February 10, 2020 Illinois Baptist

Is this the end of prayer meeting?

Caution urged Greear says keep gospel above politics

J.D. Greear

dressed the country’s hostile political climate, and the church’s place in it, at a gathering of more than 1,000 Baptist leaders from the Midwest.

Evangelism is the core calling of the church, Greear told leaders gathered in Springfield for the 2020 Midwest Leadership Summit. That means we have to avoid other things that are going to distract us from the gospel, said the pastor of The Summit Church in RaleighDurham.

“We’re not the first people in the history of the church to have a

The Illinois Baptist staff

Editor - Eric Reed

Managing Editor - Meredith Flynn

Graphic Designer - Kris Kell

Contributing Editor - Lisa Misner

Administrative Assistant - Leah Honnen

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Understanding the world where we live and serve

Church needed here...

Location: Stockton

Focus: Families

Characteristics: The village of Stockton is nestled in the scenic northwest corner of Illinois. With nearly 5,000 people in a 15-mile radius, the residents are primarily families that have generational ties to the area.

Prayer needs: Pray for Stockton. Pray for a planter and his family that would be willing to invest their lives in the people who live here.

– IBSA Church Planting Team

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

Snapshots from the world of Illinois Baptists

ARMED AND debatable

Yet another church shooting has pastors considering their defense readiness. LifeWay asked:

Giving by IBSA churches as of 1/31/20

$459,320

Budget Goal: $484,615

Received to date in 2019: $550,962

2019 Goal: $6.3 Million

NATE ADAMS

True dependability

Our family has a new washing machine. That may not seem like big news, but it is at our house. We haven’t bought a new washing machine in over 30 years.

We don’t even know exactly how old our previous washing machine was. It came with the home we purchased in 1993, part of the estate of the previous owner. And though it wasn’t new, we kept it, in part because we could tell it was a high quality, dependable machine. After all, it was a Maytag. Many of us remember years, even decades, of advertisements featuring “the Maytag repairman,” who notoriously had nothing to do, and was “the loneliest man in town,” because the machines he serviced were so dependable.

A lovable actor named Jesse White played the role of the Maytag repairman convincingly for more than two decades, starting in 1967 and filming 68 endearing commercials. In fact, over the past half century, only three other actors have shared the role, each for several years, and each reflecting the same dependability of the product and brand they represented.

Our own dependable machine served our family well as we raised three boys through baby outfits and grass-stained play clothes, and on to the sweat-stained sports uniforms of teenagers and the first work clothes of young men. Only a handful of times over those 30 years did we ever need to call a repairman for our faithful machine. And every time, the repairman (not from Maytag) would tell us, “It’s worth whatever it takes to keep this machine as long as you can. They just don’t make them like this anymore.”

Perhaps there aren’t as many hard-working, dependable machines in our lives as there used to be, but if there is one that far eclipses even the most faithful appliance, it’s the Cooperative Program machine that funds the missions and ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention, including our Baptist work here in Illinois.

For 95 years now, the Cooperative Program has trained and sent thousands of missionaries, helped plant thousands of new churches, educated and equipped countless ministers, provided a voice in the culture for ethics and religious liberty, and strengthened and multiplied the work of local churches in more than 40 Baptist state conventions.

The foundation of Cooperative Program missions has helped establish Southern Baptists as America’s largest Protestant group of churches, and one of history’s largest missionary-sending enterprises. And it dependably does that work month after month, year after year, decade after decade.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the role of the Maytag repairman as a true repairman really ended in 2014, when the company hired a handsome, younger, slimmer actor and outfitted him in a new, tailored uniform. They technologically duplicated him so that he could actually portray a washer and dryer simultaneously. I guess you could say they replaced the dependable machine itself with a newer, younger image.

Occasionally today we hear new ideas suggested about how to fund the missions and ministries of Southern Baptists. Sometimes those ideas sound cooler or more affordable than the tried and true, dependable system of Cooperative Program missions funding that has stood the tests of almost a century. After all, a system where church members tithe to churches and churches tithe to missions is pretty simple, if not easy.

But I read recently that the average life expectancy of a washing machine today is 8-11 years. They are cooler, greener, and higher tech. But apparently they aren’t as durable, dependable, or even as effective. And so the repairman’s words of caution should ring in our ears: “It’s worth whatever it takes to keep this machine as long as you can. They just don’t make them like this anymore.”

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

Only a few things are this reliable anymore.

From the front: Amid political discord, put mission first

Continued from page 1

politically divided society,” Greear said. First-century Rome had all kinds of political problems, he noted, but the New Testament apostles mostly avoided discussion of those things.

“It’s not that Christians don’t have anything to say to Washington D.C. or to Rome,” Greear said. “We do and we should. [It’s] just that when that becomes the focus of the church, our message is obscured.

“You realize that in our political climate, the moment that we are seen as the stooge for one political party, we’re going to lose all audience with the other.”

In Luke 12, Greear preached, a man came to Jesus with a family dispute involving his brother. Jesus had a shocking response to the man’s story, which Greear called a “genuine social justice complaint.” Instead of resolving the dispute, he preached a sermon on greed that applied to both brothers.

Jesus didn’t respond that way because he didn’t care about justice, or because he was insensitive about injustice. Indeed, Greear said, Jesus’ ministry was about bringing the justice of the kingdom of God. But he knew getting involved would take away from his central task, and create a barrier between him and some of the people he was called to reach.

“When we tie our message too closely to a political platform,” Greear warned, “we put an unnecessary obstacle in the way of the gospel for at least half of our mission field.” And we can’t afford to write off half our mission field, he said.

Clearing the path

Some pastors have told him they speak about their political opinions sometimes, Greear said, but they keep it separate from the official message of the church. “Congregation members just don’t have that category,” Greear countered. When it comes from the pastor, he said, people associate it with the central identity of the church, and conflate it with the core message.

He recounted the story of a woman who visited his church and later told him that she actually had first “met” him on Twitter, when they had interacted about abortion and Greear’s pro-life positions.

“Eventually I was overwhelmed by the truth of the gospel and I got saved,” she wrote Greear in a letter after making her

profession of faith in Jesus. She had known the pastor’s positions on certain issues, but because he didn’t make his church “the Republican church,” she said, she came and heard and responded to the gospel.

“Now I feel like I’m relearning everything,” she wrote, “and I just want to thank you for not putting politics in my path to the gospel.”

Politics is important to him, Greear acknowledged. But her soul and others like her are even more so. “Don’t we care about almost half the country that identifies with her?”

That doesn’t mean not speaking out on important issues, he said. “We have to be unapologetic and unwavering in our stands for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, the preciousness of religious liberty.

We’ve got to be vocal about the secular threats that are coming to religious liberty.

“We’ve got to be equally clear on the wrongness of injustice or racial discrimination; the dignity of the immigrant; and our responsibility to care for the poor. We’ve got to speak out, even if it’s unpopular, and even sometimes if it means backing policy that supports it.” That’s what it means to be salt and light in our communities, he said.

“But we’ve also got to realize that conscientious Christians can disagree about the best applications of certain social policies. And where Scripture does not draw a direct line between a virtue and a policy, well, neither should we.”

In Matthew 11, Greear noted, the list of disciples Jesus called includes two men on opposite sides of one of the most divisive political issues of their day. Simon the zealot and Matthew the tax collector would have disagreed about how to deal with the Roman authorities over them.

“At the end of the day, those disciples had something greater in common in their love of Jesus than they did in the things that divided them in a strategy about Rome,” Greear said. Can we do this too, he asked Midwest leaders. “Can we second our important convictions in light of our most essential one?”

“Unity in our churches around the gospel is more important than absolute uniformity of our politics.”

Opening day pray-ers

Gather in Illinois House gallery

Springfield | On the opening day of the spring legislative session, Illinois State Representative Dave Severin (R-Marion) was joined in the Capitol Rotunda by some fellow lawmakers and concerned Christians to kick off Pray for Springfield.

Pray for Springfield is a non-denominational, nonpartisan effort to bring Christians in Illinois to the House gallery to pray while lawmakers are in session. Severin is the idea’s developer and organizer.

“My only agenda is for us to make good decisions,” he told the Illinois Baptist. “It’s proven that we as Republicans and Democrats are in a mess. We need to make good decisions. Let’s come together and ask for help from a higher power—that’s God.

“The first day back in session we’re kicking it off with God and there’s not a better day to do it.”

Speaking at a rally in the Capitol Rotunda before the opening session, Severin asked, “You know how you call the fire department when the house is on fire? You know who the fire department is?” he asked pointing to the assembly. “It’s you, you are the fire department!”

Many in the excited crowd gave shouts of encouragement as Severin continued to speak. “You know who is going to turn this state around? It’s not Republicans. It’s not Democrats. It’s you guys, it’s your faith and your trust in the Lord!”

“This state needs hope,” Severin declared. “I own a business and when I call vendors in other states, they say there’s no hope for Illinois. There is hope for Illinois. That hope is in Jesus!”

Visit Facebook.com/prayforspringfield to sign up your church to pray in the House gallery.

– Lisa Misner

PRAYER FORCE – Andy Lee of Marion (at podium) prays for Illinois Representatives gathered in the Capitol Rotunda Jan. 28 prior to the start of the spring legislative session. – Meredith Flynn

Intercessors lift up Chicagoland

I-55 bus tour takes prayer to the streets

Protections for school prayer

President Donald Trump said Jan. 16 his administration is taking “historic steps” to protect the right to pray in public schools. On National Religious Freedom Day, the administration released new guidance for school prayer for that will require state departments of education to report public charges of religious discrimination to the U.S. Department of Education, CNN reported.

The new guidelines also add a section on the Equal Access Act, which denies federal funds to public schools that prohibit student meetings based on religious, political, or philosophical content.

More identify as ‘born again’

The traditional Christian label is experiencing a resurgence, even as the number of people unaffiliated with a religion also continues to rise. “It al most seems counterintuitive,” Ryan Burge wrote for Christianity

Today. “While significant portions of the country jettison religion, others are increasingly identifying with a more devout expression of the faith.” Born-again identity is trending upward across all Christian traditions, including Catholics and mainline Protestants.

Pastors keep politics a mystery

The majority of Americans who attend religious services at least a few times a year say they generally agree with their clergy about politics. But 45% also say they’re not sure if their clergy members are Republicans or Democrats, according to research by Pew Forum.

The survey also found 76% of people say churches shouldn’t come out in favor of candidates during elections.

However, Protestants in the historically black tradition and evangelical Protestants are more likely than other groups to say churches should express their views on day-to-day social and political questions.

–CNN, Christianity Today, Pew Forum

Get breaking news in The Briefing online, posted every Tuesday at IllinoisBaptist.org.

