About

JENNIFER OHMAN-RODRIGUEZ, MDiv, MEd                               

Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez (she, her, hers) is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the ELCA called to serve the good people of St. John’s Lutheran Church (Rock Island, Illinois) and its neighborhood. As a writer, her work (which is part of her call) focuses on the intersection of trauma recovery and faith. Because of the times we live and serve in, Jennifer became certified in Polyvagal informed care through the Polyvagal Institute in early 2025.

Jennifer’s first book, A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance: A Love Story of Grief, Trauma, Healing, and Faith, was published by Chalice Press in 2022 and was named one of the best Christian books on grief in 2023 by the website Choosing Therapy. Jennifer’s forthcoming book will be published in the fall of 2026 by Wildhouse Publishing. Her magazine articles and essays appear in Bearings Online, Gather Magazine, The Christian Century, Young Children, Young Children and the Creative Arts, QC Family Focus, The Lutheran, The Lutheran Digest, Zoay, Books Make a Difference, The Living Lutheran, Faith+Lead as well as The Little Lutheran and The Little Christian. Jennifer also curates the Trauma Recovery Page at Compassionate Christianity, is a frequent speaker, workshop presenter, and seminary guest instructor.

Jennifer’s extensive work in faith formation curricula, devotions, and worship resources is published by Augsburg Fortress, Sparkhouse, 1517 Media, and Westminster John Knox Press in the resources of Fed and Forgiven, Sundays and Seasons, Christ in our Home, Spark, Whirl, Frolic, Feasting on the Word Curriculum, and in leader sourcebooks accompanying the work the Dan Erlander. Jennifer also wrote prayers for the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and a piece for the ELCA Churchwide’s 2025 publication, “Forgive Us and Transform Us for the Light of the World.”

Prior to ministry, Ohman-Rodriguez worked in the early care and education field for twenty years. In 1993 she earned a Master of Education degree from the Erikson Institute for Advanced Studies in Child Development in Chicago, Illinois. During her career she taught in a variety of settings including childcare, traditional preschool, Head Start, and at the college level. She also directed a preschool program, worked as a teacher trainer, and developed an inclusive arts program for preschool-age children in Wisconsin. She is the co-creator and served as the first coordinator of Quality through Accreditation, an early care and education quality enhancement program based in the Illinois and Iowa Quad Cities. Along with two other professionals she presented ideas for raising early care and education quality at the National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference (NAEYC) in 2007.

Before becoming an educator, Ohman-Rodriguez was a professionally trained musician with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. 

BRIEF BIO

Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the ELCA. She serves as lead pastor at St John’s Lutheran Church in Rock Island, Illinois. Her first book, A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance: A Love Story of Grief, Trauma, Healing, and Faith, was published in 2022 by Chalice Press and was named one of the best Christian books on grief in 2023 by the website Choosing Therapy. Jennifer is a frequent workshop presenter in trauma-informed spiritual care, trauma-informed worship, and self-care. She has been an instructor in pastoral care and trauma-informed worship at Wartburg Seminary and currently curates the Trauma Recovery Page at Compassionate Christianity. Jennifer holds master’s degrees in early child development and divinity and is certified polyvagal-informed.

FAITH STATEMENT

I hold both belief and faith as existing together. My belief is in something far bigger than myself. So immense my imagination cannot fathom its greatness. It is almost unknowable, making a mystery of it all. In my Lutheran Christian tradition I name my belief as God as revealed in Holy Trinity: God, Jesus, and Spirit. My faith is in believing that at the very core of every molecule of creation God is and that God is love. My faith believes God as love and love as God live in us while we also live in God. When I sit with my faith in prayer, meditation, writing, scripture, and worship, God as love bubbles up within me flowing out into the world with delight.

Photos by Cynthia Weeks , Forrest T. Meyer, and Wezz de la Rosa.