March 1, 2024 Illinois Baptist

REMEMBRANCE

Henry Blackaby

Experiencing God author P. 4

SBC NEWS

Under scrutiny

Did ‘Resurgence’ work? P. 6

IBSA CHURCHES

Growing healthier 2023 tallies show improvement P. 11 FOR

Emerson’s 6 reasons

He knows why you’re tired P.

mission

Jeff Iorg nomination is a game-changer

Nashville, Tenn. | If Southern Baptists believed in the “Hail Mary” pass—that long bomb to the endzone that, if caught, just might save the game—this would be ours.

Jeff Iorg will be nominated to head the beleaguered SBC Executive Committee after two and one-half years without a permanent President and CEO.

The surprise announcement came March 1, a week after the EC Search Committee promised yet another candidate and asked EC Trustees to set March 21 as the date for a special-called meeting in the Dallas metroplex. And it came one month after another candidate, later revealed as Georgia Baptist Convention Executive

Andrew Walker P. 15

Sandy Wisdom-Martin P. 10

Cheryl Dorsey P. 9

PLUS: Prayer tour sees opportunities in Evanston (above) Awakening among migrants in Uptown. P 7-9

The Illinois Baptist staff

Editor - Eric Reed

Graphic Designer - Kris Kell

Contributing Editor - Lisa Misner

Comm. Coordinator - Nic Cook

Graphics Assistant - Makayla Proctor Team Leader - Ben Jones

The general telephone number for IBSA is (217) 786-2600. For questions about subscriptions, articles, or upcoming events, contact the Illinois Baptist at (217) 391-3127 or IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org

The Illinois Baptist is seeking news from IBSA churches. E-mail us at IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org to tell us about special events and new ministry staff.

POSTMASTER: The Illinois Baptist is owned and published every month by the Illinois Baptist State Association, 3085 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, Illinois 62703-4440. Subscriptions are free to Illinois Baptists. Subscribe online at IBSA.org.

The BIG Baptist family album

Welcome to the family

Pray the news

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering focuses the spotlight on North American missions, especially church planting. Pray for God to point us to new mission fields and to raise up new church planters in Illinois.

CP giving at work

Transformation Church in South Chicago Heights affiliated with IBSA at the Annual Meeting. Autry Watkins, originally from East Orange, New Jersey, has pastored the church plant since 2017. The church reaches into its neighborhood with lots of kids’ ministries, including VBS.

“I’d just read in John 4 where it says the fields are white unto harvest…. So right then and there, that was the name given to the church—Campo Blanco, which in English is White Field,” said NAMB church planter Jefferson Hernandez. He and his wife, Carol, are planting in Sterling, Va., which is suddenly filling with immigrants from Central and South America.

Total giving by IBSA churches as of 1/31/24 $485,946

2024 budget goal to date: $477,035

2024 CP budget goal: $6 million

Barber to visit

Last June 13, the day Dr. Bart Barber was elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention for a second annual term, I invited him to come to Illinois. Throughout his first term I had respected his candor and transparency in speaking to the many complex issues and challenges facing the national SBC today, and I wanted to give Illinois Baptists an opportunity to meet Dr. Barber and interact with him personally.

I had also learned through mutual acquaintances that Dr. Barber is a big fan of both Abraham Lincoln history, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball. So I was optimistic he would say yes. We’ve now scheduled that “Meet the President” event for Tuesday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. including lunch, at the IBSA Building. Please come!

The timing of this event is significant. Less than two months later, the national Southern Baptist Convention will be hosted in nearby Indianapolis, on June 11-12. Messengers from churches across our nation will hear reports and consider actions on a variety of vital issues, ranging from sex abuse prevention to women and pastoral ministry to the criteria for churches to remain cooperating with the Southern Baptist Convention. There will also be a report on the effects of the “Great Commission Resurgence” actions that have reshaped much of the cooperation between the North American Mission Board and Baptist state conventions over the past 15 years.

And who knows what else may come up in Indianapolis?

Last year was perhaps the most participative engagement by church messengers from the SBC convention floor that I have ever witnessed. The Baptist Faith and Message statement, unchanged since 2000, was amended and immediately voted on, without referral to a study committee. Saddleback Church, one of the SBC’s largest, was removed from SBC affiliation over the practice of women serving as pastors. Additional churches were removed due to their handling of sexual abuse matters. And next year, there will be the added drama of a new SBC President being elected to succeed Dr. Barber.

That’s why I’m hoping as many Illinois Baptists as possible will come to the April 16 event, to hear from Dr. Barber’s heart and experience as SBC President, and to engage with him and with fellow Illinois Baptists on the significant issues Southern Baptists are facing today.

Why come to meet the SBC President?

Too often even well-meaning Baptists can develop opinions based on hearsay, or social media posts, or even distorted or incomplete information. We can jump to conclusions or have our emotions stirred against others in ways that threaten our unity on the essential truths of the Bible and our cooperation in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Those two hallmarks of Baptist cooperation—a deep commitment to biblical doctrine and a passionate pursuit of worldwide missions—are what bind our diverse churches together across geography and across generations. No wonder these become the targets of the enemy’s attacks. If we divide into factions over what we believe or over how to do missions together, we will be tempted to drift apart rather than pull together. I pray this will not be where we find ourselves as we approach the 100th anniversary of the original Baptist Faith and Message as well as the Cooperative Program, both birthed in 1925.

I don’t want to exaggerate the importance of any single event or gathering, including the ones scheduled for April 16 or June 11-12. I simply want to communicate why I’ve invited our SBC President to come to Illinois this spring, and why it’s important that we all ask good questions and gain informed understandings about the matters that are before us today.

I hope you will come Meet the President in Springfield on April 16!

Nate Adams is executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association. Respond at IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org.

NEWS

FROM THE FRONT: IORG NOM PROMISES UNITY

Continued from page 1

Director Thomas Hammond, withdrew his name from consideration near the end of the process. At that point, it appeared head of SBC operations, with its financial woes, dismissal debates, and remaining abuse-related difficulties, was a job nobody wanted—or would risk taking.

Iorg has stepped up when desperately needed, even as he nears the end of his 20-year tenure as President of Gateway Seminary, a retirement planned for the end of the current academic year.

“The SBC is blessed to have him available to step in and serve at this pivotal time,” IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams said as the name was announced.

“He brings experience as a church planter, a pastor, a state convention executive director, and a national entity president,” Adams said. “He has navigated significant organizational change and adversity, as he will in the role for which he is now nominated, and he has consistently led with vision, integrity, and effectiveness.”

Iorg served mostly on the West Coast, frontier territory for Southern Baptists, where for two decades he has warned brethren on the opposite end of the country of the cultural challenges coming their way.

Iorg has become an expert in effecting change in

this cultural climate. Most recently, he led the vision for relocation of the Golden Gate Seminary from the San Francisco area to metro Los Angeles. The relocation for cost-effective and further reaching ministry was completed in 2016 with no debt. And under Iorg, the renamed Gateway Seminary increased its financial endowment from $16 million to $60 million.

“Jeff Iorg is who we have been praying for,” said search team chairman Neal Hughes of Alabama. Iorg’s “calm demeanor, communication skills, executive administrative ability and thorough knowledge of Southern Baptist life will be a God-send to the SBC.”

EC chairman and search team member Philip Robertson of Louisiana called Iorg “a leader that all Southern Baptists can unite around.”

Iorg’s nomination comes after a tumultuous four years that started under the last EC CEO, Ronnie Floyd, over handling of sexual abuse claims by top denominational leaders, continued through a failed vote for Texas pastor Jared Wellman, the implosion of interim CEO Willie McLauren’s ministry as he was to be nominated for the post permanently, and in January, Hammond’s withdrawal near the end of his own nomination process.

In addition to his leadership abilities, Iorg gets high marks for his relational skills.

“I consider Jeff a personal friend and I was able to spend some time with him just a few days ago at the annual gathering of state convention executive directors,” Adams said. “As he addressed us there, I was reminded of his heart, his intellect, his conservative theology, and his leadership vision and skills.”

Adams said he expects Iorg to rely on his good sense of humor, as well.

EC takes disaffiliation, budget actions

In his final report to the SBC Executive Committee as president of the Convention, Bart Barber announced efforts to implement a new resolutions process. Barber reported, “I’m happy to say for the first time ever this year you will know what the proposed resolutions are for the SBC Annual Meeting well before we gather in Indianapolis.” He also noted a fifth session will be added to the SBC Annual Meeting on Tuesday evening to allow more time for business.

Members approved a recommended $190,250,000 Cooperative Program allocation budget for the upcoming 2024–25 fiscal year, down $5 million from the current 2023–24 budget year. Budget recommendations will go to messengers for approval at the SBC Annual Meeting in June.

The proposed SBC EC and SBC operations budget was approved at $10,235,000 and will go to messengers for final approval. This is an increase of nearly $2 million over the current budget year and is an acknowledged deficit budget due to current financial realities.

Dismissing uncooperative churches

Four churches were recommended by the Credentials Committee for disaffiliation:

→ Grove Road Baptist in Greenville, S.C. for “mishandling of an allegation of sexual abuse.”

→ Immanuel Baptist in Paducah, Ky. for “having a female lead pastor.”

→ West Hendersonville Baptist in Hendersonville, N.C. regarding sexual abuse.

Well-liked in Illinois

Iorg has become a friend in Illinois. A frequent speaker on leading church change, the pastor and author has addressed the IBSA Annual Meeting, Priority Women’s Conference, the IBSA Leading Change Conference in Chicagoland, and the Midwest Leadership Summit on several occasions, including in January 2024.

His pioneering perspective has resonated in Illinois, where lessons from church planting in the Northwest seemed especially applicable. So did his service as head of the Northwest Baptist Convention in Washington and Oregon, where he led a 30% increase in giving to the Cooperative Program.

Iorg also won fans with stories from his decade as team chaplain for the San Francisco Giants and stories connected to the three World Series rings he received. A slight man, Iorg won respect in the locker room by caring about the players, in particular their marriages and families, a characteristic he has carried into all his ministry teams.

Former Northwest Baptist Convention associate executive director Stan Albright referred to the “high expectations” Iorg has for staff while exhibiting “great faith in their performance.”

“He is confident, yet humble; focused, yet aware of his challenges; and a vision-caster, yet a team player,” Albright said.

All skills he will need to stabilize denominational operations in his new front office, if he is elected.

Iorg (rhymes with “forge”) will be introduced formally to EC Trustees with a vote held in executive session March 21 at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Iorg and his wife, Ann, were married in 1980. They have three children and five grandchildren.

→ New Hope Baptist in Gastonia, N.C. due to lack of financial participation for at least five years.

Churches have until 30 days prior to the SBC Annual Meeting to appeal the recommendation. Fewer than 20 churches have been disaffiliated since the Credentials Committee was established in 2019.

Possible new abuse guardian

The Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) chair Josh Wester announced a proposal to EC trustees Feb. 19 to start a new independent non-profit—Abuse Response Commission (ARC)—to handle abuse reform within the SBC.

With ARC comes a permanent home for abuse reform in the SBC. ARC would not be a Southern Baptist

entity and not part of the Cooperative Program allocation structure. A funding stream is unclear, with $2.5 million is needed to launch.

“Given the current legal and financial challenges facing the SBC and the Executive Committee, the formation of a new independent organization is the only viable path that allows progress toward abuse reform to continue unencumbered and without delay,” the North Carolina pastor said.

ARC’s incorporators are Wester; SC pastor Marshall Blalock (who led the ARITF until his resignation two months into the term), Alabama attorney Melissa Bowen, Mississippi pastor Brad Eubank, Missouri pastor Jon Nelson, and Oklahoma pastor Mike Keahbone who plans to be nominated for SBC President in June.

—With info from Baptist Press and TAB Media

the briefing

In vitro debate

AL: Embryos are ‘children’

The Alabama state legislature moved quickly to enshrine a February court ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos are “children” for the purposes of a wrongful death lawsuit. The decision reverses two lower court rulings. The suit involved three couples whose embryos, created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a fertility clinic in Mobile, were accidentally destroyed.

Prosecution for destruction of embryos is possible, although the Alabama Attorney General has promised not to prosecute. The legislation, which the governor plans to sign, would protect the couples and the operators of fertility clinics.

In the majority opinion, Justice Jay Mitchell said both the plaintiffs and the defendants agree on key facts in the case.

“All parties to these cases, like all members of this Court, agree that an unborn child is a genetically unique human being whose life begins at fertilization and ends at death,” Mitchell wrote. “The parties further agree that an unborn child usually qualifies as a ‘human life,’ ‘human being,’ or ‘person,’ as those words are used in ordinary conversation and in the text of Alabama’s wrongful-death statutes.”

The defendants (the clinic and its parent hospital) and several briefs filed on their behalf argued that the court should create an exception to Alabama’s wrongful-death statutes. Allowing liability in the case of extrauterine children would bring major complications and additional costs to the IVF process and the storage of embryos, they argued.

IL: Frerichs warns about IVF losses

Immediately after the Alabama ruling, Illinois state treasurer Michael Frerichs penned a column for the Chicago Tribune calling IVF “the new battlefield for abortion rights.” Frerichs told the story of his twin sons’ births last summer through in vitro fertilization. His wife, Erica, has endometriosis which makes conception difficult. Frerichs lauded Illinois legislative action which prevented lawsuits based on the “personhood” of a fertilized embryo. At the same time, he decried pending action in Florida and Missouri which would basically replicate the legal stance of Alabama’s ruling which says frozen embryos are children.

SBC OBITUARIES

Henry Blackaby, 88

Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God, died Feb. 10 at age 88. Considered a spiritual statesman by many, the quiet pastor from Canada had a ministry that reached from pastors, missionaries, and lay people, to CEOs, U.S. presidents and world leaders.

Blackaby’s famous summary of how to know and do the will of God—“watch to see where God is working and join Him”—has guided numerous people, churches, and ministries to join God’s work.

Blackaby served as founder and president emeritus of Blackaby Ministries International, an organization built to help people experience God. He coauthored the modern classic Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, a 13-week Bible study that gave Southern Baptists a new appreciation for the work of the Holy Spirit. His other acclaimed works include Spiritual Leadership, Fresh Encounter, and A God-Centered Church.

Blackaby, a native Canadian, was pastoring a church in southern California when a Canadian pastor approached him and asked him to consider returning to Canada and becoming pastor of a small, dying church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

June Whitlow, 86

June Whitlow, former senior associate executive director of national Woman’s Missionary Union, died Feb. 20. She was 86.

Born in Arkansas and raised in Illinois, she was a member of every WMU age-level missions discipleship group in her local church. Her father was a Baptist minister, and her mother actively served in local, associational, and state WMU organizations.

After graduation from Blue Mountain College, Whitlow taught high school in Vandalia, Illinois. During the summers she did field work for Illinois WMU.

She recalled for Facets of a Diamond by Inez Taylor (an early history of Illinois WMU), “I received valuable experience, doing everything from directing GA Camp at Lake Sallateeska to teaching mission study classes….I am very grateful for my home, my mother, my church and Illinois Woman’s Missionary Union—all of which had a significant role in shaping my life and helping me to become what I am today.”

She served with national WMU in Birmingham for 36 years, retiring as senior associate executive director. She is survived by her sister, Nancy Whitlow, of Alton, Illinois.

IB staff, with The Alabama Baptist

He and his wife, Marilynn, answered the call to serve Faith Baptist Church in Saskatoon. Over the next 12 years, the once-dying church grew from 10 members to a thriving congregation that launched 38 mission churches as well as the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary and College.

It was his spiritual work leading that church that Blackaby developed into Experiencing God, with co-author Claude V. King. Since its release in 1990, Experiencing God has sold more than 8 million copies and been translated into more than 75 languages.

After pastoring Faith Baptist Church, Henry Blackaby served as director of missions in Vancouver for two years before moving to the United States to become the director of prayer and spiritual awakening at the North American Mission Board.

