Busy season ahead • Training Opportunities calendar on page 10
Volume 107, No. 07
IB Insider
Worship with your whole life page 3
Downstate pastors go north page 2 Nate Adams: Grateful for Dad page 4
Redeeming announcements time page 10 Haircuts and clean feet page 7
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APRIL 15, 2013
‘We’ve got to think bigger’
Ezell urges men to have a passion to reach the lost By Lisa Sergent
Herrin | Three southern Illinois associations hosted a Men’s Missions Rally at First Baptist, Herrin, on March 26, featuring North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell. Franklin, Saline, and Williamson Associations partnered with IBSA on the event, designed to help men find ways to engage in missions and church planting. The rally was somewhat of a homecoming for Ezell, who pastored in Marion early in his ministry. In an interview with the Illinois Baptist before his message, Ezell urged Baptists to “have a vision for something bigger than their county or even state, of what they can do literally around the world.” His message focused on doing “whatever it takes” to get the job done.
Through the roof
In Illinois, Ezell said, “There is one [evangelical] church for every 12,000 people. There’s an incredible need especially in St. Louis and Chicago. Eighty percent of people in North America live in a city. That’s why we’re having Send cities to focus on where the people are.” Chicago and St. Louis are two of 30 Send North America cities NAMB is emphasizing through an intense focus on church planting and missions. “We’ve got to think bigger,” Ezell told the Illinois Baptist. During the
rally, he cautioned church members about being afraid of change. “As Southern Baptists we act as if we must keep doing things the way we did 50 years ago. Look, it’s the same message, but I guarantee you what the apostle Paul would be doing now – whatever it takes to get it done.“ That mindset is illustrated in Mark 2:1-12, he said, when a group of men removed part of a roof to lower their paralyzed friend down into the room where Jesus was speaking, so that he could be healed. The man’s friends had a “passion to bring him to Jesus,” Ezell said. “We must have that passion to do whatever it takes to bring our friends to Jesus. It’s going to take more than putting on some marquee sign, ‘Come in you lucky sinners and get saved.’ We’ve got to go and compel Continued on page 7
Winters’ book reflects on God’s goodness in grief By Meredith Flynn
Maryville | Cindy Winters didn’t set out to write a book. But as she journaled about her grief and pain after her husband’s death four years ago, she realized how healing the writing process could be. And she wanted to share that with others on a similar journey. Pastor Fred Winters was killed at First Baptist Church, Maryville, Ill., on March 8, 2009, when a gunman entered the Sunday morning worship service and shot
him where he stood in the pulpit. Media outlets immediately descended on Maryville, and the story made national headlines. Just days afterward, Cindy Winters extended forgiveness to the shooter on CBS’ Early Show. “We have been praying for him,” she said. “…We really firmly believe that he can find hope and forgiveness and peace through this, by coming to know Jesus.” Continued on page 8
URGENT PLEA - With millions of people who don’t know Christ living in cities, NAMB President Kevin Ezell (top) urged attenders at the Men’s Missions Rally in Herrin to have a passion to reach people with the Gospel, and a “whatever it takes” mindset. Photos by Lisa Sergent.
Cap City DOM hopes Luter can help build bridges
Springfield | David Howard started envisioning Fred Luter’s visit to Illinois this week long before most others even knew it was a possibility, and even before Luter was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The director of missions for Capital City Baptist Association, who knew Luter when they both pastored in the New Orleans area, first talked to him about the idea early last year. Howard had identified a specific problem area where he thought Luter could help: “Our churches don’t represent our community,” he told the Illinois Baptist. Onefifth of Springfield’s population is African American, but very few are Continued on page 2