-18) and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program (1998-2013).

His areas of interest include the dynamics of pastoral leadership in different sizes of congregations and in organizing leaders in congregational contexts. He also specializes in the art of expository preaching.

Dr. Peter teaches courses in homiletics, pastoral ministry, pastoral leadership and parish administration at the Master of Divinity, distance certification and doctoral levels.

Before joining the Seminary, he served as associate pastor at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Peoria, Ill., from 1988-95 and then as senior pastor from 1995-98. He has been the pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in the small town of St. James, Missouri for eighteen years.

He received a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary (1987). He also has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1982) and a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. (1999).

Dr. Peter has written three books: “Organizing for Ministry and Mission: Options for Church Structure” (Concordia Publishing House, 2023); “Opening the Scriptures: Expository Preaching in the Lutheran Tradition” (Concordia Seminary Press, 2022); and “Maximizing the Midsize Church: Effective Leadership for Fruitful Mission and Ministry” (Kregel Publishing, 2018).

He also has published Bible study resources for congregations through The Lutheran Church−Missouri Synod, and sermons and devotional resources through Concordia Publishing House, Creative Communications for the Parish and Concordia Seminary Press. He also has published articles in “Concordia Journal,” “Concordia Pulpit Resources,” “The Servant and Issues in Christian Education,” and led seminars on pastoral leadership, congregational dynamics and the book of Revelation

Dr. Peter and his wife, Tonya, have two grown sons.