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

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • Quick Links
    • E-Reader
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
  • News
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Illinois Churches
  • Stories
    • Church Planting
    • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns
    • Scott Foshie
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
    • Table Talk
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Encouraging Words

Teens celebrate AWSOM in an unusual year

November 30, 2020 By Leah Honnen

Jacksonville | Tie-dye, popcorn, friendship bracelets, pizza, karaoke, ice cream, sardines (the game, not the food), and of course, solid Bible teaching. Oh, and no sleep. In this year of social-distance, it was essential. And it was definitely AWSOM. This was my first year as a chaperone for the teen girls’ conference IBSA hosts each […]

Oh my soul

April 15, 2020 By Leah Honnen

Encouraging Words

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14) Real talk here: I just took a music-less bath in the middle of the day. I don’t know about you, but I treat baths like a spa treatment. I only take one every few months. I use bubble bath. I […]

The problem with self-care

March 13, 2020 By Leah Honnen

The toy company Mattel released a Self-Care Barbie last month. This original influencer of young girls is now instructing them how to care for themselves through play, so they can be emotionally healthy as they grow into adulthood. According to the press release, “Barbie knows to be one’s best is to give yourself the best […]

What a difference a year makes

January 18, 2020 By Leah Honnen

Last year at this time, I was in shock. God had just taken us through a time of mourning after a miscarriage. We were planning our next step toward a family, which included surgery for me. This surgery was supposed to finally answer why we could not conceive. Last year at this time, all of […]

Helping couples struggling through infertility

January 9, 2019 By Leah Honnen

Editor’s note: Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is January 20. I never thought I would be so moved while attending my first IBSA Annual Meeting, but when we voted as the church to be compassionate toward those experiencing infertility, I melted. Messengers to the meeting in Maryville last November voted to acknowledge the many trying […]

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2

Featured Columns

Paul Cooper

What’s greater than independence? Hebrews 10:19-25

Paul Cooper

We got news from my sister in New Mexico, and my brother, Dave, immediately called me. He wanted to see her, but the 20-hour drive was too hard to do alone. It would be easier with his brother. We could share the load. Even so, we would spend more than half our time on the […]

George

Our nation’s half-celebration at 250

Eric Reed

During these red, white, and blue months, YouTube keeps sending me a video clip. It’s King George’s solo from the musical “Hamilton.” Amid endless rapping and stamping of boots and swishing of tailcoats by Founding Fathers, a lone figure walks slowly to center stage, decked in satin knee breeches, ermine cape, and a crown. And […]

Our new open door

Scott Foshie

Could it be that Jesus has opened wide a new door of shared ministry and missions for Southern Baptists to walk through together? That’s the question that continues permeating my mind after our time together in Orlando. We need to remember we ‘have but little power’ in ourselves. Southern Baptists have always found themselves called […]

More Columns

Mindy Cobb’s endless summer

Illinois Baptist Staff

Mindy Cobb moved to Chicago with her husband, Lindsay, nearly 50 years ago to be a part of a church plant and hasn’t looked back. In Longevity, a collection of essays by Nathan Carter, Cobb shared she originally planned to give God one summer of her life, but he wanted the whole thing. Out of […]

News

Illinois State Capitol

New Illinois laws raise concerns for Baptists

Lisa Misner

Springfield | The spring session of the Illinois General Assembly passed multiple bills that conflict with the biblical values of Illinois Baptists. Some were signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in late June: – HB 4834, the Prescription Monitoring Program, removed testosterone, estrogen, mifepristone and misoprostol from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program. The law […]

World Cup visitors, America’s 250th celebration reminders of ‘how good we have it’

New team leaders

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

  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns

Copyright © 2026 · Website by Megaphone Designs