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Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

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IBSA

Nominees sought

May 30, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

The Nominations Committee will soon draft a slate of candidates for at least 30 elected positions in IBSA leadership. In addition to IBSA’s six committees, the Nominating Committee will recommend people to serve on the Association’s three boards: IBSA, Baptist Foundation of Illinois (BFI), and Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS). The deadline to […]

Awbrey named to SBC’s Dallas Team

May 19, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Victoria Awbrey

Victoria Awbrey returns to the Registration Committee for the 2025 Annual Meeting in June. She was one of 26 members appointed by SBC President Clint Pressley. The registration committee is called “to supervise the registration of messengers, to oversee the operations of the registration desk, and to rule upon any questions which may arise in […]

Newton retires from Woodland

May 1, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Joel and Cheryl Newton

Joel Newton retired as pastor of Woodland Baptist Church in Peoria at the end of March. The church hosted a celebration for Newton and his wife, Cheryl, their children Emily and James, and their families were on hand for the event. IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams had previously presented Newton a plaque during a worship […]

Priority relocates

April 25, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Carmen Halsey-Menghini (left) and Tammy Butler

Springfield | Significant vandalism to the elevators and sprinkler system forced the temporary closure of the Wyndham Springfield City Centre March 28, which was scheduled to host the IBSA annual women’s conference, Priority April 25-26. The Wyndham cancelled all its events for the month. IBSA Leadership Director Carmen Halsey-Menghini and her team shifted into high […]

Bledsoe joins team

April 15, 2025 By Illinois Baptist Staff

Josh Bledsoe (left) with Scott Foshie

Springfield | Josh Bledsoe, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Monticello, has been named IBSA Church Health Director. With this new full-time role, Bledsoe will provide additional capacity for IBSA’s Health Team to help churches experience revitalization. He began his new position on April 15. “We are thankful that God has provided Josh to serve […]

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Featured Columns

Chuck Kelley

Blinded by bright spots: Kelley warns of trends we’re ignoring

Chuck Kelley

(Ed. note: One IBSA Annual Meeting keynote speaker has been concerned about the direction of the SBC for a long time. As a professor at New Orleans Seminary, he warned in 1983 that the denomination had plateaued. He pointed to the loss of evangelism among Methodists that led to their decline. “They never mounted a […]

Site where Paul is believed to have baptized Lydia.

Lydia’s quick response

Meredith Flynn

“A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying” (Acts 16:14). The account of Lydia is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the middle of the Book of Acts. Her story is only three verses long, but […]

Family reunion

Nate Adams

As I was preparing for my first IBSA Annual Meeting as Executive Director almost 20 years ago, I remember one long-time staff remember exclaiming, “I just love the Annual Meeting! It’s like a big family reunion.” Having just moved back to Illinois three months earlier, I didn’t yet share his enthusiasm. I was still meeting […]

More Columns

Unity, cooperation reign at IBSA Annual Meeting

Eric Reed

Springfield | If 1925 was a year to remember, with the birth of a unified missions funding system and the denomination’s first official statement of faith, then 2025 was also a year to remember. Southern Baptists celebrated the centennial anniversaries of Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message. Illinois Baptists marked the coming 20th […]

News

Trinity Christian College

Trinity Christian College will close

Illinois Baptist Staff

Palos Heights | After 66 years in operation in suburban Chicago, Trinity Christian College will close at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. The school’s final commencement will be May 8, 2026. The liberal arts school offered degrees in 70 programs. It was named among the top schools in the Midwest region by U.S. […]

Pritzker considering suicide bill

Panel at Annual Meeting to address campus ministry

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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