Orland Park | Venerable Chicago pastor Don Sharp was honored for serving 60 years at the church he founded in 1964 at the IBSA Annual Meeting Tuesday night. Sharp has served as mentor and guide for generations of young African American pastors in the city. He also has a long history as a groundbreaker and advocate with IBSA and Southern Baptists.
Sharp received a standing ovation as he ascended the platform to receive a plaque from IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams. He was joined by 10 pastors he has mentored.
“I had no idea the journey I’d be taking down through the years,” Sharp said, describing briefly the early years as his church joined the Chicago Metropolitan Baptist Association and the SBC. Sharp became a familiar figure, serving on the board and as president twice, and speaking in churches across the state during the Civil Rights era and after.
Sharp credited his wife, Loralee, for serving with him across six decades.
Sean Stevenson, pastor of Elmwood Park Community Church, was honored as bivocational pastor of the year.
Bivo pastor named
Almost seven years into his ministry in Chicagoland, Sean Stevenson was honored as bivocational pastor of the year. Stevenson and his wife, Lydia, were IMB missionaries to Poland before they returned to the states. The couple targeted Chicago for church planting because of the Polish-speaking population. What they got is church that has become multilingual as Hispanic residents moved into the area.
Elmwood Park Community Church has a vibrant food bank ministry among its outreach. Many who attend their worship services, where sermons are translated into multiple languages in real by online programs, first came to through the food distribution.
Stevenson also works as a chaplain for Corporate Chaplains of America. “What started out as a search for a job to make ends meet has actually made me a better pastor,” Stevenson said. “I have the great joy of pastoring the church where we have been six and half years, but also interact with 800 people at eight or nine companies.”
Munton elected IBSA President
Doug Munton, pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, was elected president of IBSA without opposition. Munton has been active in IBSA and Southern Baptist life across many years including previously serving two terms as president of IBSA. He has served FBCO since 1995. Munton succeeds Carlton Binkley who filled the post briefly after the resignation of former president Michael Nave. Nave left to start a new ministry. Munton was elected to a one-year term. He will be eligible to run for a second one-year term.
Matt Philbrick was elected recording secretary, after serving as assistant recording secretary. Philbrick is an associate pastor for student ministry at First Baptist Church of Ramsey.
In business on day one, messengers welcomed 11 new churches into cooperation with IBSA and dismissed four that had had no contact for five years or expressed a desire to withdraw.
Messengers will again take up business on Wednesday, with votes on budgets for all three IBSA entities, constitutional changes, resolutions on a variety of cultural issues, and election of two more officers.
The commemoration of the centennial years for both Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message will begin Wednesday night with special guest Jeff Iorg, the recently elected President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee.