Eli Bartlett joined First Free Rockford’s staff in April as Middle School and Young Adults Coordinator. The Byron native, 22, attended Rock Valley College and then Olivet Nazarene University, where he earned a degree in business administration. This is his first job in vocational ministry.
You’re fairly local to this area, right?
I went to high school in Byron. Graduated in 2020. So when COVID hit that March, that was my senior year. And then I ended up going to Rock Valley for two years. Then the plan was to go to NIU, transfer there and live at home and commute. But my sister went to Olivet Nazarene University. I saw the school and thought it was awesome, and I always wanted to go to a Christian school. That’s what I ended up doing.
I’m intrigued that you were a business major and ended up working in ministry. What happened?
I went to Rock Valley, thinking I had no idea what I wanted to do. And I was afraid of public speaking. I had thought about ministry, but I also was like, I don’t think I could get up there and talk, at least at that age when I was 18. That scared me a lot more than it does now. So I went to school thinking, I’ll get a business degree. 9 to 5. I’ll know what my hours are. I’ll live a ‘normal’ life.
From Rock Valley, I was able to transfer to Olivet. I got surrounded by Christian community for the first time. Saw how awesome and important having a community is with other believers, especially your age. People you can relate to. I was surrounded by it 24/7. It felt like a summer camp. I loved it.
You followed your business degree first, though, right?
When I graduated with a business administration degree, I got a job as a recruiter. I hated it. It was like sales. You’re working with these other companies and you’re trying to fill these roles, and you get commission if you fill a role.
Were you starting to think about ministry by then?
I was rooming with my friend over the summer (2024) and we were both Christians. We got close that summer. One of my last nights, and I’m driving home from Orland Park because we went to the mall out there. My friend’s in the passenger seat and he starts talking about how much of an impact I made on his life. Then he starts crying. And I’m like, “Whoa. I didn’t know that I had this much impact on you.”
I wanted more of that. I wanted to have another moment like this with someone else—to keep this going.
That’s when I reached out to our youth pastor at home, Collin Nicholls. I wanted to volunteer as a youth leader at our church, so I asked him if we could have lunch together. He was like, “Yes, sure. Let’s meet.”
The next day he texted me and asked if I’d want to be a youth leader. I was like, “Dude, that’s actually why I wanted to get lunch with you, because I wanted to talk to you about this.”
Anyways, I volunteered for a while and I kept thinking, Man, on Mondays I’m thinking about how I had this awesome time Sunday leading my youth group. I want to be more in the church. If I could always be here, it would be awesome.
I started feeling for the first time having this feeling of being pulled towards something. It felt like God was pulling me towards ministry. I didn’t know what that looked like. I was still at this job as a recruiter, but this pulling got bigger and bigger. I was constantly having conversations with my boss at the recruiter place. I was like, I don’t know if I ever see myself being that good at this job—hoping that he’d let me go, honestly.
And this was about the time you applied with First Free?
I had a training review day last December, an evaluation basically, and I was super nervous for it. So I took a day off before that. And I was thinking, What do I want to do? Maybe I’ll see if a church is hiring.
I knew First Free was a good church. I had been here before. I went to the youth group a couple times. My sister was heavily involved here. So I thought, I wonder if they have something. I looked on the web page. And saw “young adult / middle school coordinator.”
I’m looking at the requirements. I’m like, well, I could do that. In my head, I was thinking “coordinator” sounds more like planning stuff, getting stuff, planning future events, helping with the dirty work.
So I applied to it and a couple hours later after I applied to that position, I get a text and my boss was like, “Hey, can you talk?” And I’m praying, God, please let me go from this position. I need to be out of here.
So what happened?
He called, and he was like, “So, I know we’ve had multiple conversations about this. We looked at the numbers and we just kind of agree with you and maybe this isn’t for everybody. I think we should just go our separate ways.”
I hung up that phone and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is awesome. Thank you, God, that this is over.
And then it wasn’t long after that when you heard from First Free, right?
Meredith (Domanico) texted me, and she said, “Hey, I’d love to chat about your application and to talk and get to know you.” She mentioned “the youth pastor role” and I’m like, youth pastor role? I’m not qualified for that.
So when I called her, I was like, “Hey, I had no idea this was a youth pastor job. I don’t think I’m qualified. I graduated with a business degree. You know that, right?”
She was like, “Well, that’s the same story as me. I had a marketing degree and I didn’t feel qualified.” That’s when it hit me. God doesn’t always call the qualified, but he qualifies the called. He doesn’t always pick the person like Saul who is tall and strong, but he’ll pick David, who’s a little guy. Or you see Moses who has a speech impediment, and God chose him to talk to Pharaoh, and tell him to repent. Or he uses Gideon, the weakest in his clan, and has the weakest clan in his tribe. You just see all these times where God uses the “unqualified.”
Meredith and I hit it off. We started joking around on the phone, laughing. It was fun. I could see myself working with her.
