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Archives For November 30, 1999

Leadership in focus at women’s Priority Conference

Meredith Flynn —  May 25, 2015

Editor’s note: The following post is a report from the Priority Women’s Resource Conference held in Decatur, Ill., in April. For a full list of ways to get involved in Illinois Baptist Women’s Ministry, go to www.IBSA.org/womensmissions.

HEARTLAND | Lisa Sergent

“You’ve got to minister outside the four walls of your church,” Carmen Halsey told women gathered in Decatur for IBSA’s Priority Women’s Resource Conference.

“When we meet a need, we earn the right to share the gospel. We’ve got to be women who are willing to speak and share our stories…Leadership development involves every one of us.”

Leadership was the focus of the April 24-25 meeting, formerly known as the Women’s Missions Celebration. More than 430 women representing 108 churches came to Decatur for plenary sessions and breakouts designed to give them tools to put to use in their own churches and communities.

“We’re part of a local body that God has put together,” said Halsey, IBSA’s director of Women’s Ministry and Missions. “Why would we want to be trained and equipped if we’re not going to do ministry?”

During the two-day conference, Illinois leaders and national speakers made clear the main message of the meeting: Leadership requires action.

More than a mist

Sowell_blogKimberly Sowell (right), founder of Kingdom Heart Ministries, told the women that leadership means meeting needs. Addressing them during a large-group session in Decatur, Sowell shared the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. In the parable, the priest and the Levite chose to continue down the road to do the things deemed important by them, she recounted. Only the Samaritan man chose to help the beaten man and see to his wellbeing.

Like the priest and the Levite, Sowell said, we get caught up in our religious duties and can get our priorities out of order. “Whatever we choose to do is most important to us.”

When prioritizing our lives, Sowell noted, “There are certain things we should all be involved in; coming into the house of God, worshipping God and studying God’s Word so we can get filled up with the power of the Holy Spirit so it will power us up to go out into this world and be living water.”

However, she cautioned, “Let it not be said of us that in our exuberance we drown out the sounds of the cries for help.”

Following God’s leadership—even as he transforms us—was also a key discussion point at the conference.

“We are not called to stay the same,” said speaker and author Rachel Lovingood. “We are to be informed, we are to be transformed…We are called to be intentional and practical with our lives.”

Reading from James 4:13-17, Lovingood sprayed her travel-size can of hairspray into the air to demonstrate the temporary nature of a fine mist and said, “If I’m obsessed with controlling my own life, it’s just a mist and will have no impact…If I’m willing to give up my own life and invest where God chooses, then the impact can be immeasurable.”

This is only done through a reliance on Christ, she said. “We are doing the best we can sometimes, but we’re doing it by our own strength. We need to rely on Him.”

Speaker Rachel Lovingood asked women at the meeting to stand arm-in-arm to demonstrate unity. "There is no telling what can happen in the state of Illinois if we start getting together,” she said. Photo by Lisa Sergent

Speaker Rachel Lovingood asked women at the meeting to stand arm-in-arm to demonstrate unity. “There is no telling what can happen in the state of Illinois if we start getting together,” she said. Photo by Lisa Sergent

Focus on missions
To kick off the Decatur meeting, Halsey and others spoke on needs in Illinois and abroad, and how organizations like Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) can help engage women in missions. Clella Lee brought greetings from National WMU, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., and Jill McNicol was re-elected president of Illinois’ state chapter. McNicol is a member of First Baptist Church in Patoka.

Women also elected members of WMU’s lead team, who will serve in a variety of roles throughout the year to organize missions opportunities for children, teens and adults in Illinois.

Early Saturday morning, some meeting attenders participated in a 5K Run/Walk for Missions. Around 30 walkers and runners assembled in Decatur for the inaugural event.

Going home changed
In the meeting’s final session, pastor’s wife and International Mission Board global missions catalyst Lori McDaniel emphasized the importance of faith in women’s lives. “You’ll be ready for tomorrow if you’re OK with God interrupting your normal,” McDaniel said. “God’s interruptions are never convenient.”

She said women have got to stop asking themselves “what if” questions and follow God. “We have so much faith that we’re not going to go backwards. But, we have so much fear that we’re not going to go forward.”

