Illinois Baptist
Pritzker weighs assisted suicide bill
Springfield | Gov. J.B. Pritzker seemed surprised by passage of an assisted suicide bill for terminally ill patients when pressed by a group of reporters in Chicago. “I’m looking at it,” Pritzker said in early November.
As he considers signing the legislation allowing physician-assisted suicide, pro-life groups are urging Illinoisans to notify Pritzker of their objections.
The act was passed by the state senate in the early morning hours on Friday, October 31, the final day of the veto session.
“It was something that I didn’t expect and didn’t know was going to be voted on,” Pritzker said, “so we’re examining it, even now.”
SB 1950 was attached to a bill regulating food sanitation, a move that an opposition group, Patients Rights Action Fund, implied was underhanded.
“Legalizing assisted suicide disguised as a sanitation bill undermines long-standing efforts in suicide prevention and could dangerously shift the standard of care in health care facilities,” a PRAF statement said. The group urged Pritzker
The
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Total giving by IBSA churches as of 10/1/25 $4,256,542
2025 Budget Goal to date: $4,966,065 2025 Goal: $6 Million
WORD SEARCH: CHRISTMAS
CNATE ADAMS
A gift
hristmas is coming, and I’ve been wondering if there was some way I could offer a gift to those who read this column. Something that would be good for kids of all ages, parents, and grandparents alike. A gift that might last well into the new year. In fact, something that would be treasured for a long time, even passed along to coming generations.
Sounds like an incredibly high standard for any gift, doesn’t it? But I have one in mind. It’s a gift that I first received as a boy from both my parents and grandparents, and one I eventually passed along to my own children. As young adults, they now tell me they still treasure it. Soon, I trust, they will be passing it along to my grandchildren.
If you don’t have one already, I’d like to offer you the gift, the lasting treasure, of a family devotional time.
Admittedly, it’s sort of a do-it-yourself gift. But if you have kids still at home, or if you are a grandparent who has time with your grandkids, maybe I can offer here some quick tips that can help jump start or restart a family devotional time in your home.
First, find the right book or devotional resource to help you. We started with simply worded Bible story books and moved on to Children’s Bibles, family devotional stories, and teen devotional books. Eventually our kids took turns leading the devotions themselves.
Second, find the right time. Throughout the years, we found that after dinner and before the youngest child’s bedtime worked most consistently for our family. For others, during a meal or first thing in the morning might be better.
Third, make it fun! Before our kids could read, we used a Bible story book with pictures, but then we started acting out the Bible stories. The story of Jonah included wind, rain, a rocking boat, and a toss onto the couch with all of us yelling, “Throw Jonah overboard!”
Pharoah’s daughter found little Moses with a Fran Drescher-like voice crying, “Oh, what a beautiful baby!” And the Good Samaritan story our boys simply called “Robbers,” because the robbers always “left him for dead, with his underwear showing.”
Fourth, keep it simple. A story or passage from the Bible, a quick devotional application or Q&A time, and praying together is all that’s needed to draw your family together into God’s presence. Fifth, be interactive. Meet your kids or grandkids where they are and let them participate. Tell them there will be a quiz about the story to help them listen. Let them ask questions and offer possible answers. Give them a turn telling the story in their own words.
Something special for the whole family
As you gain experience and practice, adapt and evolve your family devotional times to meet the needs of your kids or grandkids at different ages. And always press for application, and not just information. It’s so helpful to know the stories and the story of the Bible. But it’s even more important to know how to apply its truth to your life right now.
The holiday season leading up to Christmas is an ideal time to start the practice of regular family devotions. Then the New Year provides a great opportunity to continue the habit as a resolution.
If you’d like more guidance and encouragement about the transformational difference a regular family devotion time can make in your family, e-mail me at NateAdams@IBSA.org and I’ll send you a longer piece I’ve written about family devotions. Other than the gospel message itself, it’s possibly the greatest gift I could offer you this Christmas. If you don’t already have regular family devotions, I hope you and your family will receive and benefit from this gift, as our family has.
Nate Adams is executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association. Respond at IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org.
FROM THE FRONT: PRITZkER
Continued from page 1
to explore additional treatments for mental health, hospice, and palliative care instead of legalizing suicide.
If signed by the governor, the act would apply to terminally ill patients thought to be in the last six months of their lives. “Our work doesn’t end here,” said PRAF special projects coordinator Barbara Lyons, “and all our voices will be needed to prevent further movement.” Approval of such a measure has the effect of normalizing suicide.
Pro-life advocates thought the bill had been killed earlier in this legislative session, when it failed to get senate support after passing the house. But SB 1950 was brought in through a side door and passed 30-27, with two senators not voting.
Mary Kate Zander of Illinois Right to Life urged prayer in response to passage of the bill, with objections to be addressed to Pritzker. “We cannot give up yet,” Zander said. “There is still time to defeat this horrible bill.”
Illinois Family Institute Director David Smith called on Christians in Illinois to pray for God’s intervention. He also provided a QR code to simplify registering objections with the governor’s office. (See page 4.)
Meanwhile, Pritzker is thinking about it. “Look, I know how terrible it is that someone in the last six months of their life can be experiencing terrible pain and anguish and I know people who have gone through that,” Pritzker said. “…It hits me deeply and makes me wonder about how we can alleviate the pain that they’re going through.”
The bill was named for Debra Robertson, a Lombard woman who has terminal cancer and has advocated for the “right to die” on her own terms for years. Pritzker has 60 days from the time of passage to sign the bill. If he does, it will take effect in nine months. with additional reporting from WLFD Chicago.
Moody sues Chicago school system
Chicago | The Moody Bible Institute (MBI) filed suit against Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Nov. 4, claiming that refusal to allow Moody scholars to work as student teachers for religious reasons is damaging both to the students and to MBI.
“Moody Bible Institute should not be forced to choose between our faith and helping students advance in their educational opportunities,” Moody President Mark Jobe said in a statement to World magazine
MBI’s elementary education degree program was approved by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2024, which should have allowed their enrollees to serve as student teachers in Chicago classrooms. But CPS demanded that MBI sign two documents saying they would not “discriminate” in hiring based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Support of LGBTQ rights would be in violation of MBI’s biblical beliefs. MBI asked for a waiver in July, similar to one granted to Trinity Christian University, but CPS refused.
“The case law is very clear that religious organizations have the right to participate in these programs,” said Ryan Tucker of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing MBI. “This isn’t new, but surprisingly, the Chicago Public Schools is insisting that the school lay down… its First Amendment protections.”
Trinity Christian College closing Smaller schools wrestle with declining enrollments
Palos Heights | After 66 years in operation in suburban Chicago, Trinity Christian College (TCC) will close at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. The school’s final commencement will be May 8, 2026.
The liberal arts school offered degrees in 70 programs. It was named among the top schools in the Midwest region by U.S. News & World Report. The school survived Covid, but like many smaller Christian institutions, TCC also struggled to find its footing in a time of declining enrollment. Published reports said the board could find “no path forward.”
“There have been rumors since the beginning of the year,” student John Kvek told Patch, a local publication. “It started in late August, early September, but then it died off.” There were also layoffs as the
financial realities including a smaller incoming freshman class set in. “With people and faculty leaving, there was talk about seeing the writing on the wall.”
The school, which had an enrollment of 1,491 in 2010 reported 754 last year, according to U.S. News. “Our leadership team is deeply saddened,” acting president Jeanine Mozie said, pledging support for the college community “until we close our doors.”
Two other Illinois colleges closed in recent years. Lincoln Christian University shut down after the 202223 academic year. A board member commented at the time that the institution had faced a series of financial crises, finding a way out each time—until it couldn’t.
Another school, Trinity Inter-
The U. S. Supreme Court has upheld the rights of religious institutions in three recent cases. Alliance Defending Freedom is an IBSA ministry partner. ADF is a national law firm that focuses on religious freedom cases. MBI has an enrollment of 2,300 students.
adapted from World magazine
national University, faced the same issues. The undergraduate program moved to online classes in 2023, then ceased operations in May 2024. TIU’s seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, was acquired by a university in British Columbia and will relocate there next year. The Deerfield campus is under contract for $35 million. Buyer Ross Perot Jr. plans to build a research and technology park.
Hannibal-Lagrange University has battled back from its own crisis in 2021. Under new president Robert Matz, the school has streamlined its operations and degree programs. In 2024 HLGU’s accrediting agency removed the school from probation caused by the financial situation. Enrollment has stabilized at about 500. In Palos Heights, Kvek will be looking for a new school to complete his business degree. While he has attended TCC on a sports scholarship, “I might be done with basketball,” he said. “It’s hard to join a new team.”
Louisville, Kentucky | Jacksonville native Andrew Walker will become the 12th Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary August 1. He will succeed Herschael York, who has served in the role since 2018.
Southern Seminary President Al Mohler praised both men as he made the announcement. He commended York’s tenure as one that “changed history” for the School of Theology, marked by skillful leadership and a pastor’s heart. Mohler noted with gratitude that York will continue serving on the faculty following his sabbatical.
Of his successor, Mohler said, “Dr. Walker is a remarkable figure of great influence in the evangelical world. I am very thankful for the ability to have a transition in this role from strength to strength.”
Walker currently serves as associate professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology, associate dean in the School of Theology, and executive director of the Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement. He is also a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, founding managing editor of WORLD Opinions, and co-host of The Bully Pulpit podcast.
His research focuses on Christian ethics, public theology, natural law, and religious liberty, with writings appearing in National Review, First Things, and Public Discourse Illinoisans will also be familiar with Walker from his work with the Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission (ERLC) and his leadership of the SBC Resolutions Committee. He co-authored a significant resolution on invitro fertilization in 2024, and he chaired the committee in 2025, bringing a lengthy and ambitious slate of resolutions on current social issues.
In pledging his support for the school and its work, Walker said, “By God’s grace, we will guard the good deposit, serve the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, and send out graduates who preach Christ and love his people in order to advance the Great Commission given to us by our Lord Jesus.”
Walker holds three degrees in ethics from Southern Seminary, and a bachelors from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri.
SEBTS’ Akin to retire
Wake Forest, NC | Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin announced he will retire at the end of the current academic year, July 31, 2026. Akin is the sixth president of SEBTS, which has grown to be the third largest of the SBC’s six seminaries during his 22 years in the post. Akin followed Paige Patterson who served there 11 years before moving to the presidency of Southwestern Seminary.
Akin has led growth, as Baptist Press reported, by challenging students to ask: “Not, why should I go? But why should I stay?” and by solidifying the institution’s confessional foundation around four essential statements, contending that biblical doctrine fuels missions. Akin has frequently spoken at B21 events, and was a leader in the Great Commission Resurgence.
Morris Chapman remembered
Arrington, Tenn. | Former head of the SBC Executive Committee Morris Chapman died October 20 at age 84. Chapman served as SBC president two years beginning in 1990. His election solidified conservative control in the denomination. In 1992, he was named President and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee and served in the role 18 years.
Chapman was remembered as a Baptist statesman at his memorial service.
His friend, Benjamin Cole, often a commentator on Baptist issues, said, “For decades, he stood tall, most often above the fray, and exemplified to the thousands of us, and the tens of thousands of us who gather every June, a sense of the dignity, the purpose, the doctrinal fidelity and the cooperative unity that became ours when the Lord restored the fortunes of the Southern Baptist Convention.”
Chapman was survived by his wife, Jodi, two children, and their families.
CHAPMAN AKIN WALKER
IN FOCUS
United
Theme proves true at Annual Meeting
BY ILLINOIS BAPTIST TEAM REPORT
Springfield | If 1925 was a year to remember, with the birth of a unified missions funding system and the denomination’s first official statement of faith, then 2025 was also a year to remember.
Southern Baptists celebrated the centennial anniversaries of Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message. Illinois Baptists marked the coming 20th anniversary of Nate Adams’ service as IBSA Executive Director, and his planned retirement April 1, 2026. And 413 messengers (with 120 guests) at the 119th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Baptist State Association approved plans for increased ministry on college campuses, as evidence grows that younger people are becoming more open to the gospel.
Tucked into Board Vice President Jeff Logsdon’s time at the podium during a business ses-
sion at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield was a brief message about the search for the next Executive Director. The search team, which Logsdon chairs, had hoped to present the new leader at the annual meeting, but the team is taking its time with another round of interviews. “We had resumes from several strong candidates,” he said. And while they were interested in moving forward, “the right man” took priority over “the right time” on their timetable.
“Dozens of you responded with excellent feedback that we found very helpful as we moved forward,” Logsdon said of the search process. “We’re not quite ready to present a new Executive Director today.”
The full board will be called to meet once the search committee has agreed on a candidate. An announcement is expected fairly soon. Logsdon again urged prayer in a season of change.
P. 6
The power of cooperation was demonstrated at the 2025 gathering, where Nate Adams’ 20 years in leadership was celebrated, along with looks backward and forward. A year to remember
Better connections
With the meeting theme of “Unity and Cooperation,” President Doug Munton called for intentional connections around three things: theology, mission, and relationships. “Our pastors, our people, and our churches would benefit greatly by better connections,” he said. “We are made for connection, (but) we tend towards disconnecting.”
To a room filled with pastors, Munton said, “There’s a tendency for pastors—and men—to say we don’t need connections, but we do… Not just for your benefit, but for the benefit of others.”
As pastor of 30 years at First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, a top missions-giving and sending church in Illinois, Munton pointed to support for the Baptist Faith and Message and Cooperative Program as Baptists’ main means of theological and missional connection. But it was his stories of pastors who became his friends through IBSA service that were most moving.
Munton spoke of fellow pastors Paul Westbrook at Metro Church in Edwardsville, Joel Newton at Woodland in Peoria, and Jim Queen who founded Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago and later served as Director of Missions for the local association.
Westbrook, Newton, and Queen all died within the past six months.
Of each man, Munton said, “How did I know him? Through IBSA, and I’m all the richer for it.”
Looking backward and forward
The celebration of Adams’ two decades at the helm continued throughout the meeting. After a presentation and reception on the first day, Munton nudged Adams again for his occasional teariness. “You’re not crying over there,” he said a one point, then got choked up himself.
Board chair Bruce Kirk commended Adams for service through difficult seasons. “I have seen him in tough times,” the Bolingbrook pastor said. “I’ve seen him rise to the occasion when things turned against him,” Kirk said, but never in a spirit of retaliation. Kirk commended Adams for his evenhandedness.
Messengers applauded again.
“You’re going to make me cry through my last report,” Adams said.
