Orland Park | Jeff Iorg returned to Illinois as a familiar teacher and friend, but this time he spoke in his new role as top staff member of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“[The] spirit of cooperation is under attack these days, both from external critics and internal detractors,” Iorg told messengers at the IBSA Annual Meeting November 13. “Our cultural tendencies for tribalism and sectarianism, rooted in the sins of selfishness and self-promotion, are flooding over us.”
His cautionary assessment followed a lengthy summary of the blessings the denomination has meant in his own life, from a teenager in an unsaved family, to president of a seminary, and now charged with plotting a steadier course for what was called, until recently, a listing ship.
“Southern Baptists are a compassionate, devoted, sacrificial people who obey the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment. We are on mission to share the gospel with every person in the world and show the love of God in every context…. Amazingly, we do all this collectively, voluntarily, without coercion or mandate, cooperating because we really believe we can do more together than we can do by ourselves,” said Iorg, President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee.
Even so, our history of compromise is endangered.
Illinois Baptists talk while they wait in line to register for the IBSA Annual Meeting.
“Some Christian leaders are more concerned about getting credit, having their way, being recognized on social media, or enforcing their particular positions than on cooperating for the greater good,” he preached to an attentive audience. “They complain about compromise and demand unity on specific issues to gain their loyalty. Rather than standing against this secular mindset, too many of us are embracing it and reshaping what it even means to be a Southern Baptist.”
Iorg’s cautions came on the same day IBSA messengers expressed support for the current denominational positions on women in ministry, in particular the male-only senior pastor interpretation of Scripture, and called for churches and pastors to strengthen marriages with teaching and counseling.
He was invited to the IBSA Annual Meeting as the precursor to the 100th anniversary of both the Cooperative Program (CP) and the Baptist Faith and Message (BFM). One has lagged as churches’ percentage giving to missions has steadily declined in recent decades, and the other has been argued in relation to controversial issues, especially qualifications for ministry.
Iorg expressed abiding support for both institutions at their centennial. He hailed CP as the most effective missions sending organization in history. And he praised the statement of faith as succinctly outlining Baptist beliefs, yet giving churches room to hold different views on non-essential issues.
“Is cooperation still, is it a viable expectation or is it a relic of a bygone era?” Iorg asked. “Is cooperation still the best way for thousands of autonomous churches to work toward the common goal of sharing the gospel with the entire world? My answer to both these questions is a resounding yes.”
In summary, “We cooperate because it works.”
Celebration coming soon
IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams introduced the 2025 focus on the twin centennial celebrations by telling the story of his grandmother, who contributed sacrificially to the $75 million campaign, a precursor to the Cooperative Program aimed at getting the denomination out of debt after World War 1.
“I’m trying to cheerlead again for us that what we believe about the Bible matters, and how we make disciples matter, and what the missionaries that we send to the field matters, and what pastors that we train our seminaries believe matters,” he said. “Likewise, “the Baptist Faith and Message has this wonderful place, and it deserves a rejuvenation of interest in our churches.”
Messengers were given copies of the booklet, which Adams pointed out was remarkable small, considering its importance.
A denomination-wide celebration is planned for the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas in June 2025.
Messengers’ actions
“We’ve got to get back (to our calling),” Bruce Kirk said. “They used to talk about that ‘old time religion’ when people just trusted in God. They didn’t trust in anything outside. And now we’re trusting in everything.”
IBSA Board Chair Bruce Kirk, pastor of Alpha Missionary Baptist Church in Bolingbrook, called on messengers to face into the harsh realities of our current culture with fresh commitment to the preaching the gospel.
“We’ve got to get back (to our calling),” Kirk said in the Annual Sermon. “They used to talk about that ‘old time religion’ when people just trusted in God. They didn’t trust in anything outside. And now we’re trusting in everything.”
Kirk spoke about families affected by abortion, infidelity, and LGBTQ children and grandchildren. “It is for us to reach each individual in America that we come in contact with to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s not saving any nation…. He’s calling individuals to come to Christ…. He’s calling individuals to be saved.”
In other actions, IBSA messengers approved an IBSA budget for 2025 of $6 million, with the ratio remaining steady at 56.5% for Illinois missions and 43.5% forwarded to the national SBC for international and North American missions, theological education, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s work in the public square.
Messengers approved revisions to the IBSA constitution to clarify the difference between IBSA the corporation—which is the umbrella organization that includes the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS) and Baptist Foundation of Illinois (BFI)—and IBSA the association of churches engaged in Illinois mission work.
In the Executive Director’s report, Adams said 10 new churches have been planted, with the possibility of more by year’s end. He noted churches saw an increase of 30% in baptisms in 2023 following a 41% increase in 2022. “After a focused effort by IBSA’s evangelism director, Scott Harris, the number of IBSA churches baptizing zero or one last year was reduced from 629 to 427,” said Adams. “That represents a 32% decrease in the number of churches that didn’t see baptisms in their church last year.”
“IBSA wants to meet pastors [where they are] and to provide encouragement, fellowship, soul care to you and your family,” Nate Adams said.
Messengers received reports from both BCHFS and BFI and approved their budgets. (Separate reports on these actions will be posted.)
In motions from the floor, the future of campus ministry was raised. Lakeland Baptist Church pastor Phil Nelson brought a motion to sell the Baptist Student Union at the University of Illinois in Carbondale, and use the money for other campus ministry.
Thomas Worsham from Pleasant Ridge Baptist in Decatur agreed with the call for renewed effort on college campuses. “My heart breaks for college students and young adults,” he said. “I want to see students saved.” The motion was referred to the board.
Adams recognized the contributions of recently deceased Baptist historian Myron Dillow. He was the author of a definitive work on Illinois Baptist history, Harvesttime on the Prairie: 1796-1996. It recounted in detail the first 200 years of Baptist presence and missions in Illinois.
“On a few occasions, Myron would call me and tell me about the article that he was working on, about some aspect of Illinois Baptist history or Baptist history of some kind,” Adams said. “I don’t know if you can imagine what it took to do a credible work on Baptist history that we can all now have as a reference like this to understand our roots.”
New officers were elected for 2024-2025: Doug Munton, FBC O’Fallon, president; Jeff Logsdon, Island City Baptist Church in Wilmington, vice president; Matt Philbrick, FBC Ramsey, recording secretary; and Nate Mason, FBC Effingham, assistant recording secretary.
The next IBSA Annual Meeting will be held November 4-5 at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield.