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Meredith Flynn

Lydia’s quick response

October 24, 2025 By Meredith Flynn

Site where Paul is believed to have baptized Lydia.

“A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying” (Acts 16:14). The account of Lydia is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the middle of the Book of Acts. Her story is only three verses long, but […]

Unflinching leadership

October 1, 2025 By Meredith Flynn

Deborah Praises Jael

There is one part of Judges 4-5 that sets the tone for the entire account of Deborah, the only female judge of Israel chronicled in the Bible. Ironically, this snippet doesn’t include Deborah herself, although she does foreshadow wicked Sisera’s death at the hands of a woman. What she doesn’t say is that the woman, […]

The ministry of getting up

August 22, 2025 By Meredith Flynn

Mosaic

Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.” My favorite part of the book of Acts is that we often get to read the rest of the story. The apostles did these amazing […]

She had (almost) everything

July 21, 2025 By Meredith Flynn

The Shunammite woman falls at Elisha's feet

When we first meet the woman of Shunem in 2 Kings 4, she’s got a lot going for her. She’s hospitable, welcoming the prophet Elijah into her home for a meal every time he passes through town. She also has resources—enough to build an addition onto her home for Elijah to use as he comes […]

A fate worse than death

June 17, 2025 By Meredith Flynn

Source: Princeton Seminary Library

I was around 12 years old the first time I got a glimpse of my own mortality. I had a migraine at school, realizing something was wrong when I could read only half of every question on the science test I was taking. Even after the vision disturbance and the terrible headache to follow had […]

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Featured Columns

Chuck Kelley

Blinded by bright spots: Kelley warns of trends we’re ignoring

Chuck Kelley

(Ed. note: One IBSA Annual Meeting keynote speaker has been concerned about the direction of the SBC for a long time. As a professor at New Orleans Seminary, he warned in 1983 that the denomination had plateaued. He pointed to the loss of evangelism among Methodists that led to their decline. “They never mounted a […]

Scenes from the 2024 IBSA Annual Meeting.

Family reunion

Nate Adams

As I was preparing for my first IBSA Annual Meeting as Executive Director almost 20 years ago, I remember one long-time staff remember exclaiming, “I just love the Annual Meeting! It’s like a big family reunion.” Having just moved back to Illinois three months earlier, I didn’t yet share his enthusiasm. I was still meeting […]

Brent Cloyd: My not-so-secret to success

Brent Cloyd

On September 6, 1982, I was a student at Midwestern Seminary. That day I walked into the kitchen at the dormitory and saw a young woman. There was a spark in her eyes that lit a fire in my soul. On October 26, we went on our first date. On Thanksgiving Day, I asked her […]

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Unity, cooperation reign at IBSA Annual Meeting

Eric Reed

Springfield | If 1925 was a year to remember, with the birth of a unified missions funding system and the denomination’s first official statement of faith, then 2025 was also a year to remember. Southern Baptists celebrated the centennial anniversaries of Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message. Illinois Baptists marked the coming 20th […]

News

Trinity Christian College

Trinity Christian College will close

Illinois Baptist Staff

Palos Heights | After 66 years in operation in suburban Chicago, Trinity Christian College will close at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. The school’s final commencement will be May 8, 2026. The liberal arts school offered degrees in 70 programs. It was named among the top schools in the Midwest region by U.S. […]

Pritzker considering suicide bill

Panel at Annual Meeting to address campus ministry

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

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