March 1, 2022 Illinois Baptist

Illinois Baptist

Developing women’s ministry

I ask these questions first

Our year

NATE ADAMS

Fresh opportunity

For a familiar passion

P. 2

NEWS

Rooftop campout

Pastor aims for finish line

P. 4

THRIVE

Stories from churches

On health, growth, mission

P. 10

Nashville, Tenn. | William “Willie” McLaurin became the first African American to lead a Southern Baptist Convention entity when he was named SBC Executive Committee interim president/CEO effective Feb. 1. His appointment, although temporary, is being greeted positively by Illinois’ representatives on the 86-seat committee that guides SBC operations. It was also hailed by eight ethnic fellowships representing 12,000 SBC congregations.

“In this season, the Lord is allowing us to hit the reset button,” McLaurin told Baptist editors meeting in Florida in February. “He’s allowing us to really just say, ‘What is it that we’re really trying to do?’” McLaurin’s selection by the EC officers was affirmed by the full board during their meeting Feb 21-22.

The EC, operating with 68 members since 18 resignations in the fall, also approved a slate of actions in that meeting: elected a search committee with Illinois representative Adron Robinson repeating in the role, added collegiate ministry to the ministry assignments of the North American Mission Mission Board, issued an apology to a woman who alleged sexual abuse, approved an increase from $2.1 million to $4 million to cover the cost of a third-party investiga-

tion in the EC’s handling of abuse allegations in the denomination. (More information on these actions is on p. 3.)

McLaurin, who has served as vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization for the EC since January 2020, fills the position left vacant by Ronnie Floyd, who resigned in October 2021. Floyd’s announcement came a few months following the SBC’s annual meeting in Nashville, when messengers approved a Sexual Abuse Task Force

It’s Annie season P. 11

Halsey

The Illinois Baptist staff

Editor - Eric Reed

Graphic Designer - Kris Kell

Contributing Editor - Lisa Misner

Copy Editor - Leah Honnen

Team Leader - Ben Jones

The general telephone number for IBSA is (217) 786-2600. For questions about subscriptions, articles, or upcoming events, contact the Illinois Baptist at (217) 391-3119 or IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org

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The BIG Baptist family album

Our Illinois mission field

Jonathan Barney and his wife, Chelsea, are planting a new church in suburban Chicago. With their four kids, they started weekly services at All Peoples Church in Carol Stream in October.

Pray the news: Interims and searches

Two SBC entities have interim heads. Willie McLaurin is Interim President/CEO of the Executive Committee and Brent Leatherwood is Acting President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Pray for them and for the search teams who will seek permanent leadership.

Cooperative Program offerings at work

NATE ADAMS

On mission again

Recently I was invited to speak to a local association of churches on “The Biblical Basis of Missions.” These mostly rural and small-town churches collectively give more than 10% of their undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program and have done so for many years. So, every day they now support more than 3,600 international missionaries and 2,200 church planting missionaries across North America, in addition to missions efforts here in Illinois.

But like many others, these churches’ direct involvement in missions has been limited by the Coronavirus pandemic. The pastor who invited me said that, as they were preparing to ramp up their direct missions involvement again, they wanted to be freshly challenged with what the Bible says about missions.

It’s been a while since I’ve received an invitation like this, and it gave me a fresh opportunity to revisit a familiar passion. During my last couple of years with the North American Mission Board and my early years with IBSA, I spoke regularly on “The Acts 1:8 Challenge,” the 2005 SBC-wide doctrine study I wrote for Lifeway. One chapter of that book is specifically devoted to the biblical basis for missions.

My main challenge was condensing 24 pages in the book to 30 minutes of teaching time. But I dug in enthusiastically to do so. Tracing the history-long, worldwide mission of God from Genesis to Revelation was a transformational experience for me years ago. I encouraged myself with the thought that summarizing 24 pages in 30 minutes was easier than the original task of summarizing 66 books of the Bible in those 24 pages.

When I stepped to the pulpit that evening to speak, I found it was with a renewed passion in my spirit for the mission of God, and for devoted churches and Christians to be active in that mission today, and in all the mission fields of Acts 1:8.

Out of the overflow of the Spirit’s renewed work in my life, I shared a challenge to those churches to join Jesus in seeking and saving the lost, and in gathering worshipers from every nation, tribe, people, and language to worship the Lamb of God forever, and in bringing our triune God the glory that only he deserves, and that all of creation will one day give him forever.

I believe this is the time for churches everywhere to rediscover their own “fresh opportunities for a familiar passion.” It’s not that we haven’t all had opportunities to be on mission during the pandemic. Many churches have pivoted to creative, even courageous approaches to advancing the gospel during the unusual circumstances of the past couple of years. But in many ways, churches have also been preoccupied or distracted into other things.

I know I have.

Last year 258 young adults serving as NAMB’s Gen Send missionaries had 2,612 gospel conversations and logged 445,032 hours of service in 14 locations across the U.S.

Giving by IBSA churches as of 02/18/22 $673,082

Budget Goal: $834,617

Received to date in 2021: $865,634

2022Goal: $6.2 Million

That evening I returned to the joy of speaking about the mission of God, my opening illustration was from the scene in “The Wizard of Oz” where Dorothy and her fellow travelers had fallen asleep in the field of poppies laid before them by the Wicked Witch, just beside the yellow brick road, and just outside the gates of Oz, their mission’s destination.

In the movie, the tin man simply cried about their predicament until he rusted in place. But the scarecrow cried out to the heavens for help. And good witch Glenda then blessed the paralyzed travelers with a gentle snowfall that subdued their enemy and awakened them to continue their journey and their mission.

May the Lord now graciously awaken us, too, and show us fresh opportunities for our familiar passion. What joy there is in joining him on mission to seek and save the lost.

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

It’s time to rediscover fresh opportunities for a familiar passion.

to pursue an independent investigation related to abuse claims, and after the EC voted to waive attorney-client privilege in the review process.

Rolland Slade, EC chairman, said he hopes McLaurin can “help reset the tone by which the EC serves Southern Baptists.”

A week into his tenure, McLaurin described himself as “serving our Executive Committee and serving our Southern Baptist Convention….My job description is simply to wash the feet of those who serve the bride of Christ.

“We’ve just got to get back to old-fashioned soul winning,” he said, echoing his comments at the Midwest Leadership Summit in Springfield in January. “And listen, here’s the deal: There’s not one problem that we have in our churches or in our network that soul winning can’t solve.”

While McLaurin was in Illinois, some EC members met in Oklahoma for a solemn prayer assembly before officers made their selection between two remaining vice presidents, as required by EC bylaws. That gathering was facilitated by Claude King, co-author with Henry Blackaby of “Experiencing God.”

“It was an amazing time of prayer, Scripture reading, reflection and repentance,” said Illinois EC representative Adron Robinson

in Clarksville, Tenn. He also previously served as pastor of Greater Hope Baptist Church in Union City, Tenn., and several other churches.

McLaurin’s pastoral experience was one reason he was selected, Slade said. “Immediately before us is the challenge to regain the sense of trust of Southern Baptists,” Slade said.

SBC President Ed Litton tweeted, “An exemplary choice! @williemclaurin is a faithful and distinguished leader. He will serve our @SBCExecComm well by leading with excellence and a Great Commission focus.”

“I want to be found doing two things,” McLaurin said of his CEO role. “I want to be the chief encouragement officer,” he said, a line used often by previous CEO Frank Page. McLaurin added, “… and I want to be the chief evangelism officer.”

Search team, other actions

Search: EC members voted on a slate of 23 nominations from the floor to choose a seven-member search team to replace Floyd. Robinson and Slade were both elected to serve, as they did in Floyd’s selection.

ing was rejected by SBC messengers last year. “We are very clear on where our lane is here,” NAMB spokesman Mike Ebert said in reference to a concern raised about how the move would impact state conventions. With Lifeway focused on other matters, NAMB wanted to give collegiate ministry a national home, he said, since NAMB already focuses on college evangelism.

Abuse: Litton also addressed the EC, repeating some comments made at the Midwest Leadership Summit in Springfield in January about “removing the stains” of racism and sexual abuse in the denomination. A report from a third-party firm investigating EC actions related to abuse is due prior to the June convention.

Of McLaurin’s appointment, Robinson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Country Club Hills, said, “The EC needs humble leadership and strong administration, and Willie brings both of these qualities to the role. Willie is a man who loves the Lord and that love is evident in his proclamation of the gospel, his love for others, and his support of the Cooperative Program.” CP stewardship is one of McLaurin’s current responsibilities.

Illinois EC trustee Sharon Carty said she is very pleased with the selection. “Dr. McLaurin has proven his leadership abilities in many ways. I feel confident that he will lead the EC in the right direction as we face many situations in the future,” Carty said. “More importantly I think Willie understands the need to build strong relationships both within the SBC and outside of the Convention.”

McLaurin served at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board for 15 years. Before that, he was executive pastor at Greater Missionary Baptist Church

The other members elected are Mollie Duddleston of Arkansas, Mike Keahbone of Oklahoma, Jeremy Morton of Georgia, Philip Robertson of Louisiana, and David Sons of North Carolina. Newly elected presidential search committee members will select their chair and secretary soon.

Collegiate: In the lengthy board meeting, the EC voted to recommend to messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim reassignment of responsibility for collegiate ministry from Lifeway to the North American Mission Board. NAMB trustees approved the proposal in their meeting the previous week.

The program assignment will be to “assist churches in reaching and mobilizing college and university students in the United States and Canada; promote the advancement of college and university ministry efforts in evangelism, discipleship, churchmanship, leadership development, and missions mobilization through collaborative partnerships.”

An EC recommendation to reassign collegiate ministry as part of Lifeway’s ongoing restructur-

The EC approved an increase of almost $2 million to pay for the investigation. Guidepost Solutions has interviewed 86 EC staff and others about how the allegations were handled. Following the executive session, Slade announced the EC had come to a resolution with Jennifer Lyell related to the mishandling of her sexual abuse claims involving a seminary professor and issued an official apology to Lyell. She was a former Lifeway employee who was terminated after she came forward with the story in 2019.

And in a somewhat unprecedented move, Slade allowed a question from a non-EC member sitting in the gallery, sexual abuse survivor Hannah-Kate Williams. She asked what the SBC and the Task Force are planning to do with allegations that don’t fall within the timeframe currently being reviewed, from 2000 to June 2020.

EC member Mike Keahbone responded, “This investigation—and findings of it—is not the ending of what we will do regarding sexual abuse; it is the beginning of it,” he said. “We are united to stand against sexual abuse….We are all committed to that. We are one heart. This is only the beginning.”

– Illinois Baptist staff with additional reporting from The Baptist Paper and information from Baptist Press

From the front: interim CEO Continued from page 1

ROBINSON CARTY SLADE

MORNING PRAYER – John Yates of Missouri leads the Executive Committee in prayer at their Feb. 22 board meeting.

Planters offered benefits

New Send Network church planters assessed and endorsed in 2022 will have the opportunity to enroll in GuideStone’s Value Health 5000 plan without underwriting beginning this May. NAMB’s church-planting arm, Send Network, will cover 100% of the premium for an entire family for 12 months, after which, the church plant will be required to take responsibility for the premium.

Planters will also be able to participate in a GuideStone retirement plan. To “jump-start” their savings, Send Network will provide a $1,000 one-time contribution for every church planter who is eligible upon their launch date. The plan was announced at a meeting of NAMB’s trustees Feb. 15.

Californian seeks 1st VP

Anaheim pastor Victor Chayasirisobhon will be nominated for first vice president of the SBC at the 2022 Annual Meeting in Anaheim in June.

“His hope is that we will serve God as one convention, one kingdom, where we’re not separated by race or political agendas, but where we come together for the sake of the next generation who will continue to build on the legacy we leave behind,” said fellow pastor Abel Galvan, who will bring the nomination.

Chayasirisobhon has pastored First Southern Baptist Church in Anaheim since 2005. He concurrently serves as president of the California Baptist Convention and as associational mission strategist for the Orange County Southern Baptist Association.

As recently as the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, he was listed on the Conservative Baptist Network website in a leadership role with the CBN’s California chapter, but the pastor asked the CBN to remove his name from their website and the group did so.

CHAYASIRISOBHON

“In order to be a bridge builder, you’ve got to know both sides of the bridge and where people are coming from,” he said. “I never attended more than one (Zoom) meeting. I don’t want to say that like, trashing, destroying them either. That’s not the point here. The point is to not take a side.”

The candidate holds 10 academic degrees, including three doctorates and five master’s degrees.

Texan to lead SBC Resolutions

Bart Barber will serve as chair for the 2022 Committee on Resolutions at the annual meeting in Anaheim. Barber, a pastor from Farmersville, Texas, served on the committee last year alongside Dana McCain, a member of FBC Dothan, Ala., who will be vice chair.

Two missionaries join IBSA teams

Shannon Ford joins IBSA as Missions Director, following 23 years on the field with the International Mission Board serving with the European Affinity Group. Before his time with IMB, he served on local church staff in Missouri.

IBSA Associate Executive Director Mark Emerson said Ford is passionate about helping people and churches experience missions through an Acts 1:8 approach. “I praise God for his faithfulness in leading us to someone as talented, gifted, and capable as Shannon Ford,” Emerson said. “I cannot wait to see what God is going to do through Shannon’s leadership.” Ford and his wife, Katie, will relocate to Springfield.

Chris Nolin joins IBSA as zone consultant for Zone 4. Nolin is a pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Sterling. He also serves as the part-time AMS in the Sinnissippi association. Chris and his wife, Nancy, previously served as missionaries in China. They have two adult sons, Jonathan and Stephen.

Both men started work March 1.

New reno plans to be presented

The IBSA Board will consider a recommendation to renovate a portion of the first floor of the IBSA Building in Springfield at its March 29 meeting. The former executive suite and original kitchen, largely unaltered since its construction in 1971, would be remodeled as a large board-style meeting room for medium size groups, an adjacent café area with flexible seating for dining and meeting, and a serving kitchen. The area would also serve as access to the patio, which was upgraded three years ago.

This is the only IBSA area untouched in the major overhaul completed ten years ago. In the photo above, Executive Director Nate Adams shows guests the plans during the IBSA Annual Meeting in November.

100-day rooftop campout nears end

Chicago | One hundred days through sun, rain, snow, widely fluctuating temperatures, and continued street violence, Corey Brooks witnessed much from the roof of a replica of the new community center his church is helping to build on Chicago’s south side.

Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Chicago, an IBSA member church, is raising funds on behalf of Project H.O.O.D. to fight violence in the community and build a Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center.

Starting Nov. 22., Brooks watched from the rooftop while joined by clergy, politicians, CEOs, community members, and heads of various non-profits all seeking to find ways they can help.

BARBER

“I believe with all of my heart that whenever two or three believers gather in his name, Christ is present among them to speak to them and through them,” Barber said. “Our resolutions play a beautiful role in that divine process. It is not my ambition to shape Southern Baptist opinion, but instead to state Southern Baptist opinion—to empower our messengers to speak as Christ has laid it upon their hearts to speak.”

Jefferson City, Missouri pastor Jon Nelson is one of eight additional members of the committee. He is serving as president of the Missouri Baptist Convention.

– excerpted from Baptist Press

The church is located on the city’s south side, where a young gang member named O.D. Perry was killed. Other gang members began calling the block “O” in his memory. Brooks said church members decided to bring something positive from the violence. “We liked the O,” he said, “and changed it to Opportunity Block.”

He often reminded those who joined him on the roof, “Our community is not our zip code. It’s our human race.

“What affects people on the O block affects us all.”

One of his guests on the roof, Robert Scheer, CEO of the non-profit Comfort Cases, spoke of growing up in the “foster care system and on the streets” and how it

must be hard for foster kids to “beat the system.” Comfort Cases distributes backpacks filled with a new pair of pajamas, a blanket, and a stuffed animal to foster kids. Scheer said the charity has provided 165,000 cases to all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.K.

Scheer also shared sobering statistics regarding what many must overcome: “91% of gang members have been touched by or have been in foster care….And over 87% of prison inmates come from foster care.”

Brooks expressed frustration in late January when an eight-year-old girl was shot and killed, asking, “Is there any hope for Chicago?”

Brooks said, “We must continue to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters and show them that different path, give them the hope that they need.”

He concluded, “So yes, there is hope in Chicago, and it starts with all of us.”

– Lisa Misner

NOLIN

Illinois nurse wins liberty case

Rockford | A nurse won her case against Winnebago County after being forced out of her job for refusing to refer women to abortion facilities or to provide abortifacients due to her religious beliefs.

Pediatric Nurse Sandra Rojas served 18 years with the Winnebago County Health Department before the county adopted a requirement that nurses “undergo training on how to refer women to abortion facilities and help them access abortifacient contraceptives,” according to her co-counsel Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

On Feb. 16 Circuit Court Judge Eugene Doherty ruled the County must pay Rojas and her attorneys $374,000 for violating her religious beliefs and freedom of conscience.

Last November, the 17th Judicial Circuit Court ruled in Rojas’s favor, finding the

Right-to-life

county violated the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The Court cited, “The Health Department improperly discriminated against [Rojas] by refusing to accommodate her objections of conscience in her existing job at the clinic. The Court has concluded that the Health Department could have reasonably accommodated [Rojas’] objections without removing her from her job.”

Lead counsel in the case, Noel Sterett from Dalton & Tomich said, “No American should be forced to refer for abortions or assist patients in accessing abortifacients— least of all medical workers who entered the profession to follow their faith and save lives, not take them. The court’s decision is a win for all healthcare professionals throughout Illinois.”

– Christian Post, ADF

Many states prepare pro-life laws

Legislatures await Supreme Court ruling in Mississippi case

Washington, DC | Pro-life lawmakers in dozens of states are apparently preparing for a day, maybe as early as this year, when legalized abortion is no longer the rule throughout the United States. Legislators in 34 states have introduced at least 175 abortionrelated bills already in 2022, most of them pro-life, according to Americans United for Life (AUL).

State legislatures are addressing the abortion issue in anticipation of what could be a momentous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices are expected to rule by June or early July on a Mississippi law that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation. Many pro-life and abortion-rights advocates believe the justices are likely not only to uphold the law but to reverse the 1973 Roe v. Wade opinion that legalized the procedure nationwide. Such an opinion by the Supreme Court would return abortion policy to the states.

Most state lawmakers are focusing on “what happens after” that decision, said Katie Glenn, AUL’s government affairs counsel. “A lot of states are introducing trigger laws or conditional laws that would take effect if Roe is overturned.”

Chelsea Sobolik, public policy director for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), also called for state legislators to act now. “As we await the Supreme Court’s ruling in the [Mississippi] case, we would encourage every state to prepare now for a potential post-Roe world where abortion becomes unnecessary and

unthinkable,” she told BP. “Life-saving laws matter because they rightly protect those who cannot protect themselves. And their passage in these states is proof that advocacy of the pro-life community is making a difference.”

On the other hand, Glenn said, “if there is a bad outcome in this case, we will continue to be dedicated to passing state laws, to supporting women and families through pregnancy centers and through our churches, and [we] will not give up the fight. And I think that’s the best thing the Court needs to hear—to know that they need to get out of this business because it’s not going away.”

Some states already have laws in place that would outlaw abortion if Roe were overturned. The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization aligned with the abortion-rights movement, estimates 26 states are sure or likely to prohibit abortion if the high court reverses Roe

If the justices overrule Roe, AUL’s “number one goal is going to be working with states that have laws that are currently enjoined [by courts] to get those laws in effect,” Glenn said. “There’s no reason to pass a new law if you’ve got a great law on the books and you can finally enforce it.”

Illinois has moved to protect its law allowing abortion, but it is the opposite in neighboring states. The Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill that would outlaw coercive abortions and require women to be informed that procedures under such circumstances are illegal. Kentucky citizens will vote in November on a measure that says the state constitution does not protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.

– Tom Strode is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.

Minors’ sex-change approval

Just 43% of Americans from ages 20 to 65 disapprove of minors undergoing sex-change procedures, a massive shift over the last decade. The procedures include hormone therapy and surgery. 81% of Evangelical Protestants disapproved, but only 35% of Roman Catholics. The study was compiled at the University of Texas at Austin.

LGBT numbers double

Gallup polling shows the number of Americans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or other has doubled since 2012, rising to 7.1%. The largest increase is among Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2003) at 21%. The next older generation, Millennials, total 10.5%.

The most common LGBT status among younger Americans is bisexual, while older Americans are more likely to identify as gay or lesbian.

Illinois bills to watch

HB 5162: In 2015, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law a bill that banned the use of conversion therapy with LGBT minors by all licensed mental health providers. Clergy were exempted from the law. Now House Bill 5162 has been introduced which would prohibit any institution—public, religious, nonprofit—where conversion therapy takes place from receiving public funds.

HB 4247: This bill recently introduced would make emergency contraception available 24/7 through at least one vending machine at all public colleges and universities in the state. It would also require the contraception be sold at a “reduced price.” This would include Plan B and other such pregnancy-terminating medications.

Abortion bill end run

The U.S. Senate was expected to vote Feb. 28 on the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) which could codify abortion into the nation’s law, but its passage was doubted because of lack of support from two key Democrats. The bill would make it a right to perform and undergo an abortion, prohibit restrictions including ultrasound requirements before an abortion can be performed, and repeal bans on medical abortions and bans that take effect at a certain number of weeks into a pregnancy.

Introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the bill would take precedence over all state laws which “impede access to abortions.” The attempt by abortion rights activists comes before a Supreme Court ruling that could weaken or overturn Roe V. Wade.

The U.S. House passed this bill in Sept. by a vote of 218-211.

– World, Gallup, Forbes, IB reporting

ROJAS

SOBOLIK

7.1%

Tuned to the same pitch A call for unity

The vast majority of southern Baptists just want to reach people for Christ in their neighborhoods and communities…. The promise of the SBC conservative resurgence was that we would agree on enough to cooperate for global missions. Has that day come? We will never be Great Commission in anything if we can’t say we agree on enough in our Baptist ‘faith and message.’ Let’s get busy doing missions and evangelism.

y job description is simply to wash the feet of those who serve the bride of Christ.”

Willie McLaurin, dressed casually in short sleeves and sneakers, went on. “We’re going to be serving our state conventions, our associations, serving our pastors, and serving our churches.”

The newly appointed Interim President/CEO of the SBC Executive Committee set the tone that would mark the next three days as state executive, communications, missions directors, and next generation ministry leaders from state conventions gathered in Key Largo. We’re here to serve one another, together.

As a first-time participant, I heard a clear emphasis on renewed collaboration between SBC national entities, state conventions, and local churches. And I don’t think I imagined this.

Lifeway President Ben Mandrell focused on the importance of running on “the rails of relationship.”

Brent Leatherwood, Acting President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, discussed how “cooperation travels on the cables of communication.”

International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood shared about their Church Connections Initiative, which seeks to pair every church in the SBC with foreign missionaries on the field for mutual prayer and support.

This could have been planned strategic alignment, but I prefer to see it as evidence of something else—God at work. God often works in hearts and minds independently, then brings people together to find they’ve come to remarkable harmony and unified vision. Caught off guard by the similarity of message, they respond, “You too?”

March 6 & 7 • FBC

Join evangelist Johnny Hunt and his team from NAMB for a time of teaching, worship, and prayer to ignite your church’s passion for evangelism. The workshop consists of practical training sessions designed to equip and mobilize your local church.

Sunday at 6 p.m. Who’s Your One Rally

Monday at 8 a.m.

Evangelism Workshop

Free to attend, but registration is required at

www.whosyourone.com

Should it surprise us that when men and women privately bow, humbly seek God, desiring to be led by him more than personal plans, that they would stand and find themselves singing the same song?

A. W. Tozer understood this well. He wrote, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.”

I found this same atmosphere within this new-to-me group of news editors, storytellers, and communications directors. How do we help each other cheerlead the best of what God is doing within our networks, be catalysts to unite the churches in cooperation for the Kingdom of Christ, and still fulfill our duty to “tell the truth and trust the people” when needed? The men and women I found in south Florida all want these same things. Being together reminded me of how important collaboration is. We need one another, and we can do more together than we ever could alone.

About a week after returning from south Florida I received an email from a colleague and newly minted friend. He’s new to his role, just like me. It was just an encouraging word, knowing that each of us came back to the whirlwind of our work. I wasn’t alone. I had a brother hundreds of miles away rowing in the same direction, seeking to solve the same problems, desiring to magnify the same Savior. We’re in this together. We don’t have to—and shouldn’t even try to—do this alone.

OUR

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IS CHANGING ADFChurchAlliance.org/culture Your IBSA Ministry Partner

– Ben Jones is the IBSA Communications Team Leader.

– Ed Stetzer of the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton addressing SBC editors

IN FOCUS

New target

Our churches’ recovery from Covid’s impact may be several years long. But we’re getting closer.

BY ERIC REED

We dubbed 2020 “the year of the asterisk.” It was like the famed homerun statistic that had to be followed by a special notation (61*). The stats from the initial Covid year had to be footnoted, when many churches closed for months and all the usual measures of productive ministry dropped precipitously. We thought future generations must understand the exceptional nature of that year, as attendance and baptisms, missions participation, and giving tanked. It wasn’t always this way, we hoped the asterisk would indicate. And we were sure it was a one-time drop.

Until 2021.

If a picture from the sports world helped us explain what happened to the numbers when the pandemic hit, then maybe an image inspired by the recent Olympic competition will depict the year that followed.

This was our “biter” year.

At the Winter games in Beijing, the curling teams took to the ice. One player gripped the stone, aiming and pushing until the point it must be released toward the target 150 feet away. Two or three team members skated just ahead of the 40-pound rock, furiously scrubbing the ice with brooms to ease its slide to the target.

We held our breath. Some stones hit the center. Some just grazed edge. That’s called a biter. Welcome to the tally of church statistics from 2021, the year we all hoped for a dramatic return from the painful declines of our pandemic experience. But the totals from all our churches compiled in the Annual Church Profile (ACP) report just grazed the edge of their targets—at best. As we examine the findings, two questions arise: Why? And What happens next?

8

Olympic lessons

The sport of curling is an apt metaphor for the newest report on Annual Church Profiles—teams of people aiming for targets they’ve hit multiple times before, and not quite making it. For many churches, awaiting the hoped-for recovery from the Covid declines was a nail biter.

P.

Biter (BY’– ter) noun

Repetitious variations

“I think we all hoped that the bounce-back from the pandemic would be well underway by the end of 2021,” said IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams. “But if you research the Spanish Flu of the early 1900’s, you’ll find that it began in February 1918 and ended in April 1920, and that was during a day when global travel and interaction was much more limited. Fortunately, worldwide pandemics don’t happen often, but it’s not unprecedented for them to last two or more years.”

So do their effects on personal habits, mobility, and church life.

