Meeting Sept. 10, the Illinois Baptist State Association’s Board of Directors approved a budget that will fund a revitalization process designed to help churches be more effective.
The process will be introduced at the 2019 IBSA Annual Meeting Nov. 6-7 at Cornerstone Church in Marion. This year’s meeting theme is “ReFocus.”
IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams told the Board the organization’s 2020 strategies, goals, structure, and budget seek to address seven key priorities:
• Revitalizing churches
• Planting churches in the Illinois context
• Equipping churches to reach younger generations
• Developing transformative leadership
• Assisting churches with evolving cultural issues
• Creating effective associational partnerships
• Inspiring church engagement
IBSA’s revitalization process will be in partnership with an organization focused on ministry renewal. Corpus Vitae, led by founder Rob Peters, facilitates a six-step refocus process, beginning with an assessment of pastoral and church readiness for revitalization. Peters will speak during the Thursday morning session of the IBSA Annual Meeting.
Adams reported several bright spots in 2018, including a 6.8% increase in baptisms over the previous year, for a total of 3,676. He also noted that during the One GRAND Month emphasis in April 2019, IBSA churches baptized more than 700 people in that month alone.
Also in 2018, IBSA trained 7,517 ministry leaders representing 563 churches, and missions volunteers from IBSA churches numbered 19,681. Fourteen new churches were planted, and 19 are expected this year.
The Board voted to send the 2020 IBSA budget to messengers for a vote at November’s Annual Meeting. The 2020 budget of $8,650,237 is an increase of $61,087 over the previous year’s budget. The Cooperative Program budget is $6.3 million, up from $6.2 million in 2019. The CP ratio is unchanged from the previous year with 56.5% remaining in Illinois and 43.5% sent to the SBC Executive Committee for the Cooperative Program.
In other business, the Board:
• Approved three advance overspends:
(1) Up to $2,000 due to commissions on tenant lease renewals that were not anticipated
(2) Up to $122,000 for added equipment and property at IBSA camps, and for repair of the IBSA Building’s roof after wind damage (Brotherhood Mutual Insurance is covering the cost)
(3) Up to $22,000 in Student Ministries due to higher-than-expected attendance at IBSA’s student camps. The additional expenses will be matched by additional income in the cost recovery income line of the budget.
• Reviewed the partnership agreement between IBSA and the Baptist Foundation of Illinois, which will in 2020 result in no needed subsidy.
• Recognized outgoing Board members Bruce Allen, Adam Lewis, Jay Lowder, Roger Marshall, and David Starr.
• Elected as officers Bob Dickerson, First Baptist Church of Marion, chairman; Andy DeWitt, First Baptist Church of Salem, vice chairman; and Mike Jameson, Pontoon Baptist Church in Pontoon Beach, secretary.
• Welcomed new IBSA team members Kevin Jones, Brad Lovin, and Bryan Price.
• Recognized Carole Doom, administrative coordinator on the Church Cooperation Team, for 20 years of service at IBSA; and Pat Pajak, associate executive director for evangelism, who will retire at the end of this year after 12 years at IBSA.
The next meeting of the full IBSA Board is March 24, 2020.