Blackaby was born in 1935 in British Columbia. He was preceded in death by his wife, Marilynn, and survived by their five children and 14 grandchildren. Much of the work of Blackaby Ministries is continued today by his son and co-author Richard.

—Carol Pipes, Lifeway

Rhonda Kelley, 72

New Orleans | Rhonda Kelley, 72, wife of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary president emeritus Chuck Kelley and a pioneer in women’s ministry, died Feb. 17 after a long battle with cancer.

During Chuck’s tenure as president, Rhonda directed the women’s ministry certificate program, taught as an adjunct professor, spoke on international and national platforms, hosted the “Word for Women” television broadcast, authored numerous books and contributed to countless publications.

Rhonda served as First Baptist New Orleans’ women’s ministry director and filled leadership roles for the Louisiana Baptist State Convention. At the denominational level, Kelley served on the Women’s Ministry Network, Lifeway’s Bible Study for Life advisory board, and the Leadership Training Consultant for Ministry Grid.

Kelley received a Doctorate at the University of New Orleans and served 15 years as Director of Speech Pathology at Ochsner Medical in New Orleans.

She moved to the NOBTS campus as a child when her father Bob Harrington, once known as the Chaplain of Bourbon Street, came as a student. She returned to the NOBTS campus as a student wife after she and Chuck married in 1974, then stayed as he joined the faculty in 1983 and then as president in 1996.

—Marilyn Stewart, NOBTS

Photo courtesy of BMBA

What does it mean to be political?

Biblical thoughts for believers headed to the polls

(Editor’s note: Much about America’s direction will be decided this month with Super Tuesday on March 5 and Illinois’ primary election on March 19. Andrew Walker published a new treatise on current issues for the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Walker is associate dean of school of theology for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He grew up in Jacksonville, Illinois.)

When things seem dark, we must remember that God is in control. That may sound like one of the most obvious and simple truths of Christianity. But oftentimes, we can forget it or overlook it, especially when it comes to the topic of politics. When we look around our world, it is easy to see why the Bible refers to Satan as the “god of this world” who “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Cor. 4:4). There are so many things we can point to in our society right now and think to ourselves, “This is not how things are supposed to be.” If we’re honest, pushing back against the darkness can seem futile.

But here’s what we must etch into the deepest recesses of our heart: God is in absolute control over everything—over this world, governments, candidates, platforms, and parties. Nothing is happening that God is not using in his sovereignty to bring about his will (Gen. 50:20).

God is in control of the nations. They belong to him. Why? Because the earth is the Lord’s (Ps. 24:1). No matter where we go, what happens, or who is ruling, everything is underneath God’s ultimate sovereignty. Consider Israel when it was exiled into Babylon. Israel could have feared that it would be overtaken and stamped out of existence. But what does God say to do while they are in exile?

In Jeremiah 29:4-7, God says for Israel to get rooted: to build houses, plant gardens, and build families. In other words, while in exile—in a state of things where they are not in control—God calls them back to his original plan and creation mandate. Israel’s seeking of Babylon’s welfare was going to look extremely ordinary. It was not going to be revolutionary. It was going to look like what God intended from the very beginning: be fruitful, multiply, steward the world around you.

The picture in Jeremiah comes closer to what it means to be “political” than volunteering for your local political organization. Politics is how we arrange ourselves in society for the sake of justice and mutual benefit. In this way, politics is very ordinary. It consists of the small, daily actions of citizens stewarding the parts of creation order that are meant to be honored: life, family, and engagement in society. Keep in mind that this command was given by Jeremiah to Israel while the Israelites were in exile, meaning they were not the ones in charge, politically speaking.

But in exile, guess what? Babylon still belonged to God, as all other nations do. Babylon exists in a world created by God, so the world or political systems cannot rewrite God’s creation order. In a way,

Israel was to tell Babylon the truth of living in a world created by God. Babylon was not free to do whatever it wanted or to claim authority that did not belong to it. Jesus says the same thing in a different way in Matthew 22. He says to render to God what belongs to God and to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. The implication of this is that Caesar can claim some authority, but it cannot claim ultimate authority. Caesar is under God’s sovereign rule.

The same is true of the nations today. But that brings us to an important consideration: What are Christians to do while in their own earthly nations? Should we expect to always be on the losing side? Or the winning side? Christians are not promised total victory or total defeat as history progresses. We’re called to be faithful and to speak the truth, in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2).

We’re to be engaged. We’re to be citizens, but citizens who understand that their primary citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). In the same way that Jeremiah called Israel to seek the welfare of the city, we, too, are to seek the welfare of the United States, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, or any nation where we reside with the type of love that God meant for us to give—not an ultimate love, but a love born of gratitude for the place where God has providentially placed us (Acts 17:26).

Metaphorically speaking, every country in the world is some type of Babylon. That is not meant to be a pejorative about our country; it is to recognize that while politics is not everything, it is not insignificant, either. We should be paying more attention to politics than we often are. Politics has real-life implications for the world we live in and the conditions of society that our neighbors encounter. If we are to love our neighbors, paying attention to and being involved in politics is just one way to do that. In doing so, we want to avoid the extremes of either political obsession or political apathy.

Politics is a calling to be engaged within a world that belongs to God, not ultimately to princes, presidents, or prime ministers.

capital watch

Proposed legislation

Springfield | Illinois | Lawmakers rushed to meet the 2024 spring session filing deadline submitting bills that would make parents guilty of child abuse for denying their minor children gender modification treatment and abortions, and one would legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Another would provide tax credits to health care providers and public-school teachers who move to the state from one with laws deemed more “restrictive” to their profession by the standards of Illinois state law.

Define trans treatment denial as child abuse. House Bill 4876, would amend the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, to provide “that ‘abused child’ means a child whose parent or immediate family member, or any person responsible for the child’s welfare… denies the child access to necessary medical care, including, but not limited to, primary care services, abortion services, or gender-affirming services.”

The Abortion/Gender-Affirming Care bill was introduced by Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D) and was referred to the House Rules Committee.

Legalize assisted suicide. SB 3499, the End-of-Life Options Act, would authorize a “qualified” patient with a terminal disease to request a physician prescribe life-ending medication. The act would become effective six months after becoming law.

It is co-sponsored by Sen. Linda Holmes (D) and Sen. Laura Fine (D) and was referred to the Senate Assignments Committee.

Tax credits for abortion supporters.

HB 5152 would amend the Illinois Income Tax Act to provide a $500 tax credit to a healthcare provider who moves from a state “with more restrictive abortion laws or more restrictive laws concerning the access to lawful health care, or (iii) is a qualified cohabitant of a person” to Illinois. It would also provide a $500 tax credit to a public-school teacher or “qualifying cohabitants of public-school teachers who permanently relocate to the State from any other State as a result of content-based restrictions on educational materials imposed by the taxpayer’s state of origin.”

The bill was submitted by Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) and referred to the House Rules Committee.

The deadline to submit new legislation was Friday, February 9.

—Lisa Misner

Report due: SBC reorg in 2010 scrutinized

Nashville, Tenn. | A report to be brought by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force this June at the SBC annual meeting could be considered as one 15 years in the making.

The group was formed last summer at the New Orleans gathering of Southern Baptists and has since spent considerable time in reviewing documents, conducting interviews and holding discussions over the impact of the GCR.

Task Force chair Jay Adkins told Baptist Press that the group’s work has been kept close to the vest on purpose. “I will say that we have read an enormous amount of material and are knee-deep in interviewing individuals who were involved with the formation and implementation of the GCR report,” said Adkins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Westwego, La., and current SBC first vice president.

By spring 2009, after steady years of growth, SBC membership had begun to decline after reaching 16.3 million in 2006. Baptisms had been in a freefall for 10 years. Worship and small group attendance remained steady, but would soon be lagging as well.

Southeastern Seminary President Daniel Akin delivered a chapel sermon titled “Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence,” stirring chatter on the blogosphere. “There had been conversations for a while, months,” Akin said recently. “My message was a kind of call to arms.”

A GCR declaration emerged that featured signers such as then-Lifeway President Thom Rainer and Southern Seminary President Al Mohler who called it “a good faith effort to provide direction

for Southern Baptists moving into the future.” Non-signers questioned its tone, focus and clarity.

