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Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

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Eric Reed

Missionaries report tragic acts of war, then and now

April 8, 2022 By Eric Reed

This copy of the Illinois Baptist from January 1942 was unearthed in a recent renovation of the IBSA archives. An eyewitness account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by a Southern Baptist leader on the scene echoes the stories from IMB missionaries in Ukraine today.

Sunday, December 7, 1941: Charles Maddry was preparing for three worship services that morning with the fifteen missionaries serving through the Hawaiian Baptist Mission. Dr. Maddry was head of Southern Baptists’ Foreign Mission Board. He was in Honolulu for a three-day conference to plan missions on the islands. “My room in the hotel looked out […]

Do I dare declare judgment?

September 8, 2021 By Eric Reed

Remembering 9-11

The recent collapse of a condo building near Miami and weeks of searching through 22 million pounds of rubble for 97 victims took me back. I couldn’t break away from the coverage. And it reminded me of a question I’ve been asked after several catastrophes. In November 2001, I visited New York City. I was […]

Two scoops of courage

June 10, 2021 By Eric Reed

A friend of mine opened an ice cream shop in May. She dreamed a dream, a big dream, and made it happen during a pandemic. She wrestled with construction, permitting, sourcing, bidding, hiring, marketing, and taste-testing. She cultivated relationships with local officials, churn experts, shop owners, potential staff, and her community. No one told her […]

Emerging from a year-long crisis

May 5, 2021 By Eric Reed

Emerging from a year-long crisis

Do we all have PTSD? I heard someone ask that question recently. Has COVID caused its own kind of post-traumatic stress disorder for us all? Is this stress behind our other health crises and depression and rising street violence? Getting my second vaccination and emerging from my house after a year, I couldn’t believe the […]

After the ‘three-year pandemic’

April 20, 2021 By Eric Reed

Eric Reed

The stories we hear right now are anecdotal: churches here and there witnessing something of a revival after months of closure and privation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some pundits warned that it may take years for all the regulars to return to church services, if they ever do. But more recent polls show people […]

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Featured Columns

After another leadership failure, forgive? Yes. Forget? Maybe later.

Eric Reed

My cousin Holly’s house burned down in July. The family and their dog were saved, but they lost everything. Literally everything, except her grandmother’s ancient roasting pan just big enough for a 12-pound turkey and a diamond ring. Everything else in their rural home was gone in under an hour. The irony was that my […]

Nate Adams

Positive purpose

Nate Adams

Without question, more of my time and passion is invested in encouraging churches to give to missions through the Cooperative Program than through any designated offering, including our own state missions offering. I believe that’s as it should be. Yet both the CP and designated offerings have vital, important purposes. My conviction is that the […]

What personal missions commitment looks like

Meredith Flynn

“Your partnership is needed now.” That sentence jumped out as I looked over this year’s Mission Illinois Offering materials. This time of year always reminds me of the things that unite Illinois Baptists: the shared prayer that more people will come to know Jesus; the shared burden for our communities in need of transformation; and […]

More Columns

Newsmakers Interview with Bart Barber, Part 3

Eric Reed

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber is featured in the September issue of the Illinois Baptist. An hour-long interview focused on key issues including women in pastoral ministry and “friendly cooperation.” Editor Eric Reed asked Barber to look ahead to the 2024 SBC in Indianapolis. They discussed the role of social media in our Baptist […]

News

SBC EC votes at September 2023 meeting

Recap of this week’s SBC Exec Comm meeting

The Baptist Paper

While the anticipated next step regarding who will temporarily lead the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee in the interim period changed mid-way through the trustees’ meeting this week, trustee chair Philip Robertson plans to begin a new search right away. Recently retired Kentucky pastor Dan Summerlin provided this statement yesterday afternoon (Sept. 19) after alerting […]

Barber recalls ‘bold’ Southern Baptists, urges cooperation amid trials

Quick look at SBC Exec Comm agenda, Sept. 18-19

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Mission

Metro East church plant hosts multiplication meeting

Metro East church plant hosts multiplication meeting

Ben Jones

Pastors and church leaders from around the Metro East area gathered in Collinsville May 17 for the second Multiply Illinois Hub. These quarterly regional events are designed to encourage and equip those interested in church multiplication. Heights Community Church, planted in 2016, hosted the gathering in their newly renovated home. With the St. Louis skyline […]

Sallateeska baptism demonstrates SBC connections

A first-time ministry to migrant workers is very fruitful

More Mission Stories

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