First president of the Illinois-Wisconsin Conference, organized October 3, 1863.

Sanborn accepted Adventism in September, 1854, after months of REVIEW reading and Bible study. With a sense of his inability, he prayed earnestly that if God was calling him to the ministry, a goodly number of souls would accept the message wherever he preached. At the close of his first series, he organized a church of 21 members. In August, 1856, at the age of 33, he was ordained by Elders White and Ingraham.

In late summer, 1867, Elder Sanborn offered the use of his cow pasture just east of Janesville, and Wisconsin held their first camp meeting.  Visiting speakers were Uriah Smith, James & Ellen White. 1,500 persons gathered for this first camp meeting. Pleased with the success of the Wisconsin camp meeting, James White, suggested a “general” meeting for the benefit of churches as distant as the East Coast be held saying… “A general camp meeting of this kind should be held annually, probably somewhere in Michigan.” Recalling this experimental camp meeting, Elder W. C. White, in later years, labeled it the “forerunner of camp meetings.”

 

The Illinois-Wisconsin Conference included both states and the upper peninsula of Michigan.