Crash Course: Church

Stephanie Luedtke is a minister, educator, and artist. She often combines the three, weaving education and arts through her ministry or ministry into arts education. Stephanie is a rostered Pastor in the ELCA with 25 years of experience in ministry of various sorts, and holds a Master’s Degree in Worship Arts. She enjoys helping people of all ages find meaningful ways to worship, learn, and to be in faithful community together. Through her work in schools, private settings, churches, and at the judicatory level, and independent work as a consultant, coach, and curriculum writer, Stephanie has always tried to follow her passions and assist others in doing the same.

Jeni Grangaard has been the seminary pastor at Luther Seminary since 2019. She was formerly the pastor of Glyndon Lutheran Church in the town of Glyndon, Minnesota. Grangaard also previously worked as a Country Co-Coordinator in the Young Adults in Global Mission Program in Jerusalem and the West Bank. She wrote an article about her extended stay for the spring 2020 edition of the journal Word & World. Entitled “The Texture of Blessing,” the piece described her daily experience of the land’s seasonal rhythms. In her spare time, Grangaard is relearning the French language after working on her abilities in Spanish, German, Swahili, Arabic, and biblical Greek and Hebrew.

Dr. Kristofer Phan Coffman, MDiv, holds a tenure-eligible New Testament faculty position. Coffman completed his Ph.D. in Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Culture at the University of Minnesota and is the first person of Cambodian descent to receive a PhD in Biblical Studies. He served as an adjunct professor at Luther since 2019 teaching New Testament Greek classes and a class on Paul’s letter to the Romans.

He is the author of the book chapter “Christmas Cookies in Cambodia: The Bible and Race in America” in “Dialogues on: Race” and has written several book reviews as well as academic articles on topics ranging from Norwegian-American Lutheran history to biblical interpretation and translation. In addition to his academic work, he has a keen interest in food and farming. Coffman has written popular articles on responsible consumption and agriculture, translates recipes for the award-winning new Nordic chef Mikkel Karstad and served as copy-editor and translation consultant on the forthcoming cookbook “SAOY: The Forgotten Flavors of Royal Cambodian Home Cuisine” by Chef Rotanak Ros.

Dr. Jennifer Hornyak Wojciechowski is assistant professor of church history, and she has been teaching at Luther Seminary since 2019. Prior to this, she taught in the religion department at Augsburg University.

Wojciechowski graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota (2005), received her Master of Arts at Bethel Seminary (2011) and her Ph.D. from Luther Seminary (2019).

She is author of the book “Women and the Christian Story: A Global History” (Fortress, 2022) and numerous articles in publications including Word & World and Minnesota History. Her research focuses on women’s history, American history, and the intersection of religion and social reform.

She is the associate editor of the journal Word & World.

Dr. Cameron B. R. Howard is associate professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of The Old Testament for a Complex World: How the Bible’s Dynamic Testimony Points to New Life for the Church (Baker Academic 2021) and is a frequent contributor to WorkingPreacher.org. She is passionate about making academic biblical scholarship accessible and relevant to clergy and laypeople alike. Dr. Howard is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and is ordained as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA).