IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

Corona Virus

Disaster Relief adapts ministry amid pandemic

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Springfield | Disaster Relief volunteers are used to running toward danger or its direct aftermath. “With this COVID-19 response, it’s very difficult to find ways that we can run to that danger,” said Butch Porter, state director for Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR). This season traditionally finds volunteers on the road, traveling throughout the state […]

Priority Conference grows online

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Almost 1,100 people registered for IBSA’s annual Priority Women’s Conference April 24-25. Registration for the meeting, which became a virtual event due to the Coronavirus pandemic, topped last year’s attendance by more than 300. Registrants represented at least 185 churches, 22 states, and seven countries. The Priority conference, renamed Priority Now for 2020, focused on […]

‘Feeling the pressure’: Early reopening in other states and ‘quarantine fatigue’ test patience

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Editor’s note: Updated May 1 to reflect new language in Illinois’s extended stay-at-home order. Governor J.B. Pritzker’s extension of the shelter-at-home order until May 30 was met with approval by some and dismay by others, even as many other states began relaxing restrictions designed to combat spread of Coronavirus—including limitations on church meetings. In Illinois, […]

Tactics for leading through crisis

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These are the times that try men’s souls.” Many have equated today’s Coronavirus pandemic with the tumultuous time in history Thomas Paine chronicled when he wrote those famous words. Paine’s memorable line was about the American Revolution. The current battle is different, but the effect on the souls of men and women is similar. These […]

State lawmaker challenges stay-at-home order

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A state representative from southern Illinois has won a reprieve from the statewide stay-at-home order recently extended to May 30. Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) was granted a temporary restraining order April 27, meaning Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order will not apply to him beginning May 1. Further legal action is anticipated from the governor’s office […]