Chicago | “Let the Lord use your eyes, your ears, and your feet to prompt your prayer time.”

Cheryl Dorsey’s charge to around 30 pray-ers in Chicagoland sent them all over four church buildings and the surrounding communities Feb. 1, during the Chicago Metro Association’s second-annual I-55 Prayer Bus Tour.

The tourists traveled by charter bus to four churches, where they met pastors and leaders, and heard about the specific ministries and needs of each church. Then, pray-ers spent 45 minutes prayer-walking inside and outside the building.

Dorsey, who coordinates prayer ministries for the association, said the group’s experience at each church was different, as God used the day to bless different parts of the body of Christ. At Love Fellowship Baptist Church, Pastor Bryan Price and members

Religious freedom

of the church joined the tourists at the altar, everyone praying aloud and at the same time.

“You’re not a spectator, but a participant,” Dorsey encouraged the group.

The bus tour also visited Cristos Es Rey and Alpha Baptist Church, both in Bolingbrook, and Immanuel Baptist Church, which meets less than a mile from the University of Illinois-Chicago campus.

Dorsey reminded the group they were serving as conduits through which the Holy Spirit can pray. She referenced Romans 8:26-27, where believers in Christ are told the Spirit intercedes for them, even when they don’t know what to pray.

“By being here,” Dorsey told the group, “you’re surrendering yourself to the Holy Spirit to use you, to use your eyes and your ears and your feet and your heart to pray.”

Confronting zoning restrictions

IBSA to offer assistance for churches and church plants

Chicago | About half the municipal zoning codes affecting churches are more restrictive than federal law requires, according to Chicago attorney John Mauck. His firm, Mauck & Baker, specializes in religious liberty cases. Mauck is partnering with IBSA to represent churches that may be impeded by improper enforcement of zoning regulations.

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2001 (RLUIPA), which Mauck helped draft, forbids greater restriction on churches than on other institutions or businesses. Mauck is interested in possible cases that may address a variety of code issues, such as:

• “start-ups”

• conversion of use (e.g., from a medical center to a worship center)

• expansion of an existing church facility (e.g., construction of an education wing)

• restriction in the location of churches due to liquor laws or marijuana laws;

• “one size fits all” zoning codes which treat 20-member congregations the same as 1,000member congregations for zoning purposes.

In order to challenge these many restrictive codes, existing court rulings require that a church or church plant be thwarted by them in their ministry or treated unequally as compared to non-religious assemblies such as community centers, lodges, funeral parlors, movie theaters, stadiums, and banquet halls, Mauck said.

Any churches or church planters that may have had zoning problems or are currently restricted in ministry by existing zoning codes or other land use laws, such as liquor or marijuana restrictions, should contact IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams (Nate Adams@IBSA.org) or John Mauck (jmauck @mauckbaker.com).

HANDS ON – Prayer coordinator Cheryl Dorsey leads a time of intercession for Pastor Bryan Price and Love Fellowship Baptist Church in Romeoville. Photo by Joseph Dorsey

people

Leaders share new vision

For Southern Baptist entities at critical moments

New roles

Ben Jones will begin a full-time role with IBSA March 1 as a director of leadership development. He has served as an IBSA zone consultant since 2018, and as associate pastor of discipleship at Ten Mile Baptist Church in McLeansboro since 2014. Ben and his wife, Emily, have two sons.

New 5-year plan for IMB

Riverside, Calif. | The Southern Baptist International Mission Board will focus on five goals over the next five years, President Paul Chitwood announced during meetings with trustees Jan. 29-30. The targets are built around IMB’s vision and mission to engage unreached people and places.

One of the goals is to send an additional 500 fully funded missionaries by 2025, Chitwood said, supported by increased giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. IMB is targeting a 6% increase in annual giving to the offering, which would total around $10 million a year.

“While that seems like a lot of money, it will only require that every one of the 16 million Southern Baptists increase their Lottie Offering by $0.63 per year,” Chitwood said. “Dividing by the number of Southern Baptist churches, every church needs to give an additional $200 per year. No matter how you do that math, the point is, it can be done.”

Seminary president inaugurated

New Orleans | Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) and Leavell College, used part of his Jan. 30 inaugural address to outline the seminary’s new mission statement: “New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College prepare servants to walk with Christ, proclaim his truth, and fulfill his mission.”

Dew, elected in June 2019, explained that the mission statement calls the seminary family to servanthood, to spiritual fervor and deep devotion to Christ through gospel proclamation among the lost and broken, and to service and discipleship.

“Tonight, I turn us as an institution, as a family, and anybody else who wants to get onboard to this simple, simple mission,” he said. “Everything we do, every class we teach, every program we offer, every dollar we spend, every initiative that we unfold will be to execute that mission.”

Floyd recommends changes

Nashville, Tenn. | Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd announced he will propose revisions to the EC mission and ministries statement, including a new prayer ministry.

“Updating the language of the SBC Executive Committee’s ministry assignments and the explanation of them is important as we seek to better serve Southern Baptist churches,” Floyd told Baptist Press. The revisions affect five of the EC’s six current ministry assignments, and would add a new one: assist churches through elevating the ministry of prayer.

Ministry statement changes must be approved by the EC and then by a majority vote of messengers at the next SBC annual meeting, held this year in Orlando, Fla., June 9-10.

– From Baptist Press reports

Butch Porter has joined the IBSA staff in a part-time role as state director for Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief. Porter, who has served in the capacity since Aug. 2018, has long

With the Lord

served as a Disaster Relief volunteer and “blue hat” unit supervisor. He and his wife, Debbie, are members of First Baptist Church, Galatia.

Michael Allen will move March 1 from his role as senior pastor at Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago to a role with a non-profit organization he co-founded in the city. Together Chicago launched in 2017 with the mission of seeing transformation in five areas: economic development, education, violence reduction, gospel justice, and faith community mobilization. Allen, who has led Uptown for 14 years, serves as Together Chicago’s Chief Strategy Officer. He and his wife, Marla, have four children.

Robert “Bob” Gay of Glen Ellyn died January 14 at the age of 84. He worked as an industrial engineer in Colorado, Iowa, and Illinois, before retiring and finding a new calling serving churches in Chicagoland as a staff member of the Chicago Metro Baptist Association. After a second retirement, he continued to serve CMBA churches by administering a portion of the Glenfield legacy fund for church improvements.

Gay served at People’s Church since 2013, and prior to that was a deacon and leader at Glenfield Baptist Church for many years. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Beatrice, and two sons.

OUR CULTURE IS CHANGING

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We can help your church prepare itself for these changes.

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Because we’re family, IBSA churches receive benefits from our ministry partners.

CHITWOOD DEW FLOYD

Church life in election season.

IN FOCUS

Hot topics at the Summit

Reaching college students and young adults is possible, say successful ministry leaders.

As the Midwest grows more diverse, raise up ambassadors of reconciliation.

The nations have come to our neighborhoods.

Leadership expert Will Mancini can help you find your calling.

Climb higher

Some pundits say the evangelical church is on its way out, said Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear. And it’s true that things are changing, Greear acknowledged at a meeting of Baptist leaders in the Midwest.

“We’re dealing with a significant loss of influence. We’re watching our culture come unraveled all around us. What was unthinkable to our parents is going to become standard fare for our kids. We know that and we lament it and we worry about it.”

But what if God, Greear asked at the Midwest Leadership Summit in Springfield, is returning his church to simple convictions that compelled the earliest Christians? What if by removing some of the things we’re accustomed to, he’s setting up something Baptists have longed for over the past century: a transformative missional resurgence?

At the Jan. 21-23 Summit, more than 1,000 leaders from the region gathered

to learn from local and national leaders in large-group sessions and 106 breakout conferences. The event, held every other year, is facilitated by Midwest state conventions and national SBC entities.

Greear wasn’t the only speaker to call leaders to embrace Christ’s clear calling for the church. Over three days, leaders in church planting, evangelism, and discipleship urged churches to get back to the essentials, and embrace Jesus’ call to make disciples.

Scholars say there were about 7,500 believers at the end of the first century, Greear noted in his message at the Summit. Three centuries later, half the Roman empire identified as Christian because each believer and each church saw it as their responsibility to multiply, Greear said.

“That is the strategy that grows the church in every generation.”

1,000+ church leaders set their sights on the top at biennial equipping conference

ILLINOIS BAPTIST TEAM REPORT

Highlights from conference breakouts on pages 8-9.

Midwest mission field

Charlie Robinson spent the first many years of his ministry in a small Kansas town in an unusual seat: the passenger side of a tractor. That’s how Robinson, pastor of Northridge Church in Sabetha, Kan., built the relationships he says are essential for church leaders in a small town.

“There is no better program than one-on-one time,” Robinson told leaders attending his breakout session on leadership principles for small town church development. The pastor echoed Greear’s words about church members being the ones in full-time ministry.

“Pastors are in full-time equipping and unleashing,” Robinson said, using a word—unleashing—that he mentioned often in his session. “The people are in full-time ministry.”

At his church, ministry training is for everyone who is willing. Regular training sessions inspire church members to dream up ministries and outreaches that have had gospel implications in their town and surrounding communities. Northridge meets in four locations near the Kansas-Nebraska border, with two sites in each state.

“Your outreaches, your ministries, are only going to be as good as your ministry team,” Robinson advised. That’s why the principle of “unleashing” must become greater than a church leader’s need for control. Pastors don’t have the market cornered on the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling a believer.

“It must be the people’s understanding that it is their responsibility to be on mission and to do the work of the ministry.”

Reaching generations

Multiple breakout sessions at the Summit focused on sharing the gospel with young people and helping them grow as disciples of Jesus. The generations born after 1980, Millennials and Gen Z, don’t know the church like their parents did.

“I think each generation has gotten progressively more distracted from that core understanding of the gospel and how it applies to my life and everyday life, and then how to share that with other people more effectively,” said Jimmy Hammond, family pastor at Living Faith Baptist Church in Sherman. In Springfield, Hammond attended a breakout session on Gen Z, now the largest generation in history. Gen Z is mobile, diverse, and focused on achieving success. They’re also less spiritually moored than their parents, and even Gen Z Christians may not have as clear an idea of what it really means to follow Jesus. That doesn’t mean churches should abandon programming aimed at Gen Z, Hammond said, but programming should be more intentionally relational.

“True discipleship happens in the context of relationships. Relationships matter most,” he said. “Whatever we do, we’ve got to get back to building those core fundamental relationships, with the intention of walking together in our relationship with Christ.”

In the context of church leadership teams, generational differences matter. And they’re not calming down, leadership consultant Haydn Shaw warned in Springfield. Wearing an “OK Boomer” T-shirt, Shaw challenged church leaders to lean into the differences, and not to abandon opportunities to understand each other—for the glory of God.

