Illinois Baptist
Sometimes being there is enough Illinois Voices Jared Pryer P. 13
in focus
Blessings IBSA Annual Meeting produces blessings by the bucketful for missions, messengers address key issues SPECIAL COVERAGE begins on P. 5 News journal of the Illinois Baptist State Association
NOVEMBER 16, 2022 Vol. 116 No. 12
IB Nonprofit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Springfield, Illinois Permit No. 964
IllinoisBaptist.org
ERLC head pledges pro-life support here
Rooftop vigil ends P. 11
Leatherwood addresses annual meeting Edwardsville | The new head of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Brent Leatherwood, recognized the deep difficulties in fighting abortion in Illinois. In a live appearance at the IBSA Annual Meeting Nov. 3, Leatherwood said ERLC wants to partner with Illinois Baptists to encourage abortion alternatives. “Illinois is an abortion destination,” Leatherwood told messengers. “People from my state, Tennessee, and other states are coming here to end lives. We need to meet them at your state borders with a message of life and with the tools to save lives.” The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade returned abortion regulation to the states, but Illinois General Assembly had already staked a claim for Illinois as the most progressive abortion state in the nation. “As you all are too familiar, not every state would be choosing life in this moment. In fact, some have gone the opposite direction,” he told the messengers meeting not far from the states’ largest abortion clinic in Fairview Heights. “While tragic, in a state like Illinois, it means there’s more work to be done—work that requires the moral leadership that only our churches can provide.” P. 3
HIGHLIGHTS
Pastors Conference Two days of joy P. 9
NATE ADAMS
Christmas presence A personal practice P. 2
TABLE TALK
Glory in the lowest? It’s not all sky high P. 14