August 10, 2015 Illinois Baptist

World Pastor still in Iranian prison

Global attention focused on the case of Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor imprisoned in Iran since 2012, after President Barack Obama and other world leaders struck a nuclear deal with the country in mid-July.

Abedini’s advocates in the U.S. objected that the deal, which includes the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran, was reached without securing his release.

Photo by Mark Emerson

NATE ADAMS

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

Snapshots from the world of Illinois Baptists

“Many women—particularly those still identifying as Christian—may want to believe that they can hold on to their faith even as they find less and less time in their life for church.”

– Roxanne Stone, Barna Group Vice President

Culture:

22% Church: Room for improvement of women say they most want to improve the church or religious activities part of their life, making it the highest ranked area on the list.

– “Five Factors Changing Women’s Relationship with Churches,” www.Barna.org

$3,522,704

2015 Goal: $6.2 Million

The Illinois Baptist staff

Editor - Eric Reed

Managing Editor - Meredith Flynn

Contributing Editor - Lisa Sergent

Graphic Designer - Kris Kell

Administrative Assistant - Andrea Hammond

Intern - Morgan Jackson

For questions about subscriptions, articles, or upcoming events, contact the Illinois Baptist at (217) 391-3110 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 three weeks 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 pipeline

Recently Beth and I had the opportunity to travel to Alaska for our 30th anniversary, and to see for the first time the famous Alaska Pipeline. It is truly a modern marvel, transporting millions of barrels of oil each week over 800 miles from the north slope of Alaska to its northernmost ice-free port in Valdez. Since the pipeline opened in 1977, more than 17 billion barrels of oil have flowed through it, along a route that travels both underground and over the permafrost, in climates that can vary from -80 to +95 degrees Fahrenheit.

The amazing length, cost, and complexity of the pipeline is a testimony to the value of the oil it carries. At $8 billion, it was the largest privately funded construction project ever at the time, and took 70,000 workers and more than three years to build. But it has paid for itself many times over.

Here in Illinois, Baptist churches are working together to build a different kind of pipeline, one designed to carry something of far greater spiritual value than oil. We are seeking to build a leadership pipeline, one that can deliver church planters and tomorrow’s church leaders, both to current churches, and to the underchurched regions of our state.

This summer we laid some major new sections of that pipeline. For the second year, IBSA hosted “ChicaGO Week” at Judson University in Elgin, a mission week experience designed to connect student groups with church planters in Chicagoland. We were delighted to see participation triple over the previous year, as 181 students and leaders from 14 churches invested a week of their lives in numerous neighborhoods where we are seeking to plant new churches.

Earlier in the summer, we laid yet another track of leadership pipeline through IBSA’s Summer Worship University, hosted by Hannibal-LaGrange University. About 130 students and leaders invested a week learning music and worship leadership skills, and then more than 50 of them went on tour to put those skills into practice through the All State Youth Choir.

Super Summer for student leaders at Greenville College, kids camps at Lake Sallateeska and Streator Baptist Camps, and many other leadership development efforts throughout the year are designed to prepare tomorrow’s leaders, and guide them through childhood and adolescence and internships into tomorrow’s—and today’s—church leadership roles. In fact, I frequently meet young adults serving in IBSA churches who say they got their start in church leadership through an IBSA leadership development event for students.

A church leadership pipeline is something that we all have to work together to build, in multiple different ways, whether we’re preparing leaders for our own church, or for a sister church somewhere. If we all work at it together, the value of the leaders the pipeline eventually delivers is well worth the cost.

The last day of the ChicaGO Week student camp happened to fall on July 31, which was also my mother’s 85th birthday. So that morning I showed a picture of her to the almost 200 students, interns, youth leaders, and church planting catalysts, and reminded them that missionaries like my mom and dad had invested their lives for decades in the work those young leaders were just now being challenged to continue. I wanted them to see where the leadership pipeline was leading.

After the group joined me in singing “Happy Birthday” on video to my mom, they loaded up in their respective vehicles. But as they drove away, I told myself that they were not just headed home. They are now on a long but important journey, down a pipeline that will one day deliver them to the church of tomorrow, as its leaders.

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

The value of the leaders the pipeline eventually delivers is well worth the cost.”

Continued from page 1

“While still learning more about this deal made with Iran, I stand appalled that we would make any kind of deal that would not demand the immediate release of the four Americans held hostage, including Pastor Saeed Abedini,” Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd told Baptist Press. Naghmeh Abedini, was at the 2014 and 2015 SBC Annual Meetings, where Baptists prayed for her husband’s release.

Journalist Jason Rezaian and former Marine Amir Hekmati also are imprisoned in Iran, and retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing there since 2007.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, in the U.S., posted an online petition calling Congress to reject the deal and demand Iran release the Americans.

ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow posted a statement from Naghmeh Abedini: “I plead with each member of Congress to review the deal with our family at the forefront of their thoughts,” her statement read in part. “Congress holds the key to bringing my husband home, to returning the father to my children.”

Congress is expected to debate and vote on the deal in September, Reuters reported.

President Obama also faced inperson opposition to the deal when CBS News reporter Major Garrett asked him in a press conference why he is “content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?”

Calling that notion “nonsense,” the President said he previously met with the families of some of the imprisoned Americans and that connecting their release with the deal would have encouraged Iran to seek more concessions, CNN Money reported after the exchange.

Abedini himself addressed supporters in a letter written from prison and posted on the Facebook page “Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini.”

“I know that so many of you have felt that I have been left behind after a deal was reached with Iran and I am still not home.

“I want you to know that as I wrote the thank you letter to President Obama after he had visited my family in January of this year (which he read at the national prayer breakfast), that God is in control of all countries and leadership in the world when the body of Christ comes together in united prayer.”

– With reporting by Baptist Press, BPNews.net

Pastors support Israel

Evangelicals believe God has special relationship with modern nation

Nashville, Tenn. | An overwhelming majority of Protestant senior pastors favor support for Israel, according to a survey conducted by LifeWay Research.

Of pastors surveyed, 80% said Christians should support Israel. Still, the data noted, 41% of pastors agree it is hard to defend the country’s military tactics.

The LifeWay survey results were released in July, as the U.S. and other world powers agreed to a nuclear deal with Iran. Israel is opposed to the agreement, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “a historic mistake” on Twitter.

SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION

Among other findings in a series of LifeWay surveys: While 64% of Americans say God had a “special relationship with ancient Israel” and 46% agree Jews are his chosen people, only 48% say he has a special relationship with modern Israel.

Evangelicals are much more likely to agree with the bond between God and modern Israel: 70% say he has a special relationship with the nation.

LifeWay released research earlier this summer that found 53% of Americans believe God has a special relationship with the United States.

– From LifeWayResearch.com

Meet me in St. Louis

SBC leader calls Baptists to 2016 meeting

Following encouraging attendance numbers at the 2015 Southern Baptist Convention in Columbus, Ohio, SBC President Ronnie Floyd issued a call to St. Louis for the 2016 meeting, set for June 14-15.

“Coming off our largest convention meeting since 2012 in New Orleans, our Southern Baptist family begins to dream and cast the vision for our next gathering in 2016 in St. Louis,” Floyd wrote on his blog, ronniefloyd.com. “More importantly than the size of our gathering in Columbus this year, our great and mighty God met with us powerfully.”

The Columbus gathering saw 5,407 registered messengers (people eligible to vote on Convention matters), and 7,000 attenders at a

National Call to Prayer during the Tuesday evening session.

