By Grace Thomas, Staff Writer
Chaplain Wilson stepped into a new senior pastor role at First Baptist Church of Elk Grove Village (FBC) in early January, filling an extended vacancy that had lasted since 2020.
“For me, it’s the perfect blend of a chaplain’s role — both being a shepherd on the campus and a shepherd in the community,” Wilson said.
FBC Elk Grove Village, a small congregation of approximately 35 members, lost its longtime senior pastor to illness at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, the church has been led by a series of interim pastors until Jan. 4, 2026, when Wilson stepped into the role. He first learned of the need from the Illinois State Baptist Association and took the position after realizing the opportunity it presented for student engagement.
Wilson has been a bivocational pastor for three decades, serving five churches while also working at four colleges across Illinois, California and Alabama. His responsibilities as senior pastor of FBC will include preaching on Sunday mornings and at occasional Saturday events, leading a midweek Bible study and making prayer visits to members who are sick.
The most recent of FBC’s interim pastors was Wheaton junior Reid White, who studies classical languages. White held the role from October 2025 to January 2026. Hunter Benson, a Wheaton Bible and Theology graduate student, led services on occasion as well. White remains involved as a ministry intern under Wilson, serving the congregation’s youth in particular. He is hopeful that Chaplain Wilson’s leadership will be able to help revitalize a younger generation of attendees at FBC Elk Grove Village, whose median age tends to be older.
“With Chaplain Wilson there and being able to put energy into it in myself as well, we’re hoping to really spark some excitement for a new phase,” White said.
Wilson is also excited for students to be involved in the church and provide opportunities to practice local church service. For the past few years, Wilson has led a preaching lab, which offers practical experience and mentorship to students interested in pulpit ministry. As part of his revitalization effort at FBC, he has brought in some of the lab’s students — affectionately referred to on campus as “the preaching bros” — to open the Word and participate in the church’s ministry events.
“It gives me an opportunity to both be training students and have a laboratory,” Wilson said. “They can now leave the campus, come and engage and serve and practice their gifts in the body of Christ as well.”
Joshua Kafumbe, a first-year Bible and theology student, has become part of the church’s congregation after hearing about it in the preaching lab. He has enjoyed the hands-on opportunities to serve the people there by helping with offering, participating in the music ministry and assisting with communion.
Student involvement at FBC Elk Grove Village following Wilson’s appointment as senior pastor has not been limited to the Preaching Bros. Josiah Bloomfield, a first-year philosophy student who was introduced to the church through his friendship with Kafumbe, expressed excitement about the opportunity to lead worship there. Alongside Kafumbe, he also helps collect offerings and lead the Bible study that occurs before Sunday services.
“As long as there are opportunities for me to be involved, I certainly will involve myself,” Bloomfield said.
Wilson sees these opportunities for local church involvement through Wheaton’s chaplain’s office as very important, as hands-on service is a vital component of the Christian calling. Wilson intends to stay in the senior pastor role at FBC Elk Grove Village for as long as he feels called to serve as chaplain at Wheaton College, and he hopes to extend more opportunities for student involvement within the church in the future. He hopes this partnership will allow for the development of new ministries within the congregation and, ultimately, the expansion of ministry in the Elk Grove Village community as a whole.
“The goal is to plug in students who are interested in ministry opportunities to come and serve, and to develop new ministries, and then to help to minister to the congregation and the community of Elk Grove Village,” Wilson explained.
“I believe that Wheaton should be a place that not only prepares our hearts and minds for the kingdom, but actually our hands.”