“Overlap and duplication in our associations, state and national conventions is strangling us!” Akin said at the time.

At the SBC Annual Meeting that June, messengers overwhelmingly approved the GCR Task Force. The Task Force provided seven recommendations to messengers prior to the 2010 annual meeting in Orlando. Following debate, they were adopted by an estimated 3-to-1 margin.

Perhaps no entity was as affected by the GCR as the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Part of their proposals was dissolving the cooperative agreements between NAMB and state conventions in order to “reprioritize” $50.6 million. Of course, that also greatly impacted state conventions in pioneer areas while providing the fuel for NAMB’s church-planting emphasis.

Art Toalston, former editor of Baptist Press, recently posted an extended “10-year evaluation” of the GCR and its impact at arttoalston.com. He called the lengthy article “the most important piece of Baptist journalism I have ever written.”

A notable critic of the GCR’s effects is Chuck Kelley, who led New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary as president for 23 years. His book, The Best Intentions: How a Plan to revitalize the SBC Accelerated Its Decline, was released last year.

Kelley did not oppose the Task Force recommendations in 2010 because, “I did not want to be viewed in any way as opposed to the need for a Great Commissions resurgence,” he told Toalston in an email exchange. “I simply could not support

the approach taken by the task force,” resolving to “assess its impact ten years down the road.”

—Scott Barkley, Baptist Press

Two more in race

Two more candidates appear likely to be nominated for SBC President at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. It’s now a four-man race.

Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Allen pastored in Texas for two decades before joining the Memphis-based independent school. He outlined a three-point platform: focus on evangelism, support for passage of the Law amendment to the SBC constitution, and codification of only men as pastors.

ALLEN MOORE

Tennessee pastor Jared Moore is running for SBC President again, according to posts at two blogs. Moore previously ran in Baltimore in 2014 on a “small church’’ platform. He lost to Ronnie Floyd. In this round, Moore will face Allen, North Carolina Pastor Clint Pressley, and Mike Keahbone of Oklahoma.

—IB Staff

Illinois Baptist

MISSION

Growing immigrant populations

With 1.8 million residents born outside the United States—that’s 14% of its population—Illinois has more chances than most states to reach the peoples of the world starting right here. Going to the ends of the earth has never been easier, as the people from the ends of the earth are coming here.

Consider this example from one language group: The Latino community is growing fast in Illinois. At 2.1 million people, the largest minority group equals 17% of the state population. All but one of Illinois’ 102 counties reported a growing Latino population in the 2020 Census.

In metro Chicago, 400,000 people (15.7%) speak a language other than English at home. The top six, according to Census data are Spanish, Mandarin, Polish, Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu.

Baptists are at work among many people groups: 20 different languages are spoken in Baptist churches in Chicagoland every Sunday. But there is much more to be done. The gospel opportunities we have in Illinois to reach the world’s population can be told in these three stories.

→ IMB targets USA. A new collaborative ministry led by Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board is helping to maximize our seed sowing among the peoples who have come here. This is a new cooperative effort available to every church. (Starts p 7.)

→ Migrants flood Uptown worship services. This Chicago church has reached people of many nations throughout its 50-year history. But as immigrants amassed in the city, a weekday outreach exploded. (Photo right, story on page 8.)

→ Rolling prayer for people groups. The annual Chicagoland prayer tour reveals unreached and under-evangelized peoples at every stop. What may seem commonplace on a tour of the city highlights tremendous global opportunity for Illinois congregations. (Photo from Evanston on page 1, more photos and story on page 9.)

Doorstep diaspora

Baptists reach the world as it comes to our cities and our front porches

The call to reach all nations, people, languages, and tribes with the gospel has always united Southern Baptists. Today that call includes reaching other nations that come to North American soil. With a renewed commitment to assist churches in connecting with internationals close by, the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, Send Relief, and Woman’s Missionary Union are uniting to better serve churches focusing on the missionary task in every community.

John Barnett, director of the diaspora mobilization team, is leading this Southern Baptist partnership. Though Barnett is a joint staff member of IMB and NAMB, the diaspora ministries will be supported cooperatively by several partnering entities through the Diaspora Missions Collective, with representatives from SBC entities plus seminaries, state conventions and associations. Many of the ministries will be supported through gifts to the Cooperative Program,

which remains a critical way to fund reaching the lost with the gospel.

“The nations are on the move,” Barnett said. “The U.S. has never been more interconnected to other people groups, yet we remain culturally apart.”

Barnett explained that the renewed commitment to reach immigrants, international students, and refugees shows a unity of Southern Baptists around the missionary task. Most people are aware of the internationals moving into their communities and they are willing to get to know them, be a part of their lives and, most importantly, share the gospel. What they need most is training and equipping to do those things.

“We see the Diaspora Missions Collective as an opportunity to cast vision, mobilize and equip North American churches to not only engage people groups globally, but also fulfill the core missionary tasks among diaspora people groups

Uptown Church rides gospel wave

It started as a weekday worship service to their community, then it exploded as migrants arrived in Chicago.

“We’re riding the wave,” Pastor Nick Kim said of the swell of new residents who turned out for a Wednesday morning service. Kim referred to the surfing language used by famed pastor and church planter Henry Blackaby to describe a move of the Holy Spirit in his Canadian community. Uptown had a similar surge when the city suddenly became home to migrants from the southern U.S. border, and many showed up in his lakefront community.

Two years earlier, a Spanish-language congregation that had been gathering in the neighborhood lost its meeting space. Their pastor approached Uptown about using its facility, a stately Gothic building on the corner of West Wilson and North Sheridan in the historic neighborhood. With a neon sign outside and colorful banners with the name of Jesus in many languages inside, Uptown has unique structure built on the “Akron Model” from the early 1900s. The building has a dividing wall between the sanctuary and the fellowship hall that opens to double capacity.

That became important when the weekday worship service became two, in English and Spanish, and at the peak more than 500 people packed the space for many weeks.

“It was more than our building could handle,” said Kim, formerly a leader in the local association who was called to pastor the church three years ago. “The number was overwhelming. At the same time, the Lord reminded us about the need for discipleship.”

Kim knew that their opportunity to reach migrants might not last “because they are transitory.”

“We knew could share the gospel, and plant the seed, and prepare them to grow as disciples later on as they moved on,” Kim said. “While they were here living in shelters for about six months, they were hearing the gospel.”

That was the church’s intent from the beginning. As associate pastor Mark Jones described it, Kim and the elders were clear that the ministry must be a work of Uptown, not merely offering meeting rooms to a church planter.

“Our church members now have ownership of this new work of God,” Jones said. “Initially, our members didn’t understand this service was an extension of UBC, but now they do. We have be-

who reside in our own neighborhoods,” Barnett said.

“Our service to internationals shows our interconnectivity as Southern Baptists,” he added.

He gave the example of an Afghani man named Ibrahim who was stranded at a subway station in New York City. Barnett called a Send Relief worker in the area. That worker, who was active in refugee ministries, was just a few blocks from the station and went quickly to help Ibrahim.

Within a few weeks, Ibrahim built relationships with Christians in the area. He got the aid he needed, and he also received access to the gospel. Ibrahim accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord and is now meeting with other believers at a NAMB church plant in New York.

As more internationals are reached with the gospel, more church plants will hopefully grow in North American cities. IMB missionaries and

alumni will provide their knowledge and experience of cross-cultural evangelism and can help to leverage their connections to the people groups overseas and long-term missionary presence among the nations.

“We’re just scratching the surface of how we use our relationships, geography, connections and ministries to build bridges to the gospel,” Barnett said. “What we see already is how God uses Southern Baptists’ cooperative spirit to bring out the best in us for His purposes.”

Globally, more than 114 million people are forcibly displaced. In the U.S., more than 46 million people were born in other countries. In addition, more than 1 million international students currently live in the U.S. This is part of a missiological shift that is only increasing each year. Barnett, along with SBC leaders, believes that Southern Baptists are uniquely equipped to reach the lost,

tween 12-15 of our members attending and serving at the service each Wednesday.”

At its peak above 500 in January, the church was giving fast food gift certificates to every attender. Even on snow days when kids were out of school, the church building was packed for the services of teaching and worship and testimonies. Uptown’s ministry has shifted now, offering a noontime meal five days a week for about 100 people, and a bilingual seminary student, Ariel Heredia from Logan Square, teaches messages heavy on discipleship.

“We may disagree how migrants got here, but they’re here and they need the gospel,” said Kim. “And that’s who we are—a church that accepts everyone.”

As the Uptown neighborhood sees a simultaneous wave of gentrification, Kim is looking to reach young professionals who are moving in as well. “We know how to reach the hungry who understand their need, but we have to reach the people who don’t know they have need because they have stuff,” Kim said. “They need the gospel too.”

—Eric Reed

both at home and to the uttermost parts of the world. The Diaspora Missions Collective will serve those who are ready to obediently take the gospel across cultural boundaries.

Training is a key role of the ministry. The Diaspora Missions Collective is building a collaborative platform of videos, webinars, training tools and best practices that churches and individuals can access free of charge. They are also offering regional, in-person training events and opportunities for dedicated groups to join cohorts who will unify around the purpose of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with internationals.

Find out more at dmcollective.org or contact info@dmcollective.org.

Leslie Peacock Caldwell is managing editor at the IMB.

D IASPORA continued from P. 7

JONES KIM

Prayer tour highights people groups

Chicagoland Baptists meet diaspora at every stop

BY CHERYL DORSEY

Chicagoland Baptists traveled to five ministry locations for the annual “Prayer Bus Tour” February 10. We asked that the Lord would “make us a blessing” as we prayed with and for pastors, churches, and their communities.

1. At the Orland Park campus of Ashburn Baptist Church, where the IBSA will host the 2024 Annual Meeting, Pastor Tommy Thompson is in the midst of a teaching series, “Lord Teach Us to Pray!” He’s shepherding his congregation through a revival of prayer this month, and this was the fertile backdrop for our visit. After praying for Pastor Thompson, on-site participants and prayer bus riders ‘prayer-walked’ the building. Many of us landed in the sanctuary, where we went to the altar praying over the prayer prompts the pastor shared with us, especially that pastors be pure and persevere in ministry.

2. At Jesus is the Life Church in Matteson, Pastor Paul Cartwright asked us to pray that they would “evangelize effectively.” The sanctuary was filled with prayer and praise as host church members and prayer bus participants “huddled together” throughout the building. Pastor Adron Robinson said, “It was an amazing day for prayer and partnership!”

3. At Chicagoland Baptists Rockwell Ministry Center, we stopped for lunch, toured the facility, and learned about the ministries that use the association’s facilities. Associational Executive Director Nathan Carter asked for growing participation by churches, relationships among pastors, and for Baptist Women to pray and meet needs.

4. Next, we were off to Evanston, where we met Pastor Tae Hwang and the crew from Beautiful Church, a young church plant, in the park adjacent to Noyes Cultural Arts building where they

hold their Sunday worship service. As a seminarian, Pastor Hwang, longed for “a church with a waterfall,” but the Lord has shaped the desires of his heart. Now he asked us to pray for God to open doors for the gospel to flow like water from Beautiful Church to those parched by sin and lostness.

5. Finally, we visited Bethel Romanian Baptist Church. With Pastor Valentin Popovici out of town, Assistant Pastor Peter Ordeanu greeted us. Nervously, I had culled a phrase from their Romanian language website to use in our program. While it looked like a motto, I wasn’t sure, and I prayed it wasn’t a mundane instruction on how to locate the restrooms. So, I asked Pastor Peter to read it to us in Romanian, and to share the English translation. It was “Bethel Church— “It is written, My House shall be called a House of Prayer.”

Clearly, God had a plan.

We didn’t realize until after our arrival, that 200 young people from other Romanian churches were heading to Bethel that night for a “Unity” conference and to hear the gospel. In addition to praying for the needs laid out by the Pastor Peter, we leaned into praying for the Unity youth meeting. We broke into prayer huddles with our Romanian brothers and sisters with them praying in Romanian, and us praying in English.

Days later, like Pastor Peter who thanked us for our visit and prayers for Bethel, brother Benjamin texted, “Thank you so much! The event that evening changed the lives of so many youth in Chicago and beyond. We appreciate your support and prayers!”

Cheryl Dorsey is prayer coordinator for Chicagoland Baptists. She and her husband, Pastor Rick Dorsey, serve Beacon Hill Missionary Baptist Church in South Chicago Heights.

Testimony from a coalminer’s daughter

Miners always filled the bottom of the lunch bucket with water so that if they were trapped underneath the ground, they would have water to live on for a couple days. And every night before my dad got on the elevator to ascend 200 feet to the top, he would throw out the water in his lunch bucket and fill it up with miner dollars, or pyrite disks. He wasn’t stealing. This was allowed by the coal mine.

These pyrite disks can only be found in one place in the United States, and that’s southern Illinois. And they’re usually about three or four inches in diameter. And every night, daddy would bring home those pyrite disks and he would clean them with a toothbrush. They’re pretty fragile.

One time there was a special offering at our church, and my dad pledged $1,000 to it.

One thousand dollars. You might as well have said a million dollars. We were poor. But my daddy had a plan using these miner dollars. Here’s what he did in his spare time—he crafted 100 tiny shovels, and he crafted 100 tiny picks out of wood. And he made 100 tiny replicas of miner dollars. Then, he created a display to put them on, along with tiny pieces of coal and a miner dollar. He spent hour after hour painstakingly making these hundred displays with incredible sacrifice.

plines of sacrifice and generosity. And that’s what the people of the Midwest did for me. WMU does that by making disciples of missions among every age group.

WMU was birthed at the request of the mission boards to work with mission societies and to systematically raise money for missions. And so WMU began the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. In our 135-year history, we always try to call Baptists to generosity. That tiny Southern Baptist church had 25 people who were passionate about Southern Baptist missions.

discipline of compassion in our lives.

He sold them for $10 each. He had made 100, and he was able to complete his $1,000 pledge to the special mission offering at our church. Who does that?! People who are committed to being on mission.

Together, we must pass on the missional disci-

Annie Armstrong was strong willed, to say the least. When the founder and head of the Woman’s Missionary Union heard that Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon was suffering in China for lack of financial support, she started a let-

In a recent webinar, I was asked, “What do you think is the benefit of WMU for the local church?” And as I prepared for that interview, I pulled out a notebook that I had written in when I was a teenager, when I was involved in a mission’s group in that tiny church in southern Illinois. And as a teenager, I wrote on the very first page an essay titled, “Why I am a tither.” That notebook made it through 45 years and nine moves, and it reminds me of people who invested in me and the powerful lessons that I learned from faithful Christ followers.

1. I learned that everything comes from God, and I have a responsibility to steward well that which was entrusted into my care.

2. I learned about gospel proclamation every Wednesday night after we met in my group, which was me and the pastor’s wife. We went out in the community and knocked on doors and witnessed. She taught me how to share my faith.

3. I learned a Christian worldview and that there was a whole world that God was at work in beyond the walls of my church.

4. I learned compassion. We did hands-on-ministry, and we nurtured the spiritual

March 3-10 at most SBC churches

ter writing campaign urging churches to pass the plate. One year she wrote 18,000 letters, pounding them out on a manual typewriter.

So renown was her tenacity for the cause that a similar offering for missions in the U.S. was eventually

5. I learned about prayer. I was taught what prayer is and how to pray according to God’s will and how to pray for our missionaries.

6. I developed a heart for the nations. I discovered that I was a part of something larger than my tiny community in southern Illinois.

7. I learned about leadership. WMU equipped me for leadership in my church and my association at the state level, at the national level. As a young adult, WMU leaders invited me to come along and to take responsibility. And when I failed, they encouraged me to try again.

8. WMU taught me to have a ready response, to listen for God’s call on my life. My continued involvement enables me to set my heart toward what one WMU leader called predetermined obedience. Whatever God asks, my answer is “yes.”

9. WMU gave me a passion for missions, to develop a missional lifestyle.

WMU seeks to come alongside the church and to help you accomplish the mission of God. Our desire is to see all age levels engaged, equipped, and motivated for missions. Would your church benefit if members knew about God’s work around the world through Southern Baptist missions? We can help. What would happen in your church if people were praying more, if they were giving more generously, if they were doing missions and they were telling others about Jesus? We can help.

We make disciples of Jesus who live on mission. That’s what we do. That’s all we do. And it is our sacred joy to do it in partnership with you.

For more resources and to give online, go to AnnieArmstrong.com

Or scan the code

renamed for her. Today it’s the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.

The Week of Prayer is March 3-10. The 2024 goal is $75 million to support special missions of the North American Mission Board.

(Editor’s note: At the recent Midwest Leadership Summit in Springfield, Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) national executive director-treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin shared her story of missions legacy and learning set by her father and the small Illinois Baptist church where she grew up. This column is taken from the transcript of her message.)

illinois voices

Mission dollars — This is a “miner dollar” display crafted by Sandy Wisdom-Martin’s father to raise mission support

IN FOCUS

Top IBSA churches in total baptisms

Mostly

good news

2023 Annual Church Profiles show marked recovery

ILLINOIS BAPTIST TEAM REPORT

The stories from two Illinois Baptist churches that have witnessed surges in baptisms say much about our recovery from the lows of the pandemic period measured most notably in 2020 and 2021. One church says they have added teaching opportunities that have resulted in salvations. Another church says they’re not doing much different than before, except to make baptism more prominent. And, of course, pastors of both churches credit a move of God’s spirit for a multiyear recovery that has produced notable renewal four years after forced closures.

The same may be said of all our churches, based on the totals from 2023 Annual Church Profiles, just tabulated and released: God is at work. With reports from 97% of IBSA churches, the highest percentage of reporting churches among all Baptist state conventions, the numbers show in many key categories churches are “this close” to full recovery. “Compared to 2022, baptisms are up significantly,” said IBSA Executive Director Nate

Adams. “The recovery coming out of covid continues. If you think about the upticks, especially in baptisms, the green (on the summary chart) is even more important than it looks.”

The bounce back in baptisms is a remarkable and encouraging statistic, with an increase of almost 30% in 2023 from the previous year. Dipping below 2,000 baptisms in 2021, churches reported their total numbers are now within 200 of pre-pandemic levels. Likewise, professions of faith have risen by just over 25% in the past year, and bettered the 2019 level by 57.

Morning worship attendance improved yearover-year with a nearly 12% increase. But the trek to 2019 peaks is slower and more decidedly uphill. The anecdotal observations that the people came back to church, just not as regularly, seems true across the board. Actual congregation size hasn’t shrunk that much, but the number of every-otherweek and monthly attenders has impacted overall tallies.

Even with the sizable bump in 2023, AM worship attendance remains 8,956 below 2019 levels on any given Sunday.

“We don’t have any silver bullets or a magic wand, but we want to help churches,” Adams said of the state association’s ministry that focuses on local churches’ health, growth, and mission.

For some churches, this challenging season prompted a renewed focus on the basics: We are Baptists. We share the gospel. We baptize. For one church, that has proven advantageous.

Redemption

he said. This also includes having towels, T-shirts, and shorts at the ready. Smith suggests shopping at secondhand stores to keep a ready supply on-hand on the cheap.

An invitation is offered at the end of every service, and they have three on Sunday mornings. “Why would I preach the gospel and not give an invitation?” asked Smith.

But reporting the yellow highlighted numbers on the chart, it is important to point out that the total number of IBSA churches declined

And that has positive impact across the board.

Robbey Smith planted Redemption Church in 2005. Over the last couple of years, by doing what he calls a few “pretty simple” things, the Johnston City church has seen more than 100 baptisms each year.

“We started focusing and celebrating salvations and baptisms,” said the pastor. “There is joy in the presence of God when one sinner repents.”

The church, which averages over 500 on Sunday mornings, leaves the baptistry filled all the time. “Just preach like somebody is going to get saved and be ready to baptize them,”

The church also hosts a Bring-AFriend Day on Palm Sunday, providing a free lunch with food trucks in the church parking lot. They use the Who’s Your One evangelism tool to help members prepare for the day. Leaders do a sixweek follow-up with attendees. The day “will generate onethird of baptisms for the year,” Smith said. Smith also believes it’s important for kids to be part of the service when the baptisms take place. He schedules the baptisms at the end of the service so they can come back in and sit with their parents to watch. “When they see baptisms, it creates questions and gospel opportunities for parents.”

There’s work to be done

As baptisms and worship attendance grows, total numbers in membership reveal areas for improvement. Total membership in IBSA churches was down 2.2% year-over-year, and resident membership dropped 3.4%.

Waldo Baptist Metropolis

“It’s all the Lord and his goodness.” That’s what Pastor Trad York said when asked what he thought was key to Waldo Missionary Baptist Church’s baptizing 25 new believers in 2023.

by 16, to 876. That’s a drop of 1.8% from 2022 to 2023. It’s also a decline from 2019’s total of 941. Fully half the decline occurred during the pandemic, as some of IBSA’s smallest churches did not survive Covid. And as we all did in one way or another, some churches reassessed their place in the network, and decided to opt out.

The improving numbers in professions of faith, baptisms, and Sunday School attendance reveal a corps of churches committed to the core of Southern Baptist life—876 strong in Illinois.

Most notable in the ACP section of growing ministries is the impact on Bible studies. “Other” forms of Bible study, beyond Sunday school, grew 40% in one year, surpassing 2019 levels. The season of experimenting, pilot projects, zoom meetings, and alternative gatherings has produced an openness to new Bible studies, both for leaders and participants.

IBSA churches report comeback in significant areas

“I don’t think we’re doing anything different than what we’ve been doing,” said York. “We’ve been preaching the word of God, preaching salvation through God alone. Our members are doing one-on-one evangelism at work and school leading people through the gospel.” But new group studies are also proving effective.

The Metropolis church, located in the southern tip of the state, saw 24 baptisms in 2022 and 8 in 2021. It averages 300 people in worship on Sunday mornings.

York said the church still meets on Sunday nights, but “has been changing things up a little bit.” Instead of an evening worship service, they’ve been doing small group Bible studies. “We find that people are interested in studies that pertain to their lives,” he noted. “Marriage was one popular topic.”

York believes the studies are good at building discipleship and growing faith among new and old believers. In the last month, they’ve started a new study that he thinks might be most popular yet. York said, “It’s one on how to study the Bible.”

Committed givers, CP challenged Giving to Illinois Baptist churches overall has surpassed 2019 levels, with $100,077,172 in 2023 compared to $92,863,510 in 2019. And comparing year-to-year, undesignated giving increased 12.3%. That’s amazing, even figuring in inflation.

But year-to-year giving to Cooperative Program through local IBSA churches did not increase. CP giving declined 3.2% from 2022 to 2023.

And the 2023 total of $5,338,046 remains far below the 2019 recent high water mark of $6,205,953. The average CP giving by churches was 5.33% last year, compared to 6.19% the previous year.

Out of 41 Baptist state conventions IBSA is number 13 in percentage giving.

Likewise, Mission Illinois Offering giving was up 6.8% from 2022, but down 14.5% from 2019.

“We should be encouraged that giving to churches has rebounded, even over 2019,” Adams said of the overall financial picture. As most local churches would attest, “every year the Lord has provided for us in ways we didn’t expect.”

GROWING

MEET THE TEAM

Hometown: Irving is home now, but I grew up in Raymond.

Education: Degree in microcomputers & system applications

Previous occupation: Manager of Section 8 & Tax Credit Housing

Favorite thing about my job: People. I love being able to talk and interact with different churches and their people.

Church involvement: I am a pastor’s wife, Sunday school director, and mission team leader.

My story: I became a Christian in my 30s after a wilderness time and a leukemia diagnosis. God slowly removed the things I held as an idol, to show me what I was missing was a relationship with him. I never knew I needed him until he was truly all I had.

Verse: Matthew 18:12-13 about the missing sheep

Favorite Bible person: Esther. God placed her in a royal position for a purpose. The best things in life often come with the greatest risks, but the time to follow God’s plan is now.