Looking forward to the 2016 meeting, Floyd listed statistics about St. Louis and the spiritual need in the city: of 2.73 million people, 51% are unaffiliated with any religious body, and only 18% are affiliated with an evangelical church. Plus, Floyd said, the need is great on the other side of the Mississippi River too.

“Southern Baptists, how do we not go and make a difference in metro St. Louis? You see, when we speak of metro St. Louis, we are also talking about East St. Louis, Ill. Two states will be impacted by our gathering next year…. In 2016, Southern Baptists need to converge on this city from all over the world and see it as our gateway to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Stand with us!”

LIFTED UP – Naghmeh Abedini (center) is prayed for by Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference President Willy Rice and his wife, Cheryl, at the Columbus, Ohio, meeting in June.

Northwest corner needs churches

Opportunities abound in Quad Cities

BY MORGAN JACKSON

Church planters from across the state traveled to Peoria July 11 for a “Church Planting Rendezvous” at Woodland Baptist Church. The purpose was to bring together involved and potential local church partners to hear about and experience Illinois church planting. Attendees were encouraged to engage in starting new churches through a three-pronged approach: Pray, Partner, Plant.

First things first, said John Mattingly, IBSA’s Northwest Region Church Planting Director, in a breakout on “Remarkable Prayer Partners.”

“If we’re going to see all 1,000 churches get involved [in church planting], we need to start praying for church plants and planters as much as other activities such as VBS,” he said.

Mattingly explained to the group that church planting movements are happening all across the world, except in the U.S. And the problem is we’re not praying enough. “Prayer breaks our hearts and gets us to see things differently. That’s where we need to start.”

In Illinois, the greatest need for more churches is in the northwest region, specifically in the Quad Cities, where 42% of people are unchurched, according to recent research by Barna.

Pastor Yao Emile Abaya has been a church planter in Moline (one of the Quad Cities) since 2012, when he came to the U.S. from the West African country of Togo. His plant of about 25 people is called Race of the Elect of Christ. He expressed how much he appreciated the Rendezvous and learning from others who have been in this ministry longer than him.

“I know my connection with other people who have experience in this area will help me to do better what I’m called to do for God,” Abaya said. After a few years on this journey, he said it has had its share of challenges, especially because in America “people are busy and say they don’t have time to come to church.”

When asked how others can be praying over the northwest region and his church plant in particular, he said only one thing:

“Pray for God to send his Spirit into the hearts of people.”

Youth Encounter expands

Three regional events set for October 11

Youth Encounter, IBSA’s annual evangelism conference for junior high and high school students, has a new look in 2015. Instead of one location, it’s in three. And the traditional post-Christmas date has been moved to October 11.

Changing patterns in youth culture and a decreasing number of attenders in recent years necessitated a re-launch of the Youth Encounter strategy, said Mark Emerson, IBSA’s associate executive director for the Church Resources Team. Noting the event’s rich heritage among Illinois Baptists, he said, “We are working to allow more students to have access to this event, while at the same time renewing its evangelistic purpose.

“Youth Encounter is more than just a concert; it is an event where pastors and student leaders can bring lost students to hear the gospel presented with the opportunity to respond to Christ. Not only are we praying that more churches will be involved with Youth Encounter this year, we are praying that hundreds of students will give their lives to Jesus.”

YE 2015 will take place in three cities: Country Club Hills in Chicagoland, Decatur and Mt. Vernon. The conferences share a purpose—inspiring students toward deeper devotion to Christ—but will welcome different speakers and musical guests:

North | Hillcrest Baptist, Country Club Hills

Hip-hop artist and St. Louis native FLAME will return to Youth Encounter after making his YE debut in 2014. Joining him at the Chicagoland site are singer/songwriter V.Rose and performance artist Marc Eckel. IBSA pastors from the area will lead in teaching at the northern location.

Central | Tabernacle Baptist, Decatur

Evangelist Clayton King is the featured speaker in Central Illinois. Bands Seventh Time Down and Remedy Drive will lead worship, along with artist Andy Raines.

South | Logan Street Baptist, Mt. Vernon

Another YE returning guest, 321 Improv, will bring their comedy act to the southern location, joined by worship artists Jordan and Jessa Anderson, Shuree Rivera and The Great Romance. Evangelist and Liberty University Senior Vice President David Nasser is the guest speaker.

Each YE conference is 3-10 p.m., with dinner included. Until October 9, the cost is $25 per participant for churches affiliated with IBSA, and $30 for all others. Cost is $30 at the door.

For more information about Youth Encounter or to register, go to www.IBSA.org/ YE2015.

ON THE MAP – The Quad Cities, where 42% of people are unchurched, was one focus of a July Church Planting Rendezvous where leaders learned how to engage in starting new churches.

PRAYER CIRCLE – Students at Youth Encounter 2014 huddle for prayer after a main session of the annual evangelism conference. Photo by Brooke Kicklighter

Liberty under fire?

Marriage ruling, healthcare mandate raise questions

As the country marked the one-month anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, religious institutions continued to wrestle with the possible implications.

“The Supreme Court left unresolved what rights faith-based universities will have in regard to their religious liberty,” Gene Crume, president of Judson University in Elgin, Ill., told the Illinois Baptist. “The federal government controls financial aid for students, so there is a very real possibility that there could be restrictions to federal financial aid for faith-based institutions if they do not recognize same-sex relationships.”

Crume also noted that since the Court’s ruling, some leaders have favored protecting the tax-exempt status of faith-based universities that oppose same-sex unions, while others have called to do away with the protection for those institutions.

That particular concern arose during oral arguments heard by the Court prior to their decision, when Justice Samuel Alito asked if institutions like religious schools could lose their tax-exempt status if they opposed same-sex unions. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli responded that “it’s certainly going to be an issue.”

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) told The Weekly Standard in July that he had no “quick answer” about the “challenging area” presented by schools and their religious liberty concerns.

“There’s no question this was an historic decision, and now we’re going to go through a series of suggestions for new laws to implement it,” Durbin said. “I can’t predict how this will end. But from the beginning we have said that when it comes to marriage, religions can decide what their standards will be.”

The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service testified before a Senate committee in July that Christian schools will not lose their tax-exempt status if their policies oppose same-sex marriage, The Christian Post reported. But Senator Mike Lee (RUtah) was skeptical of Commissioner John Koskinen’s use of the phrase “at this time” in explaining the IRS’ position.

Lee told media, “While I greatly appreciate Commissioner Koskinen’s word that he

will not target religious institutions for their religious beliefs, it worries me and it should worry every American that the IRS does not absolutely disavow the power to target religious institutions based on their religious beliefs, even if the current IRS commissioner has committed not to use that power for the time being.”

SBC entity appeals mandate

GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention announced last month it had filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court against a health care mandate that requires some companies it works with to provide abortion-inducing drugs.

While GuideStone and churches are exempt and will not have to pay penalties for refusing to cover drugs like the morningafter pill, the federal government has argued that other religious employers are protected by an accommodation in the mandate.

In a report on the Baptist Press website, GuideStone General Counsel Harold R. Loftin Jr., said the Southern Baptist entity “has, from the filing of our case, objected to the so-called ‘accommodation’ because the government is attempting to rewrite the terms of GuideStone’s plan” to use the plan “to provide access to drugs and devices GuideStone believes to be impermissible.”

GuideStone officials said they are optimistic that the Supreme Court will accept its appeal by the end of September, but regardless of the outcome, President O.S. Hawkins said the organization remains committed to the ministries potentially affected by the mandate if the Supreme Court upholds it.

