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Illinois, It’s OUR Mission!

July 11, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

MIO 2025

The 2025 Mission Illinois theme emphasizes the importance of Illinois Baptists engaging their home-state mission field. The offering and week of prayer, held annually each September, set a statewide goal of $350,000 which is used to invest in churches and leaders throughout the state, equipping them to meet needs and become missionaries to their own […]

Churches welcome new pastors

July 3, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Church stock art

Jeremy Montgomery is the new pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Bourbonnais. A recent graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with a degree in Church Ministry and Biblical Studies, the Little Rock native has served in ministry positions for six years. He is married to Sara, a labor and delivery nurse originally from the […]

RA Pinewood Derby entertains all ages

July 1, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Thomas Howard

Thomas Howard, age 11, from Casey was a competitor in the Royal Ambassadors (RA) Pinewood Derby race at the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, an annual race of hand crafted model cars sponsored by the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). At the SBC exhibit hall kids, SBC entity heads, and state WMU directors all battled it […]

SBC 2025: Back where we started

June 12, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

SBC messengers vote

Dallas | Messengers to the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas June 10-11 arrived at the probability that motions from the floor on women and the pastorate, financial transparency, and the fate of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission would dominate the discussion. In the business sessions, they did. But in the end, […]

‘Together’ in Ephesians: Priority platforms team teaching on unity

June 9, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Main Priority speakers

The “All-Illinois teaching team” rose to the challenge at the Priority Women’s Conference that so excited organizer Carmen Halsey-Menghini. This was the first year that she slated four keynote speakers all from Illinois. Some of these women were schooled in leadership through their engagement with Illinois Baptist Women. Others are products of SBC seminaries, Disaster […]

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Featured Columns

Where is God when it hurts?

Tony Martin

This isn’t one of those pieces that ties everything up in a neat spiritual bow. It’s not filled with pat answers or hollow clichés. It’s born out of pain, prayer and the unshakable truth that — even in the flood — God is still present. The recent flooding in Texas has left so many of […]

Doug Munton

Navigating a season of change

Doug Munton

Nothing is scarier than change. (Well, maybe spiders are scarier, but I digress.) But here is the reality we face. Change is happening all the time, whether we like it or not. The real issue isn’t whether things will change, but how we deal with the change that is inevitable. So, let’s talk about navigating […]

How ‘what’ and ‘why’ unify

Nate Adams

The 2025 Southern Baptist Convention is behind us, and with it the meetings, reports, motions, and actions that pleased some and disappointed others. I know that many church members and even pastors rarely or never attend an SBC in person. That was true for me until I was almost 40, so I appreciate the reality […]

More Columns

John MacArthur leaves legacy ‘on a generation of preachers’

Brandon Porter, Baptist Press

Sun Valley, Calif. | Longtime pastor, author and teacher John F. MacArthur died July 14 after a short battle with pneumonia. MacArthur, 86, pastored Grace Community Church in the Los Angeles area for 56 years. “At the center of Dr. MacArthur’s ministry was an unwavering commitment to declare God’s truth, and Pastor John preached the […]

News

Ben Mandrell

Illinois native Ben Mandrell assumes Adrian Rogers’ pulpit

Brandon Porter, Baptist Press

Cordova, Tenn. | Ben Mandrell has been called to be the senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. Mandrell, a native of Tampico, Ill., has served as president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources since the summer of 2019. “I cannot tell you how thankful we are for this moment,” Mandrell, 48, said in a statement […]

SBC Worship platform draws thousands of churches in first month, leader says

IRS opens door for pastors to endorse politicians

More News Stories

Mission

“While we have not yet arrived at the destination we envision, I believe we are clearly headed in the right direction,” said IMB President Paul Chitwood to trustees in the May 22 plenary session. IMB Photo

IMB trustees appoint new missionaries, elect first woman chair

Leslie Caldwell

Richmond | International Mission Board trustees approved 65 fully funded missionaries for appointment during their May 21-22 meeting near Richmond, Virginia. The missionaries approved for appointment will be recognized during a Sending Celebration on Tuesday, June 10, at 10:08 a.m. CDT in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas. The event will […]

Metro East church plant hosts multiplication meeting

Sallateeska baptism demonstrates SBC connections

More Mission Stories

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