Pastor featured in Time magazine top-100 list to start Elgin church

A prominent Chicago pastor who once was featured among Time magazine's “100 Most Influential People” is leading a new church in Elgin.

The Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus, known as Pastor Choco, will conduct services at 9:30 a.m. Sundays at New Life Covenant-Elgin, which held a grand opening this weekend in what used to be Highland Fellowship Church, 2250 W. Highland Ave.

The conservative church believes in reaching out to the downtrodden and taking on moral issues such as immigration, said the 50-year-old De Jesus, who also is senior pastor at New Life Covenant church in Chicago.

“As a church we need to respond to the marginalized and the voiceless,” he said. New Life Covenant, for example, runs a shelter for homeless women and children in Chicago and a farm in Cambridge, Illinois, that helps women with histories of drugs and prostitution, he said.

Being recognized by Time magazine in 2013 was “a great honor” that gave him a sense of added responsibility and “a platform around the world,” said De Jesus, who explained his nickname “Choco” stems from his long-standing love of chocolate.

The Elgin church was born after New Life Covenant was approached by Highland Fellowship, which was also part of the fellowship Assemblies of God, De Jesus said.

“The church became to be in need of growth and they came to us,” he said. “They saw the demographics change, and they saw a great opportunity to bring what we're doing in the city.”

Having Pastor Choco in Elgin “is huge,” said Larry Sauter, who serves as care pastor for the new church.

“He's a nationally known pastor,” he said. “He has a heart for the hurting and the disenfranchised, and with his Latino Puerto Rican heritage I think he will be in a position to steer us to be more inviting to the Latinos in our area.”

Resident Armida Dominguez agreed, pointing to De Jesus' belief that people should get out of the church and into the community to do good work. Based on the crowd that attended the grand opening, the church promises to be diverse and multigenerational, she said.

“That is a true reflection of the community,” she said.

Resident Victor Rivera, who has attended New Life Covenant in Chicago for years with his family, said he thinks the new Elgin church will be “huge.”

“We seek out those that are black and blue, those who have been beaten and bruised through life,” he said. “We're not looking for a specific type of demographic. We're looking for someone whose life had not given them the chances, and we want to give them the opportunity to start a new change in life.”

Before the grand opening, the church's sanctuary/multipurpose room/gym was renovated, along with several classrooms of Highland Christian Academy, Sauter said.

The Elgin church eventually will offer volunteer-based outreach services, De Jesus said.

“First we want to recognize the need,” he said. “There are some churches (in Elgin) that are doing the work, and we don't want to duplicate that.”