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Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

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Table Talk

Getting there requires knowing where here is

April 25, 2024 By Michael Nave

Micheal Nave

One of the most damaging mistakes we are making today is obsessing on where we want to be without getting honest about our current reality. Maybe Siri and Google Assistant have fueled the delusion. When we ask them for directions, they automatically launch directions to where we want to be from our current location. They […]

Easter saved my faith

March 28, 2024 By Ben Jones

Ben Jones

“I’m just not sure if I believe anymore.” I never audibly spoke these words, but they echoed loudly in my own mind. I couldn’t live a lie. I couldn’t just ignore my doubts or turn off my brain. What was I going to do? My honest conclusions were leading me to a place where I […]

You gotta have friends

February 29, 2024 By Jared Pryer

“Friendship seems as necessary an element of a comfortable existence in this world as fire or water, or even air itself,” Charles Spurgeon wrote. “A man may drag along a miserable existence in proud solitary dignity, but his life is scarce life, it is nothing but an existence, the tree of life being stripped of […]

The coming of A.I. preaching

December 5, 2023 By Aaron Earls

AI

I’m going to plagiarize a sermon, and you have to guess who wrote it,” Rabbi Joshua Franklin warned those at a synagogue in East Hampton, New York. After the two-minute talk, some guessed his father or a famous rabbi wrote it. When he revealed it was from ChatGPT, some applauded. “You’re clapping, but I’m terrified,” […]

‘Move’: How my Bible study ‘word of the year’ changed everything

October 4, 2023 By Bob Burton

Move

Every one of us at one point has likely prayed, “Lord please move or move me.” It might be the Monday morning prayer of many a pastor. I am encouraged by what Job said, “The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger” (Job 17:9). If anyone could say that, […]

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Featured Columns

Mark Emerson

Worth every effort

Mark Emerson

When the news came, I was tired—Day 4 of VBS tired. Tired had been the theme of every drive home with my wife that week. Somewhere along the way I had finally asked the question only the overly weary ask: “How long are we going to keep this up?” Months of planning had become weeks […]

Loophole

Messengers close loophole

Eric Reed

It seemed like no big deal at the time. Messengers quickly voted for a change to the Baptist Faith and Message in 2023, there was no great debate. The motion came up and it kind of slid through—and that’s the problem. In 2026 they voted to prevent that from ever happening again. At the 2026 […]

A Committed Church: 2 Timothy 2:1-4

Maurice Gaiter

In a recent trip to Haiti, I heard a Haitian pastor illustrate to his congregation the need for total commitment to Christ. A man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to […]

More Columns

Good signs (so far)

Illinois Baptist Staff

Springfield | In church life, some summers are marked by a slump—in giving, attendance or attitude. But not this year, and especially not for IBSA. With the new administration now entering its second quarter, there are notable signs of positive attitudes in the network of churches. Some observations are anecdotal, with stories coming from the […]

News

IMB Photo

IMB missionary dies while serving in the Philippines

IMB.org

Esther (Sook Hyung) Kim, a Southern Baptist missionary to Philippines, died July 16 after suffering a heart attack. She was 64. Kim was attending a team meeting when she began to feel ill and went to a local hospital for care. Hospital staff revived her after she collapsed on site, but she did not regain […]

Young returns to IBSA team

World Cup scores for digital witness

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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