May 1, 2021 Illinois Baptist

The change

I want to be

Table Talk with Belafae Johnson

O’Fallon | Even Billy Graham’s daughter once found the Holy Spirit too mysterious to understand. For Anne Graham Lotz, references to the “Holy Ghost” she heard as a child were more frightening than encouraging.

Now, though, Lotz urges women to remember that the third member of the Trinity is listed that way not because he’s less important than the Father and the Son, but because he’s the third one to be fully explained in Scripture. She is the author of “Jesus in Me,” a 2019 book on the Spirit.

“He’s not an optional extra,” Lotz told women gathered for IBSA’s Priority Conference April 23. “He’s a divine necessity. We can’t live our Christian lives without him.”

Lotz served as a keynote speaker for the first large-scale, in-person meeting of Illinois Baptist women

Instrumental decisions

Anne Graham Lotz featured at multisite event

Photo by Lindsay Wineinger

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

Snapshots from the world of Illinois Baptists

Deep thoughts

81% of Americans believe there is an ultimate purpose and plan for every person’s life. But how often do they think about it?

“During COVID-19 many experiences, pleasures, and metrics of success became irrelevant overnight,” said Lifeway’s Scott McConnell. “It is not surprising that more people thought about their purpose and what matters in life.”

How often do you wonder: If I were to die today do I know for sure that I would go to heaven?

CHURCH NEEDED HERE

Location: Onarga

Focus: Hispanic residents

Characteristics: Onarga’s tree nurseries have brought workers to this village in eastern Illinois.

Prayer needs: There is great need for a multicultural church in Onarga that could offer services in English and Spanish.

– IBSA Church Planting Team

Giving by IBSA churches as of 4/23/21

$1,850,852

Budget Goal: $1,907,696

Received to date in 2020: $1,608,068

2021Goal: $6.3 Million

The Illinois Baptist staff

Editor - Eric Reed

Managing Editor - Meredith Flynn

Graphic Designer - Kris Kell

Contributing Editor - Lisa Misner

Administrative Assistant - Leah Honnen

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

The Illinois Baptist is seeking news from IBSA churches. E-mail us at IllinoisBaptist@IBSA.org to tell us about special events and new ministry staff.

POSTMASTER: The Illinois Baptist is owned and published every month by the Illinois Baptist State Association, 3085 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, Illinois 627034440. Subscriptions are free to Illinois Baptists. Subscribe online at IBSA.org.

NATE ADAMS

The rest of the hike

One of the more important things I’ve learned during years of mountain climbing is that even when you’ve reached the summit, the hike is not over. What goes up truly must come down. And though the ascent can be tough, the second half of a hike is often challenging in its own ways.

For example, three years ago my son Caleb and I undertook a long hike up a particularly difficult mountain in Colorado named Ellingwood Point. The ascent to 14,042 feet was especially demanding due to one stretch where the only way up was through a long slide of loose rock with extremely difficult footing. Scrambling up that 800 feet of altitude gain required almost two hours, and postponed our arrival at the summit.

Climbers at that altitude are always advised to be well on their way back down into the tree line by noon, to avoid exposure to afternoon storms and especially lightning. So we took little time to rest at the top. Perhaps that’s why, just a few hundred feet into our descent, one of my legs stopped working.

For a scary few minutes, I sat immobilized on a steep slope of loose rocks, vigorously massaging my cramped leg. Caleb and I began discussing our options, if my leg’s strength didn’t return. No other climbers were around, and there was no cell phone reception. We even found ourselves discussing the somber reality that there was no reasonable place for a rescue helicopter to land. Our only choice, really, was to rest, recover, reflect, and plan.

How will we move from surviving to thriving?

Eventually the paralyzing cramp passed and surprising strength returned to my leg. Praising God, we slowly finished the rest of our hike. But for the first time, it took us just as long to climb down a mountain as it had to climb up.

Fast forward now to the flatlands of Illinois, and the unexpected, pandemic plagued year we and our churches have all endured. The price has been dear in many ways, and the pace exhausting. But the disease and the restrictions are starting to pass, and the hardest part of the climb may be over.

But the second half of a hike is often challenging in its own ways. It places demands on different muscles, requires different pathfinding, and calls for endurance at a higher level of fatigue. In fact, falling during a descent is often more dangerous than on the way up.

This summer, we that serve and lead churches would do well to make some time to rest, reflect, and plan, before rushing into the rest of the hike. The quick pivots and skills that it took to adjust to the pandemic are worth celebrating. But the rest of the climb will bring yet new and different challenges.

The question this mountain of a pandemic raised in our minds as we climbed it may well have been, “How will we now survive?” But the question that challenges us for the rest of the hike out of the pandemic should be, “How will we now thrive?”

This word thrive has become a central commitment in our new mission statement as a network of churches. IBSA’s newly stated mission is to “deliver network value that inspires each church to thrive in health, growth, and mission.”

You and your church have climbed quite a mountain over the past year or so. By God’s grace, you have survived. Now as you continue your journey, take some time to imagine what “thriving” means for your church, and in your setting. Whether in health, growth, or mission, we at IBSA would love to assist you with whatever your church’s next steps are in the rest of your hike.

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

– Lifeway survey of 1,200 U.S. adults

Continued from page 1

in two years. While last year’s Priority Conference went online in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s meeting offered both in-person and online options. Lotz’s message on the Spirit was broadcast via video to more than 400 people at First Baptist Church, O’Fallon, and to more than 500 watching in smaller groups at 35 simulcast locations across the state.

Priority also included 11 pre-recorded breakout sessions, and women elected Lindsay Wineinger to serve as president of Illinois WMU. Wineinger, a long-time advocate for missions education and engagement, is a member of Woodland Baptist Church in Peoria.

The meeting’s theme, “Abide,” invited women to consider the Holy Spirit as the counselor and helper promised in Scripture. Lotz described him as “Jesus without skin. He’s Jesus, literally, in me.”

Two more featured speakers, Betsy Bolick and Missie Branch, also presented powerful testimonies about the Spirit. Jesus could have given us whatever he wanted to give us to help us, said Bolick, a North Carolina college minister and founder of Small Enough Ministries. “But he knew the best thing that he could give us, the only thing that we would need, the Holy Spirit. Our helper, our provider, our only hope.”

She started her message by acknowledging Christians now are living in “the already not yet.” The term describes the tension between the reality of Christ’s redemption and the brokenness of the outside world.

“While we reside here in this broken world, the Holy Spirit resides in your broken body,” Bolick said. “No matter how broken you may seem, no matter how broken you may feel, the one who isn’t is in you. He is alive in you.”

One potential obstacle to abiding in Christ, Bolick said, is when women rely more on each other or teachers than they do on the Spirit himself. “What we find in the presence of the Spirit will always be better than what we feel in the presence of others.”

Branch, assistant dean of students to women and director of graduate life at Southeastern Seminary, taught from Psalm

15 about the character needed to abide in God. The psalm, Branch said, is a recipe for abiding, and one ingredient is yielding our lives to the Lord. It should be the easiest step, she said, but it’s often the most difficult. It requires accepting the John 15:5 command to abide in the Lord, instead of ourselves. It means acknowledging we’re not in control or responsible for anyone else’s actions or outcomes.

“The obedience (that abiding) requires is so worth the promise it delivers,” she said.

Jumping off point

“We’ve been in a hard spot, but we’ve seen the glory of God,” Carmen Halsey said of the challenges of 2020 juxtaposed with Priority’s reminders about the Holy Spirit’s power and role in the Christian life.

The IBSA director of leadership development concluded the conference with a charge to share the encouraging news with others, and to view the meeting not just as a chance to get together, but as a jumping off point for a fresh move of God. Halsey also announced the Abide Journey, a six-week devotional series designed to help women as they learn to abide fully in Christ. The email devos and discovery questions are available by texting ABIDE to 33777.

For more information about Illinois Baptist Women and upcoming leadership development opportunities, go to IBSA. org/women.

capitol

Trafficking survivor begs ‘notify parents’

Springfield | Brook Bello was raped at the age of 11, sex trafficked at 15, and forced to undergo multiple abortions by her trafficker. “Had my parents been notified, my mother would have [known] what city I was near.” Bello believes law enforcement could have been alerted, and she may have been rescued sooner.

That’s why she begged Illinois lawmakers to keep the parental notification requirement currently in the state’s abortion regulations. “I beg of you, Illinois. I plead, Illinois, to not reverse, to please notify parents….Give them a safe place to call and notify parents.”

Bello’s plea came in a news conference opposing “Repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act” (HB 1797 and SB 2190) pending in the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly. The bills would repeal current state law requiring women under age 18 to notify a parent, legal guardian, or grandparent at least 48 hours prior to an abortion.

About 1,000 minors in the state undergo an abortion annually, according to Catholic News Agency.

Parents for the Protection of Girls, a coalition of pro-life groups in Illinois, hosted the virtual gathering with Bello and human trafficking expert Laura Lederer. Nine-in-ten trafficking survivors reported having contact with some kind of healthcare provider, according to Lederer, with 71% saying they got pregnant at least once while being trafficked. In addition, 55% reported having at least one abortion with 30% undergoing multiple abortions.

“Abortion and sex trafficking transcend the usual political boundaries of the abortion debate,” Lederer said, “since it violates both the pro-life belief that abortion takes an innocent life and also the prochoice ideal of a woman’s freedom to make her own reproductive choices.”

Both sides in the abortion debate should support parental notification, Lederer concluded.

After her rescue, Bello returned to school, completed a doctorate, and founded More Too Life, an anti-trafficking organization. She is also an author, pastoral counselor, wife, and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barrack Obama. But she can’t have children.

“All I ever wanted was to be loved, to be married, to have three children. They’re in heaven.”

SPIRIT-FILLED – Anne Graham Lotz talks about the Holy Spirit with IBSA’s Carmen Halsey via videoconference at the Priority Women’s Conference.

– Lisa Misner

BROOK BELLO

BETSY BOLICK

MISSIE BRANCH

CA pastor joins VP race

Ahead of Nashville meeting

California pastor Anthony Dockery will be nominated to serve as first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention when Baptists meet June 15-16 in Nashville. He has been in various ministry roles at St. Stephen Baptist Church in La Puente since 1990, and has led the church as pastor since 2008. Dockery’s congregation is involved with missions and outreach efforts both globally and in its community, which is located about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

ANTHONY DOCKERY

The pastor served 21 years in the U.S. Air Force and the California Air National Guard, and is currently chairman of the board of trustees of California Baptist University.

Resolution submissions

Open now through May 31

The Southern Baptist Convention’s submissions portal is now open for resolutions that could be considered during this summer’s annual meeting. Proposed resolutions may be submitted no later than 15 days prior to the annual meeting, giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions. Committee members also may propose resolutions for consideration during its deliberations.

Proposed resolutions must be accompanied by certification that the individual submitting the resolution is a member in good standing of a church qualified to send messengers to the SBC annual meeting. A link to the resolutions portal is available at sbc.net/resources.

Lottie

Moon milestone

Offering exceeds $5 billion

SOUTHERN

BAPTIST CONVENTION

Randy Adams presses new direction

NW leader repeats run for SBC president after COVID delay

Editor’s note: Baptist Press has published interviews with each of the four announced candidates for SBC president. The Illinois Baptist’s excerpts of each interview are available at IllinoisBaptist. org/SBCpresident. Full interviews are available at BaptistPress.com.

Vancouver, Wash. | Randy Adams planned to run for president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2020, before the annual meeting was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He resumed his candidacy ahead of the 2021 meeting, scheduled for June 15-16 in Nashville.

Adams, executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention since 2013, previously led the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s church outreach team and also pastored churches in Oklahoma and Texas. Along with five other non-South state executives, he has been involved in a disagreement with the North American Mission Board over strategic partnerships with their state conventions.

He spoke recently with Baptist Press about what he views as the biggest issues facing the SBC:

Building trust in the SBC

I think probably the foundational issue is trust, a lack of trust. And trust and goodwill really undergird cooperation, everything that we attempt to do together, partnership. And where there is little or no trust, you just can’t work together. A lot of people talk about unity. Trust is before unity.

Adapting to challenges

When the GCR happened [Great Commission Resurgence, adopted by messengers to the 2010 SBC Annual Meeting]— which I’ve called the worst decision in decades of Southern Baptist life, absolutely—it led to the worst decade in our history in terms of decline….I mean we’ve never seen what we’ve seen now, in 175 years, in terms of decline. It’s not completely the GCR, but it’s largely that because it changed the way we work.

had pastoral transitions they had someone to call. If they had an issue they had someone to call.

