Editor’s note: Your gifts to the Mission Illinois Offering help provide support for Illinois church planters like Hannel, who are sharing the hope of Jesus in new communities all across our state. Don Hannel had no plans for change. He had pastored his hometown church of Pleasant Hill in west-central Illinois for nearly 19 years. […]
Teams hit Chicago streets with the gospel
“We got to see God working even when there was a language barrier and we had no way of communicating except through the phone,” the young woman said to a crowd of nearly 100 students and adults gathered at Elmwood Park Community Church in the western Cook County suburbs. Her story of using the Google […]
Support for CP holds at two-thirds
A large majority of Southern Baptist pastors believe the Cooperative Program supports the ministries and missions their church values and allows their church to support more missions endeavors than it could on its own. The Cooperative Program (CP) is Southern Baptists’ unified plan of giving through which cooperating Southern Baptist churches give a percentage of […]
Recharge: Camps reach next generation and refuel pastors
Gravel crunches under tires, and the sound of the sparse traffic on nearby paved roads fades into the distance. In an increasingly distracted world, where both teens and adults are drawn to the glowing devices in their hands, IBSA Camps continue to be secluded places where God’s creation takes center stage and lives are changed. […]
New format for gathering offers more opportunities in fewer days
When Illinois Baptists gather this November at Ashburn Baptist Church in the southwest Chicago suburb of Orland Park, they will experience something new. The 2024 IBSA Annual Meeting and Pastors Conference will feature a condensed two-day format, making the mid-week event briefer and easier to attend for pastors and church messengers. The program for the […]
Relate: Walking beside church planters every step
How does an entirely new church come to life? It’s no small task. The material logistics, relational dynamics, and spiritual struggles for a church planter to overcome can be so great that it’s a wonder any new churches are ever planted. “There’s a lot of risk in it,” Kevin Jones explains. “And to be honest, […]
IMB partners with French believers for Olympic follow-up
A French pastor was setting up for a community outreach event during the Olympics. He recalled a conversation he had overheard years ago and never been able to forget. A mother and child were walking along the street in front of his church. “What is this place, this building?” the child asked. “It’s a museum,” […]
State convention ministry witnesses rise of the ‘generalist’
Nashville, Tenn. | Plato is credited with the origins of the phrase “necessity is the mother of invention.” As churches and denominational leaders have also realized, this reality led to the need for a different kind of staff member. It’s even more the case at the state convention level. To adequately resource churches across a […]
News Stories
Foshie elected ERLC chair
Nashville, Tenn. | IBSA Health Team Director Scott Foshie was elected chairman of the board of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Foshie first began serving as a trustee for the denomination’s public policy entity when he was pastor of Steelville Baptist Church in Steelville, Illinois. As chairman, he succeeds […]
IBSA loses religious freedom case, expects to appeal
Springfield | A circuit judge in Springfield has ruled against the Illinois Baptist State Association in a suit to protect IBSA from requirements to provide employees with insurance benefits that cover abortion. The ruling came more than four years after IBSA filed suit, saying the Illinois Reproductive Health Act did not violate IBSA’s religious freedom. […]
Shock, anger as China ends adoptions impacting hundreds of U.S. families
Beijing | The Chinese government has officially ended its international adoption program, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning announced Sept. 5, ending hopes for hundreds of U.S. families who were matched with children before the COVID-19 pandemic but had adoptions put on hold in 2020. Karla Thrasher, senior director of international adoptions at Lifeline Children’s Services […]
Finding new ways to mobilize church networks
Springfield | Association leaders from around Illinois gathered at the IBSA building August 5-6 to talk shop and collaborate on ministry. Leo Endel, Executive Director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention shared how he leads churches and associations through a fairly simple planning process to set goals and redirect future ministry activities. Associational Mission Strategists (AMS) […]