– With reporting from Baptist Press, BPNews.net

Bailey joins IBSA planters

Former North American Mission Board strategist Tim Bailey joined the staff of the Illinois Baptist State Association August 1 as a church planting catalyst in suburban Chicagoland. He previously planted churches in Virginia and New Jersey, directed church planting efforts in Western Pennsylvania for the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey, and worked in the areas of church planting, church and pastor relations, and strategic

development at NAMB in Alpharetta, Ga.

“Tim is passionate about pushing back spiritual darkness and planting churches that will make an evangelistic impact on their communities,” said Van Kicklighter, IBSA’s associate executive director for the Church Planting Team.

Bailey and his wife, Laurie, have one son and two daughters.

Kasich’s faith rooted in tragedy

As the Republican field for U.S. President grows more and more crowded, Americans are getting a look at the personal faith of several of the candidates.

One of the most recent to announce he’ll run, Ohio Governor John Kasich, told religious conservatives meeting in June that his faith was a “rabbit’s foot,” until his parents were killed by a drunk driver in 1987.

“I tore it all apart,” he said, according to the Columbus Dispatch, and re-built his faith. Kasich belongs to a congregation affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America.

LifeWay to relocate

While finalizing the sale of its facility (right), LifeWay Christian Resources is purchasing land to build a smaller building in downtown Nashville, Tenn. The organization’s offer to buy 1.5 acres a mile away from its current location was accepted last month, Baptist Press reported. President Thom Rainer said the organization hopes to close on the new property early this fall, and complete the new building by late 2017.

When LifeWay began mulling the sale last year, spokesman Marty King said nearly onethird of the current facility was vacant or leased.

Missionary doc’s book details Ebola fight

Kent Brantly, the doctor who contracted the Ebola virus last year while working as a missionary in Liberia, said he and his wife “didn’t have regrets” about serving overseas.

“That’s what God called us to,” Brantly told The Christian Post. He and his wife, Amber, tell their story in the new book “Called for Life: How Loving Our Neighbor Led Us Into the Heart of the Ebola Epidemic.”

Amber Brantly said the couple hopes the book “would challenge people to ask, ‘What would it look like for me to answer God’s call in my own life?’”

Get

Taking on Planned Parenthood

Following the release of several videos by the Center for Medical Progress, pro-life legislators pushed to remove federal funding from Planned Parenthood. The bill failed to get the votes it needed, but lawmakers are expected to take up the issue again this fall.

“If you didn’t show them the video, most people would not believe this stuff was going on. I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

– David Daleiden, executive director, Center for Medical Progress, ChristianityToday.com

“If we are called into the kingdom of a just Messiah, one who welcomes children, we should stand up and speak up for the vulnerable ones He loves.”

– Russell Moore, president, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, RussellMoore.com

“Let’s be clear what Senators defending Planned Parenthood are arguing….Their argument boils down to this—a woman’s access to “affordable healthcare” is a more weighty interest than a human baby’s life.”

– Denny Burk, professor, Boyce College, Louisville, Ky. DennyBurk.com

“The revelations we’ve seen from Planned Parenthood are deeply disturbing. They raise real fundamental questions about what kind of society we want to be.”

– Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), USAToday.com

The fights we have to fight

Having spent the last 39 weeks awaiting the birth of our first child, the news stories about recently released Planned Parenthood videos hit close to home. I haven’t really watched the videos—which detail conversations about the sale of body parts from aborted babies—very closely, mostly because I was scared of what I would hear.

The fallout is plenty frightening, especially how many government leaders and media professionals have defended Planned Parenthood’s practices. The apathetic reaction causes me to ask: Is this how far we’ve come?

In a blog post following the release of the first video, Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler noted the tepid reaction of most mainstream media and abortion supporters wasn’t surprising. One magazine writer said she had watched the video and her response was “to yawn,” Mohler wrote. Is this where we are now as a nation, as a culture? How on earth did we get this far from a merely human view of the sanctity of life? We are all, after all, people. Surely we can understand that life isn’t to be haggled over during a lunch meeting.

But the videos tell a different story.

How did we get here? A quick first reaction is to decry the videos as one more piece of evidence that society is in a downward spiral. The Planned Parenthood videos show a twisting away from God’s plan and purpose for life, and we can do nothing but throw up our hands—or wash our hands of all of it.

The problem with that reaction is that it takes the responsibility off of the church. And while many Christians have long stood up for the sanctity of human life, there obviously is much left to be done.

“We must pray that this video will mark an important turning point in our nation’s conscience,” Mohler wrote. And in our own. How can we respond when plainly bonechilling conversations are shrugged off as normal?

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, summed it up in a dozen words: “It is time for the reborn to stand up for the unborn.” In our churches, in our conversations at work, with our families, with people who disagree.

“A nation that will allow this, will allow anything,” Mohler said.

That’s why it’s a fight we have to fight. – MDF

“For

MISSION

PRAY SERVE GIVE

to reach lost people in Illinois

13 million people live in our state.

At least 8 million of them do not know Jesus Christ.

Offering & Week of Prayer

SEPTEMBER 13-20

Prayer is the foundation of our Illinois churches, strong and vital, guiding everything we do. Service is what people remember, visible displays of God’s love that touch their hearts. Giving helps hold everything together, working in harmony with prayer and service.

PRAY

Illinois Baptists have a history of strong support for missions—praying for workers, participating in hands-on service, and giving through special offerings. But our missions commitment here in Illinois needs to be elevated to a new level. The number of lost people is increasing quicker than our churches and missionaries can keep up with. The spiritual need in Illinois is great, and so is our responsibility to do something about it.

The Mission Illinois Offering and Week of Prayer supports missions in ways that meet the needs in our state. The annual offering supports missionaries and supplies for a variety of ministries in all corners of Illinois.

Prayer is the starting point. In September worship services, please spend extra time lifting these needs before the Lord:

• Pray for the millions of people in Illinois who don’t yet know Christ. Pray they would begin to acknowledge their need for him, and that God

would lead them to seek out local churches where they can hear the gospel.

• Pray for the church planters, campus ministers, associational leaders, and IBSA staff members equipping local churches for the work to which God has called them.

• Pray for local churches, including your own, as they are led to new avenues of ministry and missions, all with the purpose of helping people in their communities find Christ. Ask God for creativity, courage and gospel-centered outreach opportunities as you pray, serve and give.

Continued on page 8

Personal Devotions: Day 1

Spiritual need

Of the 13 million people in Illinois, at least 8 million of them don’t know Christ. In Central Illinois alone, 49% say they believe good works will get them into heaven.

Last year, 4,505 people were baptized in IBSA churches, with 580 congregations baptizing at least one person. IBSA’s more than 900 member churches are working to reach their communities with the gospel, and to see true transformation that happens from the inside out as Christ gives people new identities and frees them from shame and self-condemnation.

Pray: For Mark Emerson as he leads IBSA’s Church Resources Team to equip churches for effective outreach and evangelism, and for Pat Pajak as he works with IBSA zone consultants to meet the specific needs of churches and leaders, so that more people might hear and respond to the gospel.

Pray

Continued from page 7

• Pray for your church and more than 900 others across the state as they enter this time of focus on missions in Illinois. Pray they will set God-sized goals for this year’s offering, and that he will lead us to take even greater responsibility for our Illinois mission field.

