Meet the Pastor

Rev. Ileana Rosario was born in Puerto Rico where she was an active member of the United Methodist Church since her childhood. She received her B.A. in Communications from the University of Puerto Rico and worked as an assistant to the President of the Senate.

In 1991, she arrived to Virginia with her family and obtained her M. Div. from Wesley Theological Seminary in 1999. On that same year, she was ordained as probationary member and appointed as Associate Pastor at Culmore UMC.

There she created and founded GRACE Ministries, a community outreach program who is now serving 1,500 people a month and empower them to be leaders in their communities. In 2001 she started a new Hispanic church in the Arlington District.

Ileana’s effort has been recognized by President George Bush who invited her to a Christmas reception at the White House on December 12th, 2001, as part of the faith based initiative. She has also received an award from the Daughters of the Covenant at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Reston, Virginia.

She was consecrated as Elder on June 2004 making history as the first Latino pastor elected as delegate for the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. She was elected member of the Commission of the General Conference where she will represent the Virginia Conference until 2012.

On January 2007, she was appointed as the new Director of Hispanic/Latino Ministries in the Virginia Conference. She was also the Latino Faith Communities Coordinator for the Alexandria-Arlington Districts until 2009.

During the 2009 Annual Conference, Ileana was reappointed to the Portsmouth District where she happily serves Wesley Chapel UMC in Chuckatuck, Virginia. Among many new and caring friends, she obeys the call that has defined her life: to praise God, reach to others in love and serve the world in Jesus name.

She is very proud of her three wonderful daughters: Ileana who studies Japanese at UCLA in Los Angeles, Ruth Esther who lives with her husband in Salinas, California and Julianne Belisse who works in Northern Virginia and takes care of her grandmother Ruth Rosario.

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