Recounting the Bible story of Gideon, McDaniel said, “God raised Gideon up to be a judge, but not before Gideon back-talked God and showed a lack of faith.” Just as he eventually accepted his assignment, “If we’re going to be ready for tomorrow, then we’ve got to accept the assignment that we’ve been sent,” McDaniel said. “In your ordinary life you have room for an extraordinary God. Where in your life is He at work in a way that can only be explained by Him?”

“Are you going home changed?” Halsey asked the women at the end of the conference.

“Tomorrow begins today,” she said. “We have a personal choice to make whether we are going to live our lives with intention or let someone else decide it for us.”

Read the current issue of the Illinois Baptist online at http://ibonline.IBSA.org.

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Tuesday Briefing: Leaders debate what Pew research means for Christianity

Meredith Flynn —  May 19, 2015

The_BriefingTHE BRIEFING | A new study from Pew Research stopped short of breaking the internet after it was released last week, but it did spark debate between leaders about what the report actually says about Christianity in America. The gist: Pew reported the percentage of American adults who describe themselves as Christians has dropped almost eight percentage points in the last seven years–from 78.4% to 70.6%. And the number of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated has risen from 16.1% to 22.8%.

Religion News Service writer Jonathan Merritt said the research shows political and theological ideology isn’t as important a factor in predicting decline: “Yes, mainline denominations remain in sharp decline, and yes, evangelicals have fared slightly better overall,” Merritt wrote. “Yet many evangelical bodies have begun shrinking as a share of the population as well. Roman Catholics—also theologically and politically conservative—are also declining significantly. This, despite these groups’ evangelistic zeal, orthodox theology, and conservative political stances.”

Joe Carter of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) countered Merritt’s piece with one of his own, pointing out that the Pew research also shows the share of evangelicals in America has stayed relatively steady: from 26.3% in 2007 to 25.4% in the new study.

“Merritt is correct that a key concern is the ‘growing number of people who are apathetic or antagonistic to the claims of Christianity,'” Carter wrote. “But that should not lead us to conclude that is evangelicalism that must change.” (Merritt responded here.)

Other observers explained why evangelicals shouldn’t necessarily view the report as a crisis:

Jeb Bush on religious liberty
“A big country, a tolerant country, ought to be able to figure out the difference between discriminating [against] someone because of their sexual orientation and not forcing someone to participate in a wedding that they find goes against their moral beliefs,” possible presidential candidate Jeb Bush told CBN’s David Brody. Read the full story at ChristianPost.com.

2016: Who gets your vote?
Both evangelicals and the overall American population say they place little importance on a presidential candidate’s age, physical appearance, endorsements, or education. But unsurprisingly, the two groups differ on a candidate’s religious faith, according to Barna’s 2016 election preview: 45% of evangelicals count faith among the most important factors in choosing a candidate to support, compared to 9% of all Americans.

International Mission Board adopts new missionary qualifications
Trustees for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board have approved a new, unified set of qualifications for missionaries applying for its various pathways of service. The new policy replaces old qualifications on the topics of divorce, baptism, families with teenage children, and speaking in tongues.
IMB President David Platt said, “[T]his policy does not mean we are lowering the standards for missionaries. Indeed, quite the opposite is true….The ultimate aim of this policy revision is to enable limitless God-exalting, Christ-following, Spirit-led, biblically-faithful, people-loving, high-quality Southern Baptist missionaries to serve with IMB through a multiplicity of pathways in the days ahead.”

Oscar idolatry?
Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman told The Hollywood Reporter recently she doesn’t keep her Oscar in plain view because “it’s a false idol.” Writing at Relevant.com, Josh Hayes (an editor for LifeWay’s The Gospel Project) explores her argument, and what the Bible says about idolatry.

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Haiti, at last

Meredith Flynn —  April 24, 2015

Texas youngster visits the school she —and Illinois mission teams—helped build

After four years of prayer and giving, it was all hugs and smiles as Mackenzie (right) visited a community school in Bigarade that her missions giving helped build.

After four years of prayer and giving, it was all hugs and smiles as Mackenzie (right) visited a community school in Bigarade that her missions giving helped build. Photo by Bob Elmore

Bigarade, Haiti | Several years ago, this community in Port-au-Prince was just a flood plain. Now, more than a hundred
homes dot the landscape, and children run down the dirt roads to their very own school.

Recently, there was a new face at the school, though one who’s very familiar with its story. At nine years old, Mackenzie Howell has been working to renew hope in Haiti since 2011, when she saw a documentary about the devastating earthquake that rocked the country the previous year.

Four years after she started raising money to help kids and families there, Mackenzie visited Bigarade and the school she helped build. “Seeing the kids” was what she looked forward to most before the trip, and was also her favorite part of being in Haiti, she told the Illinois Baptist.

“She really does care about this,” said Mackenzie’s mom, Alison, who also went along on the trip led by IBSA’s Bob Elmore. The Howells, who are from Nederland, Texas, met Elmore through International Mission Board missionaries working in Haiti
after the earthquake. Mackenzie sent her first donation—$1,400 raised through a coin drive at her preschool and a bake sale at church—to the missionaries to help with construction projects. They connected her with Elmore, who facilitates IBSA’s short-term mission teams in Haiti.

First she had a bake sale. Then, in 2013, the Texas girl wrote a book to help children in Haiti. File photo

In 2013, Mackenzie wrote a book to help children in Haiti. File photo

Since her first project, Mackenzie has raised more money with several other initiatives, including sales of “Leila’s Big Difference,” the book she wrote and published in 2013. Elmore, several teams of volunteers, and Haitian workers have turned Mackenzie’s gifts, along with other donations and resources, into a school for more than 100 children in Bigarade.

Instant community
The school property was vacant in November of 2011, when Elmore first saw it. “It was a goat field then…we just kind of wrote it off,” he said.

When he returned the next spring, a local Christian man named Thomas had gotten permission to put up a tarp and bamboo school on the site. People on Elmore’s mission team were asking, “What can we do?”

That fall, after receiving an anonymous donation to purchase the land, Elmore took a team to Bigarade to start construction on the school. At least eight Illinois churches and associations helped with the project. The facility now doubles as Gosen Church.

Bigarade is an “instant community,” Elmore said, a product of the earthquake that drove people from where they were and forced them into new living situations. Before the school was built, kids were either walking to another community or not going to school at all.

Mackenzie's mission team prepared lunch for kids at the school in Bigarade.

Mackenzie’s mission team prepared lunch for kids at the school in Bigarade.

Working in the school was one of the main objectives for Mackenzie and her team. They came prepared to do a two-hour
lesson each day with crafts, and to provide lunch for the kids on three days.

“Our ultimate goal is to start a feeding program where the kids can have lunch every day,” Alison said a few days before her
team left for Haiti. It just seems like something God would want them to do, she said, to feed his children. The team took with them enough money to start construction on a kitchen for the school, and also a classroom for the youngest students.

Thomas, who put the early school on the property, is now headmaster, and students arrive every morning in blue and white uniforms. Once a goat pasture, the school now employs seven teachers, and has 114 students. The feeding program will employ two or three cooks and purchase food from local sources, Elmore said.

On a recent mission trip to Haiti, Mackenzie Howell, 9, worshiped in the church she helped build after a massive earthquake.

On a recent mission trip to Haiti, Mackenzie Howell, 9, worshiped in the church she helped build after a massive earthquake. Photo by Mary Russell

Complete God
“Why don’t we dance at church, Mom?” That was Mackenzie’s question after her first Haitian church service, where lively singing and dancing was a big part of the worship experience. (Alison’s response: “I don’t know; why don’t you talk to the pastor about that one?”)

“…It was such a blessing to watch her,” Alison said of her daughter during the trip. “She really grew throughout the week.” And Mackenzie’s not finished with Haiti, not by a long shot. She wants to go back—soon. And she’s planning a second book.

“It’s going to be about Leila [meeting] a white girl that came from the U.S. to visit her school and help out with the school and do crafts and stuff, kind of like how I did.”

Recently, she shared about Haiti with kids in her church’s Awana program. Mackenzie’s grandmother, who also was part of the March trip, came out of the room crying, Alison remembered.

“Whatever you do, don’t practice with her,” was the grandmother’s advice for Mackenzie’s future speaking engagements. “…She had them laughing and crying,” Alison said. “It’s because it really does come from her heart.”

In Haiti, Mackenzie taught her new friends a dance she had choreographed in honor of their country to a song with special meaning there, “I Am Not Forgotten.” Watching, Alison said, “It was just such a beautiful picture of how complete God is.”

