Illinois Baptist
ll across the state are stories waiting to be told. The mother praying for that wayward son in inner-city Chicago. The rural pastor longing to see empty pews filled with worshiping families again. The college freshman, walking across campus and wondering, Is God is real? –Does he have a purpose for my life?
In cities and small towns, dotting the office buildings and campuses and cul-de-sacs, walk men and women, boys and girls, who need the hope and purpose only Jesus can bring.
“Who’s taking Christ to that community? The answer really is very few,” IBSA Evangelism Director Scott Harris said.
“We have to begin to see all of our folks in every community leveraging the influence that God has given them with relationships to be burdened for (the lost), to love them enough, to invite them to church,” Harris said. “But also, so they can have opportunities to share the gospel with them personally.”
God’s plan to reach the people of Illinois is through the followers of Jesus who already live here. It is for home-grown, hometown missionaries to carry the gospel into the neighborhoods out their front doors.
Best estimates still say that more than 8 million people in our state do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. The best people to reach them are those who share the same zip codes, who can relate to their struggles, who they encounter in their weekly rhythms.
This is why the Mission Illinois Offering exists – to provide resources needed to help Illinois churches and church members reach their com-
munities. When you and your church give gifts to Mission Illinois, 100% of those gifts further ministry and missions right here at home.
Your church’s support helps carry the gospel into every corner of our state
Mission Illinois invests in churches and leaders throughout our state, equipping them to meet needs and become missionaries to their communities. Churches are planted, leaders are trained, summer camps are provided that serve more than 1,000 teens and kids, discouraged congregations are revitalized, gospel workers reaching university students are supported, and relief is provided to those experiencing disaster.
You can help reach Illinois with your prayers, your giving, and your serving.
A new addition in 2025 to the September state missions emphasis is Mission Illinois Day. Churches are encouraged to participate in one-day local outreach projects on Saturday, September 13. Projects will be centered around three hubs: Chicago, Peoria, and Mt. Vernon. Each hub will host several planned projects within the surrounding area. There is no cost to register, and families are encouraged to participate together since all work will be suitable for any age.
Mission Illinois has set a statewide offering goal of $350,000 for 2025, and a goal of 500 participants in Mission Illinois Day.
What’s inside
Stories of impact
Read four stories of Illinoisans on mission.
Eight ways to pray Lift up missions and ministry work making a difference across the state.
More online Watch video stories, see how MIO is at work year round, and find downloadable content and graphics at MissionIllinois.org.
BIVOCATIONAL REVITALIZATION
Seeing
“My whole career is rebuilding broken pieces.”
Clay Blankenbaker sees his world from a different perspective.
The bi-vocational pastor has spent his professional life as a jeweler, creating and restoring precious treasures for more than 35 years. In his other hours he serves as pastor of New Beginnings Baptist Church in his hometown of Metropolis.
Many bi-vocational pastors long for the opportunity to serve a church without the additional burden of another job, but not so for Blankenbaker.
“I love being a jeweler. I love the opportunities it gives me to see everything that can be old and broken be made brand new or be refurbished and restored,” he said.
His vision that sees buried potential doesn’t stop at the silver and gold he crafts daily. It extends to his river-town neighbors and his small church, too.
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
Support helps put pastor’s feet to pavement
Maurice Gaiter knows the streets of his Austin neighborhood well. He grew up there. He’s known there. When he walks into MacArthur’s, the famous local soulfood restaurant that has hosted presidents, celebrities, and civil-rights leaders, he’s greeted by employees and patrons with a friendly, “Hey pastor!”
The restaurant owner helped him when he was a teen struggling with the temptations of the streets. “He saw something inside of me that made him want to invest in me,” Gaiter said.
“God is the master creator. We are his masterpiece. But the world and life and everything rubs against that and wears it out. And the church’s role is to come alongside that person and help restore them and help see the restoration that Christ offers.”
Blankenbaker is leading his church to a vibrant new future by embodying his conviction that broken things can become beautiful. He came to the church 9 years ago, first simply as a temporary preacher. As time went on, he developed a love for the people and saw the need
in that community. God made it clear that he was to make it permanent.
After the struggles of 2020 and 2021 that nearly every church experienced, he knew change was needed. To help with that change, the church began a revitalization process with IBSA’s Health Team.
