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Fishing season: 8 hooks for effective pastor search

September 24, 2021 By Mark Emerson

Fishing season

One outcome of the Covid season appears to be an increase in pastors changing churches, and churches starting pastor searches. Call it “pent-up demand.” In many fields, people waited during the closures forced by the pandemic before making major purchases, changing jobs, or relocating. Even in the best of situations, churches will need to call […]

What happens at camp can be life changing. It was for me.

March 6, 2020 By Mark Emerson

Unlike several of my coworkers, I did not receive the Lord at camp. Yet, thinking back through my time attending summer camp as a student and leading camps for the past 30 years, most of the major spiritual decisions in my life happened in a camp context. I can show you the exact spot in […]

Plan now for mission trip success in 2020

November 25, 2019 By Mark Emerson

In past years, short-term missions were mainly summer activities. Some churches would hold an annual youth mission trip, help another church with VBS, or join in on a construction project. Today, Illinois Baptists are engaging their Acts 1:8 mission fields year-round. We are excited to hear reports that our churches are engaging lostness around the […]

Packing for missions success

November 25, 2019 By Mark Emerson

I recently Googled “common mistakes made in packing for a trip” and discovered that the most common mistakes cited were often demonstrated in my own preparations. Summarizing the wisdom that was shared in these articles comes down to one specific point, “Know what to take with you, and know what to leave at home.” It […]

Field a winning team

June 28, 2019 By Mark Emerson

Scott Hatteberg was a broken-down catcher when baseball manager Billy Beane decided to recruit him for his Oakland Athletics. Hatteberg had injured his throwing arm the previous season, ending his career as a catcher. But what caught Beane’s attention was the potential he believed the man still possessed. Hatteberg had a large on-base percentage, and […]

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Featured Columns

Nate Adams

Hope set high

Nate Adams

Have you ever set out with high hopes, only to find things not working out as you expected? Should that happen even in church and in ministry? Last summer our son Noah and his family moved from the Chicago suburbs where he was a pastor to the front range of the Colorado mountains and a […]

Meredith Flynn

Brighter Day: Small seasons

Meredith Flynn

My family will soon celebrate the end of an era for our youngest daughter. Molly and her classmates will walk across the stage and receive their diplomas, marking the end of preschool and the beginning of their elementary years. Some preschools even dress graduates in miniature caps and gowns. Ours does not, but Molly will […]

Handling history

Nate Adams

A little more than a year ago, a main sewer line backed up into the basement of the IBSA building here in Springfield. Though the primary blockage turned out to be well outside our building, the plumbers also discovered a break in a secondary line. It was directly beneath the section of basement where IBSA’s […]

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Banding together for Bibles

Illinois Baptist Staff

“Everyone agreed—it was worth the time and effort to make Bibles available to anyone who needed or wanted one,” Pastor Brian Fuller said. Fuller spent much of the 1980’s and 90’s as a Contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist. Now as pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodlawn, Fuller recently picked up a mic again for […]

News

Green arrested on grooming charge

Illinois Baptist Staff

Keith D. Green, a substitute teacher from Ashmore, was arrested May 17 by Mattoon Police on a charge of grooming. Green briefly served as pastor at two Illinois churches more than four years ago. Mattoon Community School District #2 notified police of the allegation that Green had contacted a female under age 17 using an […]

Effective teachers ask: What do learners need?

Former IMB missionaries encourage churches to go global again

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Mission

Annie Armstrong

How SBC missions have been influenced by Annie Armstrong

Sandy Wisdom-Martin

A few years ago, I read the SBC president at the time was considering different gavels for presiding at the SBC Annual Meeting. One of the options under consideration was the Armstrong gavel. I sent him an email with this message: This weekend I did a bit of reading on Annie Armstrong and was inspired […]

On mission again

New partnership targets biblical literacy

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