“So many times, we give to missions or do this and that…but we don’t always get to see the fruits. I just continuously thank God that’s he’s allowed us to see so much of the fruit of his work.”

Reported by Meredith Flynn for the Illinois Baptist newspaper, online at http://ibonline.IBSA.org

Click through the slideshow below for more photos from Mackenzie’s trip to Haiti. Photos are by Bob Elmore and Mary Russell, Mackenzie’s grandmother.

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Tuesday Briefing: Survey finds friendships influence views on same-sex marriage

Meredith Flynn —  April 21, 2015

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

People with gay or lesbian friends are almost twice as likely to say same-sex marriage should be legal, according to a survey by LifeWay Research. Half of all Americans overall believe gay marriage should be legalized, but the percentage jumps to 60% for people who have gay or lesbian friends (and decreases to 33% for those who don’t).

From LifeWayResearch.com

From LifeWayResearch.com

An additional LifeWay survey found 30% of Americans believe homosexual behavior is a sin, down from 44% in 2011.

On April 28, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in several same-sex marriage cases.

Thirty Ethiopian Christians were killed in two attacks by ISIS in Libya, according to a video released by the terrorist group April 19. “That these terrorists killed these men solely because of their faith lays bare the terrorists’ vicious, senseless brutality,” said U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan.

Back in February, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore asked in a blog post, “Should we pray for the defeat of ISIS, of their conversion?”

Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd has designated the Tuesday evening session of this summer’s SBC Annual Meeting as a “National Call for Prayer.” Floyd has recruited 11 pastors to help lead the prayer meeting, including Paul Kim, pastor emeritus of Antioch Baptist in Cambridge, Mass., K. Marshall Williams, president of the National African American Fellowship, and Timmy Chavis, chairman of the SBC Multi-Ethnic Advisory Council.

“One of the unique moments of the evening will be when we embrace and celebrate our ethnic diversity, which may also involve moments of repentance and reconciliation,” Floyd said in a blog post about the service.

Baptist pastors and leaders will share the stage with a potential presidential candidate at the 2015 SBC Pastors’ Conference in Columbus, Ohio, June 14-15. Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and author, will speak during the Sunday evening session. Earlier this month, he said on his Facebook page that on May 4, he will announce whether or not he will run for President.

Which missions job is right for you? Take this interactive quiz from the International Mission Board.

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Three reasons to look forward to the Southern Baptist Convention

Meredith Flynn —  April 16, 2015

Editor’s note: The following Trevin Wax column from BPNews.net first appeared on his Kingdom People blog, hosted at thegospelcoalition.org.

COMMENTARY | Trevin Wax

Summer is for vacations and, for many pastors, denominational gatherings. The Southern Baptist Convention is no exception. This year, we’re meeting in Columbus, Ohio, the 15th largest city in the U.S., one that is well outside of the Southeast where most of our churches are based.

Trevin_WaxIn the past decade, though the attendance at the annual meeting has risen and fallen in conjunction with the location and the major topic of conversation (or controversy), the overall trend has been a dwindling of messengers. This isn’t surprising, considering the loosening of denominational loyalty and the variety of good conferences a pastor can attend.

But Columbus might buck the decline. Here are three reasons I’m particularly excited about this year’s annual meeting.

1. The annual meeting is trending younger.

In Baltimore last year, we saw a 10-year high of younger messengers involved in the convention proceedings. Baptist Press has reported that “nearly one-fourth (24.68 percent) of attendees were younger than age 40. That surpassed by more than 4 percentage points the previous best for the age group, recorded in 2013.”

My first visit to a Southern Baptist Convention was in San Antonio in 2007 as a 25-year-old associate pastor. I remember my initial shock at the small number of young people present. Recent years have seen an upswing in younger Southern Baptist engagement, a reality that is especially surprising when considered alongside the millennial generation’s diminishing enthusiasm for institutions in general. What this tells me is that the annual meeting is beginning to show signs of becoming a vibrant network, not just a report on denominational infrastructure.

2. The schedule of the annual meeting has been reworked in order to highlight the things we are most passionate about.

Few people get excited about a business meeting. Most messengers admit they come to network and see friends, not sit through every session of the SBC. But this year will be different, thanks to a reworking of the schedule under the leadership of the SBC’s president, Ronnie Floyd. For example, all the missions entities will present on Wednesday morning, and it won’t just be a time of reports, but also commissioning of missionaries.

The Send North America conference, slated by the North American Mission Board for this summer in Nashville, already has drawn more than 7,000 registrants, a staggering figure when you consider the fact that only one Convention since 2010 has come close to that number.

What does this tell us? Southern Baptists are hungry for a meeting that casts vision and rallies our people around a great cause. They’re not necessarily there, first and foremost, to vote on resolutions.

But resolutions matter. And so does our business. As Southern Baptists, we should care about the annual meeting, and we should care about this meeting because we care about the Kingdom of God. Business meetings come and go, with their moments of boredom and hilarity, awkwardness and quiet power, and yet in these moments, decisions are made, courses are set that define our cooperative work the rest of the year. It’s not glamorous, but the work of the Kingdom rarely is. This year, however, features a streamlined schedule that emphasizes what we’re there for.

3. We will pray for God to awaken His church to the opportunities before us.

The Tuesday evening meeting will be time of prayer and worship, a pleading with God to revive His people and empower our witness. It is easy to bemoan the moral decay of our culture, the encroaching limits to religious liberties and the difficulty of evangelism in a relativistic society.

But we shouldn’t miss the opportunity here. By cherishing once-common things, such as marriage between a man and woman for life, and core Christian doctrines, such as the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, we have the opportunity for our ordinary obedience to shine even brighter in a pluralistic world that bows to Aphrodite. The annual meeting gives us the opportunity to lay aside our differences, unite around our common confession and lock arms for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom.

Trevin Wax is managing editor of The Gospel Project, a Gospel-centered small group curriculum for all ages published by LifeWay Christian Resources.

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Tuesday Briefing: First PC(USA) church leaves following marriage decision

Meredith Flynn —  March 31, 2015

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

Brighton Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., is the first church to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) after a majority of the denomination’s districts voted to change its definition of marriage. The amendment to the group’s constitution, which will become official this summer, alters the marriage definition from “a man and a woman” to “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”

The_Briefing“Our reason for leaving is centered on the status of biblical interpretation within the PC(USA),” Brighton spokeswoman Kerry Luddy told The Christian Post. “We believe that Scripture’s meaning and intent should not be altered to fit a current culture.”

“Heaven visitation resources” like Don Piper’s book “90 Minutes in Heaven” are no longer available from LifeWay Christian Resources. Spokesman Marty King told Baptist Press LifeWay stopped ordering “experiential testimonies about heaven” last summer, and has pulled the remaining products from stores and its website.

LifeWay’s decision followed the adoption of a resolution on “the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife” by messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting last summer.

Legislators introduced this month a bill that would allow adoption and foster care agencies to operate within their religious convictions concerning placing children with same-sex couples. “This commonsense bill simply ensures that these child welfare providers can keep doing what they do best and are treated the same as the rest,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), according to a WORLD News Service report.

Illinois is one of four states where agencies have discontinued adoption and foster care services because they would have been required to place children with same-sex couples.

More than 83,000 Bibles were shipped to Cuba this month through a partnership between Southern Baptist agencies, churches and individual donors. The Eastern Cuba Baptist Convention, which will receive 32,000 Bibles, reported more than 29,000 professions of faith last year, said Kurt Urbanek, International Mission Board strategy leader for Cuba. “The growth is so incredible, that’s why Bibles are so important.”

“If it wasn’t for the Baptists, I don’t know what I would do,” said one homeowner whose basement was repaired after severe flood damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy. More than two years after the storm devastated parts of New York and New Jersey, volunteers working through Southern Baptist Disaster Relief are still rebuilding and repairing homes in the region.

 

 

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Illinois women’s meeting to make leadership a ‘priority’

Meredith Flynn —  March 30, 2015

PriorityHEARTLAND | Living a life with intention is the theme of this year’s IBSA Women’s Resource Conference April 24-25 at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Decatur.

The two-day Priority Women’s Resource Conference is designed to equip leaders serving in the local church. The conference will include worship and large group sessions led by nationally known speakers, 40 breakout offerings on a variety of topics, a luncheon for ministers’ wives, exhibit area with ministry resources, and a 5K walk/run.

