Jen Rome has 17 years of experience in bringing people of all generations to deeply experience and creatively connect with God, the world, and each other. She studied English at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, attended Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, and received her Masters of Divinity Princeton Theological Seminary in 2000. She previously served as Pastor for Children, Youth, and Family with Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Eagan, Minnesota for nearly 17 years. Nationally and locally, she presents and leads workshops on cross-generational, multi-sensory, interactive faith formation for church professionals and lay leaders. She and her husband, Zach, along with their two daughters, live inter-generationally with Zach’s parents in a duplex in the St. Paul. Their family shares the love of geeking out about things that express our passions and bring joy. Jen entertains herself by walking instead of driving as much as she can, making things beautiful, and reading children’s and adolescent literature.

Cathy joined the Pilgrim staff as Church Administrator in October 2010. As of January 2017, she holds the position of Business Manager. She was born in Minneapolis and attended the University of Minnesota, graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural Business Administration. She has had 20 years experience as an administrator in business, and is a lay leader in her congregation, serving in numerous roles at Richfield Lutheran Church. Cathy also enjoys volunteering at a neighborhood elder care facility. In her free time, she enjoys working on home projects and spending time at the family cabin her father built.

Denika Anderson joined the Pilgrim staff in March 2019 as a Communications Specialist. She grew up in an ELCA church and, after completing her B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University, she attended Luther Seminary, and ultimately transferred to United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities to complete her M.A. in Women’s Studies in Religion. Denika has always had a passion for church work, and enjoys putting her skills to use at Pilgrim. In addition to her work at Pilgrim, Denika is also a birth and perinatal loss doula, and advocates for birthing families through the Childbirth Collective. She has three young children, Lola, Ellie, and Rory, with her spouse, Ned. As a family, they enjoy reading, playing board games, and working with their hands on just about any project.

Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 20 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. For these services he will plays Northumbrian small-pipes, reel pipes, recorder, seljefløyte, and low whistle. Based in St Paul, MN, he is a full-time musician, presenting the traditional music of Scotland, Cape Breton Island, and Northumberland, as well as Nordic folk music, and early music. His solo Northumbrian smallpipes CD Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes was released in 2007. He has been composer-in-residence at Pilgrim Lutheran Church since 2002, and was awarded the Bush Artist Fellowship in 2007

Carey Shunskis is a choral conductor and soprano originally from Philadelphia with extensive experience in children’s chorus directing and is the current Music Director of ComMUSICation. Carey earned a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Boston University and Bachelors degrees in Music Education and Voice Performance from the University of Rhode Island.

ComMUSICation is a music youth development non-profit and offers choral, ukulele, piano, and drumming programs for youth K-12 and youth leadership positions for high schoolers. Carey sings with the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and MPLS (imPulse). Some of Carey's favorite teaching and performing highlights include Lead Teacher with the Vienna Boys Choir 2017 Summer Music Academy in Hong Kong, Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, and her work as a conference clinician, adjudicator and speaker.

Russ Myers is an ELCA pastor who has served as chaplain at Allina Health for 29 years. He was chaplain at United Hospital for many years and more recently at Allina EMS, where he supports the paramedics, EMTs and dispatchers. Previous to chaplaincy he and his wife, Mary, served as co-pastors at two rural congregations in southern Wisconsin. He has two daughters; one lives in Duluth and one lives with her family in Andover. This summer, Russ and Mary and their grandson Daniel enjoyed a week on Madeline Island and a family camp program at Wilderness Canoe Base.

Paul Stever comes from Scottsdale, Arizona, where he began piano study with his grandmother at the age of eight. As a junior in high school, he received a scholarship for organ study from the Central Arizona chapter of the American Guild of Organists. These intensive studies, combined with a love of church music and choral music, led him to attend St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he completed BM degrees in Church Music-Organ and Vocal Music Education. He studied organ at St. Olaf with Catherine Rodland and John Ferguson. Since then, Paul has received an MM in Choral Music Education from Arizona State University, a Choir Master (ChM) certificate from the American Guild of Organists, and an MM degree in Organ Performance, with a Certificate in Liturgical Studies, from Colorado State University. He has been the Music Director, Chancel Choir Director, and Organist for Pilgrim Lutheran Church since July 2012. He also enjoys cooking, yoga, and playing with his daughter Emily.

