Wanda Lee, who has served 16 years as executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), was recognized during the Southern Baptist Convention in June for her long-standing commitment to missions. Lee announced in January that she will retire from the Birmingham-based Southern Baptist auxiliary once her replacement is named. A search committee, including Illinois WMU President Jill McNicol, currently is reviewing resumes for the post. Read…
Mission
Trickle-down discipleship
This year, 136 students attended Super Summer 2016 at Greenville College. The week is for students in grades 6-12. It is mostly geared toward those who are already leaders in their youth group – with the intent of discipling them to go back to their church and make even more disciples. “That’s what this camp is all about,” said Pastor Chip Faulkner from First Baptist, Bethalto, “maturing in Christ in such a way that passes it on.”
Read…
Ready for Rio
With the Olympic Games set to kick off Aug. 5, Southern Baptist volunteers will be in South America to share the gospel both with local residents and with the thousands of visitors from across the globe. “There exists no greater opportunity to reach people from over 200 nations in 30 days than the Olympic Games,” […]
Lake County aids Hungary Association
“It’s a different kind of hardship we face when it comes to religion today,” Gyuri Varga said on a visit to Illinois. Varga is a pastor in Hungary. He is a leader in the Hungary Baptist denomination. “Generally speaking, we have freedom of religion in Hungary since the fall of communism,” he said, “but the society is more secular, so there is a, uh, putting away of religion or discussion about belief in God.” Read…
Racism addressed with firm action
The Southern Baptist Convention rejected use of an iconic Southern emblem, the Confederate battle flag still commonly seen in the South, because it is for many representative of slavery and ongoing racism against African Americans. The resolution states: “We call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters.” Read…