The report was brief. Messengers approved a $6 million CP budget for 2026. The CP ratio remains at 56.5% for Illinois and 43.5% forwarded to the national SBC for International and North American missions, theological education and representation in the public square through the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
The budget includes renewed focus on campus ministry. IBSA sold the building near the U of I campus for $380,000, which Adams described as something like a run-down frat house, and unsuitable for ministry. Net proceeds will fund ministry on multiple campuses, beyond the four schools where IBSA-aided ministries have a presence. IBSA will hire a part-time collegiate ministries director next year, who will work with churches that want to reach out to students on nearby campuses.
Mission business
Messengers approved one round of constitutional changes and prepared for another. The amendments advertised in 2024 were approved on second
reading. They bring further clarification on the relationship between IBSA the Association of churches, IBSA the non-profit organization, Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS), and The Baptist Foundation of Illinois (BFI).
The new amendments were offered on first reading for a vote in 2026. These bring further clarification between the Association and its entities, and separate the existing Constitution into two separate documents─a Constitution for the Association and Bylaws for IBSA the Corporation. These are legal moves that have been recommended to clarify the relationship of the Association's component parts and to protect them legally.
BCHFS Executive Director Kevin Carrothers presented his entity’s budget and report for approval. He reviewed events in all five BCHFS ministries. Carrothers reported that the residential facility in Carmi that had graduated out half its residents in the summer was nearing capacity again.
BFI submitted a budget as well. Executive Director Doug Morrow interviewed Scott Nichols about his church’s participation in the Legacy Church Program. (See page 10 for more on the BFI and BCHFS reports.)
Messengers heard partnership reports, first from Woman’s Missionary Union. Executive Director Sandy Wisdom Martin, and Illinois native, told an inspiring story how her campus minister from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Phil Nelson (now pastor of Lakeland Baptist Church), took a group of students to Chicago to witness over a cold vacation break. A dispiriting start turned to celebration as a young man was saved.
IBSA Missions Director Shannon Ford, former IMB missionary to Ukraine and the Czech Republic, interviewed a couple who will be serving in a country that is not welcoming of the gospel. Messengers prayed for their safety and the success of their mission.
John Yi, Qusai Mahmoud, and Scott Nichols shared about the work of NAMB partner Send Relief, the Send Relief ministry center in Chicago at the former site of the Chicagoland Baptist Association, and Send Network church planting work in northern Illinois.
Jeff Dalrymple represented the SBC Executive Committee and spoke on Cooperative Program and abuse prevention, which is his particular assignment.
All four IBSA officers were reelected for their second one-year terms. Doug Munton, pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, returned as president. He was joined by vice-president Jeff Logsdon, pastor of Island City Baptist Church in Wilmington; recording secretary Matt Philbrick, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Ramsey; and assistant recording secretary Nate Mason, pastor of First Baptist Church of Effingham. All four officers were reelected without opposition.
The 120th IBSA Annual Meeting will be held at Metro Church in Edwardsville, November 3-4, 2026.
Videos of the sessions are posted at YouTube. com/IllinoisBaptist.
KIRK
LOGSDEN
New church partnerships to build campus ministries
We want to challenge churches to take college ministry to the next level,” IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams told messengers at the Annual Meeting. A year earlier, an inquiry by a messenger at a floor mic had sparked exploration of expanded ministry on campuses in Illinois. Currently IBSA supports outreach to students on four campuses.
“We can’t reach 176 campuses next year, but we can do more than we are doing now,” Adams said, pointing out that Illinois has 176 institutions of higher learning and 700,000 students. Reaching them with the gospel will require partnership with many IBSA churches that want to connect with students on nearby campuses.
Adams explained that IBSA will partner with local churches that wish to field campus ministries near them. He urged messengers to contact IBSA’s Kevin Jones to start the process. IBSA budgeted $100,000 to support local campus ministry contracts, up from $60,000 in the current year.
A panel of pastors and collegiate church planters shared about their work. Paul Cooper, pastor of Marshall Baptist Church, told about an unexpected campus connection.
“I used to do college ministry before I came to Marshall, (but) that wasn’t our focus. But we’ve invested in reaching kids and youth. Then
God brought us a (Baptist Campus Ministry) director from Indiana State University, which is about 18 miles from us… He saw God was moving on college campuses, but a lot of these students weren’t going to be able to get to local churches.”
Cooper said they saw a revival “spark up” among young people coming to Marshall. “It was blowing us away, but we felt like we still didn't really know what we were doing.
“We partnered with a church planting network (H2O) that focuses on colleges. So BCM and Marshall Baptist Church, with the help of H2O, we started a new church at Indiana State in August.” The plant reaches
up to 70 students each week.
Daniel Good pastors Cornerstone Church in Savoy. They reach out to the University of Illinois Campus in Champaign-Urbana. “When I first started at Cornerstone, there were three students there. One was a grad student, an international student, and one who had graduated in May. All we could do was love those students,” he said. “Then those students started bringing their friends and bringing their friends and bringing their friends.”
Their ministry built on the principle that students reach students. Good encouraged older church members to connect with students
Illinois Baptists oppose sports betting
Also pass resolutions on campus ministry and CP giving
Messengers to the Annual Meeting were presented with five resolutions by the Resolutions and Christian Life Committee which were overwhelmingly approved. They ranged from honoring the retiring Executive Director to warning of the dangers of sports gambling.
The Resolution on Sports Gambling came while the issue was in the spotlight. In October, the FBI charged 34 NBA players, a Hall of Famer, with involvement in illegal high-stakes poker rings and bets on basketball games. Then, in November, two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians were indicted by federal officials for sports betting and money laundering.
A messenger proposed adding “prediction market gambling” to the resolution, which was approved. That is betting on the outcome of future events including sports, elections, stock market, popular awards, and other events.
The Illinois Sports Wagering Act was signed into law in 2019. According to the Illinois Gaming Board, the first legal in-person sports bet was placed at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines followed by the first legal online sports bet, both in 2020. In 2024, Illinois bettors lost approximately $1.12
billion and an estimated $4.3 billion has been lost in gross gaming revenue since that first bet was placed in Des Plaines. However, the state has collected nearly $1 billion in taxes, the second most nationwide.
The importance of engaging students on college and university campuses throughout the state with the gospel was called out by another resolution. It encouraged churches to reach out their local colleges and universities “as strategic mission fields rich with opportunities for the Gospel.”
The Committee also forwarded a resolution that encouraged Illinois Baptists to “enthusiastically encourage each congregation to renew their commitment” and sacrificial giving through the Cooperative Program on its 100th anniversary.
In addition to thanking the host city and organizers of the Annual Meeting, messengers approved a resolution that celebrated and thanked Adams for his many years of dedication to Illinois Baptists churches and their members. The resolution recognized “the great size of and diversity within our state” and said Adams “led Illinois Baptist pastors and churches through extremely challenging times for both our state and nation to partner together in
REACHING STUDENTS— Church planter Jonah Christiansen (right) describes a strategy for campus ministry during a paneo discussion at the IBSA Annual Meeting. Executive Director Nate Adams (left) moderated the conversation, with pastors Daniel Good and Paul Cooper.
by asking how to pray for them.
Jonah Christiansen serves with Salt Church on the Bloomington campus Illinois State University. That’s a recent Salt Network church plant that connects with three campuses in the area. “We totally believe students reach students best,” he said.
He told how for two years he had reached a small group of students, but it was when a once-disconnected pastor’s kid began sharing his faith that the ministry took off. One student is leading a discussion group of about 80. Another group is taking gospel conversations to all the places students hang out. “God is continuing to raise up students who are sharing the gospel with their peers,” Christiansen said, “and he’s just doing an incredible work on the campus.”
This QR code leads to more info on IBSA Campus partnership for churches.
Celebrating 20 years with tears and laughter
Adams’ coming retirement marked with a resolution, reception, and remembrance
Two moments stand out for their tears and laughter as messengers and guests celebrated the long ministry of IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams ahead of his retirement planned for April.
The first was when the elder Adams introduced his son Noah, now a pastor in Colorado, who was invited to preach. The proud father teared up a bit, as might be expected.
The second was laughter from the crowd as the Adamses’ young grandchildren drove a toy Honda Accord into the ballroom at the Crowne Plaza. It was a replica of the three Hondas their grandfather drove across Illinois for the past 20 years. The procession was sweet, and slow, and funny.
In between those moments, Nate and Beth were brought to the stage. Their service to Illinois Baptists was commended with a resolution, a memorial obelisk, and words of gratitude.
had been pointed out.
Adams thanked Beth, his wife of 40 years, for her role in his IBSA ministry. He pointed to his parents, Tom and Romelia, partners in ministry to Illinois who paved the way for his service to the IBSA family. And he shared a few photos of his family. From three school-age boys when they moved to Springfield in 2006, the Adams family now includes three daughters-in-law and six young grandchildren.
Adams also showed a photo from his favorite film, "The Wizard of Oz."
“For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, it’s the sequel to 'Wicked',” he said. The crowd chuckled. The photo was from the end of the movie, where Dorothy has returned home to learn the value of her family. Adams talked about the value of his IBSA family, and our ultimate reunion.
“As many national SBC leaders have told me, You have something unique here (in Illinois),” Adams said to the Illinois Baptists present in the room. “Thank you for being my family.”
“I love three things about Nate Adams,” IBSA President Doug Munton said. “I love that he leads,” he said, pointing briefly to two decades of leadership that produced spiritual and financial stability and kept IBSA on mission.
“I love that he prays,” Munton continued, “and he has prayed many times for me…. And, I love that he cries.”
At his turn to speak, Adams commented that he couldn’t dare to get choked up again, since this tendency
The crowd stood to its feet and applauded. Afterward, they lined the hallway to shake Nate’s hand and eat his favorite pie— French Silk.
Overheard
“When Nate first became Executive Director, my mother said, ‘He looks awfully young, but I know his father,’” said Rita Klundt of Liberty Baptist Church in Pekin, while standing in line. Tom Adams wrote a column for the Illinois Baptist for 34 years. When Nate visited churches, he said he often met people who had clippings tucked in their Bibles, saving the sage advice of the eldest Adams. Tom died in April 2006, one
month after Nate assumed the state leadership position. Romelia died in December 2024.
Pastor Ronnie Tabor of Crossroads Church cited the 2019 reorganization of the state staff to focus on health, growth, and mission as one of Adams’ main achievements. The shift from program ministry to helping churches develop ministries processes fueled an emphasis on church revitalization in the past six years. That was “phenomenal for our church in Centralia and for our revitalization work,” Tabor said. “It helped our church tremendously— we went from 40 to 220.”
“Nate never treated me like a smalltime pastor,” said Sherman Smith of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Medora. Smith served on the Credentials Committee. “He always knew
me, knew my wife’s name. I was impressed with that.”
Messengers and guests were invited to write cards and drop them in the window of the actual Honda Adams drove. It was on display in the Exhibit Hall, like a giant white mailbox.
Adams will serve until April 1, 2026. His successor is expected to be named in December, and to be in office in January, allowing for a threemonth onboarding process.
Adams is the longest serving IBSA Executive Director, recently surpassing both B. F. Rodman, the first head of the state association from its founding in 1907 to 1926, and Noel Taylor who reached 19 years before his retirement in 1965. Eleven men have served as Executive Director of IBSA.
100 and counting
The vitality of Baptist pillars cited at centennial
Two sessions in the two-day Annual Meeting focused on the century-old pillars of Southern Baptist work. Just as messengers the national convention did in Dallas in June, Illinois Baptists expressed support for the Baptist Faith and Message and Cooperative Program as uniting factors in our shared ministry. Several speakers held them up as key to the effective gospel advance by a network of 47,000 disparate churches.
Executive Director Nate Adams pointed to the rise of liberalism in the culture in the early 1900s, and the reclamation needed at that time, that made 1925 “a year to remember.” Southern Baptists responded with their first statement of faith, and with creating a system for funding missions that was unified and reliable.
With $20 billion given to missions since then, CP has proven effective in placing and keeping missionaries on the field. But it was adoption of the first BF&M that proved more controversial at the time—and again in 2000.
Kelley on cooperation
In 1925, some who felt strongly that Baptists are not a creedal people questioned adopting a possible creed. But the new statement based largely on the New Hampshire Confession of Faith generally held Baptist theology steady through the Depression and War years.
By the middle of the century, however, cultural forces were pushing Christian theology leftward. Under the direction of respected pastor, theologian, and Sunday School curriculum writer Hershel Hobbs, the
document was rewritten in 1963. But a drift had already begun. By 1979, some leaders recognized the turn and full-fledged movement began to reclaim traditional Baptist views.
Into the 1990s, much of the debate was over the language of inerrancy of Scripture.
“It had never happened before, but a convention that had moved to the theological left, moved back to its conversative roots,” said Chuck Kelley, president emeritus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Kelley was on the blue-ribbon committee of 15 people, led by Memphis pastor Adrian Rogers, that revised the Baptist Faith and Message (2000).
Kelley was one of three lead writers, along with Southern Seminary President Al Mohler and Paige Patterson, at the time President of Southeastern Seminary and later President of Southwestern Seminary.
Kelley told a dramatic story about the adoption of the 2000 version in which SBC messengers debated one sentence for an hour. While the new document did not use the word inerrancy, that sentence in question was about the nature of the Bible. As time elapsed, one last messenger was recognized at random at a floor microphone. He said of the debate over the Bible, “After all, it’s just a book.”
“Have you ever heard 12,000 people inhale all at once?!” Kelley said of the messengers’ response. After that, the statement about the Bible including the enduring description “truth without mixture of error” was overwhelmingly adopted.
That moment marked the conservative reclamation of the SBC.
“Southern Baptists have one foundation—God’s holy Word,” Kelley said in his Illinois appearance. The statement of faith serves as a roadmap to that Word, not a replacement.
“Illinois Baptists, don’t ever stop reading this book. Don’t just read it, learn it. You will never stop learning from it,” Kelley said. The statesman who punctuates sermons with “that
Hebrew word 'Wow!'” shared his personal faith journey since losing his wife to cancer in 2024. “God will take things from it and teach you things he doesn’t teach anyone else. You may read a verse you’ve read a thousand times and he will teach you something new.”
Kelley leaned forward. “Illinois Baptists stand on this book and take what you learn from it.” Wow.
Dew on unity
From generation to generation some things don’t seem to change. Jamie Dew, Kelley’s successor as president of New Orleans Seminary, told messengers. “Our students that come to us are still poor.”
And he explained, “It costs us as an institution, and our budget is about half of what some of the other seminaries are, $68,000 a day to run our school.”
Students with little funds to pay for tuition, coupled with the skyrocketing costs of higher education, Dew asked, “How in the world do we pull that off? Because we get about $6.2 million a year from you, from the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Quite frankly, it’s so much more than that. It’s an investment in the Kingdom of God itself.” That’s the power of the Cooperative Program.
“It’s deeply, deeply encouraging to come up north and see believers strong and well, (to see) churches strong and well, being faithful.”
Dew challenged Illinois Baptists to continue be the best version of themselves—the version that is united and cooperates in the mission—rather than their worst version. Dew told about his own journey
from failure to success to pride—and finally to seeing Jesus as his example for humility He drew from Paul’s Christological Hymn in Philippians 2, which describes Jesus as fully God and yet poured out for the sake of his mission.
Paul’s call for believers to be likeminded in Phil. 2:5 is hard. “Paul, I love ya buddy, but it just doesn’t seem possible,” Dew said. But God makes it possible.
Dew said as a younger man selfish ambition led him to dream of gaining status and recognition. Years after achieving his dreams, he came across an old journal from his first year as a Christian. As he read his 18-year-old self’s prayers—simple, passionate, and full of love for Jesus—he realized how far he’d drifted from that early devotion.
“I hadn’t known that love for the Lord in a very long time,” he admitted. “The last fourteen years, I’ve been trying to get back to that kid— the one who had nothing but Jesus and wanted nothing but Jesus.”
Dew praised earlier generations of Southern Baptists who gave, served, and sacrificed without seeking applause. “They didn’t do it to be known,” he said. “They did it because they just wanted to follow Jesus Christ.”
He warned of the temptation to build personal platforms and brands has replaced selflessness. The best version of Southern Baptists, he argued, are those who are humble, united, and devoted to the mission — not those seeking power or status.
“Don’t forget your first love,” he urged. “Walk in unity, serve selflessly, and carry the baton for Christ.”
Committee’s Cooperative Program
though history, and equipment used by Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief in their work. Other highlights in the hall were Nate’s Honda, resting from its many trips across the state (p. 8, far left), and Resource Central in the middle of the room, with all IBSA ministries and their leaders on hand.
ancient
ON EXHIBIT— The Exhibit Hall at the Crowne Plaza featured displays from 28 ministry partners. It included the SBC Executive
walk-
Church reborn through legacy project
Taking the platform to deliver his report, Doug Morrow, Executive Director of the Baptist Foundation of Illinois, said, “You've heard me address this body now for 15 years. You can read the statistics; you can see the graphs… What I'd like to do is just have a little bit of a conversation.”
Joining him was Scott Nichols, senior pastor of Gospelife Church in Carol Stream. The two men struck up a friendship over a decade ago during a church building project. However, a recent Church Legacy Project between BFI and the church strengthened their friendship and two churches.
Founded in 1950, First Baptist Church of Washington had long been a faithful congregation, but it was aging and dwindling in numbers. Seeking a restart, Gospelife in Carol Stream adopted the legacy, and BFI stepped in as conservator.
The Carol Stream church helped renovate the central Illinois facilities and locate a planting pastor to move to the field.
In September, the newly renamed Gospelife
Baptist Children’s Home & Family Services
Washington held a building dedication with three baptisms, that included a grandfather and granddaughter, and confetti cannons. Eight people have been baptized by the church so far this year.
At the close of that dedication service, Nichols said a 99-year-old woman, who was a member of the original church, came down the aisle and said, “I’m so happy we did this.”
The Foundation also financed a $5.6 million building expansion loan for Gospelife in Carol Stream at a rate that’s two points lower than local banks. Nichols praised, “We think that's a great ministry. We love that every dime we’re paying in partnership with BFI is going to fund other gospel work, not just shareholders of some national bank. That’s huge for our elders. That’s huge for our congregation.”
Morrow said a year-end donor gift of $80,000,
Many stories of inspiration
Delivering the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS) report at the Annual Meeting, Executive Director Kevin Carrothers provided inspiration to messengers through stories of faithfulness, hope, and sacrifice.
Carrothers expressed his gratitude for Cheryl Dorsey, who was completing her service as BCHFS Trustee Secretary after six years, and announced the death of former staff member and trustee, Lowell Huffstutler. Carrothers said Huffstutler, who retired from BCHFS after serving as director of accounting for a decade, died October 25, also served as trustee chair for seven years. “We are so grateful for Lowell’s devotion, for his support, for his love of the Children’s Home in particular, but of all the ministries. We will miss him deeply,” Carrothers said.
Founded in 1918 as the Carmi Baptist Orphanage, BCHFS is now comprised of five ministries that make up its mission. The residential program now serves traumatized teens, guiding them toward family restoration through counseling, daily Bible devotions, prayer, and gospel engagement. Carrothers reported that the cottages, which had neared capacity but then returned about half the residents to their families over the summer, were filling up again.
Pathways Counseling offers gracebased counseling services to children, individuals, couples, and families
across the state. It’s currently undergoing a leadership change as longtime staff member Guy Williams is retiring at the end of the year, Carrothers said.
Carrothers told messengers how Faith Adoption Ministry works with birth mothers through planned adoptions and urgent hospital calls that come in the middle of the night from mothers who make the decision not to parent. The ministry also offers rare post-placement grief care to those birth mothers.
He shared how Angels’ Cove Maternity Home has become a lifeline for women in crisis. He shared the story of Tracy, once trapped in addiction and homelessness, who has regained custody of her daughter, welcomed a newborn, celebrated a year of sobriety, secured a job and car, and is now preparing to move into a place of her own. She’s become a faithful church attender, although she has yet make a commitment to Christ.
Grace Haven Pregnancy Resource Clinic was founded in the fall of 2020 amid the pandemic, “born during the season of global fear and uncertainty,” according to Carrothers.
“It’s a place where every heartbeat is sacred and every story is valued, and every woman is seen and loved as they come through our doors.”
Through the end of September, across all five of its ministries, BCFHS reported 2,731 spiritual connections which include Bible studies, prayers, and gospel presentations.
In other business, messengers approved the 2026 BCHFS budget of $3,978,600.
stewarded through BFI became seed money for eight young Southern Baptist, North American Mission Board-approved church planters in Illinois. Each received $10,000; all completed training in preaching, counseling, and leadership.
“We are delighted to be a part of this unique work that’s going on,” said Morrow.
In other business, messengers approved BFI’s 2026 operating budget of $544,922.
Baptists who love to collect things proved themselves again this year, filling and bringing to Springfield 203 large boxes of supplies for IBSA ministry partners and compassion ministries. In addition, Shannon Ford reported receiving lots of extra paper products that didn’t fit in the boxes. Ford and Kevin Jones began delivering the gifts immediately following
the annual gathering with a trip to Angels' Cove, the BCHFS maternity home in Mt. Vernon. BCHFS Executive Director Kevin Carrothers and volunteers helped unload the truck. Then Ford headed to Christian Activity Center in East St. Louis. The yearly contribution of supplies assists five compassion ministries, from Chicago to Carmi.
Baptist Foundation of Illinois
ABLE ASSISTANCE— Amanda Neibel and Shannon Ford (foreground) and a team of volunteers at Angels' Cove Maternity Home unload boxes of supplies given by IBSA churches and collected at the Annual Meeting in Springfield.
CARROTHERS
What to do in retirement?
If Nate Adams finds he has free time on his hands after his retirement from IBSA, Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have a recommendation: Come work with us!
