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| 01/18/08 ARCHIVE
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Illinois Baptists give record amounts to missions in 2007
By Lisa Sergent, assistant editor |
SPRINGFIELD | Illinois Baptists increased giving to all Southern Baptist mission causes last year including setting a new state Cooperative Program (CP) record, giving $6,619,934, exceeding the previous CP record set in 2005 by $48,704. The amount exceeded 2006 receipts by $89,830.
The Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA) uses 57 percent of CP gifts to strengthen and start new churches and support missions in the state. The additional 43 percent is sent to the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn. to support 11,000 SBC missionaries in the U.S. and around the world, and to educate 15,000 seminary students.
Illinois Baptists also increased their gifts to state, national and international missions offerings as well. IBSA received $383,047 for the Illinois Missions Offering which surpassed the $350,000 goal by 9 percent and the previous year’s giving by 11 percent.
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions received $1,381,035 from Illinois churches, an increase of 18 percent from 2006. And, they gave the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions $754,497, a 5 percent increase over 2006.
IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams expressed his appreciation for the state’s strong mission giving. “I am so grateful for the faithfulness and generosity Illinois Baptists are demonstrating through this new level of cooperative missions giving. The Cooperative Program, the Illinois Missions Offering and the special mission offerings are vital to our work here in Illinois, across the country and around the world.”
“I pray God is stirring a resurgence both in stewardship among our churches’ members, and in cooperative Great Commission giving among our churches, and that we will begin to see a whole new level of Kingdom impact upon our state and our world as we sacrificially invest in God’s priorities.”
Next month, The Illinois Baptist will carry a report of last year’s mission gifts by all IBSA churches.
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Granite City pregnancy center stands against false hope as true beacon of hope
By Lisa Sergent, assistant editor |
Editor’s note: January 20 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. This January 22 marks 35 years since the legalization of abortion in the United States.
GRANITE CITY, Ill. | Nearly 1.4 million abortions have been performed every year since the United States Supreme Court made abortion legal 35 years ago. Today, there are five clinics in Illinois providing abortions, ending the lives of 46,467 infants in 2006 alone. At least 87 pregnancy care centers are located around the state with the mission of showing women abortion is not the answer.
Granite City, Ill. is home to one of the abortion providers – Hope Clinic, the only clinic in a ten state radius where women can have an abortion up to their 24th week of pregnancy. Its website boasts of performing 6,000 abortions a year. Featured prominently on the website is the clinic’s slogan, “Where there is choice, there is Hope.”
Countering the work of Hope Clinic in Granite City and standing as a true beacon of hope is New Beginnings Pregnancy Care Center. New Beginnings opened 21 years ago and now has additional locations in Fairview Heights and Edwardsville. Last year New Beginnings saw 600 new patients and served 1,300 others. Patients received pregnancy testing; information about abortion (no one is ever referred for an abortion, regardless of the situation), adoption and parenting; ultrasound; physician referrals; and childbirth and parenting classes along with free baby supplies for those who complete the classes. The center is working to offer counseling programs for the men affected by pregnancy and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
Kathy Sparks, the clinic’s executive director and one of its founders, previously worked in an abortion clinic assisting in performing abortions. After a near divorce and failed suicide attempt, Sparks accepted Christ. Just days later her husband, Mike, accepted Him too. It was after that, while assisting a doctor performing an abortion at 23 weeks, God showed her the truth. Sparks left her job at the abortion clinic.
The idea for New Beginnings Pregnancy Care Center came soon after. “The Lord used Mike and me to begin this ministry,” she said. “There was nothing like it on this side of the river.”
“God crossed our paths with five other believers. That’s been 23 years ago. I’ve been executive director for 21 years. I give God all the glory. I am just a small part of what He does here.”
“The average age of our clients is 18-22,” Sparks said. “Our youngest client was 12 and the oldest was 54.”
Counseling services at the center include a presentation of the Gospel. “The overwhelming majority of our clients will stay and hear the entire thing,” Sparks said. In 2007, 96 percent of their clients heard the Gospel and 11 accepted Christ as their Savior.
Clinic counselors must be Christians and belong to a local church. Counselors receive 21 hours of training plus time spent assisting other counselors until they are deemed ready to counsel on their own. Additional training in evangelism is provided to ensure each can give their own personal testimony.
“Probably half of the women who work in this ministry have had abortions,” noted Sparks. “We work with them to make sure they understand forgiveness and are not atoning for having an abortion.”
Seven years ago, the clinic received its first ultra sound machine. Statistics show the number of abortions drop radically when women receive ultra sounds and are able to see the developing child in the womb. After installing the machine, “We absolutely noticed a difference in the amount of women who would change their mind [about having an abortion],” Sparks said. “We saw client numbers increase and an additional 15 percent of the women decided not to have an abortion.”
The clinic also promotes an abstinence-only program. “Two and a half years ago the Lord stirred my heart to make it bigger and better,” said Sparks. She discovered ReL8, a program developed for public schools that uses biblical principles. “It’s amazing how God has really opened things up to come into the middle and high schools.” The ReL8 program serves a 23 county area in downstate Illinois.
Sparks is dedicated to exposing the truth about abortion and sharing Christ. “My life is the definition of Romans 8:28. My experience working in an abortion clinic has given me the motive and passion to share Christ in a tangible way.”
For more information about New Beginnings Pregnancy Care Center online go to nbpcc.org. The ReL8 abstinence program’s website is located at myrel8.com.
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Singing Men and Music Director’s retreats to be held next week
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SPRINGFIELD | The Illinois Baptist State Association’s Worship and Church Music Ministries is hosting two retreats in January. The first, The Illinois Baptist Singing Men Retreat, will be held January 24-25 at the Baptist Building located at 3085 Stevenson Drive in Springfield. There is no registration fee for this retreat.
This retreat clinician will be Dr. Michael Sust, a former refugee from then communist Czechoslovakia, who holds a performance doctorate in voice from Boston University. In 2007, he began a new church plant resulting in the Harvest Bible Chapel of St. Louis where he serves as senior pastor. The music selection for the Singing Men this year will include African-American spirituals, contemporary, traditional and southern gospel music selections. “The Singing Men is not just for full time ministers of music, but any man who loves to sing and is a member of an IBSA church,” said Worship and Church Music Director Steve Hamrick.
The Music Director’s Retreat follows on January 25-26 at the Baptist building with the registration fee of $25 per person. The retreat will provide training sessions in a practical environment to help worship leaders become more effective. Conference leaders include Michael Sust; Chris and Diane Machen, composers and recording artists; Keith Wilbanks, composer and arranger at LifeWay; David Jordan, worship specialist; Billy Jack Green, Prism Music and manager of MediaShout; and David Grimm, CSS Audio systems designer.
This year’s training topics include: using Finale for music publishing, instrumental arranging for the church, reaching the lost through worship, 20 stress relieving tips for the volunteer director, planning a music mission trip, a panel discussion focusing on addressing difficult ministry situations and sound and video issues. A Prism reading session will be offered for an additional $10. All Prism session participants will receive an $80 accompaniment CD of their choice for attending the session. There will also be a Q&A time with the Machens during the Saturday morning session.
The Machen’s will headline the retreat’s worship concert on January 25 at 7 p.m. at Chatham Baptist Church located at 1500 E. Walnut in Chatham. The Machens have written and recorded many well known songs including “Wise Men Still Seek Him,” “God is Able,” “I Have Seen the Light,” and the best-selling Christmas musical, “Jesus, Our Treasure.” The public is invited to attend. A love offering will be taken to offset expenses.
Hamrick invites all music leaders to attend the retreat. “The Music Director’s Retreat offers equipping, encouraging and exposure to new music for the full-time, part-time and volunteer church music director,” he said.
Participants in either retreat can receive the special rate of $63 per night, single or double at the Hampton Inn, which is adjacent to the Baptist Building. To make reservations call the Hampton Inn at (217) 529-1100 and ask for the Music Director’s Retreat block of rooms.
For more information about either retreat contact Debbie Muller at (217) 391-3126 or e-mail her at debbiemuller@IBSA.org. More information is also available online at IBSA.org by clicking on Ministries, Church Strengthening Team and Worship and Church Music.
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Gifts of friendship, reminders of purpose
By Nate Adams, Executive Director, IBSA |
For several years now I’ve enjoyed a rather special tradition of buying Christmas presents for the management team with whom I serve. It really began one year when I was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a conference, and Christmas was still months away. One of the gift shops in town had an entire wall full of marionettes, including more than twenty brightly colored characters from all walks of life.
As my wife Beth and I looked over that wall of fun and creativity, I began commenting on which characters reminded me of the people with whom I worked. “The clown reminds me how funny Marty is,” I laughed, “and Ron has sure been our policeman this year. Oh look, a mountain climber – that really describes the kind of year Tim is having. And look – doesn’t that one remind you of Glenda?”
Even though it was February, and I had to get them home from Gatlinburg, and I didn’t know exactly what the friends on my team would do with marionettes, I bought nine Christmas presents that day, and made one surprised shopkeeper very, very happy.
The real fun, though, came months later at the Christmas luncheon where I presented each of my friends and coworkers with their gifts. As each one opened their marionette, I told them why it reminded me of them, how much I appreciated the unique role they play on our team, and what I hoped for them in the coming year. I was taken back by how much the personal and creative nature of those gifts seemed to mean to my friends, and how proudly they each displayed those marionettes in their offices. I think it was because the silly, creative gifts gave me a vehicle for speaking words of meaning and purpose from my heart. All of us that lead people could benefit from doing that more often.
It’s a gift-giving tradition I’ve continued. Sometimes there is one gift, sometimes two. Sometimes I find them months ahead of time, and sometimes just in time for Christmas. Sometimes the gifts symbolize a teammate’s success, and sometimes they merely acknowledge that a big challenge has been heroically faced. Always the gifts are affirmations of friendship, and reminders of the purposeful work we share.
This past Christmas, I chose two gifts for each of our executive team members here at IBSA. They are gifts that represent a two-part commitment that I’m challenging us to make as a leadership team throughout 2008, and that I pray will also set the tone for our work together as churches. That commitment, simply stated, is “Pray Earnestly; Work Strategically.”
Therefore the first gift was a book that is changing my outlook and challenging my commitment to the spiritual battle of prayer. Its Philip Yancey’s “Prayer – Does it Make Any Difference?”, and I plan to teach highlights from it in IBSA’s staff chapel services during January and February. On February 7 our staff will devote a half day in the office for a special prayer focus, where we will seek to answer the question, “How can we better connect with God and invite more of His power into the mission we share?”
The second gift was more symbolic – a different “Craftsman” tool from our friends at Sears. I gave Pat Pajak an adjustable wrench and encouraged him to be flexible and adaptable to the many different needs our diverse IBSA churches have for strengthening. I gave Charles Campbell and Ken McCune screwdrivers – one flathead and one Phillips – and asked them to keep “tightening up” our church planting processes so that more church starts will mature into affiliation and cooperation and health. I gave Dennis Dawson an electronic measuring tape and challenged him to keep showing churches how far they can go – from their Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Marty King received a work light – not just a flashlight – and I asked him to use creative communication to help shine the light on the compelling reasons we cooperate, and call IBSA churches to join in the work with even greater urgency. Larry Toller received a level, and an exhortation to measure all our efforts against the highest possible standards of financial integrity and sound business practices.
Pray effectively; work strategically. It’s a two-part challenge I wanted to memorably convey to IBSA’s executive team through a few simple gifts of friendship. I hope it’s a challenge you may want to embrace in your church as well. If you visit our offices in Springfield this year you may not be surprised to find books on prayer lying on our desks. But I thought I should explain these purposeful gifts of friendship, in case you visit us and wonder why Pat Pajak has an adjustable wrench hanging on his office wall.
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Is your church sending mixed messages
Woody Murray, Communication Specialist, Southern Baptist Voices |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) | As you sit at home – or in your office – reading this column, your church continues to communicate many messages to your community.
