Illinois Baptist
Nashville | The federal probe of the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual abuse claims has been closed, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) told SBC attorneys March 12. In a separate case, a former employee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was found guilty of falsifying notes submitted to DOJ about the school’s investigation of an abuse claim He was given a light sentence.
No other charges were filed as result of the DOJ investigation.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York informed us that the investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and Executive Committee has officially concluded,” SBC attorneys Gene Besen and Scarlett Nokes said.
Total giving by IBSA churches as of 2/29/25 $801,225
2025 Budget Goal to date: $1,118,575 2025 Goal: $6 Million
local
When the nearly 900 churches in our state network give to missions through CP, IBSA is able to help sister congregations develop leaders and plan strategies for sharing Christ in their communities.
Aleyiah Kellow, age 4, chose to sit with IBSA’s Scott Foshie (in black) who led Raymond Baptist Church in a Refocus project. As Health Leader, Foshie walks churches through a vision process that includes study of the church and community and prayer for direction. Refocus may last a few weeks or months. Aleyiah’s father (in gray) was one of the church leaders in this training session.
The Illinois Baptist staff Editor - Eric Reed
Contributing Editor - Lisa Misner
Production Manager - 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.
NATEADAMS
The Home Stretch
When I played basketball in college, our coach expected everyone on the team to come to the start of the season with a certain level of personal conditioning. For example, before anyone could attend his first practice in the fall, he had to demonstrate that he could run a mile in five and half minutes, or less.
The qualifying runs were typically done in groups, but one year I learned my trial run would be alone. Instead of running outside on a track, I was to run the 20 laps around our gym that the coach had calculated was a mile. With just the two of us in the gym, he turned on the giant game clock and set it for 5 minutes and 30 seconds. My task was to finish the 20th lap before the buzzer.
As I ran, I calculated that it was going to be close. Then each lap started taking a little longer. By the time I reached lap 19, I could tell that I would only make it if my home stretch was the fastest lap of all.
I managed to cross the finish line just before the buzzer. But it was only because I ran lap 20 harder and faster than any of the others.
That memory has a fresh meaning for me now as I have just completed 19 years in service to Illinois Baptists. To plan a careful search for the next Executive Director, and to allow time for a smooth transition, the IBSA Board asked me for a year of advance notice before my planned retirement. Now that I have honored that request, only year 20 lies before me.
Here’s part of how I’d like to give that home stretch my very best.
First, I would love to see and interact with as many Illinois Baptists as possible, to express my love and appreciation, and to urge us all forward in biblical faithfulness and Great Commission passion. I couldn’t be more delighted that my home stretch year also includes the 100th anniversary of both the Baptist Faith and Message and the Cooperative Program. We as Illinois Baptists must continue to stand strong on those two unifying pillars of shared belief and shared purpose.
Especially if I’ve not yet been to your church, I would consider it an honor to be invited. Yet if that can’t happen everywhere this year, I will be content to write to you here what Paul wrote in Philippians 1:27: “…Whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.”
I
could tell I would only make it if my final lap were the fastest lap of all.
Second, I would love to hear from you or your church if you have any requests, suggestions, or counsel for me during this home stretch, or for IBSA as it transitions forward. You can e-mail me at NateAdams@IBSA.org or text or call me if that’s easier.
As I travel around the state this year, I want to do a lot of listening. I want to know and to pass along to both the IBSA staff and the IBSA Board whatever feedback and wisdom I hear for how IBSA can best deliver value to Illinois churches in the days ahead.
After finishing that 20-lap race in college, I collapsed exhausted on the floor. Only one person was applauding, my coach. But it was worth it. I learned that the home stretch isn’t a time to slow down, but to run even harder and to finish strong. I hope to see you in the final lap.
Nate Adams is executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association. Respond at IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org.
All-Illinois teaching team to lead Priority
Registration is open for annual women’s conference
Springfield | It wasn’t planned that way by the organizers of Priority, but Carmen Halsey-Menghini believes it was planned by God.
“This year our keynote Bible teachers at Priority are all Illinois Baptists,” she said. “That wasn’t our plan when we began planning Priority but when we looked at the finished project, as we pursued various speakers on specific topics, that’s how God led.”
Priority, IBSA’s premiere leadership conference for women, is April 25-26, with an optional pre-conference on April 24, at the Wyndham City Centre in Springfield. The theme is “Together.”
“They will teach thru key passages of Ephesians and there is a pre-conference reading plan that we are sharing with our audience,” said IBSA’s Director of Leadership Development.
The keynote speakers are
• Lindsay Lewis Bowen (M.Div., Southeastern Seminary) is marketing manager at Harvest House Publishers. She and her husband, Andrew, serve at Bethel Church in Troy.
• Alyssa Caudill (M.Div., Southern Seminary), wife of Drake Caudill, pastor of FBC in Carmi, leads the church’s Women’s Ministry Committee, co-edited “Women at Southern: A Walk-Through Psalms,” and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Christian Leadership.
• Melissa Pryer and her husband, Jared, lived in New Orleans while he completed his seminary degree, and she developed mentor relationships with ministry wives. Now a project manager, she leads ministry projects and mission trips.
• Jennifer Smith (BA, MA, M.Div., D.Min., Ph.D.) is a Jacksonville native who’s spent her life sharing the gospel and strengthening the Church in hard-to-reach areas.
Tiffany Smith (D.Min.) spent two years in Japan as an IMB missionary and 20 years as a mobilizer
in state and national roles. Smith now serves as a Strategies Coordinator with Send Network. She will share from her missions experience.
Melissa Milbourn, Worship and Media Minister at Marshall Baptist Church, will lead worship.
Andrew and Joann Mann of Graffiti 2 Baptist Church and Community Ministries in the Bronx will be the conference missionaries.
For more information, including pricing, merch store, and registration, visit IBSA.org/priority
Bledsoe joins team
Springfield | Josh Bledsoe, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Monticello, has been named IBSA Church Health Director. He will start in the new position on April 15.
“We are thankful that God has provided Josh to serve on IBSA’s team in the area of church health,” said Scott Foshie, IBSA Health Team Leader. “He is a faithful Illinois Baptist leader with a proven track record, and he will offer valuable wisdom to our churches and leaders with the heart of a servant.”
Bledsoe has served as pastor of Calvary Baptist since 2017. Prior that he spent nine years as student pastor at First Baptist Church in Effingham and one year as youth and music minister at First Baptist Church in Ramsey. Before being called into the ministry, he taught band at Vandalia High School.
Active in Illinois Baptist leadership, Bledsoe has served as a member of IBSA’s Nominating Committee and the IBSA Board of Directors. He also served in various positions in local associations.
Bledsoe earned a BA in Music Education from Eastern Illinois University, a Master of Theological Studies from Midwestern Seminary, and is pursuing a D.Min. specializing in Church Revitalization at Midwestern. He’s also a certified IBSA coach and pathfinder.
Bledsoe and his wife, Holly, have three sons.
Camps plan for ‘Good Life’
Each summer IBSA partners with local Baptist associations to host camps for children and youth to enjoy high-energy games and activities along with Bible study and worship. And many will make professions of faith in Christ.
This year’s theme is “The Good Life,” based on Matthew 5:1-11. Michael Awbrey, IBSA Leadership Development Director, explained the theme, “Everyone is seeking a good life, but the way most seek happiness and fulfillment in life leaves them disappointed and unfulfilled. In the Beatitudes, Jesus shows us the upside-down way happiness is found.”
Both IBSA facilities, Lake Sallateeska and Streator Baptist Camps, will host multiple weeklong summer camps. (See the list on page 14.) Registration is open at IBSA.org/camps.
BLEDSOE
IBSA NEWS
Baptist astronaut back on earth
Earth | NASA astronaut and test pilot Butch Wilmore is back home on earth after 286 days on the International Space Station. His mission, along with fellow crew member Suni Williams, was extended from a planned 8 days to 9 months when trouble with their Boeing Starliner vehicle emerged. They shared the ISS with seven other astronauts.
