Young adults in Wisconsin are, as they are across the country, at-risk for drifting away from the church if church leaders aren't intentional about giving them reasons to engage. The more I talked with young adults here, the more it became clear that there was a felt need: we need to create space for this age group to feel like they can take ownership in the church. I saw pockets of little efforts around the state, to create young adult community and ministry space in churches, but there really was no united effort and these groups often felt isolated from each other. So last year, I put a prayer up to God: I wanted to see more ministry for young adults here in the Wisconsin Conference.
The answer to prayer came quickly and significantly, as I saw two things happen. First, I started to see groups making plans for young adult events (without me asking them to do so), and asking me to help advertise and support the events. Second, I started to see strong nuclei of leadership form in various regions across the state. God was making moves through young leaders: pastors and lay people, locals and international students.
A few things to note, before we look at some of these groups and the events they've organized over the past year, is that a lot of this traction comes out of our recently very successful Public Campus Ministry (ACF) initiative, led by Josh Guerrero (a local young adult himself). Josh was able to crack the code on the grant proposal process and has brought in $160,000 of grant funds over the past couple of years. This has allowed campus ministry leaders (all young adults) a lot more capital making things happen on campus, and this has drawn in surrounding groups of students and non-students as they create community with the purpose of reaching their peers for the Gospel.
It's also notable that we have a large number of young pastors in our conference: more than I can remember in the past twelve years of working here. Due to the initiatives of pastors like Pedro Luis (of the La Crosse district), we have a lot more intentionality behind organic young adult organization, community creation, and mobilization for ministry. Pastor Bill Dudgeon III, who is at the Milwaukee Central (English) Church, has had a history of working with young adults, using programs like Growing Young, and has also fostered a healthy group of young adults, as well as the local ACF chapter at UW-Milwaukee. Efforts like this have been a year-round blessing, not just a one-off event.
Pictured: Pastor Bill Dudgeon, Pastor Pedro Luis, Josh Guerrero
We've also seen a rise in young adult leaders when it comes to our Club Ministries, which means at a young age we have individuals who are taking the responsibility of leading younger people to Jesus--not just seasonally, but year-round. If not leading clubs, there has also been a springing up of Master Guide clubs, which are training young people for future leadership.
Our current cohort of Summer Camp staff, as well, has been a major factor in the community-building process. We've managed, over the past few years, to create a tight-knit group of camp staff who are ministry-minded, and mostly locals from Wisconsin. This has resulted in a group of friends who have gotten used to getting together to have fun and do ministry together, and who live close enough to each other that they don't let that all end when the Summer Camp season is over.
All of these factors have come together like puzzle pieces, in a way that only God could orchestrate, and it's been my pleasure to help work with these young leaders as they make plans, as well as to cast a vision and organize some of the events myself. Now: how has this looked practically--this young adult minsitry that has sprung up over the past year?
Last March, the LaCrosse area young adults, teaming up with Pastor Pedro Luis, came together for a young adult Sabbath. They wanted to learn about the book of Nehemiah, and invited our new Wisconsin Conference Executive Secretary, Dr. Amir Gulzar, to preach about leadership and Nehemiah. Young adults provided the music, led a panel discussion Sabbath School, and organized outreach to the homeless community downtown. Though the event took place on the west side of the state, individuals from Stevens Point, Marshfield, and Madison areas participated. Caden Minett, the local Pathfinder Club Director, even had his Pathfinders put together care packages that the young adults handed out to during their homeless outreach.
Pictured: Young Adults at the Nehemiah Leadership Sabbath in LaCrosse
Last September, young adult leaders at the West Bend Church Plant (greater Milwaukee area), Michael Hughes and Jordan Clark, organized a young adult Sabbath called Catalyst: Ignite Your Faith, Change the World. They brought back former Milwaukee area pastor Jean-Marcel Clouzet, who was a big draw with his energetic speaking and recent history of youth ministry in the area. A band of young adults provided the music, young adults led group discussions during Sabbath school, young adults ran the A/V and took pictures and video. There was also an evangelism training in the afternoon, taught by Pastor Tom Michaelski, to help young leaders become stronger in their ability to talk to others about Jesus. Young adults from many churches around the Milwaukee area and beyond attended the event and packed out the building with about double the attendance the organizers were expecting.
