Jerry Lutz Announces Retirement

Story by Evan Knott

Jerry Lutz, president of the Chesapeake Conference, has announced his retirement after 48 years of ministry. During the Chesapeake Conference Executive Committee meeting on October 21, Lutz shared his plans to retire at the end of the year.

Lutz has served in the Chesapeake Conference for nearly three decades. In 1996, he accepted a call to become the senior pastor of the Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md., a position he held for 18 years. For the past 11 years, he has served in conference administration—first as executive secretary beginning in 2014, and then as president since 2021.

“After much prayer and reflection, the time has come for me to begin transitioning into retirement from the responsibilities of church administration and pastoral ministry,” Lutz said in a statement to Chesapeake Conference employees. “This decision comes with mixed emotions, because working with you in advancing the mission of the Lord’s church has been one of the greatest honors and privileges of my life. … I love this work and the people with whom I have had the privilege of [serving] throughout the years.”

During his tenure in conference administration, Lutz has prioritized major evangelistic initiatives. In 2019, the conference launched “35 by 25,” a church planting campaign aimed at establishing 35 new congregations by the end of 2025—a goal that is now nearing completion. Over the past year, the conference has also strongly promoted participation in Pentecost 2025, a North American Division initiative encouraging 3,000 evangelistic meetings across the division during 2025.

Lutz also focused significant attention on evangelistic efforts in Baltimore, the largest city in the Chesapeake Conference’s territory and an area where the conference’s presence has historically been limited. In 2021, the conference partnered with the Ellicott City and Baltimore-White Marsh churches to open the Urban Life Center, a strategic center of influence in the city. Last year, the conference announced Reach Baltimore 2025—a collaborative evangelistic initiative between the Chesapeake and Allegheny East conferences and It Is Written—to share the hope of the three angels’ messages with the people of Baltimore. The “Revelation Today: Hope for Humanity” evangelistic meetings at Goucher College will conclude on Nov. 1.

A strong advocate for Adventist education, Lutz oversaw the construction of a new Spencerville Adventist Academy facility during his time as Spencerville church senior pastor, a complex project that spanned more than 12 years. As conference president, he continued to prioritize Adventist education through numerous initiatives, including working with conference leadership to provide substantial financial assistance to schools recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the current quinquennium, the conference has emphasized equipping local churches for ministry through initiatives such as Seeds, ACTS, and Proclaim evangelism training programs. Under Lutz’s leadership, the conference also launched a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program to support pastors’ emotional and spiritual health and enhance their ministry effectiveness.

“The conference isn’t the church, but a resource center to equip churches for ministry,” Lutz says.

Lutz began his ministry in 1977 in the Central California Conference, where he pastored in seven churches.

In retirement, Lutz looks forward to spending more time with his wife, Janet, son, Jarrod, daughter-in-law, April, and three grandchildren—who have supported him throughout his ministry.

In the coming weeks, the Chesapeake Conference Executive Committee—under the guidance of Columbia Union President Marcellus T. Robinson, and in harmony with the conference’s constitution and bylaws—will prayerfully begin the process of electing a new president.