IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

SBC

Chair elected for retooled SBC committee

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At its first meeting July 22, the new Credentials Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention elected Stacy Bramlett of Tennessee to serve as chair. The committee is charged with making inquiries and recommendations for action regarding sexual abuse, racism, or other issues that call a church’s relationship with the SBC into question. Bramlett is one […]

Baptists debate ‘critical’ issue, take stand on 13 topics in Birmingham

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The most discussed resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention in June centered on two theories many Baptists likely weren’t familiar with before the meeting. Resolution 9, the subject of so much debate that it eventually got its own hashtag on Twitter, focuses on critical race theory and intersectionality. Both frameworks have their roots in Marxism, […]

Mandrell brings ‘non-Southern’ perspective to LifeWay

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The new president of LifeWay Christian Resources is a native of Illinois. Ben Mandrell (pictured above with his family) was elected June 28 to lead the 128-year-old publishing house. Mandrell, who currently pastors a church in the Denver area, grew up in Tampico in northwestern Illinois. “One of the reasons I believe God has raised […]

Illinois native unanimously elected LifeWay president

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Trustees unanimously elected Ben Mandrell, a native of Tampico, Ill., as LifeWay Christian Resource’s 10th president June 28 during a special-called meeting in Atlanta. Mandrell, 42, is the lead pastor of Storyline Fellowship in Arvada, Colo. were he preached an emotional message June 23 – two days after his nomination to lead LifeWay Christian Resources […]

As declines continue, Floyd calls Baptists to evangelize

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Southern Baptist churches reported fewer members, worship attenders, and baptisms in 2018, according to the latest Annual Church Profile (ACP) report compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. Church membership declined by 192,404, down 1.28% to 14.8 million members, while average weekly worship attendance declined by 0.43% to 5.3 million worshipers. […]