“One thing that became very clear to them was the need to engage their community,” Health Team Leader, Scott Foshie said. “They sit on a very busy street, but the building sits over one hundred yards back off the street. They were unseen by the hundreds of people who drive by every day and live in that area.”
That discovery led the church to create ways to get closer to their neighbors. It started with a pop-up tent, coffee, and an offer to pray every Sunday morning by the street. People stopped and engaged. The church also moved their clothing ministry from a small back room into a refurbished former rental home on their property.
“We changed the name to Salt and Light, because that’s what we want to be in this community,” Blankenbaker said. “It is a beautiful thing to see them come in and shop with dignity.”
The church is growing, in energy and in numbers. And this pastor, who spends his days restoring beautiful things, believes it will happen here, too. “I know God’s got a vision here” he said. “I know our address is not an accident. And we are going to make this shine bright here because the community needs Jesus.”
That led to Gaiter working there, eventually serving as a manager. “And one of the good things is that everybody remembered me in my heyday, when I used to be a drug dealer. But they saw the transformation, the resurrection in my life, (and) they glorify God inside of me,” he said, drawing a correlation between his story and the Apostle Paul’s.
Now as a church planter, he is committed to bringing Jesus to the streets of his beloved neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side.
With help from IBSA and Send Network, Empowerment Community Church was planted in 2022. The dynamic pastor started in a small space that seated about 30, then moved across the street, before moving about 2.5 miles to their current location. Those moves were challenging to the young church’s momentum, so he quickly became connected to his new church planting family, engaging in opportunities to learn and grow.
“Scott Harris, Foshie, and those guys would hold these meetings, where they will give you the tools to help you to become a more effective, engaged communicator,” he remembered.
One of those opportunities was a small roundtable gathering for churches wanting to see more baptisms, hosted by Harris, IBSA Evangelism Director. “Maurice was one of those guys who showed up and engaged,” he said. “He shared and he took notes, then he went back and put everything into practice.”
“I got a few of our people, and I shared with them,” Gaiter recounted. “Listen, if only five of us would go, and we reach the masses in this neighborhood.” So, with a clear strategy they picked a two-block radius around the church to engage, then they hit the streets. “We put Bibles and literature in every home. We fed the homeless. We were able to walk the communities on Saturdays to pray for people.”
That summer outreach directly led to 16 baptisms. With that encouragement, the church has a goal to see 50 baptized this year, in the empty lot next to the church building, for the community to see the gospel on display.
“There is a need for people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I believe God has planted us here, in this area, for a specific purpose,” Gaiter said. “Like (God) says in Micah 6:8, he said, I showed you, man, what is good and what does the Lord requires of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.”
FOSHIE
HARRIS
missionillinois.org
CAMPUS CONNECTION
Investing in students expands ministry
There are over 400,000 students studying on the campuses of Illinois universities. Most of those are between the ages of 18 and 25, the window where people are deciding the trajectory of the rest of their life. The vitality and potential found in that season of life motivated Nick Volkening to plant New City Church in Champaign in 2019. With the support of Southern Baptists, that ministry is not only reaching students at the University of Illinois, but raising up leaders who will take the gospel to other communities.
“From the beginning, one of the core values that we talked about often and regularly was that the next generation is our responsibility,” he said. “We’re not waiting for anybody else to tap us on the shoulder and say, hey, it matters to reach college students.”
To fulfill that value Volkening said the church has
adopted Jesus’s strategy. “We invest in the few to reach the many.” They trust that by being a church that fully invites students in and invests in their growth as disciples those students will become the missionaries on campus. “College students actually reach college students best,” he said.
The young church is seeing that strategy work. Over 50% of the hundreds in worship on a typical Fall Sunday morning are college students. But they do not simply want to gather a large crowd. “The local church should be the premier leadership development institution on the planet,” Volkening explained.
Equipping and developing the next generation of leaders for the church requires giving students the opportunities to lead now – students like Logan Barrus
Barrus came to the University of Illinois with high ambitions, but realized he was really trying to earn God’s approval. “My plan initially was to get my degree in chemistry and physics, go get my PhD in particle physics, and then work for NASA to discover a particle that proves God’s existence,” he said.
But through an incredibly difficult season in his life, God brought him to his knees, and into a connection with Volkening. “Nick was preaching through Ecclesiastes, which is like the most angsty book in the Bible,” Barrus remembered. “And I’m thinking, that’s exactly how I feel. Like I had no purpose in life.”