Since the IBSA Annual Meeting last November, many churches and associations have adapted the Concert of Prayer for their own mission fields. The materials are suited for a special prayer event on the subject of missions. After all, Illinois’ much needed spiritual awakening is all about missions.

The Isaiah 6 prayer model can be focused on the mission field of Illinois.

• Lament the lostness in our state.

• Repent of our lack of concern for lost people, nearby and in our large metro areas.

• Intercede for their salvation and for God to send workers into his fields.

• Commit to support missions with prayer and finances, and to go into all the places in Illinois that need missions workers.

The four prayerrelated videos (Lament, Repent, Intercede, and Commit) can be shown during the prayer service and guide pray-ers in their conversation with God. Each is a quiet meditation on Scripture with images and music, about three minutes long. Participants who have held their own Concerts of Prayer have reported moving and effective worship experiences.

Download a prayer service guide and videos at IBSA.org/MIO.

Will you encourage your church to engage in special prayer Sept. 13-20?

Day 2

Diverse Illinois

Our state is a diverse place. Big cities dot almost every region, separated by rolling fields and hills, and quaint towns where people have put down deep roots. Because one strategy doesn’t fit all when it comes to sharing the gospel in these regions, IBSA zone consultants are assigned to work with local associations and churches to meet specific needs in their regions.

Pray: For these zone consultants who resource local leaders: Steven Glover (Chicago Metro Association), Joe Oliver (Lake County and Fox Valley), Brian McWethy (Sinnissippi and North Central), Joe Gardner (Metro Peoria, Quad Cities and West Central), Larry Rhodes (Gateway and Metro East), Jack Lucas (Nine Mile, Salem South, Greater Wabash, Goshen Trail and Franklin), and Stephen Williams (Clear Creek, Williamson, Union, Antioch, Saline and Big Saline).

Charles Campbell, Sylvan Knobloch, and Pat Pajak also serve as zone consultants. They are listed on other days.

SERVE

The Mission Illinois Offering helps IBSA help churches…and together we advance the gospel across our state in many ways.

The 2015 MIO video “Together, In Concert” tells several stories about the work Illinois Baptists support through prayer and giving. Evangelism is “the point of the plow” in all our work, whether it’s mission trips or mission projects, children’s camps or VBS training, or equipping church leaders: the overarching goal is to help churches make disciples.

IBSA offers training in evangelism, discipleship, and missions. More than 20,000 times each year leaders are equipped for ministry. More than 25,000 Illinois Baptists are mobilized for missions.

Mark Emerson, Associate Executive Director of the Church Resources Team, recalls an IBSA church that learned the importance and necessity of missions through its children:

A few years ago they participated in Children’s Ministry Day where their children’s group drove to Springfield. They built a bookshelf for a shelter for battered women. The kids carried this bookshelf up to the door. One of the little girls knocked and then proudly proclaimed to the director when it was opened, “We’re missionaries!”

Now it’s not just the kids, the whole church gets it. Over 70% of their congregation has participated in some form of mission project. They all know they’re missionaries, serving and working together.

Meredith Flynn, Illinois Baptist managing editor shares in the video how she met a teenager whose experience at an IBSA camp, one of

Christ is needed here

“Chicago has it all—diversity, different groups of people, different generations. It’s beautiful to see,” said Jonathan de la O, pastor of Starting Point Community Church, a new congregation on Chicago’s North Side.

Jonathan and his wife, Emely, both grew up in Spanish-speaking churches, but they felt the need to start a new kind of church. English is the first language for many Latinos in the U.S., the children of immigrants born here. They are “second generation,” and Spanish is not their native tongue.

For years Jonathan witnessed fellow Hispanics and youth leave the church. This awareness later became a building block for Starting Point. But the final prompting came when a Hispanic man, disillusioned with church, said to Jonathan he needed to go back. He soon realized “there could be a church for people like me, an English-speaking place for Hispanics where they can feel comfortable,” he said.

Emely agreed: “We’re creating something that hasn’t maybe been done before.” Chicago has a rich heritage and endless diversity, but the peo-

many offered each year, changed her life forever:

Hannah Batista arrived at Super Summer knowing hardly anyone. She admits she really didn’t want to attend the annual event held at Greenville College, but the family she was living with encouraged her. That she knew no one in the groups she was assigned to “was a really good thing, because it meant that I wasn’t distracted,” she said. “I could listen to the message that everyone all my life had been trying to give me, but I was finally listening now to it.”

On the last night of the week, in the quiet of her dorm room, she accepted Christ. “I remember I was crying, just so happy and so glad that I knew that Jesus would accept me despite my sin, and I could become a child of Christ,” Hannah said. “I don’t ever want to go back to the life I lived before I came to know Christ.”

She calls the week “an event like no other that I’ve experienced in my life.”

And it was possible because 85 Illinois Baptist missionaries and ministry support staff are able to serve—and many thousands more volunteer each year—through the Mission Illinois Offering

Will you encourage your church to support the service of IBSA missionaries and ministry staff?

Will you show the video “Together, In Concert” in a worship service Sept. 13?

ple there still need Jesus. “We’re preaching the Gospel, not teaching Spanish.”

The greatest need for Hispanics in Chicago is to hear about Jesus in a way that breaks lingual, cultural, and spiritual barriers, that reaches their

hearts, allowing a true understanding of the message of Christ.

Jonathan stated, “I think Hispanics in the States are a sleeping giant that needs to be awakened” to the gospel.

Four “background” videos for your prayer service are on the DVD.

Look for the story of Starting Point Church in Chicago, reaching secondgen Hispanics, on the DVD or download it at IBSA.org/MIO.

GIVE

Why should I give to the Mission Illinois Offering? My church already gives to missions through the Cooperative Program. And we give to Annie and Lottie. Should I give to Mission Illinois too?

Good question. The Mission Illinois Offering is the most direct channel Illinois Baptists have to support the missions in our state that are really important to us here.

While Cooperative Program is the most balanced method of supporting national and international missions, planting churches in the US and Canada, and preparing missionaries and ministers, it is special offerings like Annie, Lottie, and Mission Illinois that encourage special mission work that touches our hearts.

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions helps the North American Mission Board (NAMB) focus on church planting, especially in the 32 metropolitan “SEND Cities” largely unreached with the gospel. And the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering gives International Mission Board (IMB) workers tools they need on foreign mission fields.

But it’s the Mission Illinois Offering that funds mission work close to home. Our denominational partners have their responsibilities, and we have ours. Illinois is our mission field. And Illinois’ 8 million (or more) lost and unreached people are our responsibility.

They’re our neighbors, and they need Jesus.

Through the Mission Illinois Offering, we are guaranteed that our giving to missions will reach our mission field with the gospel. As IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams has pointed out, there are many good missions works we can support, but through MIO, we can be certain that—

• Mission Illinois encourages the work of local congregations. Through equipping and mobilization, IBSA is a partner with your church.

• Mission Illinois carries the gospel with all its mission work. Not only is there the compassion ministry in downtrodden communities, children’s ministry, collegiate outreach, church planting among unreached people, and aid after disaster, Mission Illinois shares Christ in every setting where IBSA missionaries serve.

• Mission Illinois is built on solid Baptist doctrine. We gladly work in the larger evangelical world, but we are Baptists and we hold to sound Baptist beliefs. Mission Illinois is the outward expression of our Baptistic commitment to the Great Commission, starting right here in Illinois.

Will you encourage your church to give generously to state missions through the Mission Illinois Offering? Our neighbors are counting on it.

Lead the Offering & Week of Prayer in 10 simple steps

Recruit leaders. Share these materials with your team.

