Pastor John Stillman

I grew up in Indianapolis, but have lived in the Plainfield area for the last 20 years. I have great neighbors where I live (I hope you do, too!) and don't imagine myself living anywhere else. I'm married to a wonderful woman named Caryn (also from Indy) and we have four children. Our oldest, Josh, and youngest, Jeremiah, are our artists. Our middle son, Sam, is a musician, and our daughter Hannah loves soccer and socializing.

When I was a kid, the church we went to was a great place for me to learn about God, but I was still pretty confused about what it meant to be a Christian. I thought that believing in God and asking Him to forgive me whenever I sinned was enough. But I had no confidence I would go to heaven, and worried a lot that I might miss it because I wasn't good enough. When I was 26 I came to understand that when Jesus died on the cross, He accepted God's judgment for all of my sins - past, present, and future. I trusted him as my savior and I now have an incredible peace and confidence in my relationship with God. As I've discovered more about what the Bible says about God and the Christian faith, and spent time with other Christians, I've been amazed at how incredible and powerful God's love and His ways are for bringing peace into people's lives.

About 7 years ago I started sensing that God was calling me to be a pastor and start a new church in Plainfield. This is a bit of a switch for me, because for more than 20 years I've also been working at Argonne National Lab as a nuclear engineer. No I do both jobs as a "bi-vocational" pastor and engineer.

I enjoy helping people, learning, and thinking of creative ways to communicate God's truth. A big part of what we feel Crosswinds should be about is helping other people discover what the Bible has to say about God, the Christian faith, and life. We want others to have peace in their relationship with God, just like we've found. If discovering God or uncovering life's purposes is important to you, then I hope you'll come spend some time with us.

Pastor Ken Schultz

My wife Kathy grew up here in Plainfield and I grew up in Hinsdale, IL. 22 years ago, when we decided to start a family, we moved to Plainfield because it would be close to Kathy's family and it seemed like a good place to raise children. Our children Meghan (21) and Cody (19) have lived here all their lives and have enjoyed the schools and other activities Plainfield has to offer. Shortly after Meghan was born I started to sense there was something missing in my life. I thought it was success and money. I was trying to build three business and failing in two of them, never seeing my young family, and sliding deeper and deeper into debt. While attending a business conference I went to an optional Christian service to network with some other business people that might be there.

The speaker that day was a construction worker who talked about God in really simple terms. I don't know all that he said, but he talked about how going to heaven was like taking a flight. He said that when we got to the counter to purchase the ticket we would not have enough to buy it because all of the stuff we had done wrong in our lives would increase the price beyond what we could ever pay. The ticket agent would start to turn us away, but if we knew Jesus as the Lord and Savior of our lives, Jesus would go up to the ticket agent and say, "No! No! It is okay. I have already bought his ticket. He is my friend. He will sit with me. Let him through." When I heard those words I knew I wanted Jesus as my friend. I decided that day to learn more and understand what this all meant. I started reading the bible and listening to messages on the radio to understand more. Later that week, a man I was seeing on a sales call had a bible next to him. I told him what I had heard and asked him what it all meant. He lead me through the scriptures and a prayer, and I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of my life.

Since that time God has brought about a lot of changes in my life. Kathy and I went from never going to church in our married lives to being there every Sunday. We fell in love with the richness of God's word and began to study it and enjoying fellowship with Him. As we grew we also started serving in our local church and finding joy in that as well.

About 6 years ago, John Stillman (Preaching Pastor) and I started feeling God calling us into a greater commitment in ministry. John and I partnered together with some other core families and we launched Crosswinds Church in 2005. I am excited to continue to let more people in Plainfield know that their ticket has been purchased and that the most exciting thing in life is not success and money, but knowing your purpose and the One who gave you that purpose.