91st Annual Conference - October 2-3, 2026

Pilgrims at the Crossroads

Hosted by Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana

Overview

We invite attendees, regardless of religious background or affiliation, to the 91st Annual Conference of the Association of Lutheran College Faculties, featuring keynote speakers Rhonda and Douglas Jacobsen. Professors Emeriti of Messiah University, the Jacobsens recently published Christianity and Intellectual Inquiry: Thinking as Pilgrimage.

 The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures use several words to describe people who live in a land that is not their true home: aliens, strangers, and wanderers immediately come to mind. But the word pilgrim captures an element that the others do not—it implies that there is a destination, and there is motion—that life, whether sacred or secular in orientation, is a journey toward a goal.  The academic study of religion has revealed the importance of the pilgrim’s experience. People from all walks of life, and all religious traditions, experience this in different ways.

 On our various journeys we often stand at a crossroads—a time for decision. The prophet Jeremiah used this language  to invite the people of Israel to consider their ways and return to their God:

 “Thus says the LORD, ‘Stand by the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it, and find rest for your souls.’”

 Jeremiah reminds us that from time to time the path we are on diverges, and discernment is required. Which path is “the good way”? Which way will we go?

 We hope that our theme inspires reflections on the academic pilgrimage that we have chosen (or perhaps that has chosen us), as well as the decisions we must make. Higher education finds itself at a crossroads today. The headwinds are strong. Some pundits think that “church-related higher education” is an oxymoron, or a luxury we cannot afford. But if we want to be true to our vocation we will wrestle with these matters, remembering that every crisis is an opportunity for something new to be born—for new life that will astonish many. In the Valparaiso University Center for the Arts there is an inscription from Isaiah 43: “Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth; will you not perceive it?” The verse goes on to say, “I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers will flow in the desert.” We invite you to gather with like-minded colleagues to find ways to make rivers flow in the deserts we currently inhabit.

We welcome faculty, staff, and their student collaborators from all disciplines and perspectives to propose papers or panel discussions related to this broad theme. Proposals are due August 15, 2026.

Some examples include but are not limited to:

• The academic vocation as a pilgrimage

• Teaching and learning as a lifelong journey

• Pilgrimage thinking as a tool for engagement with the world

• Church-related higher education at the crossroads

• Instilling lifelong learning habits in our students

• Mystery, paradox, and contradiction on the educational journey

• The undergraduate major: pilgrimage or last resort?

• General education as a pilgrimage

• Helping faculty adjust to the ever-changing landscape of higher education

• Helping students find meaning in their educational journey

• Fewer pilgrims: maintaining a sense of purpose in the midst of declining faculty numbers

• The inner pilgrimage of the arts

• Scientific inquiry as pilgrimage

• The therapeutic process as a pilgrimage

• Using AI to supplement rather than undermine the creative process

• Process versus product: the pilgrimage of the artist/athlete/scholar (etc.)

• Objectivity at the crossroads

• Loving neighbor as self on the pilgrimage

• Compassion in your profession

A limited number of awards, up to $500, will be given to presenters who live outside the Chicagoland area. In order to be considered, please use this link to apply by Aug. 1, 2026. Preference will be given to first-time presenters, and applicants will be notified by Aug. 15, 2026.

Keynote speakers

Rhonda and Douglas Jacobsen

Dr. Douglas “Jake” Jacobsen began teaching at Messiah University in 1984, where he taught courses on church history, theology, regional Christianity, and World Christianity and conducted research on topics ranging from to global Pentecostalism to political and cultural divisions within America's churches. Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen joined the Messiah psychology faculty in 1984 and received both national and campus awards for her excellence in the classroom. For two decades, she was director of Faculty Development for the university. From 2015–2020, Jake and Rhonda directed the Clergy Leadership Program of Central Pennsylvania, a project funded by the Lilly Endowment designed to identify emerging pastoral leaders and connect them to other community leaders. Jake and Rhonda continue to co-direct the Religion in the Academy Project which studies connections between religion and higher education. Their joint publications include Scholarship and Christian Faith: Enlarging the Conversation (Oxford University Press, 2004), The American University in a Postsecular Age (OUP, 2008), winner of the Lilly Fellows Book Award, No Longer Invisible: Religion in University Education (OUP, 2012), winner of a Critics Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association, and Christianity and Intellectual Inquiry: Thinking as Pilgrimage (OUP, 2025).

Getting around

Valparaiso University is centrally located, and there are several airports that surround Valparaiso University, including Chicago O’Hare (74 miles), Gary Chicago (31 miles), Chicago Midway (57 miles), South Bend (56 miles), and Indianapolis (156 miles) .

2026 ALCF Committee

• Stan Zygmunt, President, Valparaiso University

• Paul Hillmer, Vice President, Concordia University St. Paul

• Sharon Gray, Past President, Augustana University

• Mark Looker, Treasurer, Concordia University Ann Arbor

• Mary Kay Johnston, Secretary, Concordia University Texas

• Robert Hayes, Concordia University Chicago

• James Bond, California Lutheran University