About 80 IBDR team members gathered for a dinner at the Baptist Building during the Annual Meeting. “We awarded Nate a call-out kit—two yellow T-shirts, a hat, and an ID lanyard,” said IBSA Missions Director Shannon Ford, “but we told him he needs to complete DR 101 to get a badge!” Ford and Glen Carty (pictured, right) also gave him a small cordless chainsaw “with a promise to let him use a ‘big boy saw’ once he was trained.”
It was fun to tease a bit, Ford said, “but mostly it was our way of saying ‘thank you’ for Nate’s support for Disaster Relief in Illinois.
Coy Webb, Crisis Response Director for Send Relief, was the featured speaker.
IBDR is a volunteer organization which partners with Send Relief. The SBC’s disaster relief ministry is the third largest organization of its kind, behind the American Red Cross and Salvation Army.
Nine churches welcomed by IBSA
Nine newly cooperating churches were welcomed into the Illinois Baptist State Baptist Association at the Annual Meeting.
In the weeks prior to the meeting, their leaders completed paperwork to become “cooperating churches” and provided information to the IBSA Credentials Committee on their congregation, including their adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message, planned financial support for Cooperative Program, and evidence of democratic processes in the selection of church leaders.
Alex Melton, vice chair of the IBSA Credentials Committee presented the churches to messengers.
The churches are:
● Anchor Church Berwyn, Berwyn
● Gospelife, Washington
● Hammer and Flame Church, Bushnell
● Iglesia De Cristo, Milan
● Metro Tabernacle Comm. Church, Lansing
● New Vision Community Church, Mt. Sterling
● River of Life Church, Urbana
● Shepherd Reformed, Joliet
● Village Baptist Church, Alexis
Women in ministry
Nearly 75 Illinois Baptist Women were up early for the first Women in Ministry Breakfast. An expansion of the annual minister’s wives gathering, they networked with other leaders, heard a devotion from Claudia Tackett of First Baptist Church of Carterville, and shared encouragement around their tables. IBSA Leadership Development Director Carmen Halsey-Menghini shared about discipleship and church leader development offerings from the state association.
Discipling weekend
Students
Two weekend events, one at Tabernacle Baptist Church for young women and another at Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp for young men, drew students from across the state for discipleship and spiritual growth.
Girls are AWSOM
The November 7–8 AWSOM event brought nearly 300 teen girls in grades 5–12, along with their leaders, to Decatur for discipleship, prayer, and spiritual growth. Over two days, 279 girls explored how they fit into the bigger picture of God’s church and kingdom. AWSOM (Amazing Women Serving Our Maker) is a popular annual gathering hosted by the IBSA Leadership Development team.
Aurora-based historical interpreter Gayle Haas captivated the audience as she portrayed a famous Christian Holocaust survivor. “The girls were really enamored with her as Corrie Ten Boom,” said Tammy Butler, IBSA ministry coordinator. “She went to some hard places. Man, did they listen. They were so good about it.”
The weekend’s featured speakers were Andrew and Joann Mann and their therapy dog Jocko, from Graffiti 2 Baptist Church and Community
Ministries in the Bronx. Through the event’s theme, “Rise, Run, Soar,” they encouraged students to see spiritual growth as both active and restful. “The Manns explained when you rise you have to kneel. When you run you have to walk. In order to soar you have to rest,” Butler said.
“They were a huge blessing,” she added. “Andrew kept telling the girls, ‘There is an eternal God—and you ain’t him—but you can walk with him. He forgives our sin, and you can rest and wait on him.’”
Young men are Forged
Running parallel to AWSOM was Forged, a discipleship weekend for teen boys in grades 6–12, held at Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp in rural Pinckneyville. Now in its third year, the two-day event was created by Chris Merritt, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Merritt “felt there was
a need for a boy’s event devoted to discipleship that mirrored the AWSOM event for girls,” said Michael Awbrey, IBSA Leadership Development Director.
Forged is designed to ignite a fire within young men and their leaders. “Through powerful teachings, dynamic worship, and heart-shaping experiences, you will be equipped with tools to become the man God is calling you to be,” the event description promised.
The main speaker was Jonah Christiansen, director of Salt Church in Bloomington-Normal, which ministers to Illinois State University students. Forged drew 93 boys this year, a 50% increase over last year’s participation. The event was sponsored by IBSA.
Both AWSOM and Forged are scheduled to return next year on November 6–7, 2026.
OBJECT LESSONS— Boys learn priorities with buckets. Girls write encouraging words on dog tags, which will be distributed by the NYC missionaries (and their dog) who appeared at AWSOM.
INSIGHT
‘Sweet
Baby
A young woman singing pop tunes on a Christmas special peppered her patter with “Sweet Baby Jesus!” The audience snickered. Even the singer commented on the irony, as she was Jewish.
While I might have wanted to discuss whether this was taking the Lord’s name in vain, she seemed to like the phrase. She commented on newborn Jesus on a haybed and how tender the whole scene must have been. She seemed proud that Jesus and Mary were Jews, but she didn’t take it any further than that. She was content to leave Jesus sweet and as a baby.
Bill and Gloria Gaither carried it further in their most famous hymn. About the time their son, Benji, was to be born, Bill was depressed over illness and personal opposition they faced in ministry. Gloria was overwhelmed by the tumult of the late 1960’s with war and assassinations and riots. “What will our baby face?” she asked.
Always one to put a pen to her feelings, her fear was gradually overcome by joy as Gloria wrote: “How sweet to hold a newborn baby, And feel the pride and joy he brings; But greater still the calm assurance: This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!”
This is the song’s second verse, although it was written first. We don’t sing it as often as the popular first verse (“God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus…”), but it is this verse that ties the resurrection to the incarnation.
“Resurrection” is the tune name Bill Gaither gave to the song. That’s the point: the resurrection asserting itself and giving meaning to life, again and again—because He lives. But, for me, that second verse with its natal focus raises another vital question: What’s the point of the resurrection without the incarnation?
The incarnation has tripped up people since the time of Athanasius in the early 300s. Then, as now, people were taking sides for the deity or humanity of Jesus. Athanasius argued for both.
Jesus’: It’s all about the incarnation.
Jesus must be God to take on the cosmic conquest of sin and death. But if he is not also fully human, all the dramatic events of the New Testament come unstrung.
The pre-incarnate second person of the Trinity could do anything—except die. So, he took on himself a body. He wouldn’t have done his mission without it. Without a body, he would not die in our place, he would not offer a sacrifice of blood, he would not surrender sinless perfection to appease the wrath due sinners, he would not be raised from the dead.
Why is incarnation an issue today? Because the sweet Baby in the manger leads to the cross and the empty tomb.
“This is the real stumbling block in Christianity,” writes Stephen Kneale. “It is here that Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many of those who feel the difficulties concerning the virgin birth, the miracles, the atonement, and the resurrection have come to grief.”
Kneale pastors today in Glotwick, England, with nearly 90% Muslim population. He faces into doubts and disagreements over the incarna-
tion of Jesus all the time. In his world, as in ours, people of all beliefs and no beliefs struggle with the idea that Jesus is both God and human, and neither at the expense of the other.
Their question in theological terms would be, Why should Jesus bother to take on flesh, as John asserts in 1:14, to dwell among us?
The writer of Hebrews might respond, not only to be with us, but to be one of us. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15).
He did it to get the job done.
