Wilfredo De Jesús Poised to Assume New Role for Assemblies of God

This week the Assemblies of God Executive Presbytery appointed Wilfredo “Choco” De Jesús to the position of executive director for AG U.S. Missions. He will fill the unexpired term of Malcolm Burleigh, who has announced his planned retirement. De Jesús is currently a member of the AG Executive Presbytery and the Executive Leadership Team, having served as general treasurer for the Fellowship since 2019.

As a layleader, pastor, executive presbyter, and then executive officer for the Assemblies of God, De Jesús has continuously exhibited an overwhelming passion for missions, at home and abroad.

Having led New Life Covenant Church in Chicago for 19 years before being elected as general treasurer, De Jesús saw the congregation grow to 17,000 adherents in multiple locations. He led the church by example, as he and his family invested themselves in missions through financial and verbal support and personally taking part in multiple missions trips. He also led the church in establishing the Chicago Dream Center, creating a home for women recovering from addiction, and numerous other ministries focusing on reaching the often overlooked, feared, or despised with the gospel message.

During his tenure as general treasurer, where he helped place the Assemblies of God in a strong financial position despite the difficult challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, his passion for missions and ministry did not waiver. In addition to working with U.S. Missions and other ministries, he established and participated in Seek and Save outreaches as well as hosted the Foster Care Roundtable and Human Trafficking Summit – all of which have close ties to U.S. Missions ministry focuses.

But known to few is an encounter De Jesús had in January at a Miami airport.

“I was standing in the TSA line and a gentleman came up and tapped me on the back,” De Jesús relates. “He asked, ‘Are you pastor Choco?’ and I said I was. He responded, ‘I have a word from the Lord for you.’”

More than a bit surprised, De Jesús offered to meet the man after going through the TSA line. He learned the man was not an AG pastor and they had never even met before.

“The Lord gave me a word for you,” the man shared. “The Lord told me to tell you that you would be a pacesetter for America and to go ahead and move forward.”

Just two months later this was brought to his memory when the Executive Presbytery voted (as per Bylaws) unanimously for De Jesús to make the lateral move from general treasurer to executive director of U.S. Missions (beginning June 1). The prayers, the passion, and the prophecy all melded together.

“I am humbled and grateful for the trust placed in me by the Executive Presbytery,” De Jesús says. “Missions, whether foreign or domestic, has always been in my heart, whether it’s Judea, Samaria, or Jerusalem (Acts 1:8), missions is where my heart is.”

Currently the Executive Presbytery will fill the office of General Treasurer once De Jesús transitions to lead U.S. Missions. As one of the six members of the Executive Leadership Team — made up of the general superintendent, assistant general superintendent, general treasurer, general secretary, executive director of World Missions, and executive director of U.S. Missions — De Jesús will fill the unexpired term of current U.S. Missions Executive Director Malcolm Burleigh until General Council 2025, where the position then goes to delegates for a vote. The office of General Treasurer will be up for vote at that time as well.