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Illinois Churches

Churches make room for students displaced by pandemic

October 21, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Across Illinois | Pastor Jason Plumer walks around the tables in his church’s fellowship hall, stopping every few seconds to talk to small groups of students eating an after-school snack of cereal or carrot sticks. His church’s after-school program, Tending the Vine, runs four afternoons a week for kids who need a place go after […]

Churches adapt fall missions plans

October 7, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Sterling | Emmanuel Baptist Church has played a major role in IBSA’s Children’s Missions Day for the past several years, hosting projects in their community and encouraging kids to get involved. When the spring event was canceled due to COVID-19, children’s ministry leader Ashley Covell got creative. The missionaries could “earn” their Children’s Missions Day […]

New life on campus: Collegiate church celebrates first baptisms

September 9, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Celebrating baptisms

On the shore of Lake Michigan on a Sunday in June, Jeff Bi compared his life to a car. When he was in the driver’s seat, said Bi, a student at the University of Chicago, the side mirrors were gone and the doors were off the hinges. But giving the wheel to Jesus, he said, […]

Pandemic response: Disaster Relief provides disinfectant, meals, masks, and more

July 14, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Hannibal, Mo. | As a Southern Baptist university in Missouri prepared to welcome back students this fall, the school got an assist from Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR) volunteers, who provided disinfectant, soap, laundry supplies, and 6,000 face masks. “They were extremely grateful and said the disinfectant would be a great help as they prepare […]

Salvaging summer plans: VBS, camps move online

June 16, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Schaumburg | Lydia Lee’s church isn’t new to Vacation Bible School. Schaumburg Baptist Church has hosted VBS for more than 10 years, said the children’s director. But, like almost every other ministry plan churches made for 2020, this summer’s VBS requires a different strategy. Lee and her team of volunteers moved “Concretes and Cranes” online. […]

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Featured Columns

Scott Foshie

An honest word about our CP giving

Scott Foshie

The first six months of serving you have been filled with encouragement and hope. God is bringing a new season of harvest across our state, with rising attendance, baptisms, and outreach opportunities. We are answering his invitation to join him in his work as we say “yes” to opportunities to show up in the lives […]

Carmen Halsey-Menghini

What if leadership isn’t the main issue?

Carmen Halsey-Menghini

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on something Henry Blackaby said: “The church doesn’t have a leadership problem; it has a discipleship problem.” I’ve found myself thinking about that, especially when talking with pastors of smaller churches who are discouraged because they don’t see enough people stepping into leadership roles. What if the question isn’t “Why aren’t […]

5 things bivocational pastors wish you knew

Will Dole

If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be a bivocational pastor today, it’s doubtful I would’ve believed you. At the time, I was working—bivocationally—with a small parachurch ministry and desperately hoping to be fully funded so I could focus on ministry. It was around that point that a friend asked me: […]

More Columns

An honest word about our CP giving

Scott Foshie

The first six months of serving you have been filled with encouragement and hope. God is bringing a new season of harvest across our state, with rising attendance, baptisms, and outreach opportunities. We are answering his invitation to join him in his work as we say “yes” to opportunities to show up in the lives […]

News

U.S. Capitol

GuideStone, ERLC applaud Senate’s passage of Clergy Act

Roy Hayhurst

Dallas | The U.S. Senate passed the Clergy Act Wednesday (Sept. 30), which sends the legislation to President Donald Trump for consideration. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the act in April. GuideStone Financial Resources applauded passage of the bipartisan bill that would provide eligible ministers who previously opted out of Social Security with a […]

Moms reconnect at Super Summer—because their kids are attending

Prayer tours the Mother Road

More News Stories

Mission

World Cup scores for digital witness

Illinois Baptist Staff

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup roared to a close and Spain left holding the trophy, Southern Baptist churches and missionaries around the world prayed for impact that outlasts the hardware. Southern Baptists mission boards joined churches and associations in digital and in-person outreach, as North America hosted the World Cup for the first time […]

IMB trustees appoint new missionaries, elect first woman chair

Metro East church plant hosts multiplication meeting

More Mission Stories

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