Illinois Baptist
We need more than a vacation Table Talk with Drake Caudill P. 15
Decisions
Team reporting from the Southern Baptist Convention 2022 Annual Meeting Starting on page 5
REFORM: 288-page report on abuse presented; predators are ‘put on notice’ ELECTIONS: ‘Folksy’ pastor tapped as SBC president; new guard at Executive Committee
in focus Messengers take action on sexual abuse reform. Now comes the difficult part—implementation.
ISSUE: Floor debate over women in pastoral roles; ERLC survives defunding motion MISSIONS: Candidate pipeline improves; Sandy Wisdom Martin encourages convention with Illinois story
INSIDE: 9 pages of in-depth coverage from Anaheim
IllinoisBaptist.org
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News journal of the Illinois Baptist State Association
Post-Roe vs. post-abortion
IB
Baptists have a larger goal in mind BY LISA MISNER
JULY 1, 2022 Vol. 116 No. 7
THRIVE
Carpenters build opportunity Teamwork makes the dream work P. 14
IBSA
Camping season Opening day forecasts busy summer P. 4
BRIGHTER DAY
Meredith Flynn Embracing a wider circle P. 16
As they gathered for the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, messengers anticipated release of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion that might overturn the 1973 decision legalizing abortion in all 50 states. They prayed about it. They hoped it might even come during the convention. But what was made clear in the convention is that abortion will not end with the end of Roe v. Wade. And Southern Baptists are
not of one mind on how to prevent the death of up to three-quarters of a million unborn babies each year. “Laws are critical, but it will not change the fact that it’s critical that we inspire a new generation of women so they see abortion as unnecessary,” Brent Leatherwood reported to messengers. The acting president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) reminded them that overturning Roe would simply move the battle to state legislatures. Leatherwood’s comments met objections from the floor. Many who found the ERLC’s language about “necessity” objectionable are part of a movement that calls for the Convention to support the total and immediate cessation of abortion, and P. 3