Springfield | Two months ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, SBC President Bart Barber will visit with pastors and church leaders in Illinois. Invited by IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams, Barber will be the featured speaker at a Q and A luncheon with Illinois Baptists April 16 at the IBSA Building […]
From the field: Easter dramas proclaim gospel
He has risen! As you celebrate this Easter season, please remember your many IMB missionaries on the field. In some areas, like where we live in the Asia-Pacific Rim, it’s the perfect time to explain the true meaning of this holiday. We want you to know how Christians are presenting the gospel on the island […]
Testimony from a coalminer’s daughter
(Editor’s note: At the recent Midwest Leadership Summit in Springfield, Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) national executive director-treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin shared her story of missions legacy and learning set by her father and the small Illinois Baptist church where she grew up. This column is taken from the transcript of her message. Miners always filled the […]
2023 Annual Church Profiles show marked recovery
The stories from two Illinois Baptist churches that have witnessed surges in baptisms say much about our recovery from the lows of the pandemic period measured most notably in 2020 and 2021. One church says they have added teaching opportunities that have resulted in salvations. Another church says they’re not doing much different than before, […]
Jeff Iorg elected to lead SBC Executive Committee
Jeff Iorg will become the eighth leader of the SBC Executive Committee. Iorg received a unanimous vote from 60 EC members at a special-called EC meeting March 21. He is the first unanimously elected EC president since Harold Bennett in 1979. Iorg, 65, will serve as president-elect until his tenure as president of Gateway Seminary […]
IBSA Board approves condensed Annual Meeting
Springfield | The IBSA Board of Directors approved a plan to condense the state association’s Pastors Conference and Annual Meeting from three days to two days starting in November 2024, making it easier for messengers to attend. The action was one of several approved in the March 19 board meeting. Others included funding four strategic […]
Uptown Church rides gospel wave
It started as a weekday worship service to their community, then it exploded as migrants arrived in Chicago. “We’re riding the wave,” Pastor Nick Kim said of the swell of new residents who turned out for a Wednesday morning service. Kim referred to the surfing language used by famed pastor and church planter Henry Blackaby […]
Baptists reach the world as it comes to our cities and our front porches
The call to reach all nations, people, languages, and tribes with the gospel has always united Southern Baptists. Today that call includes reaching other nations that come to North American soil. With a renewed commitment to assist churches in connecting with internationals close by, the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, Send Relief, and […]
Abuse in the SBC
With SATF recommendations approved, the hard part begins
“The recommendations before you are not from Guidepost, they are from the task force,” Bruce Frank, chairman of the Sexual Abuse Task Force told messengers as they prepared to vote on a set of history-making recommendations at the SBC Annual Meeting June 14-15 in Anaheim, Calif. The task force was assigned and authorized by action […]
IBSA President on abuse response: From difficulties to determination
A 288-page report on any subject is daunting, but as a Southern Baptist, pastor, and president of IBSA, I felt a responsibility to keep the report open all last week and slowly read through it. I made notes and wrote down personal thoughts, and as I reviewed them afterwards, I was surprised to discover a […]
Former Illinois pastor accused; two relationships occurred in youth ministry in 2002
Former Illinois pastor Wes Feltner is accused by two women of abusive relationships, one of them sexual, when he was their youth minister in Indiana 17 years ago. The charges came to light as Feltner is lead candidate for the pastorate of First Baptist Church of Clarksville, Tennessee. The story was reported by the Clarksville […]
Longtime Chicago pastor resigns; sexual abuse prior to ministry among reasons
Charles Lyons resigned as pastor of Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago following what church leaders called a “corrective leave of absence” that began in October 2018. Read…
Resources
- Protect your children, protect your church https://www.ibsa.org/3327-2/
- Caring Well https://caringwell.com/
News Stories
Report due: SBC reorg in 2010 scrutinized
Nashville, Tenn. | A report to be brought by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force this June at the SBC annual meeting could be considered as one 15 years in the making. The group was formed last summer at the New Orleans gathering of Southern Baptists and has since spent considerable time in reviewing documents, […]
Illinois bills threaten religious employment rights; witness slips due March 20
Springfield | Two bills are pending in the Illinois General Assembly that would forbid employers from considering “reproductive health decisions” in the selection and retention of employees. House Bill (HB) 4867 and Senate Bill (SB) 3492 would amend the Illinois Human Rights Act include the bills call the “unlawful discrimination of reproductive health decisions.” The […]
SBC Executive Committee to consider Jeff Iorg for president, CEO March 21
DALLAS (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will consider Gateway Seminary President Jeff Iorg for EC president and CEO in a special called meeting from noon-3 p.m. March 21 in Dallas. The vote comes after a lengthy search for an EC president and CEO following the October 2021 resignation of Ronnie Floyd. While […]
Growing immigrant populations
With 1.8 million residents born outside the United States—that’s 14% of its population—Illinois has more chances than most states to reach the peoples of the world starting right here. Going to the ends of the earth has never been easier, as the people from the ends of the earth are coming here. Consider this example […]