Presentation - What About Marriage:
What about marriage, birth control, and families? What does God have to say about that? Join Y4Life Director, Michelle Bauman, to take a closer look at God’s gifts of marriage and family and how they are designed, even in a broken world, to uphold life.
Biography:
Michelle served 21 years as a Lutheran educator before joining the Lutherans for Life team in June 2019. Currently serving as Director of Y4Life, Michelle helps high school and college students learn about life issues and how to address them from a Gospel-motivated perspective. She also supports the building and maintaining of Y4Life Teams on high school and college campuses across the nation. When not presenting, writing, or creating social media posts for Y4Life, Michelle loves gardening, taking long walks, traveling, cooking, and spending quality time with her husband, sons, and daughter-in-love. You can reach her at michelle@y4life.org.
Presentation - How to be a Gospel-motivated Voice on Life Issues:
Biography:
Rev. Scott Licht grew up in New Ulm, Minnesota, and was raised in the Wisconsin Synod. He graduated from Martin Luther Preparatory School, Northwestern College (the WELS pastor-training college), and attended Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for a short time. In 2005, he earned an MBA and a Master of Science in Information Systems from Iowa State University. Scott worked in the corporate world for 30 years before combining his business and theological education and experience at Lutherans For Life beginning in 2012. Scott satisfied the requirements and was ordained in the Lutheran Congregations in Mission to Christ (LCMC) in 2014. In addition to his service at Lutherans For Life, he serves as pastor of Shepherd of the Prairie Lutheran Church in Huxley, Iowa—a congregation rostered with the LCMC and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). Scott has an adult daughter in the Des Moines area and a daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons near Colfax, Iowa. He and his wife, Sue, live near Huxley, Iowa, with three horses. Sue also has three adult daughters. Scott says, “There is never a lack of things to do, and I give thanks for how richly God has blessed me. I enjoy serving Him through the mission of Lutherans For Life, and I would ask for your prayers as we continue to ‘equip Lutherans and their neighbors to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life.’”
Presentation - Gender:
How do our bodies reflect and confess the grace of God? For what privileges and responsibilities has He made us male and female? How does He safeguard these gifts? How can we incorporate and care for individuals experiencing suffering and temptation related to sexuality and gender? How may we speak truth and show love in such sensitive situations? We will examine instruction from Scripture, engage observations of science, and explore opportunities for servanthood.
Biography:
Pastor Salemink has served Lutherans For Life since 2015. His prior parish experience includes a decade at a large congregation with a vibrant day school and lots of catechism classes, chapel services, and Bible studies. A father of three boys, fan of sports and music, and avid runner, he writes regularly and speaks nationwide - including youth gatherings and teachers' conferences - equipping Lutherans and their neighbors to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life.
Presentation - Bioethics at End of Life:
How do pro-life Christians address the ethical, social, and legal issues that arise in biomedicine? How does a Christian navigate and support biomedical research? And how do we make God-pleasing decisions at end-of-life? Dr. Sommerfeld will cover these topics and more during his session at the Y4Life Summit.
Biography:
Rev. Russ Sommerfeld is a Nebraska Cornhusker born in Johnny Carson’s hometown of Norfolk. He’s a life-long LCMS church member. He was K-12 public school educated, graduating from Norfolk Senior High School in 1970, followed by a 1972 A.A. from Concordia College (now University) Saint Paul, Minnesota, a 1974 B. A. from Concordia Senior College formerly of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a 1980 M.Div. from Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri. He was ordained into pastoral ministry on July 13, 1980. He received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Concordia University St. Paul in 2010.
Russ has been married to Donna “Nino” Cargnino of Collinsville, Illinois, since 1977 “Nino” is a retired registered nurse in psychiatric and dementia care. They met while both working a Deaconess Hospital of St. Louis, Missouri. They are blessed with two sons Alexander and wife Monica, Nicholas, and a daughter Victoria and husband Jason Ruskamp. As well as four granddaughters Madelynn and Makenna Ruskamp, Emma and Ellah Sommerfeld.
During seminary, he was a field work student at a St. Louis African American urban ministry. His vicarage year included chaplaincy in general and psychiatric hospitals as well as a rural village church.
Russ served Immanuel and Saint John’s Lutheran Churches of Canton and Moundridge, Kansas (1980 – 1986), Trinity Lutheran Church of Arapahoe, Nebraska (1986 – 1995) and Holy Cross Lutheran Church and University Lutheran Campus Ministry of Kearney, Nebraska (1995 – 2003). He then served Nebraska District – LCMS as district president (2003-2015). He retired from serving an assistant professor of theology and assistant to the president for church engagement at Concordia University, Nebraska in August of 2023. He currently serves part-time as the Director of Concordia’s Institute for Rural and Small Ministry.
Russ was on the Regents and the Foundation Boards Concordia University Nebraska, the Lutheran Ministry Foundation and Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska Boards He has also been a hospice chaplain. Russ had minor roles with emerging Lutheran churches in Jamaica and the South Sudan of East Africa.
He is currently 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 and was faculty advisor to the Rotaract Club of Concordia University, Nebraska.
Russ likes road bicycling and playing the French Horn, but not at the same time.
Rev. Dr. Scott Stiegemeyer
Presentation - IVF, Infertility and Surrogacy:
“Be Fruitful and Multiply" Children are a blessing and a gift from God. So, it is natural for couples to desire to have children. But sometimes that does not happen as people wish. Does that mean it is good to undertake any available means to meet this goal? Let’s think about infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, and maternal surrogacy in light of God’s Word to find light for our path.
Biography:
Rev. Dr. Scott Stiegemeyer grew up in Kansas City, MO, and has served as a Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod pastor in Pittsburgh, PA, and Chicago, IL. After serving congregations near Pittsburgh, PA, and Chicago, IL, bioethicist and theologian Scott Stiegemeyer joined the Faculty at CUI in 2015. A 1991 graduate of Concordia University in Ann Arbor, MI, he attended Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN, from which he earned his Master of Divinity. During his time in the Chicago area, he earned a Master of Arts in bioethics from Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL, and later completed a doctorate in bioethics from Loyola University, Chicago. Rev. Dr. Stiegemeyer writes and teaches in the areas of church history, bioethics, theology of the body, and Christian ministry in contemporary American contexts. Stiegemeyer is a former Circuit Visitor in the Eastern District of the LCMS and is a member of the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations.