Wilmore, 62, is a Southern Baptist. He and his family are active members of Providence Baptist Church near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Wilmore, an elder at the church, teaches Bible studies and goes on mission trips.
Before leaving the ISS, Wilmore shared his testimony in response to a question from CBS reporter Mark Strassman about
the briefing
Homeschool rules could change
the life lessons from his extended space mission.
“My feeling on all of this goes back to my faith. It’s bound in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is working out his plan and his purposes for his glory throughout all of humanity, and how that plays into our lives is significant and important.
“And however that plays out, I am content, because I understand that. I understand that he’s at work in all things. Some things are for the good—go to Hebrews chapter 11. Some things look to us to be not so good, but it’s all working out for his good, for all those who will believe.”
—quote from NASA video news conference
From the front: DOJ closes investigation
Continued from page 1
“We are pleased that the matter has been resolved without any charges or further expense against the Executive Committee or other SBC entities. It has been an honor to represent and support the Convention and the EC throughout this process.”
SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Jeff Iorg said, “We’re grateful that we can close this chapter in our legal proceedings and move forward.”
and-a-half-year inquiry was against former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and interim provost Matt Queen, who pleaded guilty to making a false statement to investigators. Queen was sentenced March 5 to one year supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
Southwestern released a statement March 12 confirming the DOJ’s closure of the investigation.
Illinois families that educate their children at home could be required to submit more information to the state if House Bill 2827 is approved. The bill that moved out of Committee March 19 would require notice to the local school the child would have attended that they are homeschooling. Any homeschool student who engages part-time in public school classes or activities would be expected to meet the same health guidelines as fulltime students, including immunizations. And the person overseeing the teaching would be required to have a high school diploma or equivalent.
The Lutheran Church (Mo. Synod) said “…this bill that disregards the fundamental, 4th Commandment principle that schools, and even the state itself, are extensions of office and vocation of parent.”
LGBTQ students protection objection
Two groups have filed a complaint against Chicago Public School (CPS) for their extension of Title IX to include LGBTQ identity. The groups, Defense of Freedom Institute and Liberty for Justice, told the U.S. Department of Education that CPS is “forcing students to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations with members of the opposite sex, based solely on self-declared ‘gender identity.’” The school system is creating a “regime of secrecy,” they stated, by keeping changes in students’ gender identity from their parents.
—Christian Post, WMAQ, Chalkbeat
“[The] announcement from the Department of Justice marks the end of a long and painful chapter in Southern Baptist life,” SBC President Clint Pressley stated on X (formerly Twitter). “Our hearts are with all survivors of sexual abuse wherever such injustice occurs.
“As a people committed to the gospel, we have worked diligently to make our churches safer, and we will continue striving for a culture of accountability,” Pressley wrote. “This moment also calls us to lead with wisdom and humility avoiding false narratives or anything else that keeps us from reaching the world for Christ.”
The DOJ launched its investigation in August 2022, a few months after the release of the Guidepost Report, which was based on an investigation by outside group Guidepost Solutions into the EC’s handling of sexual abuse claims.
Executive Committee members learned at their meeting last month that the EC had spent $2,060,534 on legal costs related to the DOJ investigation as of December 2024. The EC proposed a 2025-26 budget that will include $3 million for legal fees to cover those costs, and others that may arise.
The total amount spent on investigations and legal costs totalled $13 million since 2021.
One down, one to go
The defamation lawsuit against the SBC by former NAMB Vice President Johnny Hunt will go to court at the same time as the SBC Annual Meeting, unless Hunt withdraws the case. Hunt claims his reputation was damaged and his ability to earn wages from speaking engagements diminished because of the Guidepost Solutions report on abuse claims in the Convention that detailed an alleged encounter and subsequent cover-up by Hunt. The wife of a fellow pastor said Hunt groped her at a beachfront condo in Florida a week after he concluded his term as SBC President in 2010.
After a brief time away from the pulpit, Hunt, now 72, has resumed public preaching engagements.
The only charge brought by the DOJ in its two-
“For more than two years, Southwestern fully cooperated with the DOJ throughout the investigation and is pleased that there were no findings of wrongdoing against the institution or current employees,” the statement said. “We remain committed to ensuring the safety of all members of the seminary community.”
In a similar vein, Iorg released a six-point report on recent EC actions to combat sexual abuse in SBC churches. That includes hiring an expert in the field to lead further SBC response, and administration of a hotline, website, and training for church leaders.
The EC will host a training event called “Safeguarding the Next Generation” at the annual meeting in Dallas. And the “Essentials” curriculum will be updated and made available to churches free of charge.
Web tracking less a priority now
The website planned to track credible accusations and their perpetrators was not fully operable when the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) handed off its work to the EC after two years.
“I would say [the Ministry Check database is] not so much on the back burner as it is what we want to teach churches how to access databases that already exist [and] how to do thorough background checks of people that they’re considering employing or using in volunteer positions with minors,” Iorg told The Baptist Paper as part of a series of online interviews with state newspaper editors March 11.
Iorg explained the concerns about an SBC-generated database were related to “its legality and our capacity to insure it and to insure our convention in light of doing it. And those are hurdles we haven’t found a way over yet.”
Additionally, SBC leaders will “continue to consider are there other ways that we can make information available to them that would help them to make the kinds of evaluations they need to make,” Iorg said. “So, it’s not that we’re ignoring the issue. It’s that we’re trying to think how do we solve this issue the best way, and that’s what we’re working on now.”
—reported by Baptist Press, The Baptist Paper, and Illinois Baptist staff
The search begins
Committee to seek Adams’ successor named
Springfield | The search for a successor to IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams started at the March 25 IBSA Board meeting with the selection of a 11-member search committee. Adams, who will achieve 19 years in the role March 1, announced his retirement to come in about a year on February 25, following the IBSA Board Committee meetings. At the time, Adams explained that the Board had requested an overlap period with the incoming state convention leader to allow for a smoother transition.
The Board of Directors moved the March meeting into executive session for the purpose of electing a Search Committee tasked with finding and recommending a candidate to be approved by the full Board.
According to IBSA Board governing documents, the makeup of the search committee includes four ex-officio members (Association President, Association Vice-President, Board Chair, Board Vice Chair), seven members elected by majority vote (must include at least one ordained minister, one layperson, one woman), and two alternates (elected by majority vote).
Doug Munton of O’Fallon is IBSA President,
Jeff Logsdon of Wilmington is IBSA VP, Bruce Kirk of Bolingbrook is Board Chair, and Paul Marshall is Board Vice Chair, all serving ex officio.
The seven elected members are Jennifer Damotte of Morton, Jim Hanger of Mt. Vernon, Noah Lee of Tremont, Matt Philbrick of Ramsey, Tanja Sedabres of Granite City, Mike Thomas of Pleasant Hill, and Mike Young of Carbondale.
Rene Escalante of South Chicago Heights and Jay Loucks of Wayne City will serve as alternates.
The new committee immediately convened to begin their work, electing Logsdon as chair, Hanger as vice chair, and Sedabres as secretary.
“Let’s pray for the search committee as they seek our next leader,” Munton said. “I’m confident God will lead us to the right person in his timing.
HARD WORK AHEAD
—The IBSA Executive Director Search Committee posed for a photo after the March 25 board meeting in which they were elected. Pictured left to right: (Front row) Rene Escalante, Mike Young, Jennifer Damotte. (Middle row) Bruce Kirk, Jay Loucks, Tanja Sedabres, Matt Philbrick, Doug Munton. (Back row) Michael Thomas, Noah Lee, Jeff Logsdon, Jim Hanger, Paul Cooper.
Board acts on collegiate ministry, properties
“It’s an important year.” That was the message from IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams, as he addressed the Board at its March 25 meeting. Adams was not only speaking about the Executive Director search process that will take place in 2025, after he announced retirement plans in February, but also about the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Baptist Faith and Message and Cooperative Program.
Two IBSA Board committees presented motions related to collegiate ministry. The Strategic Planning Committee and Resource Development Committee made recommendations on motions made at the 2024 Annual Meeting regarding collegiate ministry that were referred to the Board.