We’ve lost that in large measure, especially when you consider a lot of our churches are small, they have bivocational pastors. It’s really hard for them to go to annual meetings and do some of the training stuff that we do. So personnel-wise, we are greatly diminished from where we were 10 years ago, and that affects the field more than people know in the South, where you have stronger associations and whatnot.

Running for SBC President

Really it’s the mission. That’s what motivated me most to do this, is I feel a great burden for the fact that our mission effectiveness has declined. We’ve got almost 2,000 fewer international missionaries than we did a decade ago. We’ve got baptism rates in the level that we were in the Great Depression. So much has I think gotten off course in the last decade. But I think it’s not inevitable that we continue down a path of decline.

On March 31, 2021, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering surpassed $5 billion total gifts since 1888, when Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) was organized and began raising money to send missionaries like Moon to China. The offering, with funding from the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, has enabled the International Mission Board (IMB) to send more than 25,000 missionaries to serve in 189 countries since the SBC was founded in 1845. The $5 billion milestone, said IMB President Paul Chitwood, “indicates that the love of Southern Baptists for the lost has not waned, nor has their commitment to sending and supporting missionaries through the IMB.”

LOTTIE MOON

In the Northwest and in much of the South it meant the elimination of joint funding for all these associational directors of missions….So you’re talking large areas of small churches geographically distant from each other, and in most places they can’t afford a full-time director of missions or even a part-time guy in some places. It used to be that even in Montana where I grew up and in the Northwest, Idaho, all of the West, virtually every church, not just the pastor but the lay leaders, they knew someone that represented the denomination. That was usually the associational leader. It could be a state convention person. But they knew someone. So when they

I think we can, if we do the right things, write a beautiful chapter in the next chapter of our history, and I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of that because of what Jesus has done for me and what Southern Baptists mean to me and what they’ve done for me.

In the lengthy interview, Adams also addressed:

• being Southern Baptist outside the South

• strategic roles of local associations and state conventions

• the potential of remote participation in the SBC annual meeting

– From Baptist Press

Pastors, leaders promote COVID shots

As some reports blame evangelicals for vaccine fear

A national news story in April warned the COVID-19 pandemic may last longer than necessary because some evangelicals are refusing a vaccine due to spiritual convictions or uncertainty regarding vaccine safety. The article appeared in the April 5 issue of The New York Times and was republished online by the Chicago Tribune and elsewhere.

The story cited data from a recent poll by Pew Research that showed 45% of white evangelicals were not planning to be vaccinated. However, the same survey also showed 54% said they “definitely or probably plan to be vaccinated.” Pew found 64% of Black Protestants said they would “definitely or probably plan to be vaccinated.”

The Times article identified a few evangelical leaders that have publicly stated their opposition to vaccines, but many well-known Southern Baptists have been promoting vaccinations in their ranks.

Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear posted a photo of himself (above) being vaccinated March 30 with the caption, “#SleeveUp for a future safe from #COVID19. One step back closer to normal!” Marshal Ausberry, president of the SBC’s National African American Fellowship and first vice president of the SBC, also posted a post-vaccination photo of himself with an encouragement to “get your vaccine, save lives.”

Russell Moore echoed Greear’s words about taking a step closer to normal in an interview with PBS News Hour. The vaccine, said the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is “going to get us back to doing the things that we need to do quicker.” In December 2020, Moore

Most

worshipers

hosted an online conversation with Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health to discuss misinformation about the vaccines.

Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler used his podcast to give historical context to the current debate over vaccines. “Medical treatment is an extension of God’s common grace and Christians have always understood this,” he said during a December episode of The Briefing. “That is why, throughout history, where you found Christians, you found hospitals and the church treating the sick.”

Franklin Graham’s Facebook post on whether Jesus would advocate for vaccines garnered 26,000 comments, including many that voiced disagreement with the evangelist. Based on the parable of the Good Samaritan, Graham said, “Jesus Christ would advocate for people using vaccines and medicines to treat suffering and save lives.”

– Lisa Misner

leave encouraged

Churchgoers rank what they missed most in 2020

Two new surveys highlight how churched Americans engage with worship services. Barna Research found the majority of U.S. adults who attend church at least once every six months leave a worship service feeling encouraged, inspired, and forgiven every time or most of the time.

The share of people with positive feelings after worship is even higher for practicing Christians, defined by Barna as those who identify as Christian, agree strongly that faith is very important in their lives, and have attended church within the past month.

A majority of both groups also said that every time or most of the time, they leave worship feeling connected with God, that they learned something new, were challenged to change something in their life, and that the worship service was the most important experience of their week.

On the flip side, half of churchgoers also said at least sometimes, they leave church feeling disappointed. (The other half said that “almost never” happens.) Practicing Christians were less likely to say they

sometimes feel disappointed, and were also less likely than churched adults to say they sometimes feel guilty after attending worship.

Barna also released research on what churchgoers missed most about in-person worship when most churches shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking communion topped the list.

COVID’s discipleship impact

Lifeway Research found U.S. churchgoers were less likely to be involved in small groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2020, around 3 in 5 U.S. churchgoers said they participated in a church small group. A year later, more than 3 in 5 did not participate, including 29% because their church didn’t offer any small groups, and 34% even though their church did offer some.

On the bright side, many churchgoers added some digital and individual activities to their discipleship routines. Nearly one-quarter (23%) said they participated in online Bible studies more in 2020 than 2019. One in 5 (20%) say they were involved the same amount both years.

Church baptizes 1,000

Pastor Robby Gallaty described the revival sweeping his church as “a movement of God that I’ve never experienced.” Long Hollow Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., has baptized more than 1,000 people since December 2020. The pastor estimated 70-75% of those are from first-time confessions of faith and 83% are adults. The revival, rooted in stunning testimonies of God’s power to heal and transform, is “a genuine move of God,” he said. “He gets all the glory.”

Gallaty (left in photo) will lead an hour of prayer June 13 to kick off the Send Conference in conjunction with the upcoming SBC annual meeting in Nashville.

Movie revives CCM tunes

A new generation of fans may embrace classic songs of Christian contemporary music (CCM) after watching a new musical available via streaming. “A Week Away,” released March 26 on Netflix, is the story of several teens’ week at Christian summer camp. It features new versions of Michael W. Smith’s “Place in this World” and Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby,” among other familiar tunes. Grant also has a cameo appearance.