Through that experience and regular conversations with Volkening, God began to reveal that he did have a purpose for Barrus. He is now the Pastoral Resident and Collegiate Leader at New City, learning alongside Volkening and taking seminary courses.
“God willing, by the end of 2028, we will have sent out our first planting team, and we are asking the Lord daily that by 2028, we would get to have baptized from now 150 people, Volkening said. “Without the partnership of SEND Network and IBSA and NAMB, we literally couldn’t have done this.”
HOME INVESTMENT
Global traveler fulfills first purpose locally
“Some are called to foreign missions. Some are called to missions far away, and that’s a calling. But all of us are called to missions, and Illinois is a huge mission field.”
Jennifer Smith understands the call to missions far away. She has spent time in more foreign lands than most people could name - 85 countries on all seven continents. But the countless days she has spent living among Muslims and Buddhists and Animists in far flung places haven’t detracted from the gospel investment she makes in her home state.
It started with Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief (IBDR). After serving in the Coast Guard, Smith moved back home to Jacksonville and began attending her childhood church, Lincoln Avenue, where she met Thurman and Carol Stewart, longtime pillars in the IBDR community.
“They said, you need a yellow shirt to put on, and they got me involved in Disaster Relief,” she remembered. “I started taking training and chainsaw and all the other fields. I ended up in chaplaincy and have seen God use that as a very open door to people’s hearts here in Illinois when disasters strike.”
However, the lifelong learner and teacher is just as passionate about seeing people grow in their faith as come to faith. That desire to learn and invest in others found an outlet within Illinois Baptist Women.
“Carmen actually gave me a phone call and said, let’s have coffee,” Smith said, recalling how she connected with Carmen Halsey-Menghini, Leadership Development Director with IBSA. “I started doing some projects for her along the mission’s line.”
That led to more network opportunities. Smith now serves as part of a team from Illinois Baptist churches who develop women’s discipleship and leadership resources. And she says that investment’s impacting Illinois communities beyond the local church.
“The women’s discipleship and leadership fits into every area of life,” she said. “Women in the market-
place. Women in the churches… You learn about leading self well. You learn about leading others. It’s something that can help you whether you ever see yourself as a leader or not.”
Her involvement in women’s leadership has also stretched Smith, who does not see herself as a leader. At the 2025 Priority Women’s conference, she was one of four Illinois Baptist women who served as keynote speakers, addressing the gathering of hundreds.
She believed the experience did more than just challenge her. It also inspired others. “It’s not that any one of us was special in any way. It’s just that for that moment God allowed us to be used in that way, and that dream that’s inside that young mom that feels like… I want to teach, or I want to lead a Bible study, or I want to do something in my church. I think that helps fan the fires and encourage them that that person’s just a normal person. I can do that too.”
Illinois Mission Facts
Nearly
13 million people live in Illinois.
Over
8 million do not know Jesus as Savior.
9 counties without an IBSA church
Over 400,000 college students on Illinois campuses
All 9 affinity groups identified by the International Mission Board are represented in Illinois.
Served Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief has provided over 20,000 hours to people in need this year.
New churches are especially effective at reaching unreached and under-served people groups.
IBSA partners to plant 10-20 new churches each year.
HALSEY-MENGHINI
VOLKENING
State Missions Prayer Guide
Day 1: Sunday, Sept. 14
Revitalized churches
Each of Illinois’ nearly 900 Southern Baptist churches was established to be a missionary to its community. Some have been a witness in their community for two centuries, some for less than two years, but each represents a people and place consecrated to glorify God and point people to Christ. Many of these churches need to experience renewed vitality so they can continue to deliver the light of Jesus to their neighborhoods into the future.
Pray for discouraged Illinois churches to find a new hope and future through the work of the IBSA Health Team’s Scott Foshie and Josh Bledsoe as they lead church revitalization efforts.
Watch Metropolis bi-vocational pastor Clay Blankenbaker’s church revitalization story.
Day 2: Monday, Sept. 15
Camp ministries
Year after year, Lake Sallateeska and Streator Baptist Camps serve as special places where children and students hear God’s word and commit their lives to following Jesus. Through summer camps, youth events, and church retreats, hundreds of students are reached with the gospel and discipled each year. And each camp has lodging designed just for pastors and their families to come for rest, at no cost.
