Issuu

Coming to Springfield for the Annual Meeting? • City guide and schedule, page 3

Volume 107, No. 18

IB Insider

NOVEMBER 04, 2013

Sallateeska upgrades under way Improvements include larger dining hall

8-day missions prayer calendar pages 7-8

By Meredith Flynn

Q&A: IBSA considers leadership center page 6 God’s mysterious ways page 11 Sound Off: Rules to post by page 4 Fresh Ideas for being thankful page 10

Get IBSA news and updates throughout the week:

facebook.com/IllinoisBaptist twitter.com/IllinoisBaptist vimeo.com/IBSA www.IBSA.org

Nonprofit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Peoria, Illinois Permit No. 325

BAPTIST BUILDERS – A group of Illinois Changers lifts what will soon be a wall in Lake Sallateeska's larger dining hall. The students and their leaders partnered Oct. 18-20 with camp manager Philip Hall and his staff to make progress on the expansion. Photo by Mark Emerson

Debaters rally in Lincoln’s shadow By Lisa Sergent

Springfield | Voices for and against same-sex marriage in Illinois gathered for separate rallies at the Capitol in late October, as legislators returned for their veto session. The rallies shared some similarities. At the “March on Springfield for Marriage Equality,” advocates for same-sex marriage gathered Oct. 22 in the SIGN-ING UP – Traditional marriage advocates gather for shadow of the Abraham Lin- an Oct. 23 rally sponsored by the Illinois Family Institute. coln statue on the Capitol’s support of many elected leaders. U.S. grounds. The following day, advoSenator Dick Durbin, Gov. Pat cates for traditional marriage stood in Quinn, Lt. Gov. Shelia Simon, Attorthe same shadow to participate in the ney General Lisa Madigan, CompIllinois Family Institute’s “Defend troller Judy Baar Topinka and Sec. of Marriage Lobby Day.” State Jessie White all spoke in supSpeakers on both sides of the issue port of SB10, the “Religious Freedom claimed the support of Lincoln for and Marriage Fairness Act.” their present-day cause, and their ralWednesday’s rally didn’t quite have lies were similar in size with 3,000 to the political clout of Tuesday’s, but it 4,000 participants each. But the simdid feature State Sen. Jim Oberweis ilarities ended there. The March on Springfield had the Continued on page 2

Pinckneyville | Lake Sallateeska is under construction. In a few months, the dining hall expansion will be complete, as will a new camp store and game room. And camp manager Philip Hall and his staff, assisted by volunteers, will start work on their next project: putting a new front on the chapel. But even during the renovations, it’s life as usual at the camp. Lake Sallateeska is fully functioning as IBSA’s camp in southern Illinois, going “100 miles an hour,” Hall said. “We’ve got to finish [the projects] and keep everything step-by-step and stage-by-stage, so our ongoing camp use can keep going and not be hindered.” Lake Sallateeska hosted 5,256 people in 2012, an increase over the previous year. But some of its facilities needed to be updated, repaired or expanded. The camp staff and Hall, who owned a construction business before coming to Sallateeska, have partnered with Campers on Mission and Illinois Changers over the past several months to paint, frame buildings, and put on new roofs. Campers on Mission made their annual fall work trip to Sallateeska, Continued on page 6

IBSA Annual Meeting

Messengers to vote on marriage resolution

Springfield | Cultural issues, including the much-debated same-sex marriage legislation pending in Illinois, will be before messengers to the IBSA Annual Meeting in Springfield. The Resolutions and Christian Life Committee plans to present resolutions on marriage, human exploitation and gaming expansion, as well as a resolution recognizing the 125th anniversary of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). Wes Hahn, chairman of the committee and pastor of Shiloh Baptist in Bridgeport, believes the resolutions presented and passed by messengers give a stronger voice to their beliefs as Baptists. “In general, resolutions, even though they are non-binding, they give us as Southern Baptists and Illinois Baptists the important opportunity to honor Christ and speak to the good and ill in our culture. Continued on page 2