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Encouraging Words

Are you weary? Run on.

January 15, 2021 By Aubrey Krol

Encouraging Words

We set up a makeshift pulpit in our dining room. With the camera balanced on cardboard boxes and books, my husband preached while I served as executive producer—a role I gained overnight. Immediately after his sermon, I taught children’s church via video conference from a desk in our bedroom. I also held an open invitation […]

God with us

December 22, 2020 By Sammy Simmons

Encouraging Words

I love people and deeply miss the connectedness that’s hard to have in the middle of a pandemic. I recently had a senior adult lady who I haven’t seen in months come by the church I pastor. My first comment to her was, “Ida, I’ve missed being WITH you so much I would almost hug […]

Hope in the waiting

December 16, 2020 By Ben Jones

Encouraging Words

The details of the Christmas story can enthrall me, drawing my imagination into a cold night in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph, road wearied and expecting, settled in a gritty stable. The sharp night air mixed with smells of straw and sheep. A million stars in the clear Middle Eastern sky. I love the idea of […]

Loss comes with permission

November 23, 2020 By Chuck Kelley

Encouraging Words

The loss of nearly everything reveals the true value of what you have left. Fifteen years ago, the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina took away homes, family photos, and heirlooms, along with the necessities of everyday life—furniture, dishes, towels, sheets, electronics, toys—gone in an instant. When New Orleans Seminary families dressed in hazmat suits to salvage […]

Casting off and putting on

November 16, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Encouraging Words

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2) With these words, Paul starts a section of his letter to the church at […]

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Featured Columns

What’s really important

Nate Adams

Crisis can bring clarity. When I first heard that simple observation from a friend, its truth immediately resonated with me. A crisis has a way of demanding our attention and diminishing the less important things in our lives. The result can be a clearer vision of what truly is important to us. In other words, […]

Start at home: Building a framework for discipleship

Sarah Bordewick

Being a part of a church family is part of growing as a follower of Jesus. But kids spend far more time in their homes. That’s why we want our families to go deeper together. Discipleship at home is a critical endeavor. God made us for relationship, and those first relationships are in the home. […]

How to navigate conflict together

Mark McCormick

Question: We can’t seem to develop a helpful conflict style in our marriage. Whenever a problem arises, one of us shuts down, making the other one angrier. What are some healthy steps we can take to finding resolution? Answer: Reconciliation is the work of God. Pursuing Christ-like character traits of honesty and humility will help […]

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Baptist Press interviews SBC presidential candidates

Baptist Press

Baptist Press will publish interviews with each of the four announced candidates for SBC president. The Illinois Baptist newspaper will excerpt the interviews as they are released and will also publish the excerpts here. Albert Mohler Jr. Louisville, Ky. | R. Albert Mohler Jr. was to be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention […]

News

Illinois Baptist

Equality Act threatens religious freedoms

Lisa Misner

Christian leaders are concerned about the loss of religious freedom, expansion of federal abortion funding, diminished protection for women, and the impact on hiring practices by Christian organizations under HR5, the Equality Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Feb. 25. The vote was 224-206, almost totally along party lines. The bill goes to […]

Floyd urges unity and vision, decries ‘sound of war’

Controversial new teaching standards approved

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Mission

Replanting season: Young churches embrace opportunities for growth and new ministry

Meredith Flynn

Grace Family Church celebrated its second anniversary in early 2021 with a worship service in the Art Deco theater they’ve called home for the last few months. But the young church has already been planted twice. At least, that’s how it feels to Pastor Jorge Rodriguez. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Rodriguez later lived in Chicago […]

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2021 Forecast: Use ‘gap analysis,’ small-scale missions to help people looking for hope

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