The PG-rated film is the streaming platform’s first entry into the faith-based film genre. In 2020, Netflix drew calls for boycotts after debuting a French film many said exploited children.

– Lifeway Research, Baptist Press

Barna Research

Emerging from a year-long crisis

Insights on the impact of fear from C. S. Lewis and Lucy Van Pelt

Do we all have PTSD? I heard someone ask that question recently. Has COVID caused its own kind of post-traumatic stress disorder for us all? Is this stress behind our other health crises and depression and rising street violence?

Getting my second vaccination and emerging from my house after a year, I couldn’t believe the sense of relief I felt. The end of my hibernation coincided with Easter, and it felt much like its own resurrection. Not to minimize the capital-R Resurrection, mind you, but I, too, felt a sense of conquest.

Death, darkness, pandemic—all defeated.

Except that pandemic is not. Yet. “Don’t get lackadaisical,” the experts warned, “even you vaccinated people.” There are variants, and mutants, and some of them are baaaad.

And again, stress.

Lucy asked Charlie Brown, after he deposited a 5-cent co-pay at the psychiatrist’s booth, what he was afraid of.

“Responsibility?” she suggested. “Then you have hypengyophobia. How about cats? If you’re afraid of cats, you have ailurophasia.” She listed climacaphobia (staircases), thalassophobia (the ocean), and gephyrophobia (bridges). Finally, she suggested pantaphobia.

“What’s pantophobia?” Charlie Brown said.

“The fear of everything!”

“THAT’S IT!” Brown shouted, sending his therapist tumbling backward.

The bald boy in the zigzag shirt is afraid of everything all the time, a diagnosis that for many people

describes the past year. But there are two problems with that condition: no one can endure fear for such a prolonged period, and Christians are advised “fear not.”

“Fear is an emotion, and it is quite impossible— even physically impossible—to maintain any emotion for very long,” C.S. Lewis wrote. “Crisis feeling of any sort is essentially transitory. Feelings come

should always remember, always take it (the end of the world) into account.”

The same may be said concerning COVID. We cannot live in constant and unending fear, even with the threatened rise of a fourth wave. The body can’t stand it. Neither can the spirit.

“Are we all suffering from PCSD—post-COVID stress disorder?”

The believer is urged repeatedly in Scripture to “fear not.” Angels, psalmists, prophets, and Jesus himself delivered the message. Some exegetes say there are 365 biblical injunctions against fear, one for every day of the year. Varying translations make counting a challenge, but the point is clear.

and go. When they come, good use can be made of them, (but) they cannot be our regular spiritual diet.”

Lewis was writing about a season when the trepidation of World War Two segued to anxiety about the Atomic Age. The fears of the Forties gave way seamlessly to the fears of the Fifties, and much concern arose about the Second Coming of Christ. Lewis said enough. “What is important is that we should not always fear, or hope, about the end, but that we

If anything, crisis should instruct us on the brevity of life. Crisis should motivate us to share our faith with multitudes now confronted by their own mortality. Crisis must plunge us deeper into the perfect love that casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Let it be that post-COVID stress gives way to deeper trust. Let us live in the assurance that God will do something wonderful with the trial of this season.

– Eric Reed

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SBC PREVIEW

Change of venue for Music City meeting

The 2021 Southern Baptist Convention will convene in Nashville in June, but in a different location than previously scheduled. Two months prior to the meeting, it moved from the Gaylord Opryland Resort to downtown Nashville’s Music City Center (photo right) to allow attenders to adhere to COVID-19 protocols including social distancing.

After a year off from their annual gathering, Baptists face a number of pressing issues in Nashville. Discussions on gender roles and race are anticipated, including continuing debate around a controversial resolution adopted by messengers in 2019. The meeting’s theme, “We are Great Commission Baptists,” will also call Southern Baptists to unite around their shared mission.

Inside this section:

Mission agencies join forces for Send Conference June 13-14

WMU meeting features ‘Relentless’ pursuit to share Christ

A Nashvillian’s guide to her city

Go to sbcannualmeeting.net for a full schedule, plus information on additional gatherings and events in Nashville.

Crowded field, big issues

Sharp

debate expected at 2021 Southern Baptist Convention

BY MEREDITH FLYNN

Nashville, Tenn. | Four candidates have announced their intention to run for SBC president when Baptists meet in June. The 2021 election, two years in the making, represents some of the biggest differences currently among Baptists. The candidate who emerges in Nashville could shape the denomination’s future on issues including racial reconciliation and social justice, theological direction, and cooperative missions.

Also waiting for Baptists in Music City: the likely reemergence of a controversial resolution adopted in 2019, and simmering tension over complementarian theology and gender roles following Bible teacher Beth Moore’s split with the SBC.

The announced candidates—Randy Adams, Ed Litton, Albert Mohler, and Mike Stone—have spoken publicly about what is required for the SBC to move forward together, despite various differences. Chief among the challenges facing the SBC’s new president will be rallying a group around a unified mission, when that group is at times deeply divided.

Outgoing SBC President J.D. Greear chose “We Are Great Commission Baptists” as the theme for this year’s gathering. Headed into Nashville, it reads less like a declaration and more like a prayerful, hopeful reminder.

Conservative Network launch

A group of Southern Baptists concerned about the SBC’s direction on social justice issues was set to officially launch last year in Orlando. With that convention canceled, the

Conservative Baptist Network held smaller events, created four state chapters, and formed a steering council of pastors and leaders. Three announced candidates for SBC office in 2021 serve on the steering council, including presidential candidate Mike Stone

GREEAR

“There are people in the SBC who share strong sentiment that the Convention is moving in an unfavorable direction and they are disengaging and in many ways disinvesting from the work of Southern Baptists,” Stone recently told Baptist Press. The pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga, said the new network represents a significant portion of the SBC.

On its website, the network notes “worldly ideologies infiltrating the Southern Baptist Convention, including Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and other unbiblical agendas deceptively labeled as ‘social justice.’”

Meeting in Birmingham two years ago, messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. The resolution said the theoretical frameworks, which have roots in Marxism, “alone are insufficient to diagnose and redress the root causes of the social ills that they identify, which result from sin,” and that they “should only be employed as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture—not as transcendent ideological frameworks.”

But some leaders criticized the resolution as a big step in the wrong direction, and it has continued to be the subject of debate in the SBC.

