Pastor Ryan Sutton

I grew up near a very small town of 200 people, called Chana, in northwest Illinois. After completing my elementary and high school years in Rochelle, I moved into the suburbs and spent four years at North Central College in Naperville, IL – double majoring in French and Business Management. In my senior year, God changed my life’s focus and I felt the call to be in full time ministry. So after one year of working in a bank, I moved to Dayton, OH to attend United Theological Seminary. At UTS, I became the class president and worked first at Children’s Medical Center as a chaplain, then as an associate pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Kettering, OH, a church of over 3,000 members! After graduation and ordination, I moved back to northern Illinois to be closer to family. I became the pastor of Brookville and Elkhorn UMCs in northwest Illinois as well as being a youth pastor of four churches. After three years, I was moved to The Living Well UMC in Gurnee (being its second pastor).  After four years and after adding the responsibility of youth pastor at Antioch UMC as well as merging The Living Well with another church, I was appointed to the Federated Church in 2005. Now in my sixteenth year of pastoral ministry, I can say that I am happy to be in Wauconda and working with wonderful, dedicated people!