A screening of “War Room,” a new film from the creators of “Fireproof” and “Courageous,” will follow the Friday evening session.

Priority begins Friday at 1 p.m. with a missions celebration featuring North American and International Mission Board missionaries and Tajuan McCarty, founder of The WellHouse ministry that seeks to rescue victims of human trafficking. Clella Lee, a leadership consultant for National Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), will also speak during the opening session.

Lee directs WMU’s Christian Women’s Leadership Center, which engages women in discovering and implementing leadership gifts in their churches and workplaces. Women desiring to express those gifts are sometimes hampered by demands on their time, or by other factors.

“I think women are hesitant sometimes; they don’t want to come across as too aggressive,” Lee said. “And so I think sometimes they aren’t always as apt to take a hold of those leadership skills they have…they have a sense of call or a sense of need, and recognize some of those gifts, but sometimes they’re hesitant.”

Lee will speak about the Christian Women’s Leadership Center, and also will lead three breakout sessions during the conference on the dynamics of a ministry family, the private spiritual life of a leader, and creative approached to missions in a church plant.

Rachel Lovingood will continue the leadership theme in the Friday evening session. The author, pastor’s wife, and speaker at LifeWay events will delve into how women can develop into the leaders God has created them to be. She also will unpack specific topics in several breakout sessions.

The Friday evening session also will feature author and missions advocate Kimberly Sowell, and worship led by Pastor Chad Ozee of Journey Church in Bourbonnais.

Saturday begins early with a 5K fun run or walk, and concludes with an afternoon session featuring Lori McDaniel, an International Mission Board global mission catalyst and church planter wife from Arkansas. Ministers’ wives also are invited to a luncheon with Kathy Litton, the North American Mission Board’s consultant for ministers’ wives ministry.

Cost is $25 for attenders who are part of an IBSA church, and $30 for all others. Conference information and registration is online now at www.IBSA.org/womensmissions. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel (across the street from Tabernacle Baptist Church). Contact the hotel at (217) 422-8800.

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IBSA Board approves 2016 goals, hears report on ministry challenges

Meredith Flynn —  March 10, 2015

NEWS | Eric Reed

Admittedly, the numbers are not great. But the tally of the 2014 Annual Church Profiles filed by IBSA churches shows the need in Illinois is growing, and the recent call to prayer for spiritual awakening is on target.

“The job is getting harder, the climb is getting steeper, the leaders are getting fewer—but the challenge is no less important,” said IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams prior to the report presented to the IBSA Board in its March meeting. In fact, the challenge grows, as does Illinois Baptists’ responsibility in our large and significant mission field.

The 2014 ACPs, completed by 95% of IBSA churches, showed declines in several areas including worship attendance (-10.5%), baptisms (-11%) and Sunday school/Bible study participation (-1.5%).

Adams expressed concern about the declines, especially in baptisms, which had increased in recent years. “The actual decline is about 3.4%” when comparing churches that reported in both 2014 and 2013. Several churches that reported baptisms in 2013 were “non-cooperating” in 2014, therefore their tallies were not included in the ACP tally.

Despite wintry weather, the IBSA Board met March 3 in Springfield, where Sandy Barnard (below) was honored for 30 years at IBSA.

Despite wintry weather, the IBSA Board met March 3
in Springfield, where Sandy Barnard (below) was honored for 30 years at IBSA.

Sandy_Barnard_0316

While total missions giving through the Cooperative Program was down slightly year-to-year, from $6.34 million to $6.1 million, the average percentage of undesignated offerings given by Illinois churches held steady from 2013 to 2014 at 6.8%. The national average was 5.5% in 2013, up from 5.4% the year before and marking the first upward tick in over 30 years.

The Board approved a plan to draft the 2016 IBSA budget based on projected CP giving of $6.4 million, and to hold the Illinois/national SBC split on Cooperative Program offerings at 56.75/43.25%. Gifts above the hoped-for goal will be shared evenly by IBSA and the national SBC at 50/50.

Four goals for 2016 were recommended by the board’s strategic planning committee and approved. They will guide planning for IBSA’s work next
year, with a focus on the development of leaders who grow healthy, evangelistic, reproducing congregations. Some goals may seem beyond our capability, said committee chairman Larry Wells, “but God can do it all through his people who pray and who work diligently for the kingdom.”

