Springfield | The highlight of the event may have been having a photo made with the outgoing President of the Southern Baptist Convention, dressed in his Texas flag shirt and cowboy hat, standing next to a cardboard cutout of a cow like those he raises back home in Farmersville. More likely it was the opportunity […]
Illinois DR teams aid volunteers in neighboring states
Bettendorf, Iowa | Illinois Baptists reached out to officials with the Iowa convention to offer help as they are rebuilding their disaster relief teams. In the first shared event, 39 people were trained in disaster relief ministry at First Baptist Church, Bettendorf, on February 24. This was a joint training for Illinois Baptist State Association […]
How churches can help overcome mental health stigmas
Springfield | The group of church leaders were exchanging their own experiences with mental issues. A recently widowed pastor shared how his congregation didn’t know how to minister to him, leaving him to grieve alone at home where he’d fallen into a deep depression. A mother said she’d found a letter her daughter had written […]
All ayes for Iorg: Seminary president takes top SBC post
Dallas, Texas | Jeff Iorg’s election as President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee March 21 came with sighs of relief across the Convention and in Illinois, where EC Trustee Adron Robinson had led the first attempts to find a captain for the listing denomination. “He’ll do a good job of restoring integrity to […]
Outreach to children leads to pastor’s baptism milestone
“There was a time, probably a year ago, it was really heavy. I really felt like, maybe somebody else can do a better job. And then just all of a sudden, here come all these baptisms. And I think, well, I don’t think the Lord’s done with me yet.” In March, Joppa Missionary Baptist Church […]
SBC President Barber to visit Illinois Baptists
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 […]
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
Tennessee pastor Dan Spencer to be nominated for SBC president
SEYMOUR, Tenn. (BP) – Dan Spencer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, Tenn., has become the sixth nominee for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Chris Kendall, senior pastor of Oak City Baptist Church in Seymour, Tenn., informed the Baptist and Reflector April 11 of his […]
Church marks Orr’s anniversary
Roy Dale Orr was ordained to the gospel ministry by Union Grove Baptist Church in Eldorado on March 25, 1984. Forty years later, Orr and his wife, Rita, returned for a celebration at the Southern Illinois church on March 24, 2024. IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams was on hand to present a plaque from Illinois […]
Panel discussion: Encourage, don’t judge those with mental health issues
New Orleans | Mental health and the church were the topics of a panel discussion led by National WMU’s Sandy Wisdom-Martin on the Cooperative Program (CP) Stage at the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting. “Mental health challenges are often simultaneously overlooked and stigmatized in our church settings,” she said. “As Christians, we’re called to […]
Pastors, church leaders encouraged to participate in biennial church compensation survey
Dallas | GuideStone®, Lifeway Research, and Baptist state conventions have again teamed up for the SBC Church Compensation Survey. The survey — the largest free study focused on churches in the United States — is conducted every two years. The survey’s results will be available in early fall, in time for many churches considering their […]