You have had a health issue, too, right?
Yes, tremors. They started during my junior year of Olivet, second semester. Before that, conversations like this were super easy. I could talk to anybody I wanted. It was no problem at all. That’s who I was. That’s where my identity was. I was self-sufficient. It almost felt like I didn’t need God. Everything was going perfectly. My spirit, my heart was different. I was a bit more prideful about how I looked. I was lifting heavy in the gym. Talking with girls was easy. So I didn’t really rely on God. I didn’t feel like I had to.
One day I had this interview for an admissions ambassador position. Giving tours, that kind of thing. There were about 30 students there, and one by one, each person had to give a 30-second conversation or talking point about why they wanted the position. After each person, I’m getting more and more nervous. I got to the point where I was insanely nervous. My hands started shaking. My head and neck started twitching. I couldn’t stop it.
You had never had this before?
I had it in 2020, but I thought it was too much coffee and lack of sleep. It went away when I stopped worrying about it.
Anyway, I walked out of the interview thinking, “OK, that was weird. Then at dinner that night, I was talking to my friends and I had this feeling of my head wanting to twitch, and my hands would shake.
It didn’t go away. It never went away. Eventually I was freaked out about this because it was every day and I’d look in the mirror and I’d see a little jerk in my head and it felt uncomfortable, almost like a hiccup or when you’re falling asleep and your hand jerks or your leg jerks.
How did that affect you?
I couldn’t talk to people so freely like I used to, so loosely like I used to be able to. My parents saw me in a light that they’d never seen me before. Throwing almost tantrums, being so frustrated that I would get to this moment. I kept thinking about how good my life was the year before.
My Mom called. She knew how upset I was and suggested I think about taking a semester off. I didn’t end up doing that, but after that phone call was when I had that cliche moment where you hit your knees and you surrender. I was like, OK, I don’t care what happens at this point. Do whatever you want to do. I’ll take the next right step, whatever it is. And I don’t care if I embarrass myself giving presentations. That’s what I was worried about, presentations at school. But I was like, I’ll do whatever you want, and I’ll do the next right thing.
And that’s exactly what happened. I saw a doctor. He put me on the right medication which helped, especially for presentations.
Then, October to March that year, I got close to God. My relationship with him strengthened so much and I was grateful. … When I reached toward January and everything was going well, I heard the song Egypt. “You stepped into my Egypt. And you took me by the hand. And you marched me out in freedom, into the promised land.” I could resonate with the words so much. It was those moments that showed me that God was there. It was emotional because I could feel it. It felt awesome.
I do still struggle with a tremor. It is very much how Paul had that thorn in his flesh. It used to scare me. God didn’t take his thorn away, but he says, “My grace is sufficient for you.” And it feels almost like my wings are clipped a little bit, but I know that overall, it’s a good thing. And I know that God is, again, like he made a way for me in college, he’s making a way for me through this job.
What’s it been like here so far? Tell me something you’ve learned that surprised you.
How much fun I would have, first off. It’s a lot of fun being with Meredith. I guess realizing that I get to do this for my job.
What would you like our church family to know as they’re getting to know you?
I’m someone who’s relational. I love having fun and I like playing games, but I love having relationships with people. Having deep conversations and talking. I’m not the youth pastor who is all about fun and games constantly 24/7. I enjoy having conversations with people about what they’re going through. So, I guess my desire for them to know about me is that I’m always not just open, but it’s my pleasure to talk about things that they might be going through.
Do you remember any experiences in your own life at that age that are informing you now?
Yes, I would say just to remember what I was thinking in that moment in middle school. That’s something that Pastor Dave Creek talked to me about. Not just preaching like I’m preaching to a young adult who knows all these things, but to make sure that the kids are engaged in it. That’s something that I think a good teacher does, is keep them engaged with what you’re teaching them.
That doesn’t mean to sugarcoat things or go shallow with things, but it means to always remember what they might be thinking. And to ask them questions and get to know the kids so you know how to structure your lessons.
What’s your style in relating to kids and parents?
My door is always open. I don’t always keep it open. I keep it cracked because I have severe ADHD. But yes, even if it’s cracked, come on in. Figuratively, my door is always open even if it’s shut. I always love to have a conversation about something someone’s struggling with.
Your own struggles kind of give you a frame of reference for those conversations, then?
It hasn’t been easy getting to this point. But now that I’m here, now that I’ve accepted that this is God’s will and the time in the moment, it’s like what Pastor Luke said a couple of weeks ago. We always see the loss, but what is his plan?
We think, OK, we have it all set out. We think that our plan is better. … In my story, God allowed some of my ability to talk to people diminish a little bit, but he has transformed my mind to need to rely on him. And now I have an awesome job rather than having a business job that I might have excelled in if I didn’t have this tremor, but would have hated it.
And now my life is awesome again. It feels awesome despite having this tremor. And that’s where we go back to Paul. God’s grace has been sufficient.