Adams explained the new focus on leadership development in his report to the Board, citing attendance of more than 300 Illinois church leaders at the January 20-22 Midwest Leadership Summit in Springfield as evidence of interest in, and hunger for, training and coaching. “I think we have such a long way to go in true, deep leadership development,” Adams said. “We’ve come a long way, but we have much more to do.”

Adams pointed to deployment of eight part-time zone consultants across the state and the work of the new Church Resources Team creating new conferencing opportunities and learning cohorts as ways IBSA is focusing on growing effective church leaders.

Board members braved a winter storm to attend the March 3 meeting, with some traveling icy roads in Central Illinois to handle state association business. That raised the question whether such meetings can be joined by telephone or over the internet. With 27 members present, a quorum was easily reached, so the meeting proceeded. A similar question about long-distance electronic participation in board and committee meetings was raised at the IBSA Annual Meeting in November. Board chairman Chip Faulkner reported the issue is presently under consideration.

The Board welcomed seven new members: Steve Hardin of Roland Manor Church in Washington, Curt Lipe of Faith Church in Galesburg, Scott Nichols of Crossroads Church in Carol Stream, Jay Simala of New Song Church in Zion, Sammy Simmons of Immanuel Church in Benton, and Daniel Wilson of Grace Church in Granite City.

For 30 years of service to Illinois Baptists, Executive Administrative Assistant Sandy Barnard was honored with a standing ovation, a gift, flowers, and cake. (Later, she was seen cleaning up after the party.)

Cathy Waters was recognized for 10 years’ service. She was recently promoted to the position of Ministry Coordinator for the Church Resources Team, organizing large events and conferences.

Eric Reed is editor of the Illinois Baptist newspaper and IBSA’s associate executive director for the Church Communications Team.

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Pray today for missions in North America

Meredith Flynn —  March 5, 2015

Editor’s note: March 1-8 is the Week of Prayer for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, which supports Southern Baptist missionaries all over North America. View more videos like the one below at anniearmstrong.com.

MISSIONS | As a traveling musical evangelist, Mark Lashey longed for a church in his Delaware city like the ones he visited around the country. Turns out the church Middletown, Delaware, needed was one he would start.

“I never had considered myself, or desired to be, a pastor or to plant a church,” Lashey says in a video for the 2015 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. “But we unknowingly were really kind of tilling the soil for a church plant for 10 years, as we built relationships with people, our neighbors, our friends.

“And still feeling incapable and unqualified and all those different things, felt like we had to do something. So we started a Bible study in our home.” The Bible study grew into LifeHouse Church, which launched in 2012 and has seen 150-200 people baptized.

https://vimeo.com/113545138

-Story and video from the North American Mission Board

 

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Tuesday Briefing: Florist ‘cannot sell’ freedom for financial settlement

Meredith Flynn —  February 24, 2015

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

The Washington florist found to be in violation of her state’s non-discrimination law rejected a settlement that could have mitigated some of the damage to her financial well-being, The Christian Post reports.

The_BriefingWhen Baronelle Stutzman refused to provide florist services for a same-sex wedding, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed suit against her. Following the Feb. 18 verdict, Ferguson offered to let Stutzman pay $2,001 in penalties and fees, as long as she committed “not to discriminate in the future.” Stutzman said no.

“Washington’s constitution guarantees us ‘freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.’ I cannot sell that precious freedom,” she wrote in a letter. “You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.”

Controversial author and former pastor Rob Bell told Oprah Winfrey that church culture is turning toward acceptance of same-sex marriage. “Lots of people are already there,” he said on the Feb. 15 episode of Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday.”

“We think it’s inevitable and we’re moments away from the church accepting it.”

Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting this June will vote on a key change to the ministry statement of the North American Mission Board. If approved, according to Baptist Press, NAMB personnel could provide assistance to the International Mission Board in planting churches overseas.

“War Room” is the newest movie from the Georgia brothers who created “Facing the Giants,” “Fireproof,” and “Courageous.”

“This film is about the power of prayer, and the necessity of prayer in our lives,” Alex Kendrick says in a video on warroomthemovie.com. He and his brother, Stephen, produced their earlier films with Sherwood Pictures, based in their Baptist church. “War Room” will be distributed by Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures, Baptist Press reported. Bible teachers Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore both appear in the film.

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