Most of us only have a handful of people who have known us in more than one season of life. These are the few friends who can remember our awkward adolescent years, as well as milestones like weddings and birth announcements. I’m thankful Nate and Beth Adams are in that category for me.
Nate Adams officiates the marriage ceremony of Meredith Day and Chris Flynn.
I knew them first as dear friends of my parents after we all relocated to Georgia—my family from Tennessee and the Adamses from Illinois. I babysat their three sons, each so kind and bright even as kids. Their family gave ours a sense of steadiness as we all learned a new city together.
Later, they encouraged me as a college student, sending care packages full of my favorite things. I interned for two summers in Nate’s ministry area at the North American Mission Board, learning about communications from people who were learning from him.
Then, in 2009, I interviewed for a position at the Illinois Baptist State Association, and the Adamses’ home state became my own. Again, they were a steady presence in a time of transition. They showed me around Springfield, including my first trip to the Illinois State Fair. Before I moved in, Beth went to my first apartment to make sure it passed the smell test. (It did!) And at work, Nate’s consistency and integrity were instantly noticeable, even to someone young enough then that quieter leadership qualities could have easily gone unnoticed.
His steadiness grounded IBSA, and my place in it. From the beginning, I was proud to be an Illinois Baptist because the direction we were headed as an association of churches was clear. Our mission was to shine a gospel light throughout Illinois. And Nate’s love for IBSA churches was always evident. I have rarely heard him talk about Illinois pastors and churches without his voice breaking a bit as he considered how God has moved and is still moving here.
I benefited from that clear-sightedness in my non-work life too. Nate and Beth both generously shared their wisdom as I approached several milestones, caring for me in some very big moments. A few years after I moved to Springfield, Nate was one of the officiants at my wedding. Around their dinner table a few years after that, my husband and I shared the news that we were expecting our first daughter.
Nate Adams zooms then-2-year-old Lucy Flynn around the kitchen.
Several times over the past 10 years, they have returned the babysitting favor. I have a photo of Nate zooming our Lucy, then 2, around the kitchen. (She’s wearing fairy wings Beth brought her, so it’s only appropriate that she’s flying.)
These memories have been turning in my mind ever since I heard Nate would be retiring after 20 years as IBSA Executive Director. I’m so glad Illinois Baptists, me included, have an opportunity to honor Nate, Beth, and their family with words of encouragement and so many shared memories.
If you’ve been an Illinois Baptist for any length of time, I’m sure you have been blessed by their sacrificial, servant-hearted leadership and love for the Lord and his church. Now, we have the chance to give honor where honor is due, and it is indeed due here. We can join with the apostle Paul, who wrote to the church at Philippi that he thanked God every time he remembered them, because of their partnership in the gospel (Phil. 1:3).
I’m thankful to God for enabling Nate and Beth to care well for my family and so many others. I’m thankful God equipped them for years of steady, faithful leadership, and for their commitment to bring others along in pursuit of our cooperative mission in Illinois.
Meredith Day Flynn is a wife and mother living in Springfield.