IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

IBSA

Religious liberty concerns expressed as Equality Act moves forward

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Christian leaders continued to express concern over the Equality Act as the Senate Judiciary Committee met to hear testimony from the bill’s supporters and opponents. The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention submitted written testimony expressing concern the bill would contradict the “fundamental liberties” guaranteed in the Bill of Rights […]

Chicago pastor gets creative to change his community

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Corey Brooks plans to clean up Chicago, one neighborhood at a time, and he started in one of the worst: Woodlawn. Creative thinking led to some notoriety for the Southern Baptist pastor, but it’s his innate acceptance of all people—the poor, the better-off, gang members and released felons—that has garnered Brooks a multi-faceted ministry. “It […]

2(1)st century Church of the future

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“You probably don’t have as many people in your church building as you did a year ago.” Speaking at the Illinois Leadership Summit Jan. 19-20, Dave Rhodes acknowledged one of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a chief cause for pastoral anxiety. After months of stalled ministries and intermittent shutdowns, leaders might feel […]

Virtual meeting focused on leading toward racial unity

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Three past presidents of the Illinois Baptist State Association joined current president Sammy Simmons and IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams for a virtual town hall meeting Feb. 4 on how pastors can encourage unity in their congregations and contexts in times of racial tension. Kevin Carrothers, Adron Robinson, Don Sharp, and Simmons fielded questions from […]

Student ministry coordinator mourned

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Leah Bening, longtime international coordinator at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) Center at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, died January 19. She was engaged in student ministry leadership for over three decades. Bening was a member of Christ Church in Carbondale. “I worked with her for the last five years and she was very encouraging to me,” […]