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Mission

Annual offering takes the gospel to unreached groups

November 19, 2020 By IMB.org

Editor’s note: The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and Week of Prayer for International Missions is Nov. 29-Dec. 7. Anim* remembers the day when an old fortune teller told her mother that Anim had the gift of sight. “My mother and my grandmother were both fortune tellers,” she said, “so my mom wasn’t surprised when the […]

How sharing Christ overseas changed a church

November 6, 2020 By Sammy Simmons

This January, I got to watch God move again in a way that brings so much joy to this pastor’s heart. I was on the dusty, noisy street on the edge of a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, with two Kenyans who served as our translators and two church members from Immanuel in Benton, Brad and […]

Pray and prepare: IBSA launches affinity networks to aid churches in missions planning

November 3, 2020 By Meredith Flynn

Pastor David Seaton’s church planned to send a volunteer team to Southeast Asia in 2020. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shutting down most international travel and putting long-planned mission trips on hold. “We want the people of God to take the story of God to people who don’t know it yet,” said Seaton, a pastor […]

Getting along: Generational differences can make churches more effective

October 30, 2020 By Illinois Baptist Staff

“When you were born shapes your relationship with God.” That’s why leadership expert Haydn Shaw says generational differences are the biggest issue facing churches today. Millennials and Baby Boomers don’t see eye to eye on how to lead change in a church. Gen X-ers and their Gen Y children don’t communicate the same way. The […]

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 […]

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Featured Columns

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 […]

Paul Cooper

What’s greater than independence? Hebrews 10:19-25

Paul Cooper

We got news from my sister in New Mexico, and my brother, Dave, immediately called me. He wanted to see her, but the 20-hour drive was too hard to do alone. It would be easier with his brother. We could share the load. Even so, we would spend more than half our time on the […]

Our nation’s half-celebration at 250

Eric Reed

During these red, white, and blue months, YouTube keeps sending me a video clip. It’s King George’s solo from the musical “Hamilton.” Amid endless rapping and stamping of boots and swishing of tailcoats by Founding Fathers, a lone figure walks slowly to center stage, decked in satin knee breeches, ermine cape, and a crown. And […]

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SBU President called to Moody

Eric Reed

Chicago | A Baptist will be the new president of Moody Bible Institute (MBI) starting August 17. Rick Melson will leave his role at Southwest Baptist University (SBU) in Bolivar, Missouri for the post vacated by Chicago pastor Mark Jobe after seven years. Melson, with Baptist roots, joins the independent evangelical school founded by Dwight […]

News

Photo courtesy of Michael Byrd

Former IBSA Pastors Conference speaker, Send St. Louis church planter, announced as historic AMS appointment

Scott Barkley

Ferguson, Mo. | Michael T. Byrd, Sr.’s background in ministry began as a 19-year-old preacher before moving into the pastorate and associational work, all in his native St. Louis. It’s that experience he’s eager to put into practice as the new executive director of the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association. He told Baptist Press that […]

Mindy Cobb’s endless summer

New Illinois laws raise concerns for Baptists

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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