Hobby: Grandbabies and journaling

Favorite discovery in Illinois: Hiking at Streator Baptist Camp and Starved Rock State Park

Fair food: Elephant ears (yummy!)

I often say: “Hear my heart” (before a hard conversation)

Reality show I’d like to appear on: My life is enough of a reality show in itself.

table talk

Easter saved my faith

“I’m just not sure if I believe anymore.”

I never audibly spoke these words, but they echoed loudly in my own mind.

I couldn’t live a lie. I couldn’t just ignore my doubts or turn off my brain. What was I going to do? My honest conclusions were leading me to a place where I respected the Bible, but didn’t believe it was the word of God. If I allowed my mind to lead my heart to the end I saw coming, then I wouldn’t be able to call myself a Christian much longer.

What would this do to my wife and family? After all, I was a pastor.

We had sold everything and moved half-way across the country so I could attend seminary. People back home were writing to us, praying for us, and even occasionally sending checks to help support us.

Before we moved, people had made joking comments about going to “cemetery,” but there was seriousness about their fear that theological education would be the death of vibrant faith. Now I was going to prove them right.

But my journey to the edge of unbelief wasn’t because of any theologically liberal professors. It wasn’t that academics had convinced me the Bible was myth or undermined the deity of Jesus. In fact, my experience was the opposite. My professors were strong believers. My reading was from conservative authors. My problem

was in my own heart and head. My problems were with the Bible. The more I read it, studied its ancient cultures, learned to read the Hebrew and Greek texts, the more my mind formulated questions without answers that satisfied me. I had spent two years looking more closely at the Bible than ever. Now I wasn’t just seeing the beautiful forest, but I was deep in the trees, peeling back the bark, digging among the roots, seeing all the little knots, burls, and burn marks you never see from the mountaintop.

My doubts about the perfection of the whole were consuming me. And where did that leave my faith? If I had lingering doubts about a random passage in 1 Kings, could I believe the Gospels? Or Romans?

These were the voices in my mind as I rolled into the summer between my second and third years of seminary. I didn’t know what I was going to do. But God knew.

That summer, I had an intensive course on the resurrection of Jesus. For five days, I listened as world renown apologetics expert Gary Habermas walked through the historical evidence that Jesus really rose from the dead.

We talked about the relationship between faith and reason,

what makes a miracle a miracle, the criteria historians use to evaluate historical claims, and what details from the New Testament even non-Christian critical scholars accept as true. We even discussed other claims of resurrections by religious leaders in history and the weakness of those claims compared to Jesus. We studied a whole host of reasons why anyone who takes a long, hard, critical look at the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus would conclude Jesus really did die on the cross and raise from the dead.

After months of personally focusing on other places in the Bible that left me with unanswered questions, I spent an entire week focused solely on the one question that the Apostle Paul says is the lynchpin of our faith, “Did Jesus really die and rise again?” (1 Cor. 15).

To my relief, my answer was a resounding “Yes!” A real man named Jesus lived, taught, and performed miracles. He died on a cross. Yet three days later his tomb was empty, and his followers claimed he rose from the dead and that they saw him alive. They were forever changed because of this experience.

And I was forever changed by my (re)encounter with the risen Jesus, too.

My questions about Old Testament passages or troubling New Testament interpretations didn’t disappear. They just seemed so unimportant now. I had been living as if the truth of the Gospel was hanging on satisfactory answers to any question I had about the rest of the Bible. But I had it backwards. A risen Jesus is able to support my whole faith, not just parts of it.

In 1 Corinthians 15:54, Paul, quoting Isaiah, writes, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” This is the power of the resurrection. This is the power of Easter: Our fears and doubts, our uncertainties about this life and the next, all the things we feel will inescapably swallow us, they are actually subject to the empty tomb that we celebrate Easter morning. Ben Jones is IBSA Communications Team leader.

Tammy Butler Growth Team Ministry Assistant

“I’m beginning to question Pastor Doug’s theology. Three sermons into his Easter series and still no mention of bunnies, eggs, or Peeps!”

Wes and Debbie Henson served a quarter century at The Ridge Church in Carbondale, formerly Walnut Street Baptist Church. Their last service there was December 31, 2023, and a special celebration luncheon was held January 21, 2024. Debbie joined the church as music minister a few months before Wes’s call as interim pastor—and eventually pastor.

Refreshing getaway

Just ahead of Valentine’s Day, about two dozen pastoral ministry couples were treated to an overnight retreat called Pursuing God Together. The event at the Abraham Lincoln Doubletree Hotel in Springfield was organized by IBSA as part of the “For the Pastor” focus. The spiritual focus gave couples teaching on ministry marriages, and time away from the business of their ministry. Another retreat

Helen McDonnough, 88

Helen McDonnough, 88, retired Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA) ministry assistant, died February 26 after brief battle with cancer. She retired from IBSA in 1999 after serving Illinois Baptists, primarily in student ministries, for 28 years. Affectionally known as “Helen Mac,” she found joy in seeing students come to faith in Christ and watching them as they grew in their faith by serving in ministry positions around the state and nation.

is scheduled for Aug. 25-26 at a location to be determined. Contact aubreyshelby@IBSA.org for more information.

Prior to serving at IBSA, she spent a short time as missionary in the Philippines and then worked as a public-school teacher.

McDonnough served as a church member by teaching Sunday School for nearly 40 years. At the time of her death, she was a member of Western Oaks Baptist Church in Springfield. Before that she was a member of Rochester First Baptist Church, Grace Southern Baptist Church in Virden, and Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville.

She is survived by her four children, six grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.

for the pastor

Yes, pastors are tired. What can you do about it?

I’m at the season where I am contemplating lessons learned from past ministry. I find myself using “If I was to do it all over again” statements in training and coaching seeking to warn others to learn from missteps that I identify in my journey. Don’t get me wrong! I’d love to go back and do it all over again. I am convinced though that I would be more effective the second time around.

Here is one of those areas I would do differently in pastoral ministry. I would develop margins for rest. I would take breaks. I would seek to not serve from an empty tank. I would seek to be less tired. All pastors are tired! That was the conclusion of a Fox news article in June which reported that pastors who described themselves as ‘emotionally or mentally exhausted’ is up 11%. That is consistent to what I am hearing from pastors across Illinois. Pastors are broken, beat up, and sadly, on the edge of emotional and spiritual bankruptcy.

Even with godly leaders who cared for me and my family, I had habits that pushed me toward burnout. If you are resonating with this description, allow me to offer six habits that I wish I had developed to better serve from a rested heart.

1. I would keep the Sabbath! I rarely did that. Sunday was a workday for me. I preached two services on Sunday morning, taught Sunday School, held committee meetings on Sunday evenings, followed by the evening service. Sundays were not days of rest. Church schedules are different now. The full Sunday schedule is not as common as it once was, but Sundays remain stressful in the

NeTworkiNg

Send NetworkiNg items to IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org

Chatham Baptist Church seeks full-time senior pastor who is relational, with strong communication skills, gifted in evangelism, with at least six years of pastoral experience in a multi-staff church. Master of Divinity required, SBC seminary preferred. Please send resume and cover letter to chathamps2023@gmail.com or write to Senior Pastor Search Committee, 1500 E. Walnut St., Chatham, IL 62629.

Calvary Baptist Church of Alton is seeking a Student and College Pastor. Visit the church website at calvarycares4u.org. Write to Rick Patrick, 1422 Washington Ave, Alton, IL 62002. Or email rpatrick@calbap.org.

First Baptist Church of Cutler is seeking a senior pastor. Send resume to FBC at fbccutler@gmail.com or P.O. Box 127, Cutler, IL 62238.

McArthur Drive Baptist Church is seeking a bi-vocational pastor to lead into their next phase of ministry. Send resume to Pastor Search Committee, 109 N. McArthur Drive, North Pekin, IL 61554, or email MDBC65@yahoo.com.

ministry. Schedule time to be alone with the Lord and rest.

