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Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

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Pastors, church leaders encouraged to participate in church compensation survey

May 11, 2026 By Roy Hayhurst

GuideStone

Dallas | GuideStone, Lifeway Research, and Baptist state conventions have again teamed up once again to conduct the SBC Church Compensation Survey, the largest free study focused on church pay and benefits in the United States. Conducted every two years, the survey helps churches of all sizes understand current compensation practices and make informed decisions […]

Clergy Act advances

December 18, 2025 By Roy Hayhurst

BP file photo by Roy Burroughs

Dallas | The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Clergy Act, H.R. 227, in a bipartisan, unanimous vote on Dec. 10. The Clergy Act would provide ministers who opted out of Social Security a one-time window to opt back in. The bipartisan legislation was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by California Congressmen […]

Pastors, church leaders encouraged to participate in biennial church compensation survey

April 2, 2024 By Roy Hayhurst

GuideStone

Dallas | GuideStone®, Lifeway Research, and Baptist state conventions have again teamed up for the SBC Church Compensation Survey. The survey — the largest free study focused on churches in the United States — is conducted every two years. The survey’s results will be available in early fall, in time for many churches considering their […]

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

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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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