Pray that young people would continue to hear God’s call in these sacred environments and they would grow into godly leaders in their churches. Pray for camp directors Jacob Kimbrough and Brock Vandever and their families as they serve the thousands who come to the camps each year.
Day 3: Tuesday, Sept. 16
Chicagoland
Day 5: Thursday, Sept. 18 College campuses
With over 9.6 million people, many of whom came there from around the globe, Chicago and its surrounding suburbs is the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S., and an enormous mission field. Many of its 77 neighborhoods are shaped, and continue to be transformed, by the immigrant populations that call their city blocks home. From Cook County to the suburbs you will find diverse populations, experiencing the joys and challenges of everyday life, but all in need of Jesus.
Pray for God’s strength for the faithful leaders of IBSA’s 150+ cooperating churches in Chicagoland, and for IBSA Zone Consultant Bryan Price who helps to support pastors in the city.
Watch Chicago pastor Maurice Gaiter’s story of sharing Jesus with his tough Austin neighborhood.
Day 4: Wednesday, Sept. 17
New churches
Planting new churches is an essential part of reaching Illinois’ changing population, both in cities and rural areas. Every year, IBSA helps to plant 10-20 new churches across the state to reach people who may not have a gospel preaching church nearby. New churches are needed to effectively reach and baptize believers in under churched and changing Illinois communities. Yet the effort required to start a new congregation takes a physical, emotional, and spiritual toll on church planting pastors and their families.
Pray for God to provide new planters and locations to start more churches across Illinois, and for God’s provision for existing church plants. Pray for IBSA Church Planting’s Kevin Jones and John Yi as they recruit, train, and support new churches and planters.
Over 400,000 students study on Illinois college and university campuses. This critical season opens young adults to new challenges, but also new possibilities. Church-based collegiate ministries, like New City Church in Champaign, effectively reach and grow university students by welcoming them into a multi-generational congregation with open arms, and equipping them with a growing faith that can reach their friends and fellow students on campus.
Pray that God would provide resources for continued expansion of campus ministries, connecting students to the true answers to their deepest questions and finding their purpose in following Jesus.
Watch the story of how God is working through Nick Volkening to reach and grow university students like Logan Barrus in ChampaignUrbana.
Day 6: Friday, Sept. 19
Renewed evangelism
More than 8 million Illinoisans do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. Without Christ they face an eternity separated from God. But many of these live within reach. They are the friends, family, and neighbors of thousands of Illinois Baptists, and can be reached by church members sharing their faith. Statistics show that over 60% of Americans are open to conversations about faith, but less than half of church members have shared their faith with anyone in the past year.
Pray that church members would respond to God’s call to reach their lost neighbors, friends, and family with the hope of Jesus, and pray for IBSA’s Scott Harris and Shannon Ford as they help catalyze churches to reach their communities.
Day 7: Saturday, Sept. 20
Growing leaders
Vibrant churches of the future need new leaders to rise up and use their gifts to serve. The need is most effectively met when local churches develop leaders. IBSA’s Growth Team works to help local churches strengthen and support existing leaders and train new men and women in ministry skills and spiritual leadership, guiding churches into the future.
Pray for IBSA’s Growth Team leaders Mark Maestas, Carmen Halsey-Menghini, and Michael Awbrey, and for God to raise up new leaders in churches, who will use their gifts to grow faithful followers of Jesus, with integrity and skill.
Watch the story of Jacksonville’s Jennifer Smith, a world traveler who is investing in her Illinois mission field through Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief and Illinois Baptist Women.
Day 8: Sunday, Sept. 21
Compassion ministries
Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief ministries, food distributions, and IBSA service projects show the love of Christ in tangible ways, opening doors for the gospel to people in need. IBSA provides strategic support, helping distribute funds, train local church volunteers, and deploy teams to deliver physical help and spiritual hope to people in crisis. Whether local families are experiencing a weather-related crisis or a season of food instability, Illinois Baptists are helping meet that need.
Pray for energy and opportunities to share about Jesus for IBDR volunteers led by Arnold Ramage who serve our Illinois neighbors experiencing times of natural disaster.
JOSH BLEDSOE
BRYAN PRICE
MARK MAESTAS
MICHAEL AWBREY
SHANNON FORD
ARNOLD RAMAGE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS