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Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

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Illinois March for Life

Marching for life in Illinois

Gray skies made for a somber looking afternoon, but the hundreds who gathered for the Illinois March for Life and preceding rally were anything but somber. Participants were eager to march and then share their prolife message with lawmakers inside the State Capitol. The rain held off as they stood in the shadow of the […]

Churches welcome refugees who become neighbors in Illinois and nationwide

Churches welcome refugees who become neighbors

Jorge Rodriguez’s young church is engaged in one of its city’s most urgent ministry needs. Buses of asylum-seekers are arriving in Chicago—people looking for safety, peace, and a chance for better lives. These new arrivals are the most recent sojourners in Rogers Park, the church’s densely populated and highly diverse neighborhood. “We all know what […]

Immanuel Baptist Church in Chicago

6 lessons from a lawsuit

In February 2017 our church reluctantly filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Chicago. Our complaint? The Chicago Zoning Ordinance didn’t treat churches fairly with regard to parking requirements, which prevented us from buying our building. Well, we finally had our trial in January—nearly six years after filing suit! The wheels of justice turn […]

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

Effective Evangelism

Study shows Hispanic churches are young, vibrant, and growing

Lifeway Research

A new survey of Hispanic churches shows their attenders are younger and more evangelistic than at other Protestant churches—and there are more of them in worship on any given Sunday. Together with two dozen other religious organizations, Lifeway Research polled 692 pastors of churches that are at least 50% Hispanic for the largest survey of […]

Hunt sues SBC, EC and Guidepost

Brandon Porter, Baptist Press

Longtime pastor and former SBC President Johnny Hunt has filed suit against the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee (EC) and Guidepost Solutions. The suit seeks unspecified damages related to allegations of defamation and the invasion of privacy based on accusations made against Hunt in the 2022 Guidepost report stemming from an investigation into the alleged […]

IMB President Paul Chitwood prays with Polish pastors preparing for refugees from Ukraine.

SBC aids largest people displacement in history

Ben Jones

“About 60% of our missionaries currently serve in closed countries, where they can’t get a missionary visa,” IMB President Paul Chitwood recently shared. “We anticipate that will continue to grow. So that’s a huge issue…Access is very difficult.” But in God’s sovereignty, the growing worldwide refugee crisis is presenting what Chitwood described as “a problem […]

Ed Stetzer (photo courtesy Biola)

Stetzer leaves Wheaton to lead Biola’s theology school

The Baptist Paper

Missiologist Ed Stetzer will serve as dean of the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, a nondenominational evangelical university in La Mirada, California. Stetzer is currently a professor and dean at Wheaton College and executive director of the Billy Graham Center. He is a former vice president of Lifeway Christian Resources and previously served at the North American Mission Board. […]

Encouraging Words

My weepy witness

I was horrified at the tears filling my eyes. It was the last day of Vacation Bible School at Chatham Baptist Church and I had stopped on our way out to thank my daughter’s teacher. But what I’d intended as a breezy thank-you turned awkward as I was hit with the full weight of my […]

Brent Cloyd

Cloyd: Why a doctor’s warning still rings in my heart

My wife, Jeanette, has walked with a slight limp for as long as I have known her. She has had joint issues that required her to exercise caution when moving about. For years, some degree of numbness has been present in her hands and feet. Earlier attempts to identify and correct these matters were not […]

Leaders

More Leaders Stories

Featured Columns

Meredith Flynn

Spectators or participants?

Meredith Flynn

My church is in a season of refocusing on prayer. Every Sunday before the sermon, we break into small groups and pray together. One of the goals of this emphasis, our pastor has said, is to move from being spectators of prayer to participants in it. Last season, the football team I have followed and […]

Nate Adams

Good new days

Nate Adams

We all have “good old days” in our lives. They may be the days when we felt most successful or appreciated, or when things were done the way we agreed with or liked, or when those we respected were in charge. Most of us have good old days in our churches too. Days when our […]

How we can speak to men in the abortion conversation

Justin Mullins

As a pastor, father and follower of Christ, I have often found myself with a heavy heart when I think and pray about abortion. I’m saddened. I’m sickened. I’m burdened for the life of preborn children who are precious in the sight of God. And I have a deep conviction that there’s more that I […]

More Columns

Study shows Hispanic churches are young, vibrant, and growing

Lifeway Research

A new survey of Hispanic churches shows their attenders are younger and more evangelistic than at other Protestant churches—and there are more of them in worship on any given Sunday. Together with two dozen other religious organizations, Lifeway Research polled 692 pastors of churches that are at least 50% Hispanic for the largest survey of […]

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