J.D.

Pastors: Unite on ‘Commission’

“Nothing is needed more than a movement of God in our churches to engage our people in reaching the lost world with the lifesaving gospel of Jesus Christ, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19,” said Florida pastor David Uth

The president of the canceled 2020 SBC Pastors’ Conference partnered with the North American and International Mission Boards to present the 2021 conference as a special gathering focused on rallying Southern Baptists around the Great Commission. The Send Conference is June 13-14 at the Music City Center in Nashville.

The meeting includes tracks for pastors, women, kids, students, and young adults, all focused on what it means to be on mission together for the gospel. Featured speakers and musicians are still be added to the Nashville gathering, which so far includes:

- Tony Evans, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas

- David Jeremiah, Shadow Mountain Community Church, San Diego

- Greg Matte, First Baptist Church, Houston

- Vance Pittman, Hope Church, Las Vegas

The Sunday evening session will feature awardwinning musicians Michael W. Smith and Crowder

Football analyst and retired college coach Mark Richt will speak at the North American Mission Board’s annual Send Luncheon June 14, as will former NFL star Benjamin Watson, an author and pro-life advocate. The luncheon will also include recording artist Matthew West

The conference will conclude with a Sending Celebration for International Mission Board missionaries.

For the full schedule and more information about available tracks, go to sendconference.com.

– With info from Baptist Press

WMU: ‘Relentless’ missions pursuit

Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) will meet Sunday, June 13, at First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., for their annual meeting and missions celebration. The theme for the afternoon gathering brings to mind the challenges of the Christian life, and Christ’s call to persevere.

“There are some moments in life when you just want to give up,” said National WMU President Linda Cooper. “People may have had some of those moments during the COVID pandemic, but the Bible tells us not to lose heart. Hebrews 10:39, which is our focus verse, says, ‘But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.’”

The meeting will include missionary speakers and an interactive prayer experience, as well as election of WMU officers and appreciation for Cooper, who is completing six years as WMU president. Due to COVID-19 guidelines, space is extremely limited. Seating capacity has currently been reached, but participants may sign up for a waiting list at wmu.com/nashville.

“As we make disciples of Jesus who live on mission, we want to be relentless in living authentic faith in Christ, seeking God in prayer, giving sacrificially and witnessing to others,” said WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin. “Everything you experience at this event is designed to help you be relentless in your own personal journey.” – WMU

Continued from page 7

Calls for the resolution to be rescinded preceded the 2020 meeting before it was canceled, and Resolution 9 is likely to be a matter of contention in Nashville.

A report on the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission could also figure into the Nashville business meeting. Stone chaired a committee tasked with studying the entity’s current direction, which the group reported “is a significant source of division.” Among concerns noted by some state convention leaders, the task force said, is that some churches have withheld Cooperative Program giving because of their concerns about the ERLC.

Call for accountability

While the candidates for SBC president have each spoken about building trust and stronger cooperative relationships, Randy Adams has made it a primary focus. The executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention has called for greater accountability and transparency from SBC entities, particularly the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and more participation in cooperative missions from local churches.

Adams’s candidacy is focused on how Baptists should move forward in missions and ministry—together.

“Churches did not establish the SBC so that it could direct how missions and evangelism are to be done throughout North America,” he wrote in a recent blog post. “Just as the U.S. federal government can’t run your local city with the same accountability as your mayor and city counsel, SBC and NAMB leaders can’t direct the work in 50 states as well as those who live in those states.”

Racial tensions persist

Baptist leaders, including presidential candidate Albert Mohler, have rejected claims from the Conservative Baptist Network and others that the SBC is drifting toward liberal theology. But Mohler and his fellow SBC seminary presidents were clear

about their position on Critical Race Theory in 2020, releasing a statement declaring it incompatible with The Baptist Faith and Message

Late last year, Mohler spoke to Baptist Press about the need for “serious engagement” around the issue, rather than conversations on social media. He also said if he becomes president of the SBC, he’ll work to ensure the denomination is “neither ‘woke’ nor mean.”

“It can’t give itself to the political correctness of this age,” Mohler said, “and it can’t give itself to attitudes that are corrosive to our working together.”

African American leaders and others in the SBC said the seminary presidents’ statement minimized the existence of systemic racism. As recently as March, the SBC’s National African American Fellowship asked the seminary presidents to help defuse racial tensions in the SBC.

Presidential candidate Ed Litton is part of a multicultural group of leaders seeking racial reconciliation in Mobile, Ala. The pastor of Redemption Church told Baptist Press being part of the group changed his perspective on dealing with race. “You don’t have to see eye to eye,” he said. “You have to love one another.”

Southern Baptists have untold resources to address racial issues, Litton said. “And the resource we have is people and their willingness to love, their willingness to sit down and listen, and not walk to the table saying, ‘I know what you’re about, I can tell what you’re about, and I’m against this and this and this about you’…. Listen, our theology is precious to us. But when it becomes a bat that we beat each other up with, that’s wrong.”

Southern Baptists will elect a new president June 15-16. For the full schedule for the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention, including additional meetings and events in Nashville, go to sbcannualmeeting.net.

RANDY ADAMS

ED LITTON

AL MOHLER

MIKE STONE – With additional reporting by Baptist Press

Convention exhibit hall in Birmingham, 2019

Music City Tour Guide

While in Nashville, see these sites!

We asked our friend Carol Pipes from Lifeway to share her faves, all an easy walk from Music City Center.

Barista Parlor

610 Magazine St. - 15 minute walk

Yes, they’ve got great coffee, but they also have one of the best biscuits in town.

Jack’s Bar-B-Que

416 Broadway - 5 minute walk

Great little BBQ joint on Broadway only a few blocks from the Music City Center. Grab a plate of ribs and head upstairs!

Arnold’s Country Kitchen

605 8th Ave. S - 10 minute walk

Ryman Auditorium

116 5th Ave. N - 5 minute walk

Originally built as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, it became a concert hall in the 1920s and home to the Grand Ole Opry in 1943. If you can’t catch a concert, consider taking a backstage tour.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

222 Rep. John Lewis Way S - 1 minute walk

These boots were made for walking…right around the corner to one of the world’s largest musical collections. Your tour concludes in the Hall of Fame rotunda.

Puckett’s

500 Church St. 10 minute walk dinner at Grandma’s. Specials change daily. Make sure you save room for pie!

National Museum of African American Music

510 Broadway, 4 minute walk

Nashville’s newest museum celebrates more than 50 music genres and styles created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans, including an exhibit on the “Golden Age of Gospel.”

Local Southern cooking birthed out of Franklin, Tennessee. Check out their downtown location. In June, you’ll want your tea ice-cold and sweet

Visit Nashville’s full-scale replica of ancient Greece’s Parthenon, built to celebrate Nashville as the “Athens of the South.”

Centennial Park

2500 West End Ave - 2 miles

Okay, that’s a long walk, you might want to drive.

Steady recovery

Giving through the Cooperative Program is up so far in 2021, as churches continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

THE cooperative program • 1st quarter report jan. 1 - march 31

This report includes contributions received by the Illinois Baptist State Association through the first quarter of 2021. For questions about this report, contact the IBSA Church Cooperation Team at (217) 391-3106, e-mail JeffDeasy@IBSA.org, or write to P.O. Box 19247, Springfield, IL 62794-9247.

$15.7 million

Baptists nationwide gave through CP in March 2021, an increase of more than 4% over last March.

Top 100 Illinois churches in Cooperative Program support through the first quarter of 2021

“This growth compared to a year ago demonstrates our churches’ commitment and consistency to participate in supporting our Great Commission ministries, statewide, nationally, and internationally.”

– Ronnie Floyd, SBC Executive Committee

IBSA churches give

$6

for

a

zone

Panther Creek New Beg., Chandlerville 461.32

Iglesia Camino Al Cielo, Joliet 399.50 Woodland, Peoria 168.04 Delta, Springfield 89.62 Lincoln Avenue, Jacksonville 77.68

Calvary,

Grace, Woodstock 37.54

Cave in Rock First, Cave in Rock 37.50 New Prospect, Broughton 37.36 Swansea, Swansea 37.00 Washington First, Washington 36.64

Ava Missionary, Ava 35.53

Effingham First, Effingham 34.76

Celebration Community, Pana 34.41

Fairview Heights First, Fairview Heights 33.31

Emmanuel, Sterling 33.24

Ozark, Ozark 33.04

Lawrenceville First, Lawrenceville 33.00

Flat Rock First Missionary, Flat Rock 32.50

Erven Avenue, Streator 32.48

Scott Street, Eldorado 31.87

Meadowridge, Zion 30.76 Olive Branch, Martinsville 30.50

Altamont First, Altamont 30.43

Carterville

Chicago Golden Light Chinese Churches Per Capita Dollars 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Wisetown, Greenville

Ten Mile, Mc Leansboro

Pittsfield 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

28.47 Herrin Second, 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

28.57 Calvary, 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

Sending people

56.5%

43.5%

When IBSA churches give through CP, works in Illinois, and goes to SBC missions worldwide.

56.5% 43.5%

That means Baptists support more than missionaries serving in North America and around the world, with the goal of sharing the gospel with the nations. The “grand task” should be our priority, said SBC leader Ronnie Floyd

6,600

– With info from Baptist Press

“Once again, I appeal to all of our churches, pastors, and church leaders— the world is lost and we need to advance the gospel to every person across the entire world.”

RESOURCE

The Learning curve

Wisdom Hunters

Digital devotional and app

I’m always searching for ways to quickly place Scripture and the application of God’s word into the lives of the many families within my area of ministry. Boyd Bailey’s Wisdom Hunters not only allows me to receive daily inspiration for wise living and decision making, but also offers me an easy and timely way to share it with others.

leadership

Struggling to share? Open God’s word.

Inviting friends to read the Bible helps me talk about my faith.

Evangelism and discipleship are tough tasks in a place where most people would say they believe in God and like to pray, and could tell you generally who Jesus is. But do they really know him? Have they counted the cost to follow him? And how do I speak into someone’s life who doesn’t think they are lost?

These are questions that I’ve struggled with for many years as a follower of Christ who yearns to carry out the Great Commission. One solution I’ve found is to invite non-Christians to read the Bible with me, trusting the words of 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Disciple-Making Culture

Brandon Guindon

As a church, we want to “boldly follow Christ in transforming the world one person at a time.” This means making disciples who can make disciples. This book is one of the resources that helps me stay focused and lead others in this mandate from Christ.

About five years ago, I downloaded a Bible app called YouVersion. I loved the many Bible plans that were available to read. And in the past few years I’ve really enjoyed the feature that allows you to read a plan with friends. Plans range from reading the entire Bible in a year to 3-day plans centered around marriage, anxiety, Advent, finances, and many more.

One note: It’s helpful to check in with your pastor or a trusted mentor as you choose a plan to make sure the one you select is theologically sound. But here is the exciting part: I’ve found that inviting a friend or group of friends to read through a plan with me is super easy and nonconfrontational. I have found that friends whom I have invited to church repeatedly, but have always declined, are often willing to commit to read through a Bible plan with me. I have begun to see the word of God work in their hearts and minds in the same way it works in mine!

The Girl Nobody Wanted

Sermon

Tim Keller’s message from Genesis 29:15-35 focuses on the Old Testament story of Leah, whose fruitless search for love led her to true peace with God. The sermon is available on YouTube under the title “The Struggle for Love.”

I’ve read through more than 10 plans with friends over the years, including the Old and New Testaments, seven days of Holy Week readings, and a 25-day Christmas plan where ladies used the comment section to discuss what God was saying to them through his word. Does your friend ever tell you that she struggles with anxiety? Ask

her to read through a plan on that topic with you. Looking for a way to connect Christmas and Easter with the real reason we celebrate? I’ve found that around the holidays, many people seem more open to spiritual things. Ask them to do an Advent or Lent plan with you.

I love this Charles Spurgeon quote about the Bible: “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.”

We love to talk about God’s word and its power, but how often are we actually opening it and sharing it? I’ve realized I need to unleash the lion and let it do its work!

Laura Winkleman is a worship and ministry leader at First Baptist Church in Harrisburg.

Comeback year for VBS

Relaunching Vacation Bible School after a summer away, or on Zoom? Take note from local schools and utilize your church building to maintain social distance. Instead of classes leaving their rooms for crafts, music, and missions, ask teachers to rotate among the classrooms. Or take VBS on the road with backyard Bible clubs.

For more outreach ideas, check out the Spring 2021 issue of Resource magazine, online at Resource.IBSA.org. E-mail Communications@IBSA.org to sign up for a subscription.

