During his State of the State address, Quinn proposed raising it from $8.25 to $10 an hour.
Sunday, he told the congregation at Apostolic Faith Church that something is wrong if a person works 40 hours a week and lives in poverty.
According to the governor, a half-million people in Illinois make the minimum wage.
"If we want to fight poverty, if we want to fight crime the best way to do it is with a job. But we have to make sure those jobs pay a decent wage," he said.
Quinn says people making minimum wage will spend any additional earnings pumping money into the economy.