Langston Britton, 14, of Romeoville was planning to be baptized on Saturday.
Tragically, he died one day before, after drowning in a lake during church camp on Friday afternoon.
His family and church are overcome with grief.
"This has been the most difficult week for my staff, myself, our church in the history since I started being a pastor," Community Christian Church Pastor John Ciesniewski said. "We don't know why or how but he died by drowning, and there's no explanation as to exactly what happened."
Britton was one of some 400 other high school students from their Plainfield church at the Silver Birch Ranch camp in White Lake, Wisconsin.
Swimming in a lake, each student was paired with a swim buddy to help keep them safe in the water.
But his friends reportedly saw Britton struggling in the water, at one point going under without resurfacing.
"His swim buddy said he started to struggle in the water over his head. He reached out for him, but then went under the water," Ciesniewski said.
The camp released a statement through social media, saying in part, "Lifeguards were immediately alerted by the boy's friends and responded within moments. They located and recovered him from the lake and began CPR and life-saving measures until emergency medical services arrived."
First responders spent more than a half hour attempting to resuscitate him, but to no avail.
The church immediately brought the other teens home early from the camp, and canceled a planned trip to the same camp for younger students this week.
His pastor says Britton was devout in his Christian faith, posting videos of reading scripture and preaching on social media.
He was a leader, who would have started in high school next month.
The family is working on funeral arrangements.
"He was gonna share his testimony with the world," Ciesniewski said.
The church has set up a GoFundMe account to help raise money for Britton's funeral and other expenses.