Our Story
A story written by God
From a vision in 2010 to an international movement, Ilumina has been guided by the voice of God and marked by obedience, faith and the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Campfires
In March 2010, God gave Omar Gallo a vision while he was worshipping with his youth group. In this vision, there was a bonfire in the middle of a dark beach. It had three logs burning. In the middle of the fire, there was a radiant core like the sun. Above the fire, seven sticks approached, which were lit by this fire. These sticks were thrown to different places around the beach. When they touched the ground, they became another bonfire like the first. The fire spread, and other areas began to burn with these bonfires. The shoreline of the country’s beaches was on fire until it spread to the entire American continent. The fire was so strong that it began to spread, crossing the oceans and, little by little, other countries on other continents began to burn until the entire perimeter of every continent in the world was glowing with fire. Gallo was 17 years old when he received this vision, which at the time had no meaning or significance, other than a previous prayer:
“God, what role do you have for your children in this world?”
Lightbulbs
In May 2016 Ellie and Gallo met with the leadership of YWAM San Diego Baja to discuss the dream, the vision, and the possibility of hosting a conference for young people from the city’s churches, from all denominations and alliances. Janet Lambert agreed, sharing a word that would confirm what God was speaking: in that word, a fire was born from this campus that would be sent to all the nations of the earth.
So, in August 2016 we welcomed 120 young people from 11 local churches to the first Ilumina Conference on the YWAM San Antonio del Mar campus.
Story
In May 2016 Ellie and Gallo met with the leadership of YWAM San Diego Baja to discuss the dream, the vision, and the possibility of hosting a conference for young people from the city’s churches, from all denominations and alliances. Janet Lambert agreed, sharing a word that would confirm what God was speaking: in that word, a fire was born from this campus that would be sent to all the nations of the earth.
So, in August 2016 we welcomed 120 young people from 11 local churches to the first Ilumina Conference on the YWAM San Antonio del Mar campus.
In January 2017, we held the first Ilumina event in Rosarito, Baja California. 200 young people attended the event. At the end of the event, another youth pastor approached us saying he wanted the next event at his church, and that’s how Ilumina unexpectedly became something we couldn’t stop.
At the time, we thought it was going to be a one-time event. No one ever imagined it would become what it is today, impacting and mobilizing thousands of young people to be light in this world in every sphere of influence in society, to address the needs and hurts of the city through compassion, and the call of the Body of Christ (the Church). To dream of a place, a society, and a world where God can reign not only within a building but in every sphere of our nations. To commission young people to be missionaries in their homes, streets, schools, businesses, sports fields, hospitals, government offices, on television, and wherever they find themselves.
Confirmation
A light bulb with the world inside, with 3 little lines where it connects, the world was inside the light bulb and on the outside there were 7 little dots… where had I seen this?
March 2017… seven years later everything made sense, Carlos Romero as a new member of the team, offered to design the official Ilumina logo (he had not heard the vision, nor the dream). He comes to present the logo he had designed, showing a light bulb with 3 lines below, the world inside the light bulb and seven points that are outside of it.
When Omar Gallo saw this design, the vision he had seven years ago was reproduced again. like through its design it was concretizing what God had spoken years ago, and not only that, now everything was clear, we needed 3 things to illuminate this world: (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) the 3 trunks that caused the fire, and where we were going to do it: (around the world) through:
(the 7 spheres of society), Arts and Sports, Government, Media, Family, Religion, Education and Economy, the 7 wands that were above the fire, young people being light in each area of society. That’s what Ilumina was about, impacting and mobilizing young people to be light, to be missionaries in their cities and in all parts of the world, in every area of society, where God has called them to be and where they have a passion or gift to serve and represent the Kingdom of God in that place.
OUR STORY
It all started with a vision that lit us up inside. God guided every step, turning a dream into a movement that continues to ignite hearts and cities today. This timeline tells how our story began and how He has shaped Ilumina.
