• Contact
  • Return to IBSA
  • Advertise Through Us
  • Subscribe
  • E-Reader

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • QuickLinks
    • E-Reader
    • Subscribe
    • Baptist Press
    • Resource Magazine
  • News
    • Corona Virus
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Religious Liberty
  • Mission
    • Illinois Churches
    • Church Planting
    • Missions
    • Evangelism
  • In Focus
    • Longform Articles
  • Columns
    • Nate Adams
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
  • Leaders
    • Pat’s Playbook
    • Fresh Ideas
    • iLead
    • Devotional

Teens celebrate AWSOM in an unusual year

November 30, 2020 By Leah Honnen

Jacksonville | Tie-dye, popcorn, friendship bracelets, pizza, karaoke, ice cream, sardines (the game, not the food), and of course, solid Bible teaching. Oh, and no sleep. In this year of social-distance, it was essential. And it was definitely AWSOM.

This was my first year as a chaperone for the teen girls’ conference IBSA hosts each November. (The acronym stands for Amazing Women Serving Our Maker.) I am so thankful for the chance to serve God here. That “here” was different for each church group, since we did not meet at the IBSA Building due to the pandemic. For us, our group of eight girls and eight ladies met in the fellowship hall of our church, Lincoln Avenue Baptist in Jacksonville (pictured above). Across Illinois, 321 students and leaders checked in to the event, representing 33 churches.

We gathered around a television screen Friday evening and Saturday morning to hear from Carmen Halsey and the AWSOM team of Bible teachers, including Missy Branch, Haley Ahn, Carrie Jones, Betsy Bolick, and Savanna Wood. We joined Jonathan and Emily Martin, The Word in Worship, as they led us in singing “Speak, Oh Lord” and “Yet not I, but through Christ in me.”

My favorite part of the evening session was when Bolick and Wood, ministry partners from Small Enough Ministries, held a panel discussion of our students’ essential questions. Our girls could anonymously text questions to a phone number, and those would either be answered during the sessions or later during Bolick and Wood’s Car Ride Conversations on the IBSA AWSOM YouTube channel. Their questions ranged from, “What word is essential to your daily vocabulary?” to “What is our purpose in life?”

I chuckled when Savanna said her hand movements are essential to her daily vocabulary. But I also felt it deeply when one of the ladies answered that our purpose is not about the next “thing” in life. Oof. Talk about speaking truth. God shows me this truth time and again. Praise God that he uses every opportunity to reach our hearts for his will.

Our essential purpose is to glorify God in our current circumstance—to make much of God in our lives. We didn’t have to hear the word “essential” to understand that. It was made clear through each speaker, song, and activity, because each part pointed back to the essential, inerrant, word of God. Bottom line, these girls (and leaders) learned how essential the Bible is to our daily lives. May our prayer continue to be “Speak, oh Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory…”

Leah Honnen is administrative assistant for IBSA’s Communications Team.

Share This Story

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+

Coronavirus

  • News
  • Church Helps

Sexual Abuse Prevention & Ministry

Resources

  • Protect your children, protect your church
  • Caring Well
  • Related Stories

Tuesday Briefing

Briefing

Apology renews debate on gender roles

Featured Columns

Let me ask one question

Sammy Simmons

I left the deacons meeting one proud pastor. It had been a tiring Sunday evening filled with meetings and preaching. However, I went home greatly encouraged by how God was at work using our leaders. In our meeting, five deacons told stories about how they had shared the gospel with someone during the past month. […]

Each church thriving

Nate Adams

Recently our IBSA staff set aside a day for spiritual retreat and focus. Since the beginning of the year, our weekly chapel services have been focusing on the Bible passages that undergird key words and phrases in our new mission statement: “Deliver network value that inspires each church to thrive in health, growth, and mission.” […]

Serving the crucified Christ

Brent Cloyd

Filled with hate, ignorant of truth, lacking in faith, and void of righteousness, the Jews had plotted to kill Jesus. Rome took ownership of their plot and made a statement of their authority in the act of crucifixion. In the course of less than 24 hours, Jesus was arrested, accused, lied about, cursed, and beaten. […]

More Columns

Evangelicals blamed for vaccine fear, but pastors, leaders promote shots

Lisa Misner

Some in the media are warning the COVID-19 pandemic may last longer than necessary due to members of the evangelical community refusing a vaccine due to spiritual convictions or uncertainty regarding vaccine safety. An article headlined “How white evangelicals’ vaccine refusal could prolong the pandemic” appeared in the April 5 issue of the New York […]

News

Lake Sallateeska, Streator managers ready to welcome visitors

Leah Honnen

IBSA’s new camp managers moved to Illinois when many COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, limiting to a very small number the people they met in their first months at Lake Sallateeska and Streator. But they’ve used the last few months to prepare for a camp comeback this summer. At Lake Sallateeska, Manager Brock Vandever […]

All-time low membership: What does it mean?

IBSA Board adopts new statements, budget

More News Stories

Mission

Mission teams hit the road after COVID hiatus

Meredith Flynn

Ken Schultz hadn’t performed in nearly a year when he dusted off his suspenders for a mission trip to Africa. The pastor of Crosswinds Church in Plainfield and long-time entertainer recently traveled to Kenya with a mission team to share the gospel with schoolkids. Schultz wowed the crowd with juggling feats and sleight of hand […]

Replanting season: Young churches embrace opportunities for growth and new ministry

Anxious? Don’t miss your shot!

More Mission Stories

  • Blog
  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns
  • Leaders

Copyright © 2021 · Website by Megaphone Designs