Download fresh ideas. Stir your team’s creativity with resources for worship, prayer, or missions events. IBSA.org/MIO

Save the date. Many churches will use September 13-20.

Set the goal. The need is greater than ever. Consider $10 per resident member, or 10% above last year’s offering. The statewide goal is $475,000.

Publicize, publicize. Starting four weeks before the offering, in bulletins, newsletters, e-mail, and with posters.

Get social media talking. Post the Promo Video on your Facebook page, tweet it, show it in worship.

Show the videos. Use one per week in several worship services, or plan one big mission study event and show all the videos.

Pray. Pray in worship services. Plan a special prayer meeting. Encourage attenders to use the printed MIO Prayer Guide. (Order extras at MIO@IBSA.org.)

Distribute the MIO bulletin insert and offering envelopes on the first Sunday of the emphasis week. (The envelopes were enclosed in the kit and mailed to participating churches. The bulletin insert will arrive in a separate mailing around August 15.)

Collect the offering. And keep on until you surpass your goal.

Day 3

Our big mission field

Our Illinois mission field is broad, diverse, exciting…and sometimes daunting. The state is a temporary home to 925,000 college students, some who have never heard the gospel. Pray for campus ministers and their volunteer teams as they work to make a difference in the lives of students.

Pray: For Chet Cantrell as he influences elementary and high school students at the Christian Activity Center in East St. Louis, where more than 50% of households are below the poverty level and the CAC’s afterschool program serves as a safe haven for hundreds of kids.

IBSA staff members help churches realize their missions potential, even when it takes them outside the state. Remember Carmen Halsey as she works with congregations on women’s ministry and missions, and Bob Elmore as he facilitates short-term mission trips to countries like Haiti, Jamaica and Guatemala.

Day 4 Chicagoland

Spiritual need is great in Metro Chicago, home to 10 million people and only one Southern Baptist church for every 35,105 residents. Let the church-to-people ratio prompt you to pray fervently and frequently for those in the city and suburbs who have never experienced God’s love and the saving power of Jesus Christ.

Pray: Ask God to guide IBSA staff members who are facilitating church planting in Chicagoland: Dennis Conner, Tim Bailey, Edward Jones, and Jorge Melendez. Pray specifically that the seeds planted during this summer’s ChicaGO Week would continue to grow, and that leaders in the city would find favor with their neighbors, schools, and local officials.

Day 5

Across the state

Chicago isn’t the only place in need of more churches. New churches are effective at reaching new people, but the work is challenging: Muslims now outnumber Southern Baptists in Illinois.

Nearly 1 million people live in Metro East St. Louis, but in the region there’s only one Southern Baptist church for every 7,889 residents. The state’s northern region has 10 counties with no IBSA church.

Pray: Ask God to call more Illinois leaders into church planting, and surround them with partnering churches to encourage and support their work.

Pray for Van Kicklighter as he leads IBSA’s Church Planting Team, and for church planting facilitators Charles Campbell (Southern Illinois), Eddie Pullen (Metro East) and John Mattingly (Northwest Illinois).

For more online go to www.IBSA.org/MIO.

Nate Adams describes “Our Big Mission Field” on the DVD.

MIO KIT:

To request additional copies of these items, call (217) 3913119 or e-mail MIO@IBSA.org.

Download Illinois Missions Studies & additional resources at IBSA.org/MIO.

Day 6 IBSA staff

Support missions in Illinois • September 13-20, 2015

Day 7 People groups

Whether they travel the state for conferences and training events, or specialize in behind-the-scenes work from Springfield, IBSA staff members are called to one mission: helping equip church leaders for missions and evangelism.

Pray: For IBSA executive director Nate Adams and IBSA’s five teams: Church Communications, Church Consulting, Church Cooperation, Church Planting and Church Resources.

Pray for staff members who are often on the road: for Sylvan Knobloch as he helps improve the spiritual health of churches; for Steve Hamrick as he guides church leaders in the areas of worship and technology; and for Rex Alexander as he leads the state’s 1,600 Disaster Relief volunteers.

Pray for leaders who work alongside IBSA staff to equip individuals and churches in areas including chaplaincy (Dan Lovin) and prayer (Phil Miglioratti).

Pray also for Philip Hall (Lake Sallateeska) and Nick Candler (Streator) as they direct ministries at IBSA’s two camp facilities.

Nearly one out of every seven Illinois residents is an immigrant to the United States. Nowhere is cultural diversity more evident than in Chicagoland: 53% Anglo, 22% Hispanic, 18% African American and 7% Asian/ Pacific Islander.

The metro area is also home to a large number of second-generation churches and church plants—congregations reaching out to the children of immigrants.

Pray: For John Yi, an IBSA church planting catalyst in Chicago, as he works with secondgeneration churches who are doing the challenging work of sharing the gospel across cultural boundaries.

Pray also for church planters working to start congregations to reach the state’s numerous people groups, from Effingham, where Tony Munoz helps start new churches among the Hispanic population, to Chicagoland, where planters including Eric Aidoo (Bolingbrook), Cody Lorance (Aurora) and Zhenjun Wang (Clarendon Hills) seek to reach West Africans and East Asians.

Day 8

Generous giving

Giving to the Mission Illinois Offering aids in the continued health and strength of local churches right here in our own state.

This offering supports the salaries of church planters, missionaries, and leadership trainers. It supports campus ministries and reaching the thousands of Illinois college students. It provides ministry supplies, equipping for church leaders, and the mobilization of mission volunteers. But overall, it supports the goal of living out the Great Commission and carrying the gospel to those in Illinois who are lost.

Pray: As Illinois Baptist churches collect the offering this week, pray that hearts will be moved to give.

Pray that God will prompt people to be generous with their resources and that each congregation will reach its goal. Pray that the overall state goal will also be exceeded. And pray about your own financial commitment, that God will reveal how he is calling you personally to support state missions through the Mission Illinois Offering

Trinity has demonstrated a very special dedication to the integration of faith and learning by hiring top flight evangelical scholars from different denominational traditions who are seeking to make a mark in the scholarly world for Christ.

brad gundlach | professor of history

Trinity College faculty are committed to mentoring students academically, spiritually, and personally. At Trinity, students grow and mature in their academic disciplines, learning what it means to be a scholar and a professional.

IN FOCUS

THE BIG PICTURE

Happy Campers

Kids find Christ, share Him with others during summer getaways

BY MORGAN JACKSON

Greenville | Two months before Super Summer, organizers of the annual discipleship week for students intended to focus on local service projects.

“But we didn’t get a lot of response, so we see that as God’s way of providing us instead with the opportunity to bring people from the community onto the Greenville College campus,” said Rusty Morecraft, a Super Summer volunteer and director of missions for Saline Baptist Association.

Super Summer, held every year at Greenville College, is a training and learning experience geared towards students seeking to develop their full potential as Christian leaders. Through speakers, music, breakout discussions, and

discipleship, youth are encouraged and equipped to live active lives as Christfollowers in their homes, schools, communities, country, and world.

To get people from the community to the campus, coordinators planned a new Super Summer event—a block party on Greenville’s quad to serve as an intentional witnessing opportunity to locals. Students canvassed surrounding neighborhoods the day before, handing out flyers for the party.

“We saw a woman outside watering flowers,” said Courtney Thomas of Highland Avenue Baptist Church in Robinson. “So we started talking to her and found out she was 57 years old and had just been laid off from her job. She

didn’t even have enough food to eat. We prayed with her, and she ended up deciding to accept Jesus!”

