Supporting the Mission in Motion

The Illinois Conference (ILC) is home to more than 14,000 members, 113 churches (including companies and groups), and nine schools. Our roots go back 164 years when we, with our northern neighbor, were known as the Illinois and Wisconsin Conference.  

The conference serves its members by supporting the development of healthy, disciple-making churches and schools. This mission is born out of our conviction that our prime directive is to support the mission that is already taking shape in our churches, schools, and in the lives of our members. This report highlights some of the wonderful ministry happening in our midst. 

We thank God for the 1,000 people who have joined the church through baptism or profession of faith over the past four years. Each of those accessions is a credit to God’s mercy and the faithfulness of our pastors, teachers and members. 

Many of our churches also took advantage of Pentecost 2025, using the funds to do effective and innovative evangelism. The Marion district, led by Pastor Sam Negrea, held three evangelistic events, resulting in 12 new members, including a Methodist minister.  

Meanwhile, North Shore’s pastor Jonathan Burnett began recording evangelistic videos to post online. “We decided to try something different,” Burnett said. “Like many churches since the pandemic, we have a greater number of people who connect with us online.” In the first ten days after posting the videos to the North Shore YouTube channel, they witnessed a 2,300% increase in subscribers. 

Hispanic evangelism continues to be one of the most vibrant areas of outreach in the Illinois Conference. Hispanic congregations lead annual evangelistic efforts, elders’ trainings, a camp meeting, and community engagement initiatives that combine felt needs with gospel proclamation. 

In 2025, we celebrated 25 years of ministry at our summer camp, Camp Akita, during Homecoming 2025. We were pleased to be joined by the Lake Union Conference’s Youth Director, Ron Whitehead, who had been instrumental in helping us secure that property. During Homecoming, we also paid tribute to our two previous youth camps: Camp Reynoldswood and Little Grassy. 

At Homecoming, we announced plans to build a new chapel at Akita, which will be named the Ken Denslow Chapel, in recognition of his deep support for Camp Akita as conference president in its earliest years.  

Summer cCamp attendance at Akita remains robust. Summer camp remains one of the most effective and inspiring ministries in our conference. It is the premiere opportunity each year to introduce our children and youth to Jesus and invite them to decide to follow Jesus in baptism.   

Our nine schools also speak to that commitment to our children and youth. Judie Rosa, formerly the principal at Hinsdale Adventist Academy, became our new education director in 2025. Her dual focus has been on ensuring that our schools are places “where excellence in education meets intentional discipleship.” 

Over 1,000 Illinois Pathfinders caravaned along I-90 through the prairie of South Dakota for the International Pathfinder Camporee in Gillette, Wyoming. The Hinsdale Fil-Am Challengers and the North Shore Stars excelled in basic and fancy drills. Beset by storms and encouraged by a double rainbow, it was a camporee that shall never be forgotten.  

During this quadrennium, the Youth Department has experienced an incredible change. Our previous youth director, Michael Campos, stepped into a new role as executive secretary. Josant Barrientos was called to be the new youth director, with Stacey DePluzer accepting an associate youth director role with children and camp ministry in her portfolio. In addition, Roberto Gonzales joined our conference family as another associate youth director, focusing on youth and young adults. Together, these moves reflect our concrete conviction that the strength of our conference is tied to the strength of our commitment to our children and grandchildren. 

Another personnel change during this quinquennium was the appointment of Matthew Lucio to the role of conference communications. Communication ministry is about telling the stories of what God is doing in our midst, both past and present. Our communications department has also been assisting churches who feel called to do digital ministry, such as by helping them set-up or level-up their Sabbath livestream. 

Embedded in this report are some clues about the future direction of ministry in the Illinois Conference. The changes introduced over the past four years demonstrate our commitment to doing everything we can to reach our children, youth and young adults with the gospel. Furthermore, the addition of a communications specialist acknowledges our need to help our churches and schools be present on the internet as well as to effectively tell stories of what God is doing in our midst.  

As we proclaim the everlasting gospel from frantic Michigan Avenue all the way to the serene Garden of the Gods, we believe that God’s best is yet to come for the Illinois Conference. 

John Grys is president of the Illinois Conference.