Chuck works part time as the Pilgrim custodian. He was born, raised and educated in the Twin Cities area. As he grew up, he attended Como Park Grade School, Murray High School, U of M, Northwestern TV & Electronics Inst. and was confirmed at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church on Lexington Pkwy, south of Como Park. Started his working career at the old Northwestern Bell Telephone Company (in the Tioga oilfields). From there, he went to the old Honeywell for nine years, working exclusively on the Apollo Project. His career led him to the 3M Company where he worked for thirty-three years. He worked as a Quality Engineer and the last fifteen of those years as a Metrologist. He loves the outdoors, especially the summer when he can get his custom-built fishing boat into the water. Hobbies include photography and taking care of his house and yard. He loves cars and drives two hybrid autos. He also volunteers at Pilgrim at various activities and is a member of the Properties Committee.

Anna Stolte is from North Saint Paul, and has degrees in music and Spanish from University of Wisconsin River Falls. She has spent the past few years as a Spanish Immersion Kindergarten teacher and music educator. When she's not teaching, you'll find her singing in various churches around the Twin Cities, rock climbing, or searching for the best tacos al pastor in Minnesota.

Hello, Pilgrims! My name is Micki (Wright) Nyland, and I am excited and delighted to be returning to Pilgrim! I previously served Pilgrim Lutheran Church as the Coordinator of Children’s and Youth Ministries for four years. I live in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul with my husband, Adam, and my kids Wes (6) and Dot (5). I love reading, taking my kids on adventures, watching television with my husband, camping with my family, and pretending to fold laundry while watching people on YouTube fold their laundry. I am looking forward to reconnecting with the families that I worked with before, meeting the families that have become part of this community in the last five years, and working with Pastor Jen.
Alex is passionate about climate justice and enjoys any activity outdoors. He is a cross country runner and also loves to camp, hike, bike, and ski. Everyday environmental resilience is meaningful for him as well and he strives to live an increasingly plastic-free lifestyle. Alex also loves creativity and art and enjoys writing, reading, drawing, painting, practicing his euphonium and video editing.

Greetings, Pilgrim family! My name is Lisa Wexler Como and I am excited to begin my work as the office coordinator here at Pilgrim. I spent five years living in Haiti and Honduras with my husband, Jason, and our three children, Solomon (19), Joshua (17), and Ana (15), before moving back to Minnesota last August so that I could begin work on my Doctor of Ministry degree at United Theological Seminary. Between parenting, school and now work, I don’t have a lot of free time these days, but I do still enjoy time with friends and family and walks around Como Lake near our home in the Como Park neighborhood. I look forward to meeting all of you as I settle into my new role here at Pilgrim!

Mike works part time as one of Pilgrim’s custodians. He was born, raised, and educated in the St. Paul. He attended Groveland Elementary School, Ramsey Jr. High and Highland High School, DeVry Institute of Technology Chicago, and St. Paul TVI. Started his working career at Davis Electronics a mom-and-pop electronics shop for five years. Was a shop manager and Senior Computer Tech for Tandy Radio Shack and Computer City for nineteen years. Recently retired from St. Paul Public Schools after twenty-two years as a Field Service Tech. Mike loves the outdoors, hiking and camping. Hobbies include long walks, woodworking, carving, gardening. Mike has been a lifelong member of Pilgrim and has held many leadership and volunteer positions.

Sam Fouts is an educator, singer, and choral musician from Eagan. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Concordia College in Moorhead and went on to earn master’s degrees with distinction from the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. Sam has been fortunate to sing with and lead such ensembles as The Concordia Choir, The Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, King’s Voices of King’s College, Cambridge, and VocalEssence. Sam has been active as a church musician and pedagogue in the Twin Cities, previously holding positions at Easter Lutheran Church in Eagan and the University of St. Thomas. As a soloist, Sam specializes in Scandinavian art song. He is the High School Program Coordinator for Reaching Up Homework Help, an after-school homework help program based at Easter Lutheran Church.