– Marc Lane, community ministry director, Calvary Baptist Church, Alton

– John Shaw, discipleship and missions pastor, Bethel Church, Troy

– Diana Williams, ministry leader, Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church, Chicago

dave says

DAVE RAMSEY

Crockpot answers A

Great question! There are always circumstances beyond our control that can put us in a bad place for a season. But to change your situation when it comes to money, you have to be willing to step back and honestly look at what has and hasn’t been working—and why. You need to be willing to admit you might have been wrong about a few things, and be open to trying new ways.

Myths about money and debt are definitely near the top of the list of things messing people up when it comes to their finances. I’ve heard it said if you tell a lie often enough and loudly enough, that lie will become accepted as a fact. Debt is so ingrained into our culture, and has been marketed to us so aggressively, that most Americans can’t envision a car without a payment, a house without a mortgage, or a college student without a loan. We’ve also bought into the myth that we can get rich quick. We’re living in a microwave society, but living right financially is a crock pot concept. It takes time.

Some people are afraid of change. Change can be painful, and many simply won’t change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change. When it comes to money, where you are right now is a sum total of decisions you’ve made to this point. If you don’t like where you are, you have to admit changes need to be made in order for you to achieve your dreams.

Finally, a lot of folks simply haven’t been taught the proper way to manage money. Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, it’s a lack of know how. There’s a big difference between the two. Admit, even if it’s just to yourself, that you are not a financial expert. Read about money, talk to people who have been successful with their finances, and begin to learn as much as you can about money and how to manage it wisely. What you don’t know about money will make you broke, and keep you broke!

My wife and I, along with our three boys, moved to Mascoutah in 2014, believing that the Lord had called us to start a church in a small southern Illinois town. I had not been introduced to the process of church planting yet. All I had was a burden for the lost and a yearning for a church to be a place of peace for those from various ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds.

For the next four years, the Lord moved in amazing ways. Quite honestly, he moved at first in ways I thought I wanted no part of—the prospect of our new church and me as a Black pastor becoming part of the Southern Baptist Convention.

My reasoning was rooted in fact and ignorance. What I knew about the Convention and its early history was enough for me not to join. But over the course of two years of praying, seeking, and building relationships, the Lord made it clear that I would be operating in disobedience if I didn’t yield to what he wanted to do for me and through me in the SBC.

The Lord placed Southern Baptists in my life who loved, cared for, and encouraged me, my wife, and my kids to the likes that I’ve never seen before. I met several church planters, including one man I hired at the company where I worked. It seemed accidental when I first encountered Nick Volkening. He was a student at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, looking for a job. He was also helping Rayden Hollis plant Red Hill Church. Nick gave me the book “Church Planter.” Today

Nick pastors New City Church in Champaign. We visited traditional SBC churches in some of the most rural and southern parts of this country. We found them to be kind and supportive. An older white couple, Steve and Shirley Ernest in Cunningham, Kentucky, took us into their home and hearts. The financial support of their church is amazing, but the respect they give me as a pastor and preacher is what brings tears to my eyes. I’m valued there!

On Easter Sunday of 2018, the Lord so graciously allowed Purposed Church to launch. Three years later, I’m still part of the SBC. Due to infighting, controversy, and at times downright divisive rhetoric, many Black pastors have wrestled with whether or not to stay. I must be honest, I am troubled too. At times I feel defeated by what I read and hear coming from the huge family that I’m a part of.

I have no ill will towards any of my brothers in Christ who made the decision to leave the Convention, but I must be clear: While I do not speak for all Black pastors, I desire first and foremost to be obedient to what the Lord has called me to. I want to be a part of the change that I want to see. We face problems as a nation and as a denomination. Our Black brothers and sisters are hurting and fatigued by what we’ve had to endure simply because we were born Black in this country. And while I intentionally will not name specifics regarding discord in our denomination, words have become the bricks that are building a wall.

How can we preach from Ephesians 4:1-16 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 and continue to use our platforms and voices to cause division? Do we believe Galatians 3:28? “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

We serve the Jesus who tore down the wall of hostility to bring us to himself—all of us—in order for believers to be unified, to be of one mind and of one accord. I believe our convention should be a place of refuge and rest from the fighting.

It is my heart’s desire for the Holy Spirit to convict each and every one of us about our conduct and our speech. I pray that repentance becomes the cry of our hearts.

It’s my heart’s desire that we not think more highly of ourselves than we should. I pray that we lay down our preferences, so all our brothers and sisters feel welcomed and appreciated in all of our churches, at all of our conferences, and throughout our Convention.

It’s my heart’s desire that we become The Church that Jesus died for us to be.

If you desire to know how pastors who look like me feel, to learn how we are processing these events, I welcome you to join me in the humbling and hard work of seeking out and building relationships with Black pastors in our convention.

Belafae Johnson is planter and pastor of Purposed Church in Mascoutah.

QWhat are some mental and emotional obstacles preventing people from addressing their financial problems?

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

BRIGHTER DAY

Raising Generation C

Gen Z is now Gen C. Social scientists are using the term to describe the youngest children who are growing up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Generation C, the thinking goes, will be forever marked because of how the crisis is shaping their formative years.

It’s a heavy label with a lot of uncertainty. But as the mother of two Gen C-ers, I’m not without hope. When my fears start to mount about what effect the pandemic might have on their futures, I remember that technically our daughters are parented by a pampered Millennial and a slacker Gen X-er. Their grandparents are all members of the “Me” generation. Labels can be scary, but they’re not irredeemable.

Gen C has seen a year’s worth of plans put on hold. They endured months of not seeing close family and friends, and more interruptions to “normal” life than they can count. As a result, their generation may well be marked by more resilience than the last two or three. They have had more opportunities already to see the reality of Christ’s words in John 16:33. In this world we will have trouble, Jesus says, followed by a promise for the ages: “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

My children have also seen the church at work. They’ve witnessed the adults in their lives band together to help hurting people. They watched videos of worship teams lifting up anthems of praise over Zoom. They saw faithful people make sacrifices for the sake of others, even when their own

neTworking

circumstances were uncertain. Their idea of “church” is likely different than mine was at their age, but also closer to the New Testament model.

Would I choose the circumstances of the last year for my Gen C-ers? No. There are days I long for the normalcy of their 2019 lives. I worry when I see them hesitate to hug their friends. I want them to go back to Sunday school.