Thomas Worsham, messenger from Pleasant Ridge Church in Collinsville, made a motion to form a committee to study effective ways to reach college students. He previously served as a BCM director in Louisiana. Adams reported that he has provided Worsham a report of IBSA’s current collegiate strategy and results, and Worsham was appreciative to learn more about Southern Baptist collegiate ministry in a northern context. The Board approved a recommendation for the Executive Director and IBSA staff to take up the challenge and report back to the Board at their August and September meetings.
Phil Nelson, messenger from Lakeland Church in Carbondale, made a motion to sell the Baptist Student Union building near the campus of SIU-C and
use the proceeds for other collegiate ministry. Nelson came to faith through the Carbondale BSU ministry and later served as its BSU director. He still regularly has evangelistic conversations with students on campus. The Resource Development Committee recommended the Board “decline to pursue the sale of the building at this time as it is the responsibility of the board to consider and direct the sales of such real estate and recommends the consideration to be part of a larger conversation regarding the future of collegiate ministry.”
The Nominating Committee made recommendations to fill three Board of Directors vacancies. New Board members elected are Jim Wilson from First Baptist Church in Atwood, James Kim from Meadow Heights Baptist Church in Collinsville, and Jeff Miller from First Baptist Church in Marion.
The full Board will next meet again in Springfield, September 16.
Nate’s Top Ten
Adams brought his March Board report in the form of a top ten list, counting down some of the most significant ministry results or developments the network will face in 2025.
10. ACP resurgence - Baptisms are up 9%, AM worship up 3%, VBS up 10%, and missions involvement up 13%. But Cooperative Program giving was still 13% lower than 2019.
9. SBC challenges - The June 2025 Annual Meeting in Dallas will be an important opportunity to address concerns that some still have and to strengthen unity and cooperation.
8. Survey says value - Surveys confirm that church leaders who directly engaged with IBSA report finding 30 to 50% more value in the association than those surveyed from a general church audience.
7. Strategies at work - IBSA’s Health, Growth, and Mission Teams report: 100 churches in revitalization processes; over 1,000 people in leadership development; 3,200 received ministry skills training; 14 new churches started or restarted; 154 churches equipped with evangelism strategies.
6. Increasing reach – In the “ZC 3.0 pilot project,” new Zone Consultant, Bob Dickerson, is working in southern Illinois to gather leaders in eight ministry areas who can be an extension of IBSA staff through his coordination.
5. College mission - A Collegiate Ministry Advisory Group of pastors and college ministry leaders is being formed to develop forward-looking strategies and strategic stewardship of resources to reach students on Illinois’ campuses.
4. Future ready - The Illinois Leadership Summit focused on helping churches face generational and cultural change to effectively reach the next generation. IBSA directors continue to consult with dozens of churches around this topic.
3. Leadership transition - The search and transition to a new Executive Director will require Board members and staff to carry a more “transitional load.” It is an important year, and a similar transition to what many churches are also facing.
2. Vision frame – IBSA’s three-year consultation resulted in a vision frame and annual goals that offer strategic continuity and flexibility for the future. With stable staff and financial resources, IBSA is an inviting opportunity for a new leader.
1. A special year - The centennial celebration of the Baptist Faith and Message and Cooperative Program should remind Illinois Baptists that they are founded on the unity of God’s Word and cooperation in God’s mission.
Celebrating partners in ministry
I look forward to meeting Tychicus in heaven one day. Do you remember Tychicus? Outside of having a great name (something for you expecting parents to consider!) Tychicus had an important role in the Bible. Let’s note a couple of things the New Testament tells us about Tychicus. (Could we call him “Ty” for short?)
Tychicus was a close friend of Paul and is mentioned five times. Acts 20:4 tells us that he accompanied Paul and several others on the journey to take a collection to bring relief to the believers in Jerusalem. We are told he is from the province of Asia giving further evidence of the rapid expansion of the Christian faith. Fulfillment of the Great Commission was always intended to be a partnership among all believers.
In Ephesians 6 and Colossians 4, Tychicus is shown to be the one delivering to the churches their important messages and bringing further news of Paul’s condition. He is described as a “dearly loved brother and faithful servant.” Ministry was always intended to be a group endeavor. Paul included Tychicus and others in sharing the gospel and encouraging the churches.
In Titus 3, Paul said that he was going to send either Tychicus or Artemas to assist the churches on the island of Crete. In 2 Timothy 4, we are told that Tychicus was sent by Paul to assist the church at Ephesus while Paul faced imprisonment yet again. Paul allowed Tychicus to encourage these churches in a time of need and to allow Titus and
Timothy to visit with Paul to encourage him and to be encouraged by him. Ministry leaders of every kind need to encourage and be encouraged.
We can learn some things about ministry from the life of Tychicus.
1. Ministry takes all kinds of people. We need people of every age and stage to minister to others. We need people from every sort of background and with different spiritual gifts to willingly serve the Lord. Illinois Baptists need a partnership of people from every region of the state, from every people group, and of all stages of life.
2. Ministry takes teams of people. Ministry is a team sport. God loves to connect us and to put us to work together. We serve best when we serve with others. We impact best when we work together. We need each other. Illinois Baptists need the support and encouragement we get from working together to reach our state and world for Christ.
3. Everyone has a role in ministry. Your role is different than the role of Paul or Tychicus or me or anyone else. But your role matters and your involvement in God’s service has an impact. Illinois Baptists need church planters and pastors of existing churches and Sunday School teachers and small group leaders to partner with each other to reach our state.
When we meet Tychicus in heaven, let’s ask him
about his work in those exciting times of ministry in the early days of the church. And perhaps Tychicus will ask us about our own role in the work God was doing in our generation in our churches and in our state.
A great Illinois partnership
I also want to offer my grateful appreciation for Nate Adams’ service to IBSA for these past 19 years. He has been a great leader and friend and has served the Lord and IBSA well. While I am confident the Lord will lead us to our next IBSA Executive Director in his timing, I don’t want us to forget what a blessing Nate Adams has been to our state convention.
I am thankful for his love for the Lord and for our state. He has been an example for us and an inspiration to us. I am believing God is going to continue to use him and the IBSA staff to lead our state effectively for this next year and that his influence will continue to bless us for years to come.
Illinois Baptists work best when we work together and I’m praying for God’s wisdom and passion among us as we strive to reach our state with the wonderful hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Doug Munton is serving as IBSA President. He is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon.
SBC PREVIEW
SBC Pastor’s Conference
More at SBCPC.net
June 8-9, join pastors for two days of inspiration. The 12 speakers include Mark Dever, Aaron Harvie, David Woo-Joon Kim, Nathan Lino, Juan Sanchez, Robert Smith, and more.
WMU Missions Celebration
Register at WMU.com/dallas
This year’s WMU gathering will be at the Omni Dallas Hotel in the Dallas Ballroom on Sunday, June 8, beginning at noon.
During the WMU Missions Celebration, WMU will honor former missionaries and celebrate the 60th anniversary of IMB’s Journeyman program. Between the two general sessions, visit the “Idea Rodeo,” a self-paced interactive area designed to provide tangible, takeaway ideas for greater missions involvement.
“We want this to be more than an event,” said Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of national WMU. “We pray those gathered depart inspired and challenged to intentionally make disciples of Jesus who live on mission.”
The North American Mission Board is hosting three events for messengers, in addition to the Crossover evangelism ministry (see p 8). Registration is required for each of these events to be held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
• NAMB Luncheon, June 9
• Send Network Fellowship, June 8
• Small-Church Pastors’ Luncheon, June 10
Illinois Reception
Join other Illinois Baptists and friends for a come-and-go dessert reception celebrating 100 years of the Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message. Monday, June 9 from 8-9:30 PM Convention Center room A115.
Stampede
Baptist messengers will go head-to-head with big challenges
BY ERIC REED
Dallas, Texas | The schedule for the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting seems a bit streamlined this year, especially after the extra business session was added in 2024 to handle multiple reports from task forces and a record number of motions from the floor. But considering the possible issues elbowing into the lineup, this round-up may not be so quick and easy after all.