“Generational differences are the biggest issue facing the church today,” said Shaw, author of “Sticking Points” and a consultant with Franklin Covey. There are ways to bridge the gaps, he said, advising both older and younger leaders to listen more to one another.

“The Holy Spirit’s doing something in the next generation,” Shaw told older leaders. He advised younger leaders to be more patient with the “chewing process,” as their more experienced counterparts digest their ideas and decide how to move forward.

The “OK Boomer” attitude is prevalent in our culture, pitting generations against one another. Jesus would say to the church, “not so with you,” Shaw said.

‘Force us out’

“Is a person a fisherman if, year after year, he never catches a fish?”

Dhati Lewis, an Atlanta pastor and North American Mission Board vice president, posed the question after reading aloud the fishing analogy from Darrell Robinson’s 1995 book “People Sharing Jesus.” In the passage, a group of people who call themselves fishermen invest their lives in everything related to their profession. The only thing they don’t do, Robinson writes, is actually fish.

In his keynote address at the Summit, Lewis urged leaders not to fall into the same trap. Instead, he said, ask God to force us out of our comfort zones, toward people who desperately need Jesus.

“We need more people that are willing to live amongst the people. In proximity,” Lewis said. That’s how believers can bring a tangible expression of the gospel.

“The harvest is plentiful, but it’s the laborers that are few,” Lewis said, quoting Matthew 9:37. “Too many of us define God’s will by the path of least resistance, that God’s will is all about getting easier and better.” But often, what he’s calling us to is harder, Lewis said, encouraging Midwest leaders to pray a simple prayer:

“God, force us out.”

Heard at the Summit

Folks are lonely, this [outreach to immigrants] is something that they need. It physically demonstrates the love of Jesus.

Travis Smalley, pastor, West Chester, Ohio

“We believe in our state conventions. We believe we can do more together. We believe we are a band of disciples that have come together....May we do all we can for the sake of God who has created us.”

Your job is to bring people to their feet and the glory of Jesus. God is not messing around about who is going to get the glory. It’s him. Every time you open the Bible, it’s him.

Josh Tovey, church planter, Grand Rapids, Mich.

ESSENTIAL – Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear called Midwest churches to prioritize evangelism as their core calling.

ROBINSON

–

– Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer, Woman’s Missionary Union

CALLED OUT – Dhati Lewis of the North American Mission Board urged leaders to set aside their own comfort for the sake of the gospel.

That’s part of what makes campuses such strategic mission fields, collegiate ministry leaders said at the Summit. Many students are at the beginning of what one sociologist has called “the defining decade.” Young people in their 20s want to make something of their lives, said Chase Abner, a church planting catalyst in Iowa. They’re hungry for inspiration, and making decisions that will most likely determine the trajectory of their lives.

Abner joined with fellow college ministry leaders Chris Cook and Bryan Wiles to encourage every church to play a role in reaching college students with the gospel. If even 3% of college students heard and responded to the gospel, Abner said, imagine what God could do.

Not only is college a critical time, but Jesus calls his church to reach the next generation, the trio told Midwest leaders. Quoting a fellow Iowa ministry leader, Abner said, “The first generation that doesn’t reach the next generation, is the last generation of the church.”

Most current students are part of the generation known as Gen Z, which is in its own right a unique mission field. George Siler manages the student mobilization

team of the International Mission Board. In Springfield, he gave church leaders an overview of what has become the largest generation ever.

More than half the planet is under the age of 30, Siler said. Gen Z, generally identified as people born after 1996, is mobile, entrepreneurial, and diverse. One-quarter of Gen Z-ers are non-white, Siler said, which means the generation doesn’t even think about diversity, unless it’s lacking. They love to multi-task, and success in work is one of their top priorities. Spiritually speaking, the majority of them are nonChristians. They don’t know the Bible like previous generations did, and they see religion as a private matter.

Discipleship must be a top priority when it comes to Gen Z, Siler said. He encouraged church leaders to leverage the generation’s desire to be entrepeneurs and self-taught, and to emphasize relationships. That also applies to sending out Christian Gen Z-ers as missionaries, he said. Tap into their motivation, and engage them personally with a vision, skills, and experiences they will need for an urgent mission: taking the gospel to their peers.

“It will take Gen Z to reach Gen Z.”

In a breakout session on unreached people groups, Mark Stevens, a missionary with the International Mission Board, shared that immigrants and their U.S.-born children number approximately 81 million, or 26% of the population. Around 22% of the population age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home.

“Our call as disciples of Jesus is to make disciples of all nations,” Stevens said. We are living at a unique time in history, he encouraged breakout attenders. “More people live outside their country of natural origin that any other time in history.”

Pastor Travis Smalley shared how his church has used English as a Second Language classes (ESL) to reach the nations in Ohio. “Ours is a story of a normal church reaching the nations in our neighborhood,” said Smalley, lead pastor at Lakota Hills Baptist Church near Cincinnati.

Smalley’s church utilized ESL to reach nearly 400 people in one year alone. The church averages 250 on Sunday morning.

“Currently, we have eight ESL classes and citizenship classes. At times we have a driver’s education class,” Smalley said. Through ESL classes, the church has launched five church plants—two Korean, two Hispanic, and one Arabic.

Smalley said there are opportunities to minister to immigrants no matter where your church is located. “I believe there is opportunity in every single town,” he said. “You have refugees, immigrant workers, families of military personnel.... Don’t think there isn’t an opportunity. It just takes a change in perspective.”

Have you allowed God to have authority over you? Does God have authority in his church? It’s his bride, not yours. It’s his church, not yours. It starts with the leadership. Let this be your banner.

One of the reasons God puts us together in the body is so older generations can listen to the questions, so they can preach and teach better.

We are, for the first time, sending American missionaries from a postChristian generation.

– George Siler, International Mission Board

“College students still think they can change the world.”

“There is opportunity in every single town.”

– Ben McKim, pastor, Clarinda, Iowa

– Haydn Shaw, leadership expert

ABNER

MILLENNIAL CHALLENGE – Summit attenders chose from more than 100 breakout offerings, including a session on reaching young people led by LifeWay’s Mark Croston.

“But when we get it wrong, call it out,” said Casey Merrifield. “Own it.” Merrifield, a leadership consultant and Lifeway Women’s trainer, encouraged Midwest leaders to be advocates for racial reconciliation in increasingly divided times.

“This is an area where we can really hurt one another,” she said, encouraging breakout attenders to avoid problematic behaviors when engaging in the

race conversation, including withdrawing, escalating, and invalidating another person’s experience or feelings.

Instead, Merrifield said, let’s walk in humility and love, preserving the unity of the Spirit referenced in Ephesians 4:3. She urged leaders to seek to understand others, not hesitating to seek

“I selected a track, and it was as if they said, ‘Gayle Marie Jones is coming today. We need to give her this class...and this... and this is how it segues in...’ I don’t know how they did it, but I am prepared now. I am so ready, I am so on fire, getting ready to go back (home) and reach even more of the lost.”

Will Mancini declared to a packed room: “God had a dream over your life before you were born.”

He told the Midwest Leadership Summit attenders people often don’t know how to understand what that special assignment is, but his goal is to help them discover it so they can live a fulfilling, God-honoring life.

Mancini leads Auxano, a church consulting firm, and authored five books including, “Younique” and “God’s Dreams.” And, he is consulting with IBSA on a revitalization process called “Denominee.”

“The question,” he said, “is not ‘What would Jesus do?’ It is ‘How would Jesus live if he had my life?’ What has God been preparing you to do?”

Mancini provided this fill-in-the-blank sentence as the answer everyone needs to discover about themselves: I exist to honor God and help others by _____ing _______. He shared his own answer, “I exist to honor God and help others by applying essence.”

Examples he gave from others included: • “I exist to honor God and help others by restoring integrity.”

forgiveness when it’s needed.

God hasn’t called us to be colorblind, she said, but to value the experiences of other people.

“We are tearing down the church when we don’t see our differences. But we have to view them under the lens of the gospel.”

• “I exist to honor God and help others by activating growth.”

• “I exist to honor God and help others by expressing passion.”

To find out your answer, he suggests:

1. Experience to grow. Experience is not the best teacher. Instead, evaluating the experience is the best teacher. “Ask prior co-workers, ‘What am I great at that I don’t fully appreciate?’ Ask them for ‘brutiful’ honesty,” (combining the words brutal and beautiful).

2. Courage to know. “How much of what I do today is living in and out of some else’s expectation for my life?”

3. Don’t fear the years. “Time is your friend, not your enemy,” Mancini shared. “As kingdom people, your impact line goes up and up and up.”

4. Risk to go. “What has God been preparing you for your whole life to do next?”

Mancini said people often get satisfied and comfortable. Would you rather “have the risk of failing than wondering ‘What if?’”

5. I don’t know what I don’t know.

“Your worst fear scenario is not as bad as you think. Life is too short, it’s your special calling at stake.”

“We’re not always going to get it right.”

“You have a special assignment from God.”

MERRIFIELD

MANCINI

Gayle Marie Jones Michigan

SUMMIT SCENES – 1. Tony Lynn, state director of missions for the Baptist State Convention of Michigan, served as emcee at the Summit. 2. David Higgs of Dorrisville Baptist Church in Harrisburg led worship with fellow musicians from Illinois and Missouri. 3 & 4. Illinois leaders gathered for a reception after the Summit’s first session, and concluded the meeting with a luncheon at IBSA devoted to upcoming leadership opportunities.

See more takeaways from the Summit at vimeo.com/ibsa/mlsfirstthings.

RESOURCE

The Learning curve

Sacred Holidays: Less Chaos, More Jesus

Becky Kiser

This book takes the major holidays and gives ideas and spiritual applications to move you from a worldly view to a Godhonoring focus.

One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters

Nancy Guthrie

Written in the One Year Bible format, so a family can open it up to the appropriate date and the devotional is “served up” for you—complete with conversation starters and Scripture references. The devotions are designed for everyone in the family to interact and share, and can be done in 10-15 minutes!

The Honest Guide to Church Planting

Tom Bennardo

This book is like having a veteran church planter sitting across the table from you for coffee. Tom does a great job of unpacking what really happens in the planting process. It’s a helpful dose of reality.

Prayer meeting faltering? Let it go.

I didn’t kill our Wednesday night prayer gatherings, but I didn’t keep them alive either. Our youth and AWANA programs engage lots of students and require numerous volunteers. It never made sense that our churchwide prayer meeting was at a time that so few could attend.

Praying with fellow believers was always encouraging, but I found myself missing opportunities to support these other critical Wednesday night ministries. Some may have felt I was dismissive of prayer, but that wasn’t the reality. After 20 years of ministry in Southern Baptist churches, I’ve learned an important lesson: sometimes you have to let things die in your church so they can be reborn and refreshed.

Why even try

Jesus’ major criticism as he drove the merchants out of the temple in Matthew 21:13 wasn’t that they were stealing money, but that they were robbing people of the opportunity for congregational prayer. It still happens today in the American church, where we fear people will be unresponsive or even anxious if we focus on prayer.

I see this anxiety in times of small group prayer during our worship services, and I recall having the same anxiety myself once. It was only thanks to other Christians who discipled me in prayer by praying for me and with me that I lost my fear of verbal, group prayer.

John Onwuchekwa’s great little 9 Marks book, “Prayer,” gives us an important reminder if we’re restarting a congregational emphasis of prayer: “Prepare to be disappointed.” You’ll likely not get the kind of response you initially hope for, but don’t give up so quickly.

We in ministry all have the same vision problem: we tend to notice only who doesn’t show up, instead of who does. People require opportunities and encouragement for growth. A small gathering is better than no gathering, and provides us with believers who can testify to the value of their involvement in congregational prayer before the rest of the church body.

How to try again

Have you ever gone on a comeback run? As part of my journey to better health, I began running regularly in 2010, and it’s one of my favorite recreational activities. Sometimes sickness or injury forces me to miss a week or two, but once I’m ready and able to run again, I go on a comeback

run. My major concerns are neither distance nor pace, but simply that I get moving again. After a comeback run (or two or three), I start ramping it up again to where I was and to where I want to be. If I’m moving, I’m winning!

We need a “comeback run” for congregational prayer. If we’re praying, we’re winning. Let our simple expectation be that we pray together, focusing less on attendance or even how much time we spend doing it. At our church, we’re trying some quarterly “comeback runs” for prayer with a couple of ideas:

1. Saturday night prayer. We’re inviting our church to come together on a Saturday night to specifically pray for Sunday morning. We’ll pray for worship, salvations, and small groups, hoping it wakes us up corporately and individually to pray more for Sunday.

2. Sunday night prayer. We’re inviting our church to come together and pray for one another as we enter a new week, a week in which we may feel alone, isolated, or challenged. The goal is to move us toward praying more for and with each other.

3. Wednesday night prayer walk. We may prayer walk the neighborhoods around our church or encourage people to prayer walk their own neighborhoods. The beauty of this prayer opportunity is encouraging people to look around them and pray with immediacy. It’s my favorite way to pray.

Jonathan Leeman warns in his book “WordCentered Church” to “be careful with creativity.” Sometimes we strive so hard for a creative prayer emphasis that we forget how simple it is to gather and pray. These ideas can be helpful, but most important is that we gather and pray.

Perhaps your church is strong in congregational prayer. Encourage other churches. Perhaps it feels like gatherings will suffer from low attendance. Remember that low attendance doesn’t equal no attendance. Make your opening attempts at congregational prayer reasonable in terms of time and commitment.

Marathon training doesn’t start by running 20 miles. It just starts by moving. Prayer training doesn’t start by praying for an hour. It just starts by praying.

Heath Tibbetts is pastor of First Baptist Church, Machesney Park.

I’m finding better ways to pray.

– Charles Campbell, North American Mission Board church planting trainer

– Jill Finley, ministries coordinator, Bethel Baptist Church, Troy

– Jill McNicol, ministry leader, First Baptist Church, Patoka

the counselor

Is a secular support group a good idea?

QI think I need to find a grief support group, but none of the groups in my community are faithbased. Is there value in a support group where we won’t talk about Jesus?

AI’m sorry for your loss. When we suffer life’s inevitable losses, grief groups offer us a needed sense of community and support. I’m pleased you are looking for a good group to attend. We are designed to grow and heal in the context of community, and with God’s help, I think you will find comfort there.

Raymond Baptist Church is seeking a bivocational pastor to lead our loving, Acts 1:8 church. Applicants should be consistent with the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:7-9, and ordained or be willing to be ordained. Send resumé to pastorsearchrbc@ gmail.com.

First Baptist Church, Ridgway seeks an ordained full-time or bivocational pastor with a seminary or college background. Qualified applicants should send a resumé to ridgwayfirstbaptistchurch@gmail.com, or RFBC, Attn: Pastor Search Committee, P.O. Box 436 Ridgway, IL 62979.

dave says

Your new 9-1-1 plan

Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago is seeking the Lord for a senior pastor. E-mail info@ubcreal.org for more information and to submit resumé.

Friendship Southern Baptist Church in Charleston seeks a full-time pastor. We are especially interested in a person with demonstrated abilities as a preacher, teacher, and administrator. Send letter of application, resumé, and three professional references to friendshipbaptistchurch2019@yahoo. com. Contact Alma Isbell at (217) 232-8002 for more information.

MARK McCORMICK

I believe you may be pleasantly surprised how your neighbors, Christians and non-Christians alike, will love you and come alongside you at this difficult time. Our nonChristian neighbors love the people they have lost and love their families as much as we do. Hopefully you’re able to talk about how Jesus is your strength, and why faith is important to you.

It’s wise not to assume that only faith-based groups are friendly or welcoming to Christians. We should also be careful not to assume that God isn’t blessing the work being done in groups unaffiliated with churches. God is everywhere, and if a group is a good one, God is behind that goodness. Of course, all groups (Christian and non-Christian) vary in quality and may or may not be a good fit for you. I encourage you to attend the group, give it a chance, and see if it feels safe and supportive.