“For we were the purpose of his embodiment, and for our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and appear in a human body,” Athanasius wrote of an issue he might have thought settled by his definitive work “On the Incarnation” in 330.
“It is from misbelief, or at least inadequate belief, about the Incarnation that difficulties at other points in the gospel story usually spring,” Kneale wrote 1,700 years later. “But once the Incarnation is grasped as a reality, these other difficulties dissolve.”
In other words, if we take on the mystery of the incarnation, the other mysteries solve themselves: Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and return. For lack of a more tactful summation, these are bodily functions for a Savior. They require a body.
Perhaps the incarnation should serve as the postmodern starting point for our gospel witness. While “the Incarnation is in itself an unfathomable mystery,” Kneale wrote, “…it makes sense of everything else that the New Testament contains.” Including our salvation.
That’s sweet, Baby Jesus. Eric Reed is editor of IBSA media. TABLE TALK
resources
Behold the Savior & Love Came Down Advent studies for women, men, teen girls Lifeway Christian Resources
Quick! Before it’s too late! Plan an Advent devotional series, Wednesday night study, or one-time outreach event using this four-session guide. “Behold the Savior” comes in women’s and men’s editions, with a leader guide. It focuses on Luke 1-2. “Love Came Down” is especially for teen girls, with a devotional series that can be used over several weeks, or in the week before Christmas or the week after.
Make the most of Christmas, or the week after.
Anna’s opportunity BRIGHTER DAY
At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
My family’s Christmas tree has been up since the first week of November. It’s a tradition we started several years ago, and to those of you who might scoff at our early holiday displays, we will bake you a gingerbread man and hand you a potted poinsettia. We just can’t wait for Christmas!
The Gospel of Luke tells the story of two faithful souls who, when we first meet them, are waiting patiently for the Messiah. Simeon was an elderly man who had been promised he wouldn’t die before seeing Jesus. Anna was a prophetess who served the Lord all day and all night in the temple.
Scripture doesn’t tell us Anna had received the direct promise that Simeon had, but her constant fasting and praying indicates she was a person full of faith. And when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple, we hear first from Simeon, praising God for a promise fulfilled. “Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace as you promised,” he prays,
“for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
Closely on his heels is Anna, ready “at that very moment,” Luke says, with her own word of worship and hope to everyone looking forward to the redemption Jesus would bring. Anna’s service had prepared her heart to have the right response to Jesus. What could be better than immediate acknowledgement that this was Immanuel, God with us. And yet, had Anna spent her time doing something other than waiting expectantly for Jesus, we might not get to read this sweet reminder of the power of faithful waiting.
Her example makes me think about whether my pre-Christmas activities include waiting for the Lord, expecting his presence. In my shopping and wrapping and decorating, is there still waiting to be done, and done faithfully, in a way that produces a powerful testimony at the moment Christ is revealed?
When Christmas is finally here, is my response one of relief, that the waiting is finally over? Or of letdown, like a kid who has unwrapped dozens of gifts and still not opened quite what they’d hoped for?
Or is my response one of joy? Christ has come. We have waited, and he’s here. Our eyes have seen his salvation.
Meredith Day Flynn is a wife and mother of two living in Springfield. She writes on the intersection of faith, family, and current culture.
NeTworkiNg
Send NetworkiNg items to IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org
Big Creek Baptist Church in Anna is seeking a bi-vocational or fulltime pastor. Contact Gene Plott at (618) 697-5756 for more information.
Park Avenue Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon seeks a bivocational pastor who loves God’s Word, loves his people, and loves shepherding the congregation in its next chapter. Contact Bill Hogue. Resumes may be sent to parkave@ mvpabc.net.
Search more church openings at IBSA.org/pastor-search or scan this code.
Pastor Search Training. Looking for a pastor? IBSA created a seven-session training course to help your church work through the process from saying goodbye to a departing pastor to setting the next one up for success. Follow the QR code or web address above.
ATTENTION STUDENTS
JANUARY 20 - 21
The Long Climb
Learn from leaders who are doing the hard work to reach the next generation.
MEREDITH FLYNN
illinois voices
A true saint
very year in Mount Vernon, new “Senior Saints” are nominated. I am delighted that our community honors their service and citizenship. I’m also for recognizing saints as the Bible defines them. Sainthood is not about good deeds, church status, or performing miracles—it’s about being made right with God. Whenever someone, young or old, truly places their faith in Jesus Christ, the angels rejoice and their names are written in heaven. As one preacher put it, “I’m saved by works—His.”
Let’s be all about celebrating what the saints have done over the years. Let’s be all about drawing inspiration from those who have gone on before us. This biblical teaching on saints really hits home for me, as my dear friend Carl Watkins recently went home to be with the Lord. He lived to be 99-years-old.
With his dear wife Betty beside him, Carl pastored several churches in Illinois during his long ministry, including First, Second, and Third Baptist Churches in Granite City, and Walnut Street in Carbondale. He served interim pastorates in his “retirement” years, and enjoyed serving as an assistant at Irwin Chapel in Granite City. He was Director of Missions for the Madison Baptist Association. And most recently he was a member of First Baptist Church of Maryville.
Carl faithfully pastored Pleasant Hill Baptist
EVENTS
November 30-December 7
Lottie Moon Christmas
Offering & Week of Prayer
What: Annual giving to international missions
Where: Your Church
Info: IMB.org/generosity/lottie-moonchristmas-offering
January 20-21
Illinois Leadership Summit
Where: IBSA Building Springfield
What: Focused training for church leaders
Theme: The Long Climb: Doing the hard work to reach the next generation.
Featured speakers: Nate Adams, IBSA; Andy Addis, CrossPoint Church, Multisite, Kansas; Seth Conerly, Metro Community Church, Edwardsville; and Rayden Hollis, Red Hill Church, Glen Carbon.
Cost: Free
Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
Church in Mount Vernon in the late 1980s and 1990s. During that time, I had the privilege to serve with him as his Associate Pastor and we’ve been fast friends ever since. I learned so much from my father in the ministry.
When I heard the news of his homegoing, my heart was filled with sadness for our loss, but at the same time with joy of knowing that he is with Jesus. He was a true believer and a senior saint. In this season, I wholeheartedly honor, celebrate, and find inspiration from Carl’s life and witness for Jesus. Carl’s death was precious in God’s sight, as Psalm 116:15 says, because his faith became sight when his eyes closed in death.
Carl was a saint—not one of a select few among believers, but a saint with all Christians who have put their trust in Jesus. Not everyone is given as many years as Carl enjoyed, but all believers have the opportunity to thank a Christian friend and mentor, as Carl was to me. And we all can do the work of saints, influencing young believers as friends and mentors.
God’s Word affirms, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:2). That’s our calling.
Bob Burton is Associational Mission Strategist for Salem South Baptist Association. This essay first appeared in The Sentinel at All Saints’ Day.
January 27
Tax Seminar
Where: TBD
What: Valuable tax info for current and retired ministers, treasurers, and other leaders.