While we all hoped that worship attenders would return as soon as normal services resumed, the repeated waves of Covid and its variants created an atmosphere of uncertainty. Habits were broken. Many churches plumbed what might be called their base of support.

Anecdotally, pastors have referred to the stalwarts who have returned as quickly and frequently as possible, while the twice-a-month worshipers became monthly attenders—or less. In IBSA churches, which all told reported a 9.5% drop in attendance in 2020, were hit even harder in 2021—down another 23.8%.

ACP Tallies: PEOPLE

Yet, the trend in baptisms was the opposite. Down 42.5% in the first Covid year, baptisms were nearly steady in the second year. And professions of faith showed a dramatic recovery of one-third between the first and second years of the pandemic.

The ACP reporting device doesn’t ask why professions of faith rebounded, but the urgency of the time and constant news reporting on Covid deaths certainly could have contributed to the felt need that resulted in salvations. God uses trials to draw people to himself. Churches responded with gospel witness, be it in person or online.

“I think pastors are always at their best when they are both loving and patient with the people of their congregation,” Adams said. “Genuine pastoral care, even expressed from a distance, will encourage people to come back to church when they feel safe to do so. Cajoling can have an opposite and unintended effect.”

Sunday School attendance is one example where broken habits may be hard to recover. Like AM worship attendance, Sunday School was down almost one-third in its second year. But a positive turn was the recovery of Vacation Bible School, which had been almost wiped out in the summer of 2020.

Service through missions projects is another ministry area that took a second secondary hit. Hovering around 20,000 participants in IBSA churches for the better part of a decade, missions participation declined about 22% in 2020 and again 17% in 2021, dipping below 13,000 people engaged. Local missions suffered most, as people choose to stay home and stay safe. Even the growing number of food distributions supplied by Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief through local churches could not make up for the losses in the customary seasonal outreach activities and mission trips.

As doors open for visits to areas and people groups off limits in the past two years, local and state missions may prove to be a ready means for reconnecting church members with ministry. Interest expressed in IBSA Summer Camps for 2022 may be another indicator that people are ready to reconnect with ministry—and with each other.

“Churches have experienced big dips in both gathering and in going. But giving did not dip nearly as much, and is coming back to pre-Covid levels much more quickly,” Adams said. Undesignated giving to churches more than recovered from 2020 losses (up from $90.4 million to $95.3 million). Switching from passing the plate to online giving and “boxes by the door” proved that innovation can produce meaningful acts of worship. Cooperative Program giving showed an increase of almost $400-thousand.

“Giving is certainly a bright spot, even in the 2021 data,” Adams said. “It’s also encouraging to see VBS participation bouncing back more quickly. And while gathering for baptisms is still a challenge, the number of professions of faith was back up 31% in 2021. I hope those professions of faith will be expressed in many, many baptisms in 2022!”

ACP Tallies: GIVING

In curling, a stone that touches the outer edge of the circles, just missing the target.

Top IBSA churches in total baptisms

Top IBSA churches in baptisms per resident member

Long-term goals

If nothing else, we’ve learned not to make predictions in a pandemic. So, asking what’s ahead for our churches is a little like skating beside the curling team—working hard to smooth the path, releasing the stone in faith that it will reach the goal, and waiting.

Speaking to Southern Baptist communicators meeting in Florida in February, researcher and pundit Ed Stetzer pointed out that the metrics facing our churches are not new. Southern Baptists are on a nearly 50-year statistical decline. Historically, the highest attendance the convention experienced was in the 1950’s. During those stabilizing post-war years, churches emphasized Sunday school enrollment campaigns and reaped the benefits of a culture and communities friendly to evangelicalism.

But it was in the turbulent 1970’s, when the denomination began to face serious internal strife, that the SBC experienced its highest convention-wide baptism totals. In that period, trial and growth went hand-in-hand. Stetzer called for unity and focus in what is now the pandemic era. “We need to focus on what we have already defined to unite us— the Baptist Faith and Message and the Great Commission,” he said.

Along with a slough of cultural and social issues, our churches today face the ongoing challenge from losses due to the pandemic. The recovery isn’t over. Tired pastors and churches may be tempted to accept attendance one-quarter lower than just two years ago as their new normal. Even flagging online views cannot make up for so many empty seats.

“I preached recently on the spiritual discipline of simplicity, and how many things can distract us from the most important things,” Adams said. “So yes, I think the interruption of ‘normal’ in recent days is a real opportunity for churches to ask what’s most important, and to focus on those things.

“During a challenging season a few years ago, a friend said to me, ‘I wish you had the opportunity to lead us during better times.’ While I deeply appreciated what he was trying to say, I thought to myself, ‘Lots of people can lead during good times. I’m here to lead us through this tough time.’

“And that’s what I would say to pastors,” Adams said. “Be the kind of servant leader who leans into tough times. That’s when you really grow and learn to trust God. Anyone can lead when it’s easy.”

– with additional reporting by Ben Jones in Key Largo, Florida.

Toward the target

Up 5.4% Undesignated giving to churches surpassed 2019 and 2020

Up 7.2% Cooperative Program giving rebounded in 2020

One person telling another

Creating a culture of evangelism changed everything at this Southern Illinois church

Centralia | “I expected in 2021 there would be a massive flood back into the church because they had spent much of 2020 watching online,” said Ronnie Tabor, pastor of Crossroads Church in Centralia. “That was the vision we started out with, but it didn’t quite turn out that way.”

What did happen was much better, but it took a little time to get the “tidal wave” Tabor hoped moving.

Tabor was called as pastor of Temple Baptist Church in 2018, but it was almost a year later that he was able to arrive on the field. When he came, average Sunday attendance was between 40 and 60. One member described the 90-year-old church as dry, but Tabor insisted, “This church wants to grow.”

Then, just as the new pastor was getting his ministry started, the pandemic forced a shutdown for 12 weeks. The closure caused Tabor to speed up his plans for reaching the community online. “We didn’t have a live feed or a strong social media presence,” Tabor said. “I didn’t want to start anything we couldn’t sustain.”

And the congregation voted to rename the church to reflect the new things they anticipated God would begin doing. When Tabor invited people to attend, they would say “Oh, I went there once, seven years ago.”

But the real change wasn’t in the web presence or the sign out front. The pastor said the real change has happened in the lives of church members. “They have taken their faith outside the safe space with people they know and have really been bold in sharing their testimony,” Tabor said. “They’re excited about what God is doing in their lives.” And they’re telling others.

God’s move in the congregation began just before Easter with a sermon series and small group studies in members’ homes on life transformation. The pastor focused on evangelism as a lifestyle commitment. “The reason we have been left here on earth is to help other people get saved,” he said.

In 2021, 97 people made professions of faith and the church baptized 62 people, compared to 14 baptisms the year before. And in the first six weeks of 2022, 10 people have made faith com-

mitments and 7 were baptized. One-third of those faith commitments happened outside the church, in the context of personal relationships of the members.

“These are people who are excited about what God is doing in their lives and sharing their testimonies,” Tabor said. “Because people were seeing the changed lives of their moms, their brothers, and others, they were asking questions. And it was easy to invite people to church.”

The rebirth of the church means attendance of 120 most Sundays. Basically, it’s a brand new church, and the membership is unified with the same message: Share the gospel, with every person, at every opportunity.

At a recent worship service, a woman named Molly Brown described her life as “a hot mess express.” She had been abused, addicted, isolated, and confessed she was a bad wife and mother. “No one really knew how far gone I was,” she testified.

“This was a textbook example of someone calling to God,” Tabor said. The first person who heard her was a deacon’s wife who knew Molly ten years earlier, saw her plea online, and invited her to Crossroads Church.

Molly came—and came to Christ. And the rest of her family followed. Homeless less than a year ago, “God gave me and my family the peace we need….There’s not a day that I fear,” Molly told the church in February.

The culture of evangelism, sharing God’s goodness in each other’s lives, is simply the way it works at Crossroads now.

– Eric Reed, with reporting by Ben Jones

MEN – Men’s ministry leader Josh Cross and a group of 25 from Crossroads Church in Centralia joined 1,300 others to hear Alan Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame share his faith.

62 BAPTISMS – Pastor Ronnie Tabor (far left) was in the baptistry frequently in 2021. Molly Brown (center), who described her life before Christ as a “hot mess express,” and her family were all baptized.

MISSION

Byrds fly home

Many turned their backs on North St. Louis. So did Michael and Traci, but not for long.

Michael Byrd went back to his old neighborhood to plant a church knowing ministry there would be challenging. So, when he met and befriended an unmarried couple who did not know Jesus, Byrd saw a gospel opportunity.

“They had been shacking up before marriage and had kids,” said Byrd, who serves as planter and lead pastor of Faith Community Bible Church in North St. Louis. “But through relationships, caring for them, shepherding them, and showing them something that was ‘not that life,’ they knew they wanted something different.”

So, they asked Michael if he would perform their wedding. He said yes, and they started eight sessions of premarital counseling, which Byrd describes as “basically eight times of me sharing the gospel.”

Now, they are a happily married, Jesus-following couple who were baptized at their church.

“They’ve been married for a few years now, they’re faithful members of the church, and they love the gospel,” he said.

BY GRACE THORNTON P. 12

That’s what life change looks like in the neighborhood where Byrd and his wife, Traci, serve as missionaries. It’s a little messy, and it takes place in the context of relationships outside the walls of the church.

At first, the Byrds swore they would never move back to their native, inner-city St. Louis.

“It was just a bad neighborhood, and we didn’t want to raise our kids there,” Byrd said. “The schools were terrible. Our kids couldn’t go out and play without us being nervous.”

So, they left, planning never to come back. And they were both shocked when seven years later God called them right back into that neighborhood to plant Faith Community Bible Church.

“After being missional in the inner city for several years and partnering with other churches to reach the lost in the city, God gave me a burden to see inner-city churches planted in areas that many turn their backs on,” the pastor said.

And the area Michael picked first—North St. Louis, the area he himself had turned his back on—is a very impoverished neighborhood that is

Annie

Armstrong

Easter

Offering

& Week of Prayer

March 6-13, 2022

National goal for this North American Mission Board offering is $70 million.

A regional couple is featured in this year’s mission stories. Planter Michael Byrd spoke at the IBSA Pastors Conference in 2021. Watch his message at Vimeo.com/IBSA/mbyrd

See their video and more at AnnieArmstrong.com

about 95% African American. The crime rate is high, drug use is rampant, and most homes only have one parent.

“They are people who feel abandoned, uncared for—people who feel like they’ve got to rob Peter to pay Paul,” Byrd said. “The heart of Faith Community Bible Church is to make Jesus known by caring for them.”

The church has fleshed that out in a number of ways.

First, rather than assuming they knew the needs of the community, the planting team went out and asked them what they would want a new church in the area to look like.

“And what we heard was, ‘Hey, a new church, this community don’t need a new church. It’s churches everywhere,’” Byrd said, noting that asking the question was a ploy to hear their hearts. “We quickly found

out that the community we were in didn’t trust the church because the church always came with their hand out—‘give, give, give’—instead of coming with hands-on—‘serve, serve, serve.’”

The team put what they learned into practice, building a care-based strategy centered on the community’s expressed needs. They even halted plans for a food pantry.

“The community was like, ‘Wait a minute, we don’t need a food pantry. We get food stamps. What we do need, though, is to learn how to cook more than just fried chicken and French fries,’” Byrd said.

So, Traci started gathering women in the Byrds’ home to teach them how to take a pack of chicken and make it stretch by making meals like chicken pasta and chicken pot pie. She was able to build valuable

relationships.

And the pastor began to organize block parties with free barbecue, rappers, and activities for the kids. These kinds of events drew the neighbors.

The whole mission of the church was “when we saw areas that we could serve in the community, we would serve,” he said.

That meant plugging into people’s lives and discipling them over meals, during trips to the grocery store, and any other time they could connect.

“People have to work, so we get in where we fit in,” he said. “We spend life together.”

The church was officially planted in 2016 but expanded to include another campus in a similar neighborhood in 2020. Byrd said they’re continuing to see God change lives in both places. And recently the

church took 15 people who “probably had never left St. Louis before” on their first mission trip to serve a church in Kentucky.

Byrd says his inner-city neighborhood may be rough, but the root problem, sin, is the same as anywhere else. And the remedy is the same too, Jesus.

“They’re people who need the gospel,” Byrd said. “And we want to get it to them and help them live on mission.”

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering provides half of NAMB’s annual budget, and 100% of the proceeds go to resource missionaries. The offering is used on the field for training, support, and care for missionaries like the Byrds, and for evangelism resources.

Grace Thornton writes for the North American Mission Board.

One of the foundational principles for Southern Baptists is that we believe can do more together than apart. It’s why we unite to pray, to give, and to go. The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions has been a key component of that joint missional effort among Southern Baptists since 1933. Thousands of new churches have been planted and generations of new believers have been transformed.

are estimated without Christ in North America. It is a complex mission field of many cultures, religions, and languages.

Cumulative giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering now exceeds $2 billion.

In 2021,Southern Baptists gave the largest annual offering ever of

275 million people Yet, $66.5 million,

igniting a new wave of momentum in support of those currently serving on the field and sending even more. The national goal this year is $70 million.

Committed to the cause – In 1893, Annie Armstrong personally wrote 18,000 letters to pastors and churches urging support for Southern Baptists’ international missions. Her heart was moved by news that missionary-to-China Lottie Moon had not had a furlough in eleven years, because there was no one to replace her if she visited home. The offering for North American missions was named for Miss Armstrong in 1934.

GOSPEL FOCUS – Michael Byrd preaches at Faith Community Bible Church in North St. Louis, an inner-city congregation he planted in 2016. The church expanded to a second campus in 2020.

HOME MISSIONS – As the Byrds looked for ways to meet needs in their community, Traci began building relationships by gathering women in their home. She teaches them how to make their food budget last longer. NAMB photos by Ben Rollins.

GROWING

talk Key questions for women’s discipleship

We want to see churches across Illinois engaged in discipling women and developing women as leaders. With those goals in mind, when I sit down with leaders who want to build specific ministries to reach women, I start with one big question:

“How is your church currently discipling women?”

When I ask that, I mean all women in the church—all ages and affinity groups included, plus women who are currently serving in the church. This key question will help us identify what a team is already doing in terms of women’s discipleship, and lean into the gaps that are actually opportunities to reach more women.

We want to help leaders develop multiple “on-ramps” for discipleship. We also recognize leaders are disciples too, and our goals should include helping them take their own next steps in their relationship with Jesus.

Where are the gaps?

In addition to the discipleship question, as we help leaders assess current ministry to women, I use a

Leaders are disciples too

After we’ve assessed a church’s current women’s discipleship strategy, we move backward to another starting line: the leader’s personal discipleship journey. There is a direct connection between our own walk with God and how well we’re able to lead others in theirs. So we ask another set of evaluative questions:

• How are you abiding in the Lord? This focuses on time in prayer and in God’s Word right now. Does the leader have a set reading time? Is she in a small group?

• How has God designed you to serve? Every leader needs a plan for further developing her God-given skills and talents. Participation in a leadership cohort will encourage learning and gaining new competencies.

• Who else are you developing as a leader? Passing the leadership baton is vital. Replication is an act of obedience.

series of more specific queries we learned from North Carolina women’s ministry leader Ashley Allen:

• How many women have come to Christ in the past year through your current ministry?

• How many small group Bible studies do you offer for women?

• Are your women currently praying for lost women by name?

• Are you praying God would raise up and send out missionaries from your church?

These questions are designed to help leaders assess strengths and areas of improvement, and support those big goals of discipleship and leadership development. They’re not meant to put leaders on the defensive. The questions help us begin to peel back the layers and define what we mean when we ask that first important question: How are you discipling women?

In our assessment process, we also evaluate how ready a leadership team is to point women inside and outside the church to resources that address their specific needs. Are the women already in your ministry ready to walk alongside newcomers who are dealing with a variety of issues? Are there Bible study groups women can jump into at any point? And when is an accountabili-

ty-focused group a good next step as a woman interacts more with the ministry?

The goal is to move women into a discipleship pipeline, but we know that’s going to look different for every person. There can’t be just one point of entry. Some women will be drawn to an event. That’s why it’s important to make sure every activity is purposeful, and that the purpose is to engage women in discipleship.

One of our Illinois leaders, Jill Finley, says we’re not a one-stop shop, but we’re your best first stop. The goal is to introduce women to the discipleship pipeline through a variety of methods. How can we leverage existing groups and affinities to draw more women into the pipeline? Where are the gaps that indicate we need a new group?

It’s our desire not to develop people as a means to an end, but to help them move to the next step in their personal discipleship process. As they learn to effectively lead themselves, they’re better equipped to lead others.

Carmen Halsey is one of IBSA’s Leadership Development Directors. CarmenHalsey@IBSA.org

Learning curve recommendaTions

The Bible Recap

Website • Tara Leigh-Cobble

This resource takes you through the Bible in a year and has different reading plans to choose from. I am currently using the chronological reading plan. There is also a short podcast that goes with the reading for the day that explains what you read. It will leave you wanting to dive into the Word each day!

The Search for Significance

Book • Robert S. McGee

I read this book 30 years ago, and a few months ago I decided it would be good for our family to read it together. No one is immune to seeking value and identity in wrong places. This book makes it clear that they are found in Christ alone. We are completely loved and accepted by faith in him.

– Mark Byars

Work It Out

Podcast • Vaughn Sanders

I’m often on the go, so having the ability to listen to sermons or podcasts as I drive is such a great benefit.

IBSA pastor Vaughn Sanders of FBC Bolingbrook uses his podcast and YouTube channel to answer everyday questions that Christians might have, and he is doing so in a biblical way.

– Jacob Kimbrough

“Wow! What a timely message! I felt like you were preaching right at Ted!”

Beginnings Church, Streator Baptist Camp Manager

Pastor FBC McLeansboro

– Kaitlyn Cook Pasfield Southern Springfield

New

with the lord people

Ryne Fullerton, pastor of FBC Albion since May 2021, received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in December. His wife, Kathy, received a certificate in Women’s Studies through the Biblical Women’s Institute also at SEBTS. They have three children.

David Harl, new associate pastor at FBC Fairfield, received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in December. He and his wife, Anna Grace, also welcomed their daughter in January.

CLASSIFIED AD

National Heights Baptist Church of Springfield, Missouri, seeks a fulltime pastor to lead us, help us increase and grow disciples, and reach the lost in our community. We are an SBC- and Missouri Baptist Convention-affiliated church which has adopted the BF&M (2000). As a church with a strong emphasis on missions, we support CP and other Baptist mission offerings. Candidates should submit resumé and three references to resumes@ nationalheights.org by May 15.

Dennis Cunningham, 66, associate pastor at North Alton Southern Baptist Church died Jan. 6. He retired as a truck driver for Airgas and served as a volunteer for the Godfrey Fire Dept. He is survived by his wife, Deborah, four children and their families.

L.D. (Louie Dan) Patrick, 93, a former IBSA staff member died Jan. 22. A Texas native, he was a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Patrick ministered 41 years in Illinois, first as a home missionary at Wood Dale Baptist Church, then pastoring churches in Fairfield and Waukegan, and later serving as Director of Missions in Lake and Madison Counties. He then served with IBSA through the 1990s as a church planter and consultant. L.D. and his wife Mickey, who preceded him in death, were known as “Mr. and Mrs. Missions” in Illinois. He continued to preach after retiring to Abilene.

Renée Marie White, 46, the wife of Claude White, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Peoria died Jan. 1. White held degrees in Political Science from Howard University and a Juris Doctorate from John Marshall Law School in Chicago. She was active in ministry with her husband, and served as a school board member for Zion Elementary District #6. Memorial donations may be directed to Grace Baptist Church.

neTworking

Find more information on ministry positions at IBSA.org/connect Send NetworkiNg items to IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org

Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services seeks a full-time Director of Accounting. This position is a member of the senior management team and reports to the executive director. A Bachelor’s degree is required with 5 years’ experience. The location will be determined at the time of hire. Send resumé and application to BCHFS Human Resources. Contact 618-382-4164 ext. 1111 or hr@bchfs.com for more information.

Galatia First seeks full time or bi-vocational pastor for small town church in southern Illinois. For inquiries or to apply, contact khank.kh@gmail.com or P.O. Box 220 (104 East Church Street), Galatia, IL 62935.