In fact, it could be down and dirty.
The advertised events for the Dallas gathering June 10-11 are the celebration of the SBC theological and missional pillars, the Baptist Faith and Message and the Cooperative Program. Both turn 100 this year. They were created by messengers herded into in a sweltering exhibition hall in Memphis in the summer of 1925.
The original Baptist Faith and Message was a biblical response to the theological arguments of the day, mostly rising liberalism in the mainline denominations and the threat of cultural ideologies such as evolution. The Cooperative Program was an answer to endless ringing of doorbells by missionaries on furlough and pulpit appeals for missions support, by creating a unified system of funding with a steady stream from cooperating Southern Baptist
Running in Dallas
An SBC Annual Meeting in Texas already promised to be bigger and bolder than most conventions. Add a controversial budget fix and renewed ‘Law’ debate over male-only pastors, and it’s a guaranteed rip-roaring rodeo.
This bull statue and the cowboy on page 1 are from Pioneer Plaza in downtown.
Churches. Their commitment to percentage giving from their weekly offerings would keep missionaries on the field and global evangelism moving forward.
These achievements across a century are certainly worth celebrating.
SBC President Clint Pressley, in his first one-year term, has championed the twin centennial observances. But one or more issues from last year
could wrangle attention from the golden moments.
“If the SBC is a train, it runs on the two rails of the Cooperative Program and our confession of faith,” Pressley said in a Baptist Press interview in February. “Both have played a large part in building my own identity as a Southern Baptist pastor.”
Pressley called the BF&M a “concise explanation of the important
“This year, we have a choice... Either wear their name tags, or wear their brand.”
Call to prayer
doctrines that we are talking about” which has provided for “a fellowship of churches that have existed this long and have stayed conservative this long.” Pressley believes the statement should be interpreted as “tightly” as possible, which may account for his support of the Law Amendment last year.
Long arm of the ‘Law’
The Law Amendment to strengthen language defining the pastorate to men only failed to get a two-thirds majority on its second vote by messengers in Indianapolis in 2024. An amendment to the BF&M was approved, but the constitution was untouched. Opponents of the amendment proposed by Virginia pastor Mike Law said the language around “pastor” was clear.
Now backers of the Law Amendment are calling for another run at passage. In March seven pastors issued an “Open Letter to our Southern Baptist Family” citing a recent decision by the SBC Credentials Committee which did not require a church with a woman serving as teaching pastor to be brought for dismissal from the denomination.
“Because we have already debated
Mobilizing for evangelism in the Metroplex
Organizers of Crossover 25 are urging Southern Baptists nationwide to pray as preparations ramp up for this year’s evangelistic outreach on June 2-8. Held annually in the host city of the SBC Annual Meeting, Crossover brings churches together to share the gospel with residents during the week before the meeting.
This year, organizers are asking Southern Baptists to begin praying now, that God will prepare hearts to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“Around this time, the enemy tries to distract or discourage pastors, telling them they don’t have the bandwidth or capacity,” said J.J. Washington, the national director of personal evangelism at the North American Mission Board (NAMB). “Pray specifically for churches and the communities where the gospel will be presented, that the Lord would move and prepare hearts.”
Southern Baptists have hosted Crossover annually since 1989. NAMB co-sponsors the effort alongside local Baptist associations and churches. SBC churches from nine counties will host this year’s events. So far, 72 churches have registered to participate. Nearly a third of those churches are Spanish speaking.
Luis Gonzalez, the Spanish pastor of Lamar Baptist Church in Arlington, said his church is organizing a soccer tournament and doing door-todoor evangelism, followed up by a Harvest Sunday that weekend at the church. Harvest Sunday is a church service designed specifically as an outreach Sunday for those who need to hear and respond to the gospel.
“Our goal is to involve everyone—adults, kids,
youth, English speakers, Spanish speakers—in this evangelistic effort,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a great opportunity for the entire church family to share Jesus.”
Gonzalez is also heavily involved in mobilizing other Spanish-speaking SBC churches in the Dallas area to get involved. Projects already in the works include Vacation Bible School and block parties.
“We’re trying to connect local pastors around the Dallas area to the resources available for outreach and evangelism,” Gonzalez added. “It’s the Great Commission. We have the truth of God, and we need to share the gospel every day.”
How local becomes global
While many might think of Dallas as a familiar “Southern Baptist” city, the area’s growing global diversity creates unique evangelistic opportunities. Within a 24-minute drive time radius of his church, the average work commute in Dallas, the population is one million, and there are 52 languages spo-
this language at the last two conventions, we do not believe that we need to spend another year waiting for the Executive Committee to decide whether to put the amendment before the convention for a vote,” they wrote in the letter.
The letter outlines a parliamentary procedure for bypassing standing rule 6 in the constitution, which requires a motion for constitutional revision be made and followed by votes in two successive years. Their plan would suspend rule 6 on a simple majority vote, then proceed with a vote in Dallas and a second vote in Orlando next year. Those two votes would each require a two-thirds supermajority.
In an interview with the Illinois
ken, said Greg Ammons, pastor of First Baptist Church of Garland.
“It’s really a city where the world is coming to us. Foreign missions are literally coming to our doorstep,” Ammons said. “The more we can get out, meet needs, and be involved in the community, the more I believe God is going to use Baptists who live here.”
During Crossover, FBC Garland plans to connect with some of the different language groups in the area by organizing outreach events in nearby apartment complexes, home to a variety of nations.
“We, first of all, just want to have some gospel conversations,” Ammons said. “Hopefully, those conversations can lead to faith in Christ as Savior, but the main goal is to open up those conversations and get out into the community. So many churches kind of hide behind stained glass and, you know, sing and worship—and that’s wonderful—but you’ve got to get outside the walls as well.”
Ryan Jespersen, the executive director of the Dallas Baptist Association, believes the evangelism opportunities through Crossover can significantly help to revitalize Dallas-area churches.
Even though some think of Dallas as the “buckle of the Bible belt,” Jespersen said the city has significant lostness, where most of the population doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He urged Southern Baptists not to think of Dallas as a “saved city” but as one where people need to hear and respond to the gospel.
To learn more about Crossover, visit namb.net/ crossover.
—Tobin Perry, NAMB
2 major celebrations, 1 less session
Many facets of the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas will focus on Southern Baptists’ shared mission, including centennial celebrations of both the Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message as well as a sending celebration for a large number of new missionaries.
“We have arranged our business sessions around the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message, and we hope that messengers will come ready to celebrate the substantial history and heritage of our common mission and confession,” said Committee on Order of Business chairperson Beth Holmes of Kentucky. “The IMB plans to commission a significant number of missionaries, which is a highlight of our annual meeting program.”
SBC President Clint Pressley also said highlighting Southern Baptist cooperation would be a feature of the meeting. “I look forward to this year’s annual meeting with great anticipation as we gather from all over the country to celebrate 100 years of the BF&M and 100 years of the Cooperative Program,” he said. “The Lord has been kind to Southern Baptists, and it’s always great to meet together and deliberate on how we can better serve the cause of Christ.
“We are bound together by the strong chords of mission,” Pressley said. “This year we will spend more time celebrating God’s call on Southern Baptists and how we turn our attention outward to a lost world. In addition to giving more time to missions celebration, we will also highlight specific resolutions that celebrate the two rails we run on—our confession of faith and the Cooperative Program!”
The program is different from last year’s in that there is no business session Tuesday night. Last year that slot was reserved for reports from two SBC task forces. Discussion and consideration of
Baptist, SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Jeff Iorg said male-only pastors issue isn’t finished after all, even though messengers failed to approve the amendment and the EC withheld its support for amending the constitution. But he doesn’t think that issue, or others, will overshadow the work of the convention already on the agenda.
“We have some serious issues that we’re working through. Those are very well publicized and no need to say they’re not there. We’ve got to work on them,” Iorg told the Christian Index as part of a series of interviews with Baptist editors.
“But on the other side of it, when we come together in Dallas, while we’ll deal with these issues in the business sessions, we’ll also be celebrating record numbers of missionaries in the missionary pipeline, record numbers of church plants. We’ll be celebrating significant, if not record enrollments at our seminaries,” Iorg said.
Abuse and attorneys
With Iorg’s leadership, the Executive Committee is proposing a $3 million allocation for legal fees ahead of trials involving the SBC EC’s handling of sexual abuse allegations. Messengers will vote on the budget proposal in Dallas. Objections and alternatives were raised after the February report on the EC’s proposed 2025-26 budget, and that debate may spill over on the floor of the convention. (See our interview with Iorg on page 10.)
resolutions also will be a bit different, spread over four reports, the first one coming near the top of the first day’s agenda.
“We believe we have created a concise program, with no Tuesday evening session, that still allows us to accomplish the business at hand,” said Holmes. “We are trusting the Lord to work through the 2025 annual meeting to accomplish great things for Kingdom purposes.”
—Laura
Erlanson, Baptist Press
Almost anybody can make a motion at the SBC.
The EC also reported that it is not pursuing development of the Ministry Check database to track credible claims of sexual abuse in SBC churches. That responsibility was first given to the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF), which surrendered it back to the EC, but they ran into insurance issues. So did the EC.
Whether abuse survivors and those invested in abuse prevention will voice objections to the apparent end of the abuse tracking plan will be seen in Dallas. But a report in The Tennessean said they are not likely to continue the battle. “It’s time to stop fighting…and put that energy elsewhere,” Megan Lively told the newspaper. Lively was among survivors who worked with the convention in its response to abuse claims over the past three years.
As is the case whenever Southern Baptists meet, given our anyone-can-make-a-motion polity, the real action at the Dallas convention is more likely to be on the floor than on the agenda.
convention schedule
Tuesday morning | June 10
8:00 Worship — John Stegemerten, Hickory Grove BC, Charlotte, N.C.
8:10 Prayer — Nathan Lorick, SBC of Texas
8:15 Welcome and Call to Order — Clint Pressley, SBC president
8:25 Celebrating Freedom — NAMB chaplains
8:35 Registration Report
8:40 Order of Business Report 1
8:50 Comm. on Resolutions Report: Andrew Walker, chair
8:56 GuideStone Financial Resources Report — Hance Dilbeck Jr
9:08 Introduction of New Motions
9:23 NAMB and Crossover Report — Kevin Ezell, president
9:58 Send Relief Presentation
10:08 IMB Sending Celebration — Paul Chitwood, president
11:08 Worship
11:15 President’s Address — Clint Pressley
11:55 Closing Prayer
Tuesday afternoon | June 10
2:00 Worship
2:10 Prayer — Clint Darst, King’s Cross, Greensboro, N.C.
2:15 Election of Recording Secretary
2:20 Election of Registration Secretary
2:25 Election of President
2:30 Election of First Vice President
2:40 Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Cooperative Program 2:55 Comm. on Resolutions Report 2 3:00 Executive Committee Report — Jeff Iorg, President/CEO
3:40 Election of Second Vice President
3:50 Order of Business Report 2 4:10 New Motions (Last Opportunity) 4:25 Miscellaneous Business 4:45 Comm. on Committees Report 4:55 Comm. on Nominations Report 5:10 Comm. on Resolutions Report 3
5:55 Closing Prayer
Wednesday morning | June 11
8:00 Worship 8:10 Prayer — Jeremy McMorris, Paramount BC, Amarillo 8:15 Order of Business Report 3 8:36 Lifeway Christian Resources Report — Ben Mandrell, CEO 8:48 Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Report — Brent Leatherwood, president
9:00 Worship
9:05 Convention Sermon — Tony Wolfe, South Carolina Convention 9:45 Joint Seminary Reports 11:00 Executive Committee Report 2
11:45 Previously Scheduled Business 11:55 Closing Prayer
Wednesday afternoon | June 11
2:30 Worship
2:45 Prayer — Matt Alexander, FBC Gadsden, Ala.
2:50 Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Baptist Faith and Message 3:00 Comm. on Resolutions Report 4
3:05 Previously Scheduled Business 3:35 NAMB Report — Kevin Ezell
3:47 WMU Report — Sandra WisdomMartin, executive director-treasurer
3:55 IMB Report — Paul Chitwood, pres.
4:07 Order of Business Report 4
4:17 Presentation of Officers
4:30 Closing Prayer — Stephen Rummage, Florida Baptist Convention
Q&A
with Jeff Iorg, the SBC’s top staffer
“The demands were greater than I anticipated,” said Jeff Iorg nearing the one-year mark as President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. Iorg brought several budget and financial plan changes to the EC trustees in their February meeting, designed to provide funding for legal representation in pending abuse-related lawsuits, and to promote greater transparency from his operational hub and from SBC entities, which are sometimes accused of being less that forthcoming about the denomination’s finances.
Iorg talked with Illinois Baptist Editor Eric Reed on the morning just before the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed its probe of the SBC’s handling of abuse
Q: What has the response been after EC trustees approved the $3 million budget recommendation to cover legal fees?
A: I’ve heard from a number of pastors who said, We understand that you don’t really want to do this, but we have to do it, and we’re going to support you through this. And that’s been very gratifying. And then, of course, some are opposed to it, and I certainly understand it.
I believe the response ultimately is going to be we’re going to have to get through it together…get this behind us and then move on back to a better, healthy use of the funds in the future.
Q: Did anybody have any viable alternatives?
A: Well, we considered five or six other options before we came to this one, including (receiving) offerings, including asking the entities to pay for different things. Ultimately, the plan that we came to is the simplest one, even though it has some controversy attached to it. And this is the easiest one to undo. If we are able to sell the SBC building in downtown Nashville, then we would be able to fund legal expenses for the next year or two out of those resources.
Q: Is there any news on the sale?
A: I talk to the real estate broker every week or every other week…but no offers or anything yet that we can legitimately respond to. We think it’ll take a few more months to get a resolution on this…but it’s hard to predict.
The Southern Baptist budgeting process by design, and I affirm it, moves very slowly. We announced a proposed budget in February. It’ll be adopted in some form in June, and then it won’t go into effect until October. And so a lot can happen between now and October that would mean that we would not have to use that allocation the way we set it.
Q: What is the sense of urgency? I mean, are the lawyers tapping their watch faces looking for payment?
A: We’re current on our legal bills. But the Johnny Hunt trial is the week after the Southern Baptist Convention. So starting about May first,
claims was closed. Iorg sounded optimistic overall, but acknowledged there’s a lot coming at convention in Dallas. The wildcard is the possible revival of the Law Amendment to strengthen the language limiting pastors to men-only within the SBC Constitution.
About this new season in his ministry life, Iorg is upbeat, despite living and working in both Nashville, Tennessee and Portland, Oregon. It’s a worthwhile, albeit short-term investment, he said, compared to his lengthy leadership of the Northwest Baptist Convention and Gateway Seminary, as he seeks to set SBC operations on a good path for younger, longer-term leaders.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
billing for that trial is going to go up substantially. Then we get ready for the Sills trial in early 2026. In every case, the SBC and the Executive Committee have not initiated any of this legal action. We’re defending, and that’s why we can’t say when it might end.
Q: What is the risk that revisiting the Law Amendment on male-only pastors will overshadow the budget and the CP Centennial celebration?
A: I don’t know if it will overshadow, but it certainly will be brought to the floor during the business session and be handled. I know that our President and our parliamentarian are prepared to deal with that as it comes, and so it’ll be part of the many things that get dealt with in the business session.
Q: Both you and SBC President Clint Pressley are in your first year in office. How has that worked for you?
A: I have a very positive working relationship with Clint…I’m humbled by how often he texts me and says, “I’m praying for you. We believe in the leadership you’re giving.” I think he’s overall done a really fine job. I especially like the emphasis he’s placing on the convention program, “Hold fast to our confession and our cooperation.”
Q: How are you settling into your work?
A: 2024 was the year of incredible upheaval in our lives. We sold a house in California. We relocated to both Portland and Nashville. We live mostly in Nashville, but because of our family obligations, we, particularly my wife, needs to be in Portland to take care of things there. It’s been a whirlwind: trying to get to as many places and people as possible while also working on a big backlog of problems.
The demands were greater than I anticipated, but all in all, God has seen us through, and we’re beginning this year in a much better place. We’re working proactively on resolving these legal issues, getting a plan that will bring us to a better place financially, putting into place the sexual abuse prevention response plans.
Q: Do you think our churches are satisfied with the SBC’s sexual abuse response?
A: I think the typical Southern Baptist sees this as a serious problem and wants the right thing to be done. Now, the challenge is helping them to understand that it needs to be done practically and specifically in their small church, where they may feel they already know everyone, that there’s no real threat or risk, that there’s not a need for these protocols and protections, but there is.
Helping them to get to that point of actually implementing is the next big step for us.
Q: You proposed a revised business plan. Why is that important now?
A: When I arrived on the Executive Committee, there was a backlog of motions that had been made (at the annual meeting) and issues that had been raised related to transparency, accountability, financial management, fundraising, a lot of issues. Rather than try to respond to these piecemeal, it was clear we needed a more comprehensive response.
We went to all the presidents of the entities and it involved all their chief financial officers and most of their attorneys. This was a multi-month process of getting to a document that really was workable for all of us, and yet had in it the accountability and calls for information and clarifications of transparency that we want.
I jokingly said, this is like a new pastor coming in the first week and saying, “Let’s revise the constitution.”
Q: I heard the word transparency several times in that explanation.
A: Sometimes when people use the word transparency, they mean every financial document of every organization should be publicly available. That’s not possible. But it is practically possible for the trustees to make detailed analysis of those documents so that the reports that are presented can be fairly said to represent what the trustees know about the entity and its operations.
What we’re really trying to get to is confidence that Southern Baptists can say, “The trustees we elected have absolute transparency within
the entity and they’re reporting to us what they’re seeing and what they say is happening, and we believe them.” And that’s the transparency we’re looking for.
Q: Do you think we’ve come back to a place of trust or do we still have a ways to go?
A: We still have a ways to go. Trust is built in organizations in two ways. One, by sacrificial service provided by the organization and its leaders to its constituents, and second, competent service provided. So as Southern Baptists see us serving sacrificially and competently to make a difference in the world, they will have greater confidence in us.
There are places in the SBC where I think there’s very high confidence in the leadership and other places where, particularly for me at the EC, it’s not as high. But we’re rebuilding that by trying to demonstrate sacrificial, professional service and demonstrated competence. We believe if we do those things over time, people will say, “We trust you and we look to you in a trustworthy fashion.”
Q: You were called to the EC position after retiring from seminary leadership. Is this a long-term post for you?
A: I pray every day that God helps me to get us through and get prepared for a new leader who can take us for the next 20 years into greatness. I’m not that guy. I’m nobody’s long-term plan, but I believe God asked me to do this job, and to set the stage for the next wave of leadership that’s coming.
Listen, there are a bunch of 45-year-old guys out there right now that are in their prime leadership years in the churches. They’re going to take us into the future, and I have complete confidence in them. They have the same Bible, same Holy Spirit, same passion that my generation and the generation before us had.
So if I can extend myself to get us through this and then hand this over to some guys that are going to take us forward for the next 20 years, I will consider that a worthwhile investment of my life in these years.
Plenty to see in Big D
Here are just a few sites to visit while you’re in the Metroplex.
Hold onto your hat!
If you’re flying down the 245-foot-high Titan hypercoaster, you may beat the train chugging to the finish. Either way, there’s great fun for the whole family with more than 100 rides and 13 roller coasters at Six Flags Over Texas. Visitors spend about $65 per person on a day-long stay.
Our Fort Knox
Baptist pastors might appreciate a drive by the Guidestone building. Our retirement funds are managed from there. Named the Baptist Annuity Board at its 1918 founding, Guidestone Financial Resources holds $18.6 Billion under management. Yes, that’s a “B.” Guidestone also manages “Mission Dignity” to assist needy pastors and their widows in retirement.
Seersucker
suits & boots
Bustin’ out all over
Holy of Holies
Here’s a fun game to pass the time between sessions. Count the number of guys in cowboy boots, in seersucker suits, and both. If you need a hint, look toward the platform.
If we believed in ghosts, we might wonder if W.A. Criswell roamed the halls of FBC Dallas. But we don’t, so… We might also wonder if famed SBC pastor would recognize the massive $185 million worship and ministry center sprawling beyond the 1891 Victorian sanctuary where he first preached. The fountain outside the new facility was dedicated in 2013 with waters choreographed to “All Hail the Power.”
Whataburger
In June, you may want to take Mom to see the Dallas Arboretum. With morning walks, garden nights, “Dallas Cooks,” and tours of the Degolyer Historical House, there’s plenty to see. And for the kids, consider the Dallas World Aquarium with creatures in five main exhibit areas and lots of cool indoor spaces.
Texans may brag about their dry-rubbed brisket, but burger fans will want to splurge at Whataburger. The San Antonio-based chain boasts restaurants across the South, with 670 locations in Texas alone. Whataburger is proud of its mustard and does not come with ketchup, unless you ask for it.
See the Rotunda
If you make it over to Cowtown (Fort Worth), stop by the SBC’s second seminary, Southwestern. It sits on 200 acres in Fort Worth called “Seminary Hill.” In 1908, B.H. Carroll, persuaded the trustees of Baylor University to hive off their theological school while Baylor’s president was on vacation in Europe. Then they named Carroll the first Southwestern President.
Mission Illinois Offering
Let’s keep going
Small church gives big through the state mission offering
Louisville, Ill. | “As I saw that number go up every week for the Mission Illinois Offering, I would just look at everybody and say, let’s just keep going.”
A belief that God—and his people— can do something bigger led Hoosier Prairie Baptist Church to a record total for last year’s state missions offering, Pastor Sam Neill said. The church, which was one of more than 310 IBSA congregations giving to the 2024 Mission Illinois Offering, just kept giving, to the tune of $10,730, over 50% more than the southeastern Illinois church had ever given before.
The five-figure amount placed the rural congregation of about 50 in the top ten giving churches to the annual statewide offering that supports Illinois mission and ministry.
That kind of generosity might have surprised the young pastor when he first came to the church in 2022. But now, he sees it as a natural part of their culture.
from seeing the bigger picture, and the part it has to play. That starts at home. Surrounded by fields and a few miles outside the nearest small town (Louisville, population 1,136), the people of the church are committed to meeting the physical and spiritual needs of their corner of Illinois first.
During Covid, the church began food distribution in their community. That outreach has continued. It now meets the needs of between 100 and 500 people every few months. “It’s a way we show the gospel and meet the needs of the community,” Neill said.
“There’s a sense of love both for each other as a church, but also for the larger church,” Neill said. That love is demonstrated by generous giving and serving. “(It’s) in our local association, the Illinois Baptist State Association, and to our state, and even beyond that.”
Hoosier Prairie doesn’t let its off-the-beaten-path location keep it
But that sense of responsibility to community doesn’t stop where the church’s activities end. They see themselves as an essential part of the bigger Baptist family. The congregation is very involved in their local Olney Baptist Association, giving and volunteering to help provide the association’s free youth camp every summer. And in 2024 the church was also one of Illinois’ top twenty-giving churches to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
Neill is quick to credit Hoosier Prairie’s family identity, along with the love and generosity that flow from it, to the church’s 175-year history. But he brings much of that same identity
with him and does not hesitate to speak about it, especially at times like the Mission Illinois Offering and Week of Prayer.
“I tried to speak to the congregation about the importance of Illinois missions and encourage them that God is capable of doing a great work in the state and that we know that there is a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s important for people in a church like mine to know that there are places in our state where there’s great gospel work being done, and the area doesn’t always look like ours. God has placed Illinois Baptists all the way from the cornfields to the inner city, and we have the possibility to be a part of that gospel work.”
Neill knows the impact that Illinois
Baptists can have when they give and work together. “I remember going to my first Super Summer when I was a kid, probably 12 or 13, and seeing the impact that cooperation had on my life,” he said. “Because seeing these people who were able to come together from all across the state with a desire to see young people come to know Christ and to grow in Christ, it was really encouraging.”
And it keeps going, because of churches like Hoosier Prairie, all ovver Illinois, who believe God can do something bigger when they trust him and join together to give and serve.
—Ben Jones
GROWING
MEET THE TEAM
Bob Dickerson Zone Consultant in Southern Illiniois
Home: I grew up in Ullin and live in Marion now.
Education: Doctor of Ministry degree from studies at Midwestern Seminary and Luther Rice Seminary
Journey: I came to IBSA after retirement from First Baptist Church of Marion where I served 17 years.
Family: My wife’s name is Robin, and if the Lord tarries, we celebrate 50 years of marriage in August. We have two adult sons, Joshua and Lucas. We have two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Life verse: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20 (NKJV).
Favorite Bible person: Joshua. For years he served a biblical hero (Moses) and then he became a biblical hero.
Snack: Little Debbie Oatmeal Cakes
Hobbies: St. Louis Cardinals baseball, making my wife happy, keeping in shape, and spoiling my grandchildren every chance I get.
Dog: Paris, our French Poodle/ Chinese Crested mix
Books: Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God (for myself) and Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (for the family)
A quote I find myself saying: “If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up!”
table talk
Hope for today and tomorrow
What the glorified Christ shows us about our future
remember as a child when I would have a nightmare, I would run to my parents’ door and wake them. Usually, my mom would be the one to comfort me. These were her words: “Think about heaven and all that awaits us there.” She had a sense that all would not be well this side of glory and that my only true comfort and rest would come through what awaited me in heaven.
We need to be reminded that the hope of which we speak is not a wish, but a confident certainty. Our confidence is not in anything that we have done, but in what the triune God has done in saving us, not just in the sense of being declared in right standing with a Holy God through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of the Son, not just in the way that God is currently conforming us to the image of the Son, but also in the reality of coming into the fullness of our salvation at glorification.
As the author of Hebrews states, “Faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
If we state that we believe something, it is not a hope that is dormant, but a hope that is alive. As Calvin says, “What would become of us were we not supported by hope, and did not our minds emerge out of the midst of darkness above the world through the light of God’s word and of his Spirit? Faith, then, is rightly said to be the subsistence or substance of things which are as yet the
objects of hope and the evidence of things not seen.”
Since we are certain of this hope by faith in the God who has already justified us, is sanctifying us, and will glorify us, we live as those who truly believe such.
Hope that sanctifies
Our glorification is not dependent upon this purity, but God’s finished work in Christ guarantees our progress in being conformed to Jesus and thus continues to prepare us for our glorification. We gratefully obey the Lord out of our love for him because he has changed us, and we follow what he has given us as a way of life for our good now with a view of our ultimate joy in him in the future.
The way in which God sanctifies us is by the ordinary means he has given us—namely the preaching of God’s Word and the ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Table. Each of these have an eschatological piece to them.
As Paul says, we “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13). In other words, we are, by God’s gracious means submitting ourselves to him, by his Spirit with our eyes fixed on our future hope. These already realities point us to the future not-yet of our hope.
Hope shapes our present Whatever we’re experiencing
today is not the end. God, in his infinite grace and mercy, has not only redeemed us for himself in this life and is not only conforming us to the image of his Son currently, but is working all of these things out for our good and his glory, which culminates in our glorification which has the end goal of seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:28–30; Matt. 5:8; 1 John 3:2).
This not only ought to be something we believe that is “out there” in the future. We should contemplate the reality of it as the truth of what motivates our hope today. Look heavenward. One day we will see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And when we see him, we will be like him. Hope in your glorification!
“All in favor of John and Peter researching the report of the women, say, Aye.”
Jason Alligood pastored in Peoria and graduated from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an assistant professor of theology at Cedarville University in Ohio. This excerpt is from his new Lifeway Christian Resources study, Raised in Splendor.
ReFocus experience helps churches look to future
Carlinville | “Our future looks better that it did,” said Pastor John Shelton. “Time will tell what happens, but I think we have a sense of excitement.”
Shelton pastors Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Piasa and those are his feelings after participating in a ReFocus Discovery Cohort at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville on February 22. He was there along with pastors and key church leaders from eight Macoupin Baptist Association churches.
Together they did honest assessments on the health of their churches and discovered how God wants them to move forward to reach their communities. The Cohort was led by Scott Foshie, IBSA Health Team Leader, and Sylvan Knobloch, an IBSA retiree who continues to serve as a coach with the Health Team.
Best kept secret
Shelton’s experience with ReFocus as an associational leader made him eager to participate as
a pastor. “I know the benefit and felt our church would benefit as well as the association did,” he said.
Because Piasa is small, rural community, Shelton said the church, which averages 30 in Sunday morning worship, will need to reach out to people in other nearby communities where most of the churches are Lutheran, Catholic, and Methodist.
Church members especially hope to reach more families with children and ReFocus Discovery helping them plan how to do that. They are currently thinking through how to do a VBS. The church is also promoting an Easter egg hunt following the worship service on Easter Sunday.
The pastor challenged one of the Mt. Zion members who attended the Cohort to start a Sunday school class for students in grades 4-6. The church currently has no children in that age group in attendance. “She accepted it,” he said. “I think we’re headed in the right direction and God’s going to be
faithful with that.”
The preparation isn’t in vain. “A few weeks ago, a member invited a friend to come, and she brought her kids,” Shelton said. Then he was tagged in a Facebook conversation between a couple of women who invited a few of their friends to church, who also happened to be mothers. The women indicated they would be attending and bringing their children with them.
Church members are also working on preparing mailers to send out to the local community. “We’re letting people know where we are at and who we are,” Shelton said.
“We feel like we’re the best kept secret where we are.”
The church life cycle
Cliff Woodman is pastor of Emmanuel Carlinville and an IBSA Zone Consultant. He said his church participated “as a way to partner with and encourage our sister churches to seek a better health and vision moving forward.”
According to Woodman, the church, which averages 101 in Sunday morning worship attendance, “wanted to raise awareness of where we realistically were at in the church life cycle that would produce prayers for a revival and an openness to explore new or different approaches.”
“It was great to see the hunger among the other eight churches,” Woodman shared, “There was praise given because we were all there together.”
For more information about ReFocus, email ScottFoshee@IBSA.org or call 217-391-3122.
Dear Mary BRIGHTER DAY
“E
arly on the first day of the week, after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons” (Mark 16:9).
After her earth-shattering meeting with Jesus, Mary Magdalene told his friends he was alive! Even though they didn’t believe her at first, delivering that message must have felt like a true privilege for a woman who had seen and known Jesus’ power, and was often in the background of Gospel accounts of his ministry.
There she is, following him as he ministered from one village to the next (Luke 8:1-2). Then, we see her right before Jesus’ death, watching from a distance with some of the other women who follow him (Matthew 27:55-56). And again, she’s at the tomb the morning of his resurrection, waiting and attending and abiding, even when she believed Jesus was gone. He had driven out seven demons. Afterward, the hallmark of Mary’s discipleship was devotion. Scripture doesn’t record many of her words, but we do know she was present for both everyday ministry and monumental events.
If we look around our own churches, we’re likely to notice people who follow her example. They are longtime, long-suffering followers of Jesus. They are woven into the tapestry, the background, of God’s work in their communities. They have been active participants in some seasons and background players in others. But they’re always there, devoted to his work, his purposes, his power to transform lives— including their own.
Mary Magdalene’s example of nearness to Jesus ought to draw our own hearts closer to him—certainly this month, but not only at Easter. Where can we move nearer to him and his work?
Does it mean instituting a new spiritual discipline? Is it spending more time in prayer? Is there an avenue of service you’ve felt drawn toward for a while? In what area does our discipleship invite deeper, stronger, more faithful devotion to Jesus?
This month and every month, where are the places in which we can follow Mary’s example, and the words of a familiar hymn:
Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain; Free to all a healing stream, Flows from Calvary’s mountain. In the cross, in the cross
Be my glory ever, Till my ransomed soul shall find Rest beyond the river.
Meredith Day Flynn is a wife and mother of two living in Springfield.
EVENTS
April 10
Disaster Relief Training
Where: Tabernacle, Decatur, 6-8 p.m
What: DR 101 introduces the basics in disaster relief. Cost: $50 to become a certified member Info: IBSA.org/events
Contact: JanetSheley@IBSA.org
april 11-12: emmanuel, carlinville
Disaster Relief Training
Where: Emmanuel, Carlinville
What: Courses: Vary by location, childcare and chaplaincy, flood recovery and incident management. Check online. Cost: Current members are free. New members or those with expired badges cost $50.
Info: IBSA.org/events
Contact: JanetSheley@IBSA.org
April 11-12
Student Discipleship Retreats
Where: Streator Baptist Camp
When: Friday 5 p.m.-Saturday 5 p.m.
What: A done-for-you Disciple Now Weekend! For students grade 6-high school.
Cost: $40, plus $10 for optional T-shirt
Info: IBSA.org/events/student-discipleship-retreat-streator/ Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
April 25-26
(Optional pre-conference april 24) PRIORITY
Where: Wyndham Springfield City Centre, Springfield
When: Thursday 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Friday 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
What: IBSA’s premiere conference for women leaders. Cost: Pre-Conference Cost: $50 (Box lunch included) Conference Cost: $60 (Box lunch included) Conference Bundle Option: $90 (includes leadership breakfast, T-shirt)
Info: IBSA.org/ministries/women/priority/ Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
April 27-28
2025 Ignite - Fairview Heights
Where: FBC Fairview Heights
When: Sunday, 6-8 p.m., Monday, 8 a.m.-Noon What: A regional event helping church leaders encourage, inspire, and instruct their people to effectively share their faith.
Cost: Free (includes lunch Monday) Info: IBSA.org/events Contact: JanetSheley@IBSA.org
NETWORKING
Send items to IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org
Golf Road Baptist Church is seeking to fill two positions: a full-time associate pastor to transition to a full-time pastor position by fall of 2026, and a part-time worship leader. Send resumes and recommendations to Golf Road Baptist Church, 501 W. Golf Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016, or email golfroadbc@gmail.com.
Martinsville First Baptist Church is seeking full-time Pastor. We are looking for a man with a shepherd’s heart. Must affirm and adhere to Baptist Faith and Message (2000) and meet biblical qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9. Send resume to Martinsville FBC, PO Box 357, Martinsville, IL 62442 or MFBCpastorsearch@yahoo.com.
Ignite Night
April 29: Emmanuel Baptist Church, Sterling may 6: Three Rivers, Friendship, Plainfield may 6: Logan Street, Mt. Vernon
When: 5:30-8:30 p.m.
What: A regional event helping church leaders encourage, inspire, and instruct their people to effectively share their faith.
Cost: Free (includes lunch Monday)
Info: IBSA.org/events
Contact: JanetSheley@IBSA.org
May 2-3
Send Relief Serve Tour
Where: Evansville, Indiana
What: Imagine the impact of 500 Illinois Baptists joining Serve Tour Evansville, where they will serve local churches, low-income schools, and other organizations in need of assistance. Projects may include light construction, painting, hosting neighborhood grill walks, and block parties.
Cost: Free
Info: https://www.sendrelief.org/serve-tour/evansville-servetour-stop/
Contact: ShannonFord@IBSA.org
JUNE
and JULY
IBSA Kids and Student Camps
When and where: Multiple dates at Lake Sallateeska and Streator Baptist Camps See ad on page 14. Info: IBSA.org/summercamps
June 24-28
Super Summer
Where: Hannibal-LaGrange University
When: Starts Tuesday at 6 p.m., concludes Saturday at noon. What: A fresh learning experience for students who’ve completed grades 6-12 to develop their fullest potential as Christians Cost: $250 per student, $270 after June 1
Info: IBSA.org/supersummer
Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
July 18-19
Level Up Guy Camp
Where: Streator Baptist Camp
When: Friday 3 p.m. - Saturday 5 p.m.
What: A one-night retreat to develop relationships with each other and the Lord. For dads and sons, grandads and grandsons, mentors and mentees, and men and their friends. Cost: $75 for adults, free for 18 and under Info: IBSA.org/events
Contact: JacobKimbrough@IBSA.org
see the IBSA calendar for more events. www.ibsa.org/calendar/
CLASSIFIED AD
Search more church openings at IBSA.org/pastor-search FULL-TIME PASTOR
For rural community in south-central Missouri. SBC church averages 80-90 members on Sunday morning. We would like a man who wants to lead and work beside us as we serve our community and share the Gospel.
Reply to: Mary Moore, search committee secretary First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 665, Belle, MO 65013 or email maryalicemoore2016@gmail.com.
In our March “Meet the Team” feature, we incorrectly identified Sam Winkleman as pastor of Rooted Community Church in Lebanon. He is collegiate ministry leader for RCC and serves as a IBSA contract worker in campus ministry. RCC is pastored by Jacob Goble. The Illinois Baptist regrets the error. CORRECTION
MEREDITH FLYNN
Take Another Look
100 years of the Baptist Faith & Message
On the centennial of the SBC’s statement of faith, let’s explore what we believe and take time to reinforce a solid foundation.
III. Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.
In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.
The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Gen 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalm 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isa 6:5; Jere 17:5; Matt 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Rom 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Cor 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Eph 2:1-22; Col 1:21-22; 3:9-11.
This small booklet is available from Lifeway.com for 25 cents per copy. And the content may be downloaded from bfm.sbc.net/ bfm2000.
Made in God’s own image
At the time the first Baptist Faith & Message was adopted in 1925, the big headlines included gangster-massacres, Prohibition, and the Scopes Monkey Trial. Billed as the trial of the century only two decades into the century, a schoolteacher in Dayton, Tennessee was brought to court for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. In that environment, Southern Baptists made a statement: Man is made in the image of God. He always has been.
What is man that you are mindful of him? Psalm 8:4 ESV
The relatively brief statement adopted 100 years ago has served to affirm the unique place of human beings in God’s creation, whatever theological assault society may inflict. When the BF&M (2000) was adopted, Southern Seminary Professor Daniel Block pointed out man’s noble status, but also his ignoble status.
Creation does not start with humanity here on earth and build to the vastness of space. Instead it starts out there, and draws closer. And at every step, God declares what he just made good (tov), until God gets to The Man (ha-adam). Only the man receives the breath of life from God’s mouth that makes him a living soul, and only Man is said to be VERY good. God made Adam last, as the pinnacle of Creation.
The BF&M (2000) points out two genders and their distinctions as the gift of God. Written 25 years ahead of our current debate, the reference seems prescient. It meets the need of the day. It is an example of tweaking the language to meet the present need, even as Scripture itself is unchanging. In 1925, the need was to address evolution. In 2025, it’s gender issues.
As for the ignoble state of mankind, because of sin and its effect, human
beings are not as God created us to be. Any newscast from cities and war zones will tell us that. Any failed relationship, broken dream, or illness will tell us that.
Sin would seem to be a given in our culture, but our statement of faith points out original sin, sin nature, and personal responsibility for our own sin. Even as the “condemnation of transgressors” is cited, the statement responds with the grace of God and salvation in Jesus Christ. Sinful man can be restored.
As with gender, “every person of every race” is an addition from the 1963 version. It came five years after the SBC racial reconciliation resolution was passed. Quoting Block, “In accordance with the biblical view that all human beings serve as representatives of God, any act directed at another person, whether for good or evil, is an act directed at God.”
Being made in the image of God demands that we honor the rest of mankind, who are also made in the image of God, by sharing with them the most important thing of all—an introduction to the God who made them and the Savior who will remake them.
—Eric Reed