Church: Neillsville - Hillside Community Church (New Pastor - 2022)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Elflein

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 4/27/2022

Hillside Community Church (New Pastor - 2022)

Elflein New Pastor at Hillside Community Church



Chris Elflein is looking forward to becoming part of the Neillsville community as the pastor at Hillside Community Church. He is shown here with his wife, Holly, and their two sons, Cohen and David. Submitted photo

By Valorie Brecht

Christ Elflein is excited for his new role as pastor at Hillside Community Church in Neillsville and hopes to serve the community well.

“My prayer is that both personally and as a church, that we can be a light to the community and share the hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ,” Elflein said.

Elflein was born and raised in Milwaukee. He attended seminary at Southwest Assemblies of God University in Texas and has been in full-time ministry for 15 years. His first church was in Oklahoma, but the rest of the time was in Wisconsin.

He said he’s always had a desire to help people.

“Even from a young age, I felt called into ministry. I felt called to do something for the Lord…All along, God was grooming me for a pastor role. I’ve had leadership or management roles in all the secular jobs I’ve worked. I’m the oldest of nine kids, so I was taking care of people from a young age. I’ve always been watching over and taking care of other people,” he said.

Elflein anticipates much of his job will revolve around connecting with people, whether it’s visiting people in their homes or the hospital or meeting up with people who just need to talk. He wants to try and connect with community leaders and get to know them as well.

He’s hoping to eventually establish a midweek kids’ program and Sunday school. Those were things that took place previously but were temporarily set aside when the church was in between pastors.

Mostly, “I’m looking forward to getting to know Neillsville and becoming part of the community,” he said.

Elflein is married to his wife, Holly, and they have two sons – Cohen, 11, and David, 6. The family enjoys being active and spending time outdoors camping, hiking and fishing. The boys enjoy playing baseball.

“We really like being in a rural community,” Elflein said.

Elflein welcomes the opportunity to chat with community members. He can be reached at thee church at715-743-3535. If no one answers, leave a message and someone will return your call.

Elflein will fill the position formerly occupied by Joe Weiers, who resigned in fall 2020 to take a position in Brillion. Since then, Doug Bjerke filled in as the interim pastor.

Hillside Community Church is an Assemblies of God Church.