• Contact
  • Return to IBSA
  • Advertise Through Us
  • Subscribe
  • E-Reader

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • Quick Links
    • E-Reader
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Resource
  • News
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Illinois Churches
  • Stories
    • Thriving
    • Church Planting
    • Mission
    • Next Step
  • In Focus
  • Columns
    • Nate Adams
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
    • Table Talk
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Encouraging Words
SBC President Bart Barber with a bull on his Texas ranch

Newsmakers Interview with Bart Barber, Part 3

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber is featured in the September issue of the Illinois Baptist. An hour-long interview focused on key issues including women in pastoral ministry and “friendly cooperation.” Editor Eric Reed asked Barber to look ahead to the 2024 SBC in Indianapolis. They discussed the role of social media in our Baptist […]

MIO 2023 Week of Prayer

Week of Prayer for the Mission Illinois Offering

Illinois is our mission field. When your church gives to the Mission Illinois Offering, you’re investing in the health of hundreds of fellow Baptist churches in our state, impacting communities we call home. Your MIO giving stays 100% here and supports the health of Illinois churches. Healthy churches are essential in see our over 8 […]

2023 Fall IBSA Board Meeting

Board hears reports on baptism rebound, new initiative for pastors

Springfield | The Illinois Baptist State Association Board of Directors held its fall meeting September 12 in preparation for the network’s upcoming Annual Meeting. Executive Director Nate Adams introduced a new initiative, “For the Pastor,” designed to support and encourage pastors serving throughout the IBSA’s approximately 900 member churches. The board also passed a proposed […]

SBC President Bart Barber

Newsmakers Interview with Bart Barber, part 2

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber is featured in the September issue of the Illinois Baptist. An hour-long interview focused on several key issues, including how “friendly cooperation” will define a church’s qualification as a member of the SBC. In part one posted last week, editor Eric Reed asked Barber about recent convention actions on […]

Serve Tour Chicago

Baptists bless city as Serve Tour comes to Chicagoland

God is doing a gospel work here,” said Jorge Rodriguez, pastor and planter of Grace Family Church in Rogers Park. “And having the crews come in just brings more light to what God is doing.” The crews were Southern Baptists from across the region who heard the Chicago version of the Macedonian call—at least for […]

SBC President Bart Barber

Newsmakers interview with Bart Barber, part 1

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber is featured in the September issue of the Illinois Baptist. An hour-long interview focused on several key issues, including actions on the role of women in pastoral life. Editor Eric Reed asked Barber to respond to the recent use of “comfortably complementarian” to describe where the SBC has landed […]

Gay and John Williams lead Disaster Relief for the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention.

Illinois couple leads Maui’s DR response

John and Gay Williams anticipate a very long response by Disaster Relief teams after wildfires decimated Lahaina, Hawaii. Beyond the immediate needs of those who lost everything in the conflagration, the Williams are thinking about spiritual ministry to those who are combing the ashes looking for evidence of victims. “The islands are a small community, […]

de la O family

MIO 2023: Planter finds ample help with big task

“When I entered the pastorate, we planted this church with the idea that we had to do it alone,” Jonathan de la O said. With his wife, Emely, the young planter wanted to reach people like themselves, first and second generation Latinos in Chicago. Nine years ago, the couple walked hand-in-hand past a fence with […]

Abuse in the SBC

With SATF recommendations approved, the hard part begins

Lisa Misner

“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

Heath Tibbetts

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

Illinois Baptist Staff

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

Illinois Baptist Staff

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

SBC EC votes at September 2023 meeting

Recap of this week’s SBC Exec Comm meeting

The Baptist Paper

While the anticipated next step regarding who will temporarily lead the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee in the interim period changed mid-way through the trustees’ meeting this week, trustee chair Philip Robertson plans to begin a new search right away. Recently retired Kentucky pastor Dan Summerlin provided this statement yesterday afternoon (Sept. 19) after alerting […]

Bart Barber (Photo by Van Payne/The Baptist Paper)

Barber recalls ‘bold’ Southern Baptists, urges cooperation amid trials

Shawn Hendricks

Nashville, Tenn. | As the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee gathered Monday night (Sept. 18) in Nashville amid economic challenges, ongoing conflicts and a barrage of troubling headlines, Bart Barber challenged trustees to “look past those who tear down” and focus on cooperation — and the One “who will go before us and give us […]

SBC Executive Committee

Quick look at SBC Exec Comm agenda, Sept. 18-19

Jennifer Davis Rash

For those serving on the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee board of trustees, the regularly scheduled meetings in Nashville in September and February are routine treks. However, this year’s September meeting, which begins with various sub group meetings this afternoon (Sept. 18) followed by the opening plenary session tonight, brings another level of intensity, even […]

Dan Summerlin

Summerlin to be nominated as EC interim president and CEO

Brandon Porter, Baptist Press

Nashville, Tenn. | A recently retired Kentucky Baptist pastor will be nominated to serve as the SBC Executive Committee transitional interim president and CEO this week in Nashville. The nomination of Dan Summerlin will be a joint recommendation of Philip Robertson, EC chairman, Jonathan Howe, current interim, and the EC officers. “Dr. Dan Summerlin is […]

Leaders

More Leaders Stories

Featured Columns

After another leadership failure, forgive? Yes. Forget? Maybe later.

Eric Reed

My cousin Holly’s house burned down in July. The family and their dog were saved, but they lost everything. Literally everything, except her grandmother’s ancient roasting pan just big enough for a 12-pound turkey and a diamond ring. Everything else in their rural home was gone in under an hour. The irony was that my […]

Nate Adams

Positive purpose

Nate Adams

Without question, more of my time and passion is invested in encouraging churches to give to missions through the Cooperative Program than through any designated offering, including our own state missions offering. I believe that’s as it should be. Yet both the CP and designated offerings have vital, important purposes. My conviction is that the […]

What personal missions commitment looks like

Meredith Flynn

“Your partnership is needed now.” That sentence jumped out as I looked over this year’s Mission Illinois Offering materials. This time of year always reminds me of the things that unite Illinois Baptists: the shared prayer that more people will come to know Jesus; the shared burden for our communities in need of transformation; and […]

More Columns

Newsmakers Interview with Bart Barber, Part 3

Eric Reed

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber is featured in the September issue of the Illinois Baptist. An hour-long interview focused on key issues including women in pastoral ministry and “friendly cooperation.” Editor Eric Reed asked Barber to look ahead to the 2024 SBC in Indianapolis. They discussed the role of social media in our Baptist […]

  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns

Copyright © 2023 · Website by Megaphone Designs