Illinois Baptist
Our Texas snapshots Convention ‘twarnt no vacation. Gallery P. 12
in focus
Dallas Roundup 3 issues corralled but unchanged: pastors, transparency, & ERLC. Special section pages 5-12
AT THE CENTER: CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION FOR BAPTIST PILLARS. P. 8-9
IllinoisBaptist.org
News journal of the Illinois Baptist State Association
JULY 1, 2025
Nonprofit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Peoria, Illinois Permit No. 964
Vol. 119 No. 7
IB Southern Baptist Convention
Illinoisan leads the charge
Messengers address culture, morality, family Dallas | Jacksonville, Illinois native Andrew Walker led the committee that pushed back on same-sex marriage and gender issues, chemical abortion, and sports betting at the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas June 10-11. And messengers passed all eight resolutions presented by Walker and the Committee on Resolutions with only one minor amendment. “There is very little desire, even on the conservative side, I think, to WALKER go to bat for marriage in this…culture,” Walker said at a news conference following the vote, so this resolution serves notice that “Southern Baptists are not going anywhere on this issue.” Walker said he was “clear-eyed about the difficulties and the headwinds in this resolution.”
Walker serves as the associate dean in the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and he works with the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Another Illinoisan, Obbie Tyler Todd of Marion’s Third Baptist Church, was also on the ten-member committee. The resolution that proved to be the centerpiece addressed multiple issues related to family and morality. It encouraged defunding Planned Parenthood, also a goal of the ERLC, and directing public funds toward “lifeaffirming healthcare providers.” And it condemned “commercial surrogacy,” often a part of invitro fertilization. With Southern Seminary President Al Mohler, Walker co-authored a resolution opposing IVF that the convention approved in 2024 after considerable pleas from messengers who have used IVF to have children. The resolution on “Restoring Moral P. 3
His own bobblehead P. 11
WMU Foundation
honors Evelyn Tully P. 10