Illinois Baptist News journal of the Illinois Baptist State Association
JULY 04, 2016
Stay current Get news and commentary online. See page 3 for addresses.
The
Nathan Carter’s eye-opening trip to the SBC P. 13
Mow ye
mission
Ending the cycle
Vol. 110 No. 10
in focus
My first convention
into all the world P. 13
How one Illinois church is stopping the return to prison P. 11
POLITICS 2016
Freedom Issue
Fractured alliances Evangelicals and the choices they’d rather not make P. 7
FIRST AMENDMENT
The mosque debate ‘House of Worship’ lawsuits make unexpected allies
P. 5
ESSAY
5 uneasy pieces Carey Nieuwhof offers responses to cultural turmoil P. 9
Presidential politics • Religious liberty • Culture shift Nonprofit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Peoria, Illinois Permit No. 325
at the 2016 sbc
Pastor urges ‘yes’ to refugees
Messengers approve strengthened resolution to offer personal aid St. Louis | Phil Nelson, pastor of Lakeland Baptist Church in Carbondale, came to the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis and brought with him three young men from his church, Dalton Sharrow, Sean Morecraft, and Brandon McNeely. Of all the actions the messengers considered, it was Resolution 12 on assisting refugees that caught their attention. “We saw the resolutions and we saw what’s going on with the Confederate flag and some
NELSON
others, and we thought that’s awesome the walls have come down,” Nelson said, “but we need to communicate to the world outside the ports of America that when our government and society is saying, ‘No, don’t come,’ we represent a different Kingdom.” Together, the four wrote and proposed an amendment to further strengthen the resolution. Their amendment encouraged “Southern Baptist churches and families to welcome and adopt refugees into their churches and homes as a means to demonstrate to the nations that our P. 4