Lifelong Learner Award: Rev. Andy Becker GR '09

Seward, NE (09/01/2026) — During Homecoming weekend, the Concordia Alumni Association honors alumni and friends for their outstanding service and accomplishments. The Lifelong Learner Award is presented to a graduate alumnus of Concordia who has demonstrated a commitment to service through volunteerism and/or significant vocational achievement.

Rev. Andy Becker GR '09 serves The Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod as director of family ministry in the Office of National Mission where he oversees the family ministry work of the synod, developing family ministry resources and supporting the work of congregations and church workers involved in family discipleship.

"In January of 2025, I began working at the synod in family ministry. There had not been a dedicated person leading in this area for well over a decade. By listening to church workers and district and institutional leaders, I developed a sense of the landscape of family ministry in our synod and what was needed," he said. "As the director of family ministry, I support Christian homes by providing resources to families and congregations, I encourage congregations and workers to partner with families by equipping parents and families, and I advocate for the need for family ministry in our congregations and faith practices in all of our homes."

He said he finds great joy in his current role.

"I network with synodical, district, institutional and congregational leaders to learn from them what is going on in their contexts, to hear their needs and to provide encouragement and support. With my team we develop resources, working with church workers and others in our church body to produce and provide resources. I give presentations to teach and encourage individuals and leaders to implement family discipleship practices in their own homes or to encourage and support those implementations in the homes of their families," he explained. "Families today face many struggles. There are outside pressures and attacks. The work that I do helps to equip and strengthen families so that they can be what God designed them to be, healthy places where love is demonstrated, where faith is nurtured and lived out, where conversation and support happen, so that through our marriages, in our families and through our children the message of Christ will be shared to the next generation, even to those not yet born."

Prior to his current position he served as a director of Christian education at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Giddings, Texas and as a family life pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church in Arnold, Missouri.

Becker has a bachelor's degree and Director of Christian Education certificate from Concordia University Chicago, a master's degree in family life from Concordia University, Nebraska, a master of divinity degree from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and is currently enrolled in the doctor of education leadership program at Concordia University Irvine.

A frequent speaker and presenter, he has given various presentations on parenting, family ministry, marriage and developing faith habits. He is a member of the National Association of Directors of Christian Education and has served as a planning team member for the last eight LCMS Youth Gathering events and as a Missouri District East Conference planning team member. He has coached soccer and basketball at the local Lutheran school and is involved with the drama ministry at a local congregation. He has also led a variety of congregational programs and events including Vacation Bible School, a block party, marriage retreats and a marriage team. A talented musician skilled in trumpet, guitar and bass guitar, he is involved with the choir and bands at his church and is a member of the Sanctus Winds, a St. Louis, Missouri-based community band of wind, brass, and percussion players who use their musical gifts to the glory of the Triune God.

Becker and his wife Nikki have two sons: Nathan (17) and Micah (14). Becker's parents - Alvina (Chronis) Becker '73 and Wallace (Wally) Becker '72 - are both Concordia Nebraska alumni. Becker and his family enjoy playing musical instruments, playing games and enjoying nature. Nikki is a Lutheran school teacher at St. John's in Arnold, Missouri where she teaches ELA and helps direct productions in their church. Nathan and Micah both attend Lutheran High School South and enjoy using their musical gifts at school and church.

Becker said that although most of his master's studies through Concordia Nebraska were remote, he enjoyed the process and the sense of community and Christ-centeredness featured throughout the program.

"I completed my master's program at Concordia Nebraska. I was part of a distance program where we would come on campus for a week or two at a time for in-person instruction. We then had a period of months to complete our readings and assignments. I always enjoyed the time I was able to spend on campus engaging briefly in on campus life through chapel and the interaction with our fellow grad students. It was a robust program that prepared me well to serve and lead in the church by not only imparting knowledge, but helping me to think critically about contexts and systems and needs of individuals and families," he said. "My professors were my favorite thing about Concordia. Their care for me as an individual and as a student helped challenge me to learn and grow and find better ways to serve the Lord and His church."

He cited the influence of professor Dr. Shirley Bergman and her husband Dr. Marvin Bergman.

"Through their questions and conversations, they challenged and expanded my thinking while still treating me as a peer. Despite all of their knowledge and experience they would ask questions of me and seek to learn from me as well. They helped me to understand my gifts and to see how I could best serve the Lord in my vocations utilizing those gifts," he said. "Through the care and blessing of our professors, I was better able to live out my faith in my family with my wife and children. This helped me to model and share my faith in more practical ways with others."

He said that his time at Concordia Nebraska helped to prepare him to serve the church and the world and also his own family.

"Through my training in family ministry, I became a better husband and a better father. I was able to not only take what I was learning and apply it to my ministry setting but was able to implement it in my personal life and relationships," he explained. "This allowed me to experience what it meant to lead in family discipleship in my own home. I was able to then take what I had learned at Concordia and apply it in my own home and use it to help others in their life and faith in their own households. Now I am able to use the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that I learned at Concordia in the area of family ministry and share this framework and these concepts to encourage Christian family life in our synod."

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