Grace Baptist Church in Palmyra seeks a bivocational pastor. The church was founded in 2000 in a community of 750, about 40 miles SW of Springfield. Send resumé to jallen@frontier.com or Jim Allen, 1309 Chesterfield Blacktop Road, Rockbridge IL 62081.

Havana Southern seeks a bivocational pastor to begin May 1. Havana is about 50 miles northwest of Springfield. Seminary training is preferred, but not required. Salary will be $500 per week ($26,000 annual). Contact Jay Hance, 214 West Jefferson, Havana, IL 62644, or call (309) 573-3999.

Richard Blackaby

Kim Hardy Kimberly Sowell

Patches for prayer

Church connects with first responders and vets

One church has found another way to honor veterans, first responders, and our military.

After First Baptist Grayville’s pastor, David Smith and his family cleaned the gravestones of around 1,000 veterans at Memorial Day last year, they found a new ministry focus. Church member Marc Neeley developed the idea for a prayer case that displays law enforcement and first responder uniform patches.

Once they had the idea, implementing it was easy. Marc’s father August Neeley, a Navy veteran, quickly built a large display case. Their goal was to present this prayer case to the church by Veteran’s Day, but they easily filled it and had already begun work on another case over a month before then.

Swapping patches is a common practice among law officers and firefighters. Many first responders are glad to give their patch to the church as well. From there, the pastor and others can reach out.

More than simply displaying

the patches, the church prays for every person connected with each patch.

This has opened gospel conversations where there might not be openings. “It’s a simple request,” Smith said. “I ask if the first responder would like to be prayed for, then explain that I won’t be the only one praying. Most of them believe in prayer even if they don’t understand Jesus.

“We are honored by the service of our first responders, military, and veterans, and hope to honor them through this,” Smith said.

– Leah Honnen

Church’s new name matches mission

Crossroads Community Church in the Chicago suburb of Carol Stream was renamed in its annual meeting in January. “Gospelife provides a unique name that perfectly captures our mission,” said founding pastor Scott Nichols.

The new name was part of a three-year plan to expand the church’s facilities on two campuses, develop two additional planting teams, and commit $1 million to missions.

“Accomplishing these gospel priorities will require commitment and discipline,” Nichols told the congregation. “As part of our spiritual growth, we must commit to serving and giving to make these dreams reality. And we must discipline ourselves to stay on mission.”

The church began with 35 members in a facility that formerly housed FBC Lombard, before building farther west. Gospelife’s second campus is the previous site of Village Bible Church.

“We are excited about the change because the gospel has been our top priority for twenty-plus years,” Nichols said.

PRAYER PROMPTS – Marc Neeley (center), FBC Grayville member and creator of the patches display, stands with Grayville Police Chief Bob Hatcher (left) and Edwards County Sheriff Darby Boewe

BRIGHTER DAY

Unshakable expectations

Our children have a new bit where they pretend to be halfway finished with a task or project. “We’ve only cleaned part of the playroom,” they say, or “I’ve only worked half of the puzzle.”

When we go to inspect their progress, they reveal that in fact, they are finished! They’ve lowered our expectations so that the finished product is even more impressive.

I wonder if they’ve learned that skill over the past two years. Hasn’t the pandemic and its challenges made us all wonder whether it’s wiser to lower expectations? Our kids have become conditioned to hold plans loosely, unsure if any gathering or school day or birthday party is actually going to happen. What’s unclear is how affected they are by the fear that comes with every new variant, quarantine, and at-home test.

When my worrying really goes into overdrive, I wonder how much of their childhood the pandemic has stolen, and as it lags on, how much more it will take. As a parent, I know learning to adapt to changing circumstances is a good thing for my daughters, and something I want to keep learning how to do too.

But I also worry they’re becoming accustomed to disappointment.

I was grieving their lowered expectations recently when a Scripture came to mind that my own dad used to encourage me years ago as I was going through a particularly difficult time of teenage doubt. He pointed me to John 10:10: “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” The translation my dad quoted to me said Jesus came that we might have life “to the full.” Not life mired in fear and worry, my dad contended, but life in fullness and abundance, sustained by Jesus.

Remembering that conversation with him, it dawned on me that my issue isn’t so much lowered expectations as it is misplaced ones. It’s still too easy to stake my definition of an abundant life for my children on the “normalcy” of pre-pandemic life. But Jesus’ words are as true today as they were for the first Christians, his offer of abundant life good amid their challenges and ours.

As we enter a third year of uncertainty, I want to shift my expectations not lower but higher, to the unshakable promise of the full life Jesus promised.

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

Tracker

Trends from nearby and around the world.

Faith: A Baptist Lent?

Lent begins March 2. Is it OK for Baptists to observe a manmade period of devotion? Eric Metaxas of Breakpoint radio observes, “During Lent, Christians rehearse—in the most basic meaning of that word— the story of our salvation, starting with the Fall and culminating in Good Friday…. A consistent picture of God emerges: the God who takes the initiative in reconciling us to himself.”

VBS Training Clinics

March 12 – Logan Street, Mt. Vernon

March 19 – Northside, Dixon

March 26 – Online

What: Learn more about Lifeway’s VBS curriculum, get great ideas for teaching and outreach, and be inspired for summer ministry.

Info: IBSA.org/kids

Contact: JackLucas@IBSA.org

March 6-7

Who’s

Your One? Tour

What: Two days of inspiration and evangelism training

Where: First Baptist Church, O’Fallon Info: events.whosyourone.com/tour_stop/ ofallon-ill/

Ministry: Consistency

Lifeway Research asked 1,000 pastors their greatest need. Of 44 responses, four were about consistency in…

72% personal prayer:

devotional Bible reading: taking a Sabbath: exercising:

68% 64% 59%

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Stick-to-itiveness:

Dogged perseverance, tenacity.

First known use was in 1859. In the top 3% of words people look up at Merriam-Webster.com.

Numbers: 6,014 people

have climbed to the top of Mount Everest as of December 2021. Nepalese Sherpa Kami Rita has reached the summit 24 times

with Johnny Hunt

March 6-13

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Week of Prayer

What: This offering supports SBC missionaries serving in North America. 100% of the monies collected go directly to the field for sharing the Gospel.

Info: www.AnnieArmstrong.com

Contact: KimAyers@IBSA.org for promotional materials

March 12

What: A workshop designed for the pastor plus one discipleship-oriented church leader (Sunday school director, minister of education, etc.)

Where: IBSA Building, Springfield

Info: IBSA.org/disciplelab

Contact: TammyButler@IBSA.org

March 24

iConnect: IBSA/Pastors

Meet-Up

Pastors new to Illinois and pastors who want to reconnect come learn how IBSA can serve you.

IBSA Building, Springfield AubreyKrol@IBSA.org

MEREDITH FLYNN