NUrturing Faith

Sharing Stories from LCMNU: Fall 2026

A Work Ethic for Church: Bob Sokol

Bob Sokol (‘04) has a long history with LCMNU, dating from today back to his first week in Evanston as a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering. While his contemporaries at LCMNU (University Lutheran Church, ULC, at the time) may remember Bob as a champion of regular outings to Ronny’s Steak Palace in Chicago for $2.99 steak dinners, current students recognize him as a parent of LCMNU recent alum Jack Sokol ('26).

Bob was looking for a faith community when he first came to Northwestern in the fall of ‘91. While an undergrad at Gustavus Adolphus, he had been involved in Lutheran Student Movement service projects and would attend chapel services to center himself in the midst of classes. There was no graduate student orientation at the time to introduce student organizations, so Bob first learned about LCMNU from his apartment-mate in Engelhart Hall, a student from Iran who had been studying civil engineering for a few years and passed the Lutheran Center nearly every day on his way to Tech.

At LCMNU, Bob was greeted by Pastor Lloyd Kittlaus and found a community that welcomed him in. He was attracted to the worship service and hymns and the mixture of undergraduate and graduate students at the ministry. Bob participated in service activities at the food depository and the overnight shelter, and he joined in social outings to restaurants with others in the ministry, forming friendships with other students that he would not have met outside LCMNU. He also served on the ULC Church Council, where he remembered Pr. Kittlaus would say “instead of playing church, [students would] get to be the church.”

Looking back, Bob recognizes that his time as a student at LCMNU helped him realize the work needed to keep LCMNU, or any faith community, running. After graduation, Bob and his wife Kara became members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Evanston, which has several congregants that are or have been involved in supporting LCMNU–as donors, volunteers, and board members–and Bob himself now serves on the LCMNU Board of Directors. He noted that LCM “did a good job of instilling a work ethic for church–for it to work well, it's important for people to actively look for ways to contribute” and that lesson carries forward for students after leaving LCMNU. Bob also sees the practice of intentional contribution and community building at LCMNU applying to other areas of his life, such as getting involved with leadership of activities his children were involved in, forming a habit of digging in and helping sustain for others what is important for him.

At LCMNU, Bob found a unique faith community that calls students into their vocation and builds relationships and habits of leadership and service that last well beyond graduation.