She wasn’t the only person who encountered God as a result of the week’s evangelism focus. Approximately 100 intentional, gospel-centered conversations took place, physical and spiritual needs in the community were met, and at least four students were saved through electives, worship services, and family groups.

One of those students was Sarai, whose dad, Josh Monda, pastors First Baptist Church in Washington. She approached him right before the party saying, “Daddy, I don’t know Jesus. I’ve always said

Continued on page 12

• Super Summer reaches out

• Young leaders learn to worship with their lives

PHOTO: Campers and group leaders at Lake Sallateeska pause in front of the water for a photo op during week one of IBSA’s summer kid’s camps.

Kids, teens dive deeper into faith at IBSA summer camps

continued from page 11

the right things, but I don’t know him. I need to place my faith in Christ.” Telling the story in Greenville, Monda pointed behind him. “We prayed right there.”

Finding true treasure

Sixty miles due south of Greenville, another camp experience greeted its participants with pirates and treasure hunts. IBSA’s annual camps for kids, held at Lake Sallateeska and Streator Baptist Camps, hosted an estimated 300 children over four weeks. Around a dozen of them made professions of faith at camp, and each camper was challenged to consider their relationship with Christ, said Scott Slone, pastor of First Baptist Church, Elkville.

Slone helped with this year’s children’s camps and said that the weeks provided a great opportunity for kids to learn what Illinois Baptists are all about. “Each camp challenged youngsters to think about mission work locally and across our nation and world.”

One highlight for him was when he talked with a camp counselor about a young girl who during cabin devotions realized she’d been baptized yet still didn’t truly understand what a relationship with Christ looked like. Slone talked to her pastor, explained the situation, and through that interaction provided her with the help and spiritual guidance she sought.

‘The future is bright’

In Hannibal, Mo., Illinois Baptists’ next generation of worship leaders took the stage at Summer Worship University (known as SWU), an annual event designed to equip students to participate or lead worship in their own church. SWU saw its largest attendance in recent years, with 86 students and 40 adult leaders.

Dove Award-winning songwriter Jennie Riddle and Micah Tyler, a singer/songwriter from Buna, Texas, were special guests during the week,

which also included classes in a variety of musical disciplines, interpretive movement, visual art, technology, and more.

Riddle, composer of the worship staple “Revelation Song” was at SWU “to demonstrate and show how to lead worship,” said Steve Hamrick, IBSA’s director of worship and technology. “Her goal is to get the students involved in actually leading other students.”

Those who had previously attended SWU likely embarked on the week knowing what to expect—classes, worship, and growth, musically as well as spiritually. But Riddle and Tyler kept kids on their toes, leading them to try new things outside of their comfort zones.

The duo led various free-style worship exercises to help kids release to the Lord in worship what was in their hearts. “I’m teaching them how to find their voice,” Riddle said. “As we look at the Scriptures, I don’t want them just to understand it with their mind. I want them to own it with their song. Because what you sing you’ll never forget.”

Emily Harszy, 17, from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Shipman said she loved the perspective Riddle brought to the week. “Knowing more about the process of creating music is really interesting. It’s fun for her to lead worship too. I hear her on the radio and here she is!”

Group leader Teresa Ebert from Temple Baptist Church in Canton said she loved seeing kids learn that worship is personal and unique for each individual. “You claim it. You own it. It’s just you and God.”

Tyler explained that they didn’t want kids to just have a moment, but to grasp something they can hold on to and take back to their churches, ministries, families, and future. We “are trying to equip students to lead, worship, and love well. There are some very special kids here. The future is bright in Illinois.”

QUIET TIME – A camper at Streator takes time to read her Bible.

AIM HIGH – Children at IBSA’s kids camps tried their hands at new skills—everything from learning archery to building cardboard boats.

‘FIND YOUR VOICE’ – Guests Jennie Riddle and Micah Tyler lead worship with a group of students at Summer Worship University in Hannibal, Mo.

OUTREACH – A volunteer loads a golf cart of fun and games in preparation for Super Summer’s community block party.

BALLOON HATS! – As the block party got underway in Greenville, students and adults flocked to the balloon tent in search of a silly hat or their favorite inflatable animal.

Is preaching passé?

BY NATHAN CARTER

In his little book, “The Priority of Preaching,” Christopher Ash writes what every pastor has thought at some point.

“Is it really helping when we spend so much of our week laboring at the word of God, preparing to preach it to the churches we serve…Is it worth slogging away preparing Sunday’s sermon with such a world of need outside?”

Maybe you are a pastor and you have doubted whether your preaching is really doing anything. Maybe you are a church member who sometimes falls asleep during sermons and you wonder if there is a better way of connecting with today’s postmodern culture. Is preaching a thing of the past?

We are far from the Puritan days when one minister apologized to his congregation for preaching a two-hour sermon and they all replied, “For God’s sake, sir, go on, go on!”

During the era of the Baby Boomers, preaching in many churches became a casual talk on how biblical principles can address felt needs, bolstered by the use of multimedia technology.

Many Gen Xers and Millennials are now looking for new expressions of church, and the very idea of preaching is being re-imagined. Wouldn’t it be more authentic to have a dialogue about the Bible where everyone could share his or her own experiences and insights?

I define preaching as onedirectional, verbal proclamation of God’s word culminating in the gospel. And I still maintain that this is an absolutely essential practice for the church. Why? For one, we see it happening all over the Bible (i.e. Acts 10:33-44). That’s descriptive, not necessarily prescriptive, you might say. Well, it is also expressly commanded elsewhere (i.e. 2 Tim. 4:2).

But couldn’t the intent behind “preach the word” be fulfilled in other ways than one person talking at other people for an extended time? I certainly believe there are several different legitimate styles of preaching. But the method of preaching is critical.

We need times when we bite our tongues as we are confronted by the authority of God’s Word. In an age of relativism and rebellion against authority, it makes sense why we don’t want to sit

under preaching. We don’t want doctors; we’d rather self-diagnose.

The idea of a wiki-sermon that we all have a hand in constructing is much more appealing. But our great need is to hear, “Thus saith the Lord,” and let his external word rebuke us, call us to repent, make us ready to receive the message of the gospel, and then respond in faith and obedience.

Hearing a declaration of something that has happened, something to which you can’t contribute a thing but must respond to with either belief or disbelief, best comports with the gospel.

Since there is a constant need to have the double-edged sword of God’s word pierce our souls to expose our sinful hearts and then graciously present Christ to us in all his resplendent glory so that we can trust in him as our righteousness and healer, preaching will always be indispensable. There is a place for small group discussions and seminars and life-on-life mentoring. But preaching is an essential element of the life and health of a church. The practice of preaching can be abused (when it becomes a chance to express one’s own ideas instead of expound a text), but that shouldn’t cause us to avoid its proper use.

Some preachers are more gifted than others, but the mark of a mature believer is to be easily edified as long as the word of God is being preached.

Charles Spurgeon said, “I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the gospel and the opening of men’s ears to hear it. The moment the Church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry that the Lord has always been pleased to revive and bless His Churches.”

May he do it again today!

fresh ideas

Teach kids to worship

I sat behind a cute little boy in worship. He was wearing stylish headphones and intently played game after game on his smartphone. An older girl nearby was sprawled out napping on the pew. Both children’s parents were engaged in worship, yet they missed the opportunity to help their kids worship God.

