Calling it “our living room for Illinois Baptists,” IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams opened the dedication of a first-floor renovation that has been more than a year in development, but 12 years in the making.
While the IBSA building has multiple small conference areas and a large auditorium, it lacks meeting space for medium-size groups. Beyond the usual staff meetings, at least 50 events including board and committee functions are held in the building each year. The renovation was done to address this need.
Leaders who have attended conferences in Springfield may recall the area as the former executive suite, a cluster of five offices and a small kitchen just inside the front door that was largely untouched since the Baptist building was opened in 1971.
The remainder of the facility has been renovated over the past decade, starting with the third floor which became a central hub for IBSA staff who at one point were scattered about the building, and continuing with the remodeling of the first-floor auditorium and conversion of a warren of cubicles and offices into the open floor plan Resource Room and Chapel. That area also doubles as dining. Sprucing up meeting spaces in the basement was mostly completed before the Pandemic, and an update in common areas for tenants who rent space on the second floor left only the old offices of the Executive Director and Communications.
Demolition began in September 2022 followed by construction. Some final touches remain, but the work to adapt the mid-century modern concrete and glass office pod into a gathering area with café seating, board room, and serving kitchen is almost complete. The finished project is expected to come in around $400,000.
IBSA Board President Jeff Logsdon led the March 28 dedication with a reading from Titus 2:11-14. He asked God to “use this space to purify people for zealous good work and zealous good deeds.”
“Even if they’re just eating sandwiches” the pastor of Island City Baptist Church in Wilmington asked that God would “use their conversations in the space for good works.”
IBSA Board Vice President Bruce Kirk, pastor of Alpha Baptist Church in Bolingbrook, led board members and staff in a prayer of repentance and forgiveness. IBSA President and pastor of Cornerstone Church in Marion, Michael Nave added the challenge to make “disciples of those who would make disciples who would spread all over the state.” Nave urged, “That this would be the start of revival here.”