Cost: Free Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
February 28-March 6
IBW Mission Trip to Laredo
Where: Laredo, Texas
What: By partnering with the Texas Baptist River Ministry, Send Relief’s ministry center in Laredo provides displaced families along the U.S. Mexico border with food, clothes, hygiene kits, and the hope of new life in the gospel. Limited spots available. Info: ibsa.org/events/laredo-trip/ Contact: Jillmac664@gmail.com
March 1-8
Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer and Offering
What: The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO) is the primary way Southern Baptists fund missions in North America. 100% of gifts support more than 3,000 missionary families serving across the U.S. and Canada. Where: Your Church Info: anniearmstrong.com
with the lord
Lowell Thomas Huffstutler, 83, died Oct. 25. The McLeansboro resident served many years as a leader with the Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services. After 25 years with AMAX Coal Company, he served as accountant for BCHFS, and later as a member and chair of the board. He was a fixture with the IBSA ministry, and his family said the role “brought him great fulfillment and joy.” Huffstutler was a member, deacon, and treasurer of Blooming Grove Baptist Church for more than 40 years. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jill, their two daughters, and their families. The family asked that memorial gifts be made to BCHFS or the church.
people
Ryan Beck is the new pastor at First Baptist Church of Eldorado, coming in view of a call the week after the church celebrated its 175th anniversary. Beck was formerly pastor of FBC Carrier Mills for 14 years, and a youth pastor in St. Joseph, Missouri. He and his wife, Christi, have two children.
March 7
Priority Women’s WeekendChicagoland
Where: Armitage Baptist Church, Chicago What: Chicago area women’s conference. Featured speakers include Nerissa Crowe of Armitage and Ji Kim of Uptown.
Theme: Walking in Hope, based on Romans 15:13.
Contact: MindyCobb@chicagolandbaptists. org
March
All Church Training
3/10, Zones 9-10
3/19, Sinnissippi
3/24, Zone 6
3/31, Zone 1
Where: Locations will be announced What: A tune-up for your core ministries. Pastors, ministry leaders, and volunteers will receive training to lead a healthy, growing church.
Cost: Free
Info: IBSA.org/events
Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org
April 10-11
Disaster Relief Training
Where: Emmanuel Baptist Church, Carlinville What: Courses vary but may include childcare and chaplaincy, flood recovery, chainsaw, and incident management.
Cost: Current members are free. New members or those with expired badges cost $50. Info: IBSA.org/events
Contact: JanetSheley@IBSA.org
April 10-11
Student Discipleship Retreat
Where: Streator Baptist Camp
Cost: TBD
Contact: MichaelAwbrey@IBSA.org
Priority Women's Conference
April 24-25
Where: Tabernacle Baptist Church, Decatur
What: IBSA’s premiere conference for women leaders
Cost: TBD
Contact: CarmenHalsey@IBSA.org
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.
In the beginning God created… family
At the apex of God’s creative workweek, we find him crafting a man, then a woman, and directing them to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28).
It might surprise younger Baptists to know that Article 18 wasn’t included in the 1925 BF&M. Or the 1963 version. It was added through a revision, adopted by messengers in 1998.
The foundations of marriage and family are unmistakable in Genesis 1 and 2. The Father brings his daughter to the man (2:22). The bridegroom makes a vow that he and his new bride are united as one, and she takes his name (2:23). Verse 27 puts a period at the end by declaring that this is the origin of marriage. And in case you missed it, Jesus quotes it when teaching about marriage (Matt. 19:5). So does Paul (Eph. 5:31).
So why wasn’t this foundational theological issue addressed in earlier faith statements? Southern Baptists likely never felt there was a need. Through the first half of the 20th century, marriage and family were highly regarded in American society. But attitudes toward this institution began to change in the 1960’s, when divorce rates, and cohabitation, began to climb. By the 70’s and 80’s, feminism was challenging gender roles, and LGBT culture was pushing out of the closet and into the streets. The 90’s saw the legal definition of marriage under serious pressure.
The decades-long erosion of the biblical ideals of marriage and family had led to ground that felt about to give way. As in 1925 and 1963, Southern
XVIII. The Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.
The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship
Baptists responded by clarifying their beliefs on what they saw as a theological foundation—God’s design for the family.
When Article 18 states, “God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society,” it is not just speaking to the chronological timing of the creation of marriage. It is establishing the importance of the subject. The ordered experiences of all human relationships, from the individual to the village to the nation, are built first and foremost on the family.
In writing the article, the committee did not intend to scold culture, but to reaffirm a better way for all. “We are saying to the culture this is God’s direction for family life. The end result of it is a better life for everybody,” Anthony Jordan, chairman of the committee that drafted Article 18, wrote at its 1998 adoption.
In an era of shifting definitions of what can be a family, Baptists drew a circle around the extended family, with room for grandparents, cousins, and children, with a female mother and male father, covenanted together for life, at the core. They also included those adopted into the family. After all, if
the earthly family ultimately points to God’s heavenly family, adoption holds a significant place, as Paul writes in Galatians 4.
What is the purpose of marriage? Its highest purpose is revealing the union between Christ and his church (Eph. 5). But God also laid out the earthly purposes of intimate companionship and procreation in Genesis 1.
Paragraph three, unsurprisingly, has received the most criticism, especially from those outside the convention. It presents a thoroughly complementarian view of the relationship between husband and wife. God gives the man and woman equal value but different roles in the family. The husband is to love and lead as Christ loves the church. The wife is called to submit to the husband’s leadership and be his helper in managing the household and raising the next generation.
And lastly, in an era of declining birthrates, due to choice rather than biology or medicine, Article 18 speaks loudly that children are “a blessing and heritage from the Lord.” It urges parents to authentically live out and teach their children biblical truth. In turn, children are to honor and obey their parents.
If the vision cast sounds challenging, it is. But it’s God’s vision. The family was instituted before the fall of Genesis 3, and we won’t do it perfectly. Yet when people seek to follow God’s plan for family, we can feel a bit of the pre-fall goodness inherent in its design.
—Ben Jones
of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
Gen 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exod 20:12; Deut 6:4-9; Josh 24:15; 1 Sam 1:26-28; Psalm 51:5; 78:18; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Prov 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecc 4:9-12; 9:9; Mal 2:14-16; Matt 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Rom 1:18-32; 1 Cor 7:1-16; Eph 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Col 3:18-21; 1 Tim 5:8,14; 2 Tim 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Heb 13:4; 1 Pet 3:1-7.
Plan a study
This concludes our coverage of the centennial anniversary of the Baptist Faith and Message. All 11 parts of this report are posted at IBSA.org/BFM. We encourage you to plan a study or sermon series for your church, or a class for new Baptists using this and other resources.
As reported by a columnist in the Illinois Baptist, a bimonthly sermon series on the BF&M 2000 over three years proved to be a good doctrinal foundation for people unfamiliar with Baptist basics, and for those who needed a refresher.
The 24-page tract size BFM 2000 is available from Lifeway Christian Resources for 25 cents per copy. It can also be downloaded free at BFM.sbc.net
Making it relevant:
Article 18 posits the centrality of the family in culture. Specifically, it speaks to biblical values related to the marriage relationship, the unique roles of spouses, and the value of children from the moment of conception. Without using the words, it cites the issues of homosexuality, samesex marriage, divorce, complementarianism, and abortion.
Does this approach (elevating broader positive Scriptural concepts) encourage debate of specific current issues? Does it leave room for new issues to emerge?
Article 18 does not name transgender or sex-change medical procedures. Is that issue addressed with this hermeneutical approach?
Can you name another emerging social issue that the article on family addresses, even though it was written 25 years ago?
The growing traditional wives movement (“trad wives”) shows a recent shift away from the liberalization of marriage roles. Is there evidence of this shift among younger families in your church or community?