Are you intentional about engaging your child in true worship? As soon as he’s past nursery age, you have the privilege of training up your child to enjoy worship services. Try these fresh ideas:

• Create a church bag to hold a children’s Bible (with pictures if possible), a journal book and a pen or markers.

• Prepare well on Saturday. Lay out your child’s clothes, find both shoes, be sure there’s food for breakfast, and intentionally get a good night’s rest.

• As you drive to church, show excitement. Chat about why we go to church and what you hope God will do in your own heart today.

• Be seated before worship begins, selecting a seat near the front so your child can see and participate well.

• Help your child stand or sit at appropriate times, sing the songs, bow his head and close his eyes during prayer. Let him give an offering and pass the plate.

• Open the Bible or hymnal and follow the words with your finger, even if he can’t yet read them.

• As you take sermon notes or fill in a bulletin outline, a young child may simply draw words the pastor says. As reading skills improve, she may write words from the focal Scripture or take sermon notes.

• Teach respect for God’s house, and pay attention to your child’s activity. Never allow him to be unruly or destructive.

• On the drive home, talk about the worship service. Ask what your child enjoyed or learned. Answer any questions, and recap the sermon topic on the child’s level.

Would you like for your children to receive over 50 hours of hands-on worship training this year? If you worship as a family each week, intentionally engaging your kids in true worship, that’s exactly what you’ll give them.

Diana Davis is an author and minister’s wife. This column was originally published at BPNews.net.

Nathan Carter is pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Chicago.

“Morning, Doris. I’m out visiting my church members who refuse to get Facebook.”

DIANA DAVIS

Many Millennials are looking for new expressions of church, and the very idea of preaching is being re-imagined.

Meet: Steven Glover

Zone Consultant

Zone: 1 (Chicago Metro Association)

Small-town church makes big-time renovations

Ashland | The congregation at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship had grown too large to fit in their church building. After purchasing five acres of land on the edge of town for the construction of a new multi-purpose facility, they were offered some welcomed help.

old girl, and a man in his 70s. First time Carpenters for Christ participant Mike Walker said the whole process was very impressive and that “it’s amazing how easily everybody works together and just hops in where needed.”

New Faces

New Williamson County Baptist Association Director of Missions Jerry Ford (right) recently received the keys to the office from Charles Boling, who is retiring this year after 27 years of service at the association.

Other current roles: Church Planter Intern appointed by the North American Mission Board at Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago

Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio

Family: Steven and his wife, Robin, have four daughters: Gabriella Noelle, 17, Noah Danielle, 15, Jewell Elizabeth, 12, and Selah Israel, 9.

Time in Illinois: Almost seven months

Other places you’ve served here: Since moving to Chicago earlier this year, Steven has preached in churches in zones 2 and 3, prayerwalked in the Uptown neighborhood, done door-to-door evangelism on the near west side, and participated in street witnessing on the south side.

What makes your zone unique? Zone 1 is like no other! Hundreds of various people groups from around the world, speaking thousands of different dialects, reside in Chicagoland. Therefore, reaching them with the gospel is in some ways reaching the world for Christ.

Favorite restaurants in your zone: I enjoy breakfast, so Sweet Maple Café (on Taylor Street) would be my favorite.

IBSA zone consultants work with directors of missions and churches across the state. www.IBSA.org/zone

NeTworkiNg

A team of 33 people from First Baptist Church in Harvester, Mo., traveled to Ashland June 22-26 to lend a hand. They are part of a national ministry called “Carpenters for Christ” (C4C) and have been doing a construction mission trip like this every summer for 25 years.

Toward the end of the trip, group leader Chris Root said, “You should have been here Monday. This was just a great big open barn, more or less.”

But after four days, the framework was in place for classrooms on the first and second floors, a pastor’s office, foyer, utility rooms, bathrooms, a nursery, and a kitchen.

Their volunteer group’s numbers included a half dozen youth, a family of five, an eleven-year-

A small dedication service was held on the last day of the trip, with Root thanking his group for their efforts all week. Several team members shared personal testimonies, a love offering was presented to New Beginnings’ pastor, Darin Peterson, and then the group departed for home.

The Illinois church hoped to be using the building in a month with a possible open house in September. Peterson said C4C’s help has blessed New Beginnings beyond measure.

“In Luke 6:36 Jesus tells us to give and it will be given back in good measure. I feel like that is what God has done for us with Carpenters for Christ.”

– Morgan Jackson

Ford grew up at First Missionary Baptist Church in Flat Rock, sang in a Gospel group called the Southern Harmony Quartet after high school graduation, and worked at the Robinson Daily News before pastoring IBSA churches in Harrisburg, Jonesboro, Marion, and Herrin. He and his wife, Lota, are members of First Baptist, Marion, and have one son, two grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.

Chris Wright, a former IBSA church planting catalyst, is now serving as the North American Mission Board’s SEND city missionary in Chicago. Wright, who came to IBSA after planting a church in Peoria, most recently led The Church at DuPage in Glen Ellyn. As a SEND city missionary, he will help bring partnering churches to Chicagoland to work alongside church planters.

Milestones

Congratulations to Karen Mercer, who recently celebrated 25 years of service as administrative assistant at First Baptist Church in Columbia.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Emmanuel Baptist Church, Carlinville, is seeking a bivocational music minister who feels a definite call from God and is willing to lead our music program, specifically Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. We are looking for an individual who can lead a blended worship service utilizing both a choir and praise band. Send resumes to cliffwoodman@mac.com or pastor@ebccarlinville.org.

Hopewell Southern Baptist Church, Pana, is seeking an interim pastor Contact Homer Hess at 902 East Second St., Pana, IL 62557 or (217) 562-4320.

The Alaska Baptist Convention is seeking an executive director/ treasurer. Go to alaskabaptistconvention.com for more information; resumes will be received until Sept. 21. Email Todd Burgess, search committee chairman, at pastor@fbcer.org.

Salem Baptist Church, Florissant, Missouri seeking bivocational/fulltime pastor, in agreement with Baptist Faith and Message. Preferred pastoral experience, some seminary. Contact Pastor Search Committee at Salem Baptist Church, 19715 Old Jamestown Road, Florissant, MO, 63034-1125, or email georgetripp09@gmail.com

FRAMEWORK – Carpenters for Christ volunteers work to complete the infrastructure of a new multi-purpose building for New Beginnings in Ashland.

EVENTS

September 15

August 14-15

Coach Approach to Leadership

What: Basic training for all adults in coaching skills

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield

Cost: $99 per person for IBSA churches Register: www.IBSA.org/women

August 15

Men’s Softball Tournament

Where: Rotary Park, Decatur

Contact: David Kahler, (217) 875-6862

August 18

iConnect: IBSA/ Pastors Meet-Up

What: Intro to IBSA staff, ministries, training and opportunities for pastors and staff

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Contact: BarbTroeger@IBSA.org

August 28-29

Groups Matter Conf.

See ad below Register: www.IBSA.org/education

September 12

Beth Moore Simulcast

What: Women’s Bible study event

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield

When: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Cost: $10 per person for IBSA-affiliated churches; $15 for all others; includes lunch Register: www.IBSA.org/women

September 12

Black Church Sunday School Celebration

Sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources

Where: Broadview Missionary Baptist

When: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cost: $29 per person Register: www.IBSA.org/education

African American Worship Leaders’ Workshop

What: Training with Gospel music educator Roy Cotton, Jr., and Chicago minister of music and producer Andrae Ambrose

Where: Uptown Baptist, Chicago

When: 7-9 p.m. Register: www.IBSA.org/worship

September 17-18

Base Camp Training

What: For churches committed to reaching Sub-Sahara Africa

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield Register: www.IBSA.org/missions

September 18-19

Refresh

What: Regional training for worship leaders, with special guest Travis Cottrell

Where: Hannibal-LaGrange University, Mo.