Right now, someone is reading your church sign while driving by your church. Another person is studying your small ad in the Yellow Pages. A young couple is checking out your church website. Neighbors are watching your church van drive down the main road in your town. A newcomer to the area is listening to your church answering machine message, after business hours, to find out about the times of services.
If you don't present one clear and inviting message for your church through every touch-point, then a single weak communication can counter all of the strong church promotion you are working so hard to build.
When was the last time you took a close look at your key communications touch-points?
Your church sign messages should be warm and inviting. Use your sign to encourage people to worship with you, and tell them the times of your services.
Your Yellow Pages ad should be simple and accurate. Have your hours of worship changed since you created this ad nine or 10 months ago? Has the church phone number recently changed, too? Is your church website address in your Yellow Pages ad?
Is your website easy to read and navigate? Will that young couple looking on the web for a church home find all they need to feel safe and secure in bringing their infant and preschooler to your church?
Your church name is most likely painted in large letters on the sides and back of your church van or bus. If your church van is flying down the road, it isn't going to attract families to your church. It just might turn them away. Do you regularly remind every driver that he or she is representing your church in the community?
Does your answering machine message invite callers to join you in worship on Sunday? Does it give the times of services for that area newcomer who calls late on Saturday night? How about directions to the church?
What if someone calls on Sunday morning? The answering machine is not your best option. If at all possible, have someone attending your church answer the phone on Sunday morning. Your designated phone "welcomer" can address any questions, give simple driving directions to the church, and maybe even greet the guests they speak to when they arrive at the door.
Because you don’t know how – or when – someone will want information on your church, you can't afford to let any one message touch-point miss the mark and hinder the ministries of your church.
Perhaps the best Scripture reference for stressing the importance of effective church communications is Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Jesus was speaking to His disciples, but His message also applies to the ways we communicate to others about our church. Let the light of your church shine brightly before men.
Woody Murray is a church communications specialist who helps churches more effectively reach their communities. If you have a church communications question for Woody, e-mail him at rwoodymurray@comcast.netor call him at (615) 646-5725.
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IL Baptist college age women participate in Operation NOAH Rebuild
By Serena Butler, IBSA Sending Strategist |
NORMAL, Ill. | If you watched the college championship football game recently, it would appear that New Orleans has recovered from Hurricane Katrina; that life is back to normal in the Crescent City. The French Quarter is in full swing and the Superdome is hosting football games again.
However, many residents are still feeling the effects of the hurricane that damaged the city on August 29, 2005. Huge apartment complexes have been abandoned, people live in trailers in the front yards of houses that once were their homes, and shopping malls lay in ruins. Some residents will never return, which some are returning to rebuild the city and their lives.
A small team of five college age women, led by Illinois Baptist State Association Sending Strategist Serena Butler, went to New Orleans over Christmas break to assist Operation NOAH Rebuild in its efforts to minister to the residents of the city. The team spent the week hanging insulation in three houses. All three homes had water rise to the ceilings after the rains and the levee breaks. They had been completely gutted and one, Dee Kennedy’s home, had been leveled and reframed before the team arrived.
Kennedy shared with the group her experience of returning in December 2005, when the water had receded and the government officials allowed residents to return to their neighborhood. “It looked like someone had used a giant spoon to stir everything up in my house. There was a foot of mud and garbage in my home. Everything was ruined. I am so thankful for you coming to put in my insulation, because I know the drywall is next and that means I am that much closer to moving back into my home.” Mrs. Kennedy has lived in a trailer in her yard for over a year.
As the team traveled to their work site each day, they were amazed at the scope of the damage still existing in the city. As they called home to talk to parents and friends a frequent theme was, “You just can’t describe it. I have seen pictures on TV, but it goes on for miles and miles. I had no idea it was this widespread. It looks like the hurricane happened yesterday.”
Before hanging insulation in the final home, the team wrote prayers on the interior of the studded walls. It was the prayer of the mission team that hope would be brought back to the residents of New Orleans. Not just hope in rebuilding their lives, but hope that new life would be found in Jesus Christ.
For more information about assisting the ongoing work in New Orleans, contact Serena Butler at serenabutler@%20IBSA.orgor Operation NOAH Rebuild at namb.net.
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