2. I would finish my sermon by Thursday afternoon. I rarely did that. When a sermon is not finished by Thursday it enters the weekend. Of course, every pastor thinks and prays about his sermon constantly until he preaches it, but the weekend isn’t the time to begin your sermon work or develop your main points. I remember years of Saturdays when I was still working on a PowerPoint instead of resting from the busy week. Thursday is a good target.

3. I would regularly let someone else preach for me. I rarely did that. For some reason, I felt pressure to always be in the pulpit. Late in my pastorate, I began developing others. I was better at offering invitations to guest speakers, but for many years this was not the case. Inviting someone in to speak is good for you and for your church. Let me help you find a guest speaker.

4. I would work less in my church office. My church office had my books, desk, and equipment but it also had people. I am a people person and loved when people stopped by to talk. Often the crisis of the moment or conversations with daily visitors kept me from getting other work completed on time. Working away from distractions or at least keeping better boundaries would have helped me avoid stress as Sunday approached. It’s OK to keep the office door closed some of the time.

5. I would go away by myself. Back then, I was

The pastor’s life isn’t easy. It helps to share the journey with someone who understands. Learn more about your network that ministers to those who minister.

not aware of places I could go for a retreat. I am glad that retreats for pastors is a value at IBSA. Pastors can schedule a retreat at one of IBSA’s camps to get away for free. The facilities are good, and the environment is even better. I wish I had taken advantage of something like this when I was pastoring. Let us help you take a retreat at an IBSA camp.

6. I would not take the church with me on vacation. I rarely did that. There would be a sermon to prepare, a person with a problem who needed counseling. I remember speaking to a parishioner on the phone when I was on the top of the St. Louis arch with my family (not a great father moment). Pastors need to disconnect so they can reconnect when the vacation is over. Don’t leave the phone at home, but please do the hard work of disconnecting.

One more challenge. As I have stated throughout this article, pastors are tired, especially bi-vocational pastors. It is also true that housewives, teachers, farmers, and postal workers are tired. In fact, most of us are tired. Good news! We have a Savior that beckons the weary to come to him for rest. We all need pastors to remain fresh so that you can offer ministry to the weary rest of us. Let us come beside you to help. Take a break. We are FOR you!

Mark Emerson is Associate Executive Director of the Illinois Baptist State Association.

Jared Pemper is the new pastor at Steeleville Baptist Church. Previously he pastored Ransdell Chapel in Kentucky and FBC Springfield, South Carolina. Pemper earned a D.Min in Expository Preaching and a doctorate in Disciple making, both from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Elisha, have four children ranging in age from 6 to 13.

Adrian Ferrari was called as pastor of Living Faith Baptist Church in Sherman. He and his wife, Krystal, have five children and came from more than three years at FaithWay Community Church in Danielson, Connecticut. Before that the couple served as missionaries to Argentina. Ferrari, who is from Melrose Park, IL, earned a MA in Biblical Studies from Summit University and a MA in Education from Liberty University.

EVENTS

March 3-10

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions

What: Annual giving for church planting and compassion ministries in North America

Where: Your church

How: Pray for a goal and set out to reach it. Pray for church planters and missionaries in SEND Cities including Chicagoland and Metro St. Louis

april 12-13

D-Now Weekend

Where: Streator Baptist Camp

What: Includes worship and recreation. Group sessions will be led by your leaders using the Never Alone D-Now curriculum from LeaderTreks and provided by IBSA.

Cost: $35, T-shirts +$10

Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org

Info: IBSA.org/events/d-now-weekend

Ignite Evangelism Conference

March 17-18 – Metro East, FBC Fairview Heights

April 28-29 – Mt. Vernon area, TBA

May 5-6 – Campground Church, Mt. Vernon

May 19-20 – Alpha Church, Bolingbrook

What: Learn to share faith effectively. Help your church reach lost friends, family, and people in your community for Christ.

Cost: Free

Info: IBSA.org/ministries/evangelism/

Contact: LisaHarbaugh@IBSA.org

Disaster Relief Training

April 12-13 – Emmanuel Baptist, Carlinville

May 17-18 – Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church, Jacksonville

What: Practical training in chaplaincy, flood recovery, feeding, chainsaw, childcare, communications, more.

Cost: Current members are free. New members or those with expired badges pay $50, which includes trainings for three years, badge, and background check.

Info: IBSA.org/ministries/disaster-relief/

Contact: LisaHarbaugh@IBSA.org

April 20-26

Guatemala Mission Trip

Where: Southeast Guatemala

What: IBSA pastors are invited to assist in pastoral training, personal evangelism, and revival services. Carlton Binkley, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist in Decatur, will guide the team along with IBSA Mission Director Shannon Ford.

Cost: Approx. $1,500 each (airfare, local travel, food, lodging)

Info: IBSA.org/events/guatemalamissiontrip/

Contact: ShannonFord@IBSA.org

Multiply Hubs

What: Multiply IL is a collaborative space for growth and learning. This gathering will help pastors and leaders take their churches to the next level with best practices for growing, healthy, thriving churches. Explore proven strategies. Connect with passionate peers. Deepen your knowledge.

March 7 – South Region, Immanuel Baptist, Benton

March 12 – West Central Region, Woodland Baptist, Peoria

March 14 – East Central Region, Logos, Decatur

March 21 – Chicago, All Peoples Fellowship, Carol Stream

March 23 – Chicago (Hispanic), Ashburn Church, Orland Park

Cost: Free

Info: IBSA.org/multiply-illinois-hubs/

Contact: AubreyShelby@IBSA.org

See the IBSA calendar for more events. https://www.ibsa.org/calendar/

BRIGHTER DAY

Bumpy flight rules

Our city’s small airport recently added direct flights to two vacation hotspots in Florida. It’s a big deal here in Springfield, being able to fly straight to Orlando or Tampa in a couple of hours. How perfect, I thought as I booked the flight that would take me to a work conference.

What I hadn’t counted on was the anxiety that would set in a few weeks before I was to take off on this relatively untested airline. “Never heard of them,” people said when I reported the well-priced fare I’d found. Always a nervous flyer, I prayed off and on for a few weeks before I left. But on the plane, with every bump or ding of the seatbelt sign my silent prayers took on a more frenzied pace.

Until this started echoing in my mind: actively trust Me. I tried it out, praying “I will actively trust You,” every time turbulence shook the plane.

It worked, mostly. Over the course of two hours, I tried to train my brain to actively trust God, even as I sat silently in my seat. I prayed, “You are in charge of my life.” I remembered the refrain from a gospel song: “My life is in your hands.” Literally, I thought.

The small step of active trust was one I had to remind myself to take dozens of times during that single flight. The disciplining of my mind to remember God’s authority over my life was hard work, even though it didn’t look like I was doing anything other than sitting still.

Back on the ground a few weeks later, a small group I’m in started a study a “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster. His approach to spiritual disciplines is that they aren’t a matter of willpower. Rather, God uses the disciplines to bring our hearts more in line with his. They are small, consistent steps toward a deeper love of him.

I had to take the small step of active trust on my return flight as Springfield was fogged in. “Don’t be alarmed if we experience a ‘missed approach’ due to low visibility,” the pilot said. That would have put me in the aisle four days earlier, but I remembered the peace God had brought when I focused on actively trusting him. Our plane broke through the clouds just seconds before touching down smoothly on the runway. And that comforting refrained echoed again: “My life is in your hands.”

Meredith Day Flynn is a wife and mother of two living in Springfield. She writes on the intersection of faith, family, and current culture.

Tracker

Trends from nearby and around the world.

Culture: Intact families increase

The resurgence of two-parent families—with children residing with their birth parents—is an unexpected finding in a new report from the Institute for Family Studies.

60% of American children lived with married birth parents in 2022, the highest number since IFS started counting in 1960.

26% of American children live with one of their birth parents in single-parent households in the second most common living arrangement.

5% of children live with a married birth parent and stepparent, while another 5% live with cohabiting birth or step parents.

3% live with grandparents or other relatives

1% live with foster parents or other guardians.

“The trends reviewed here show us that those who predicted a relentless increase in family instability or single parenthood were simply wrong,” said IFS researcher Nicholas Zill.

– reported by Christian Post

April 26-27, 2024

MEREDITH FLYNN