Pictured: Young Adults at the Catalyst Sabbath in West Bend
In November, we had our first official Wisconsin Conference Young Adult event: The Table, at The Shepherd's House (Wausau) Church. Young adults helped lead music, young adults preached for the main service, and young adults got to give input to conference leaders about what is needed for local ministry to young adults. Dr. Amir Gulzar also came to give his testimony and to share important information for young adults to know about employment and educational opportunities. Pastor Zack fostered creative problem-solving and team-building games and activities, as well as provided case studies of difficult leadership situations, so that young adults could work through some of the challenges of being leaders in ministry. Young adults from Madison, Milwaukee, LaCrosse, Rice Lake, and other places were present.
Pictured: Young Adults at The Table Sabbath at The Shepherd's House
Most recently, in February 2025, UW-Madison ACF missionary Slava Chemperei organized another event at The Shepherd's House, called Mind Matters: Does God Care About My Mental Health? He planned the event in conjunction with young adults around the state, and even though it was just an evening of programming (with a lock-in that followed), attendees came from Green Bay, Madison, and LaCrosse. Pastor Zack talked about how the Bible speaks to mental health issues, and gave his own testimony about how God is able to use our ups and downs for His glory, and is able to give us true peace, if we give our anxiety and depression over to Him. Slava also led out in team-building games that helped attendees get to know each other and solve complex problems.
Pictured: Young Adults at the Mind Matters event at The Shepherd's House
All of the above events, it should be noted, are taking place in addition to what many of our local churches and youth groups are already doing. Notable examples are IGY (Inter-Generational Youth) nights at the Milwaukee SDA School, the young adult group that meets at Milwaukee Central Church on a regular basis, and JAHWI (Jovenes Adventistas Hispanos de Wisconsin) which is led by young adults and hosts monthly events for Hispanic youth. These events are in addition to the awesome Public Campus Ministries that are year-round collegeate ministries by young adults for young adults. They are in addition to our Master Guide Clubs, which are organized to help young adults gain the training, experience, and certification they need to lead youth ministries--specifically, but not limited to, Club Ministries. They are in addition to Summer Camp, and Youth Rally, and other various ministries and events that recruit young adults to help lead out in ministry.
Pictured: Young Adults at the JAHWI Global Youth Day event in Milwaukee
All of the above events are scheduled to be repeated as annual efforts, with the next event taking place at the LaCrosse SDA Church this coming March 28-29 (contact Pastor Pedro Luis for more information, but more details and marketing materials will be released soon). What this is all showing me is that there has been a sea change in the Wisconsin Conference when it comes to ministry to young adults. I am hopeful that the young leaders involved will continue to meet together, in various location, at various times throughout the year, into the forseeable future and continue to grow a strong cohort of young adult ministry and leadership that becomes a legacy ministry in our Conference.
For any young adults in (or near) Wisconsin who are longing to connect with people your age, or who maybe haven't seen this momentum we're talking about in this article: please reach out! We'd love to get you plugged into the groups that are meeting near you, and inform you about upcoming events you'll want to know about. We also have a Discord group chat, that helps our young adults stay current on the things that are going on.
Currently (as you've read in this article), our hotspots are in the Milwaukee, Madison, LaCrosse, Wausau/Stevens Point areas (and there is a strong correlation because these are the areas where our strong ACF/campus ministry chapters are). If you would like to help start a young adult group or ACF chapter in your area: please let us know (reaching out to me at zpayne@wi.adventist.org is a good start!). We have hope to break into the Green Bay and Eau Claire areas, as well as any area that has a good group of young adults and college students who are looking to do ministry in their local area and connect with our statewide group of young leaders.
It's always exciting to see God moving when we put ministry hopes and dreams into His hands. In this case, it has been a significant and rapid movement! We hope that you will, no matter your age, support our Wisconsin Conference Young Adult Ministries as they continue to grow. Let us know how you'd like to get involved and help. If nothing else: pray. That's how this whole thing got started. We look forward to seeing what God's plan is for young adults as we move into 2025 and beyond.
More Pictures of Young Adults 2024-2025
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