Another important consideration is whether the group might be a place where you serve others. Good groups are places of give and take, and mutual support. This may be an opportunity for your non-Christian neighbors to hear about Jesus.

Your question is a familiar one. I am asked similar questions on a weekly basis, questions like, “Can you recommend a Christian psychiatrist?” “Do you know where I can find a Christian primary care doctor?” “Do you know of a Christian surgeon?” While I understand this kind of question, and value the support of fellow Christians, I also know that God is big enough, and gracious enough, to gift nonChristians with amazing talents and skills. Anything good in this world is a gift from God, so maybe a better question is, “Do you know of a good support group in my neighborhood?” You won’t know until you go.

Mark McCormick is director of clinic operations for Illinois Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services. Send questions for Mark to IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org.

QDo you think I should stop making contributions to my 401(k) for a year, so I can save up an emergency fund? I’m 28, and debt-free, but I don’t have anything saved for emergencies.

AIf you’re debt-free and making decent money at your job, it shouldn’t take a whole year to set aside an emergency fund. Just make it a priority in your monthly budget. And yes, my advice to you is to temporarily stop making contributions to your 401(k) until you have a fully-funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses.

I recommend people stop investing, or wait to start investing, until they are debt-free except for their home and have a fully-funded emergency fund in place. In some cases, depending on how much debt they have, it can take two or three years to do all this. I know that seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things it’s really not.

If you don’t have an emergency fund, but you’re contributing to a 401(k), there’s a good chance you’ll end up cashing out your 401(k) if a large, unexpected expense comes along. Then, when you cash out a 401(k) early, you get hit with a penalty plus your tax rate. That’s not a wise plan!

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

What’s in your wallet?

QI’m trying very hard to get out of debt. I have my beginner emergency fund in place, and I’m living on a monthly budget. Is it okay to include a little wallet cash in my budget at this point, just in case?

AIt’s probably not going to throw you off too much in terms of getting out of debt if you budget $20 or so, just to have some cash in your wallet. I wouldn’t recommend much more than that, though. The idea of having $50, $100, or $200 in walking around money is pretty selfdefeating when you’re supposedly saving, budgeting, and working hard to get out of debt.

What really matters is the amount of pocket money you allow yourself to have. Think of it as a safety valve. Sometimes things come up in the course of day-today life that are just necessary, unexpected expenses—but not emergencies. Just designate a small amount of cash for it as part of your regular, monthly budget, and stick to that amount!

DAVE RAMSEY

EVENTS

February 22

Church Technology Conference

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield Info: JackLucas@IBSA.org

February 29

Disaster Relief Mini-Training

What: Intro to DR, Health and Safety, Sharing Hope in Crisis

Where: Smith Grove Baptist Church; 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Register: DebbieMuller@IBSA.org

March 7, 14, 28

VBS Clinics

Where: March 7: FBC Marion and Broadview Missionary Baptist; March 14: Logan Street, Mt. Vernon and Northside, Dixon; March 28: Chatham Baptist Info: TammyButler@IBSA.org

March 17, 31

Training Night

What: Free, quality church leadership training in topics including discipleship, missions, age-graded ministries, worship, and more

Where: March 17: Journey, East Peoria; March 31: Emmanuel, Carlinville Info: TammyButler@IBSA.org

March 21

Children’s Missions Day

What: Hands-on missions projects for kids in grades 1-6

Where: Multiple locations

April 17-18

Disaster Relief Training

What: Training weekend for new and experienced volunteers and chaplains

Where: Emmanuel, Carlinville Register: DebbieMuller@IBSA.org

April 24-25

Priority Women’s Conference

What: Enjoy a time of spiritual renewal and fellowship, and increase your awareness of ministry opportunities and training resources.

Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Springfield Register: IBSA.org/Priority

THE NEW REALITY

Rural resurgence

Millennials are leaving the cities and finding “home” in small towns and rural areas. That’s the latest trend reported by recent research. The young adults, born from 1981 to 1996, are no longer finding urban centers and metro areas attractive. Why? They’re looking for community and opportunity.

30,000 Millennials left metro areas in 2018, the fourth consecutive year of decline. But young adults aren’t the only ones trading the concrete jungle for green acres. While 80% of all Americans live in urban areas, there is a move among all U.S. adults toward smaller towns and rural communities, according to Gallup.

University of Minnesota researcher Ben Winchester cites cheaper cost of living and job opportunities as key reasons. He says within a 5-7 county spread, almost anyone can find “the same diversity in a rural region as in a metropolitan area.

That’s where the church comes in. While younger adults are identifying less as Christian compared to their Gen-X and Boomer parents and grandparents, they are more likely to seek places where values can be explored in the context of community.

A church that welcomes discussion of that kind can find interested younger participants. And in places where there aren’t a lot of places to congregate, such as rural communities, the local congregation can become a center of cultural life.

Of course, this means church won’t look like it used to, but then, it never did. Every generation leaves its imprint, if older generations let them “rearrange the furniture” in order to feel at home.

“As you age and you gain some stability, you start to question some of the facts of your life.”

– Researcher Ben Winchester on PBS Newshour

Get training you won’t find anywhere else and you learn to use technology both for outreach and to unite believers Christ.

Focused on ideas and inspiration for Vacation Bible School, this year’s clinics are offered in five locations across Illinois.

Find a project and register your group at IBSA.org/kids.

–From Facebook