Melvin John Wolff

Melvin John Wolff was born on April 29, 1908, in Belleville, Illinois. He was raised in the German Evangelical Church, and at age thirteen he attended catechism school and was confirmed as a member of this church. God had other plans for Wolff’s life, however.

As a young man, Wolff met Goldie Collins. The couple attended a revival at The First Pentecostal Church of Belleville in 1925, where they repented of their sins and were baptized in Jesus’ name. They received the Holy Ghost not long afterward. The couple married on November 23, 1927, and Wolff soon acknowledged God’s call to preach the gospel. He began his ministry by serving as a deacon in the Belleville church under Pastor J. O. Underwood.

Wolff eventually became a pastor and church planter himself. He was ordained with the Pentecostal Church, Incorporated (PCI) in 1934, and the following year he became the pastor of the Pentecostal church in Tiskilwa, Illinois. In 1939, he founded the church in Peoria, Illinois. During this time he also served as a member of the PCI’s Foreign Mission Board and as superintendent of the organization’s Central District, which was comprised of Illinois and Missouri. He was invited to be a member of the presbyter body, which allowed him to help with the 1945 merger of the PCI and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ into the United Pentecostal Church (UPC).

Following the formation of the UPC, Wolff became superintendent of the organization’s Illinois District. He resigned as pastor of the Peoria church to devote himself full-time to his new office. Under Wolff’s leadership, the Illinois District established an annual camp meeting that continues to the present day. Thousands of lives have been positively impacted through the various camps that are hosted each summer on the Illinois District Campground. Many men and women have answered God’s call to preach the gospel at an Illinois District camp.

In 1952, Wolff was appointed president of the board of directors for Tupelo Children’s Mansion, an orphanage in Tupelo, Mississippi. In additional, he served as editor of the Pentecostal Herald magazine, and as a member of the UPC’s Foreign Missions board and its Executive Board.

Those who knew and served alongside Wolff praised his organizational and administrative skills, as well as his ability to make others feel important. “His wit and phenomenal memory of names and faces enabled him to speak so personably to everyone he met,” one man testified. “Never once was he known to tear down, be rude, or even fuss with anyone … Brother Wolff preached unity among the brethren, and to the very end he strived to see it maintained.”

Wolff retired as superintendent of the Illinois District in 1981, thirty-eight years after accepting the position. During that time, the district became one of the strongest in the UPCI, in large part because of Wolff’s leadership. 

Over the years, God blessed M. J. and Goldie Wolff with three daughters and numerous grandchildren. M. J. Wolff died in 1990. Today, anyone who visits the Illinois District Campground will see his name on the sign at the entrance. His legacy continues to live on through the lives of the people he touched, the district he helped build, and the campground he helped establish.