I’m also proud of how they’ve responded to the challenges, dutifully pulling on their masks in the morning and wordlessly holding out their hands at the playground for a pump of sanitizer.

When the label seems too big and too frightening for how small they currently are, I can stand firm in the hope that ‘Generation C’ may have shaped their beginning, but it won’t have the last word.

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

Find

Hoosier Prairie Baptist Church in Louisville seeks a pastor Contact Cole Hildebrand at hoosierprairiepastorsearch@gmail. com, (618) 665-4404, or 488 Titanium Rd., Louisville, IL 62858.

Logan Street Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon seeks a full-time worship and media pastor. This ministry includes leading a choir, praise team, band, and a part-time tech and media director. Job description available upon request. Check us out at loganstreetbaptist.org and send resumés to shannon@ loganstreetbaptist.org.

Meacham Baptist Church seeks a bivocational pastor for a small country church in rural Kinmundy, Ill. Contact Gene Simmons at (618) 339-1872 or hesvls74@yahoo.com.

people

Welcome Crossroads Church in Carol Stream recently welcomed Ben Pierson as executive pastor. Previously COO of a manufacturing corporation in Chicago, Pierson has been part of Crossroads for 15 years, serving as a deacon, treasurer, small group leader, and elder.

A BIBLICAL EXAMINATION of

Elmo Randle was installed April 18 as pastor of Mission of Faith Baptist Church in Chicago. Randle and his wife, Jaqueline, previously served at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Country Club Hills, where he spent 11 years as assistant pastor.

Please

Pasfield Southern Baptist Church seeks a bivocational pastor. We are a city neighborhood church seeking to expand our ministry. As the church grows, we would desire the position to become full-time. Job description available at pasfieldsouthernbaptistchurch.com. Send resumés by May 26 to Pasfield Southern Baptist Church, 411 West Lenox, Springfield, IL 62704 or pasfield.b@gmail.com.

Tilden Baptist Church is prayerfully seeking a bivocational associate pastor. This opportunity would involve mentorship and the opportunity to grow and to develop in Christian ministry. Working with youth and worship to assist in the growth of the church would be a big part of this ministry. For more information, email trippins66@msn.com.

CLASSIFIED ADS

Cross Keys Baptist Church in Florissant, Missouri is prayerfully seeking a full-time pastor. Candidates must support the SBC and The Baptist Faith & Message Resumés will be accepted through June 1, 2021 and may be sent to PO Box 927, Florissant, MO 63032 or email crosskeysbaptist@sbcglobal.net. Website: crosskeysbaptistchurch.org.

FBC Oakville, Missouri, a growing church, is seeking a full-time pastor. Candidates must support the SBC and The Baptist Faith and Message. Resumés or inquiries can be sent to FBCOakvillemo@gmail.com.

MEREDITH FLYNN

EVENTS

May 4, 6

Youth Ministry Master Class

What: Training focused on the core characteristics of a disciple-making youth ministry; 6-9 p.m., dinner included. Where: May 4: Immanuel Baptist Church, Benton, May 6: Living Faith Baptist Church, Sherman Register: IBSA.org/students

May 7-8

DiscipleLab

What: Training for the pastor and one discipleship leader to discuss and develop a workable, practical plan for disciple-making.

Where: Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp Info: FranTrascritti@IBSA.org

May 22, June 5

Opening Day

What: Kick off the summer with opening day celebrations at IBSA’s camp facilities.

Where: May 22: Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp, June 5: Streator Baptist Camp Info: BrockVandever@IBSA.org (Lake Sallateeska), JacobKimbrough@IBSA.org (Streator)

May 22

Missions Boot Camp

What: Deploy a mission strategy to impact your neighbors

Where: Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp Register: IBSA.org/mission-2/bootcamp21

Edge Online Training

What: Multi-week courses are instructor-led, fully online, and highly interactive.

When: New courses start June 7 Register: IBSA.org/ibsa-online-courses

June 12-16

Southern Baptist Convention

See pages 7-9 for details.

Bounce Kids Camps

What: IBSA’s camps for kids and teens are back in 2021 at Lake Sallateeska and Streator.

Week 1: June 7-11, Streator, grades 3-12

Week 2: June 14-18, Streator, grades 3-12

Week 3: June 20-24, Lake Sallateeska, grades 3-6

Week 4: June 28-July 2, Lake Sallateeska, grades 3-6

Week 5: July 12-16, Streator, grades 3-12 Register: IBSA.org/kids

June 19-23

Super Summer: Comeback

What: Turning teens into disciples and leaders

Where: Hannibal-LaGrange University, Hannibal, Mo. Register: IBSA.org/students

July 19-23

Rebound Student Camp

What: A week for students in grades 7-12

Where: Lake Sallateeska Baptist Camp Register: IBSA.org/students

THE NEW REALITY

All-time low membership

What does it mean?

A recent Gallup poll showing that church membership among U.S. adults has dropped below 50% for the first time in 80 years has religious leaders scratching their heads. They’re not so much wondering why, but how do we get them back?

A summary showing who actually left may help.

Gallup says that declines are smaller among Protestants, political conservatives, Republicans, married adults, and college graduates. And declines are steeper among Catholics and “nones,” those who claim no religious affiliation in the first place.

Overall declines are from 71% in 1999 to 47% in 2020, with most of that coming in the past three years.

Membership among Protestants was down 9 points, from 73% to 64%, while Catholic members dropped 18 points, from 76% to 58%

East -25%

West -19%

Midwest -18%

South -16%

As expected, younger adults showed higher declines: 66% of the WW2 generation belong to a church, but only 36% of Millennials.

Counteracting the downturn

In reporting its 2020 findings, Gallup turned to a 2017 survey for some answers. At that time, majorities cited significant factors in their church participation:

• good preaching (75%)

• kids’ programs (64%)

• community outreach and volunteer opportunities (59%)

• dynamic leaders (54%).

Gallup was encouraged that 7-in-10 Americans still say they identify with some religious affinity, even if not actual church membership. Does that offer opportunity? While Gallup didn’t call it evangelism per se, they concluded the future of the church depends on faith sharing.

– Eric Reed

“Unless we want to be a regional group of Christians who only talk to ourselves, we’ll need to redouble our efforts in evangelism and church planting to engage an increasingly secular context.”

– Ed Stetzer, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College

Illinois Dessert Reception