Cost: $50 for both days; $35 for one; $10 for students; maximum of $150 per church

Contact: SteveHamrick@IBSA.org

September 19

BCHFS Fall Festival

Where: Baptist Children’s Home Residential Care Campus, Carmi

Contact: KenSteward@BCHFS.com

September 25-26

Illinois Changers

What: Hands-on missions experience for students in grades 7-12

Where: Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp

Cost: $25 per person; $10 additional fee for lodging Saturday night Register: www.IBSA.org/students

September 26

Church Library Conf.

What: Training for media specialists

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield

When: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Cost: $20 per person

Contact: DebbieMuller@IBSA.org

dave says

Healing comes first

QI have a relative who recently entered a rehab center to treat her drug addiction. I’ve been trying to help with things on the outside, and recently I discovered she has about $20,000 in debt. This is in addition to the rent owed on her apartment. I don’t have a lot of money, but do you think I should start trying to pay some of these bills for her?

AI’m really sorry to hear about your relative. Addiction is a painful thing for the addict and for their family and friends. While what you’re suggesting is noble, my advice would be to leave the debt alone. I would, however, notify her landlord of what’s happened. If he won’t hold her place, then get her stuff out and turn over the keys so he or she can find another tenant.

As far as the debt obligations are concerned, just let her creditors cry and whine. They’re going to do that anyway, and you’re in no position to help financially at this point. Once she’s out and healthy again, one of the first things she’ll have to do is recreate her life and income. When that’s been done, then she needs to go back and make arrangements with her creditors.

her a little money to help her get started again. God bless you guys.

Unauthorized subletting

QI own a rental property that brings in enough to pay the taxes and insurance with a little left over. Recently, I found out that my tenant, who just signed a new two-year lease, is subleasing the property for the short term as a vacation site. This is prohibited in the agreement. Do you think I should approach him about the situation or let it go until it becomes problematic?

DAVE RAMSEY

But right now, she needs to concentrate on herself. And as her family, you need to pour as much love and support as you can into the healing process. You’ve got a great heart, but the money stuff can wait until she’s out, healthy and established again. Then, if you want and have been able to save a bit, you might gift

AIt’s already a problem, because he’s in violation of the lease agreement. Call him today and tell him to stop the sublease immediately. Let him know that he’ll be evicted if anything like this ever happens again. You may not have experienced any big problems up until now, but what happens when he pulls this again and the next people who come in are a bunch of partiers? You could end up with broken windows, holes in the walls and a bad reputation. On top of all that, what if they leave and he doesn’t have the money to fix things? It’s all on you. Why? Because you lost control of your property!

As a landlord, I always try to be gentle and nice but really clear about things. But this guy needs to understand that you mean what you say in the lease agreement. Once more, and he’s gone!

Financial advisor Dave Ramsey is a prolific author and radio host.

Led by experts from LifeWay and the Church Resources Team of the Illinois Baptist State Association.

omeone inherits an odd artifact.

i lead S Clues to church culture

It comes with a bit of a story from a great-grandparent, but no one in the family really knows what the thing is or its significance. That’s when they turn to History Detectives, a PBS television series in which historians-turnedSherlock Holmes dig into the past.

Many of our churches need to do the same kind of investigation: we need to understand our church’s “culture” in order to plan for the future. Here are some clues to aid your exploration.

SYLVAN KNOBLOCH

Identify your church’s core values. Often what brings joy or heartbreak to a church reveals its values. Ask, what does the congregation get excited about? It is something related to its history? Then the church may be nostalgic and looking backward. Think about what in the past made the church proud, and how can that be duplicated now.

Is it the annual community cornboil? Then the church may be led to further investment in community ministries.

Change takes place slowly, and blind spots can develop. Plan a walkabout. Encourage two couples to take a walk around your neighborhood and to write down the sights and sounds they encounter. Observe the needs of the families that live there. When you meet, share your observations.

Request a detailed demographic report from the Church Resource Team. A report of the growing immigrant populations in Illinois and the demography of a neighborhood the church is seeking to reach can help as you develop prayer strategies and outreach plans.

Study recent trends. Request a 10-year report of the Annual Church Profile from IBSA. This data reveals trends in giving, baptisms, mission involvement, small group, and worship attendance. Once realized, leaders can make corrections as needed.

You are welcome to attend Understanding Your Church’s Culture Monday, August 31, 2015. Two identical sessions: 12:00–4:00 p.m. and 5:00–9:00 p.m. Waverly New Life Baptist, 341 East Elm, Waverly.

Sylvan Knobloch is IBSA’s Director of Church Health and Leadership. He has served with IBSA more than 35 years. Contact sylvan knobloch@IBSA.org.

Church needed here...

Location: East Belleville

Focus: The city of Belleville, Scott Air Force Base, and smaller towns including Mascoutah, Freeburg and Shiloh.

Characteristics: The city of Belleville alone has around 43,000 people, making it the most populated city south of Springfield and in the Metro East region.

Prayer needs: Pray for a planter to adopt this region with the goal of starting a new church to reach people who don’t know Christ.

Strength without resolve

“When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely” (Judges 1:28)

When you read the book of Judges, the history of Israel presents a very clear pattern of God’s blessing, followed by the people compromising to fit their culture, disobeying God’s Word, being judged by God, and finally, returning to him. The repetition of this pattern raises the question: Why couldn’t they break the cycle?

There is not a simple answer to that question, but I am struck by the danger that accompanies and follows compromise.

The verse for this devotional thought illustrates that strength (making the Canaanites serve as forced labor) without resolve (but never drove them out) may give the appearance of health, but it’s a slippery slope that ultimately leads to disaster. Compromising on God’s Word eventually produces the result we find in Judges 2:10: “Another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel.”

These are certainly perilous days. We must address the issues before us, but let us not be satisfied to only flex our muscles of righteous indignation. Let us examine our lives to see where there may be areas of compromise that will lead us to “lose” the next generations.

PRAYER PROMPT: Lord, compromise often comes in small, subtle steps. Help us to step carefully.

Odis Weaver is pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Plainfield and is currently serving as president of IBSA. Pastors are invited to join the online “IBSA Pastors’ Prayer Room” by emailing oweaver7307@gmail.com.

Get to know your neighbors

They’ll be there for a while

Looked over the fence lately? The family that lives next door is more than likely the same one that moved in a few years ago, according to Barna. Research shows 59% of Americans say they don’t ever plan to move away from where they live or don’t know if they ever will.

Barna notes that the likelihood of moving goes up as ages go down: 14% percent of Millennials (born between 1984 and 2002) say they plan to live in their current city or town less than a year, more than double the number of any other generation.

Application:

Analyze your church’s neighborhood, and place an “X” on the scale below:

Steady In Transition Transient

We have most of the same neighbors we had years ago.

We’re in a state of flux, with substantial turnover every few years.

We hardly meet people before they’re moving on.

Based on your rate of transition, which outreach plan is best for your church? Choose one of these:

Help people feel like family.

Learn to welcome newcomers.

Plan new ministries for new Christians, or those who don’t yet know Christ.

Or, write your own, based on the people in your neighborhood.

– Info from Barna.org, July 2015

ODIS WEAVER