June 2021
Chicagoland Baptists,
You can join our weekly Wednesday prayer time tomorrow by clicking here at 9:00 AM or calling 331-218-1983 (Conference ID: 581 886 480#).
Last week several of you were in Nashville for the Annual Meeting of our larger network of churches – Great Commission Baptists (a.k.a. Southern Baptists). Here are a few reflections we had from the time:
· We’re part of something big – over 21,000 people were in attendance!
· We’re part of something broad – there is a diversity of culture and practice represented in the denomination.
· We’re part of something that has basic unity around the Bible and a great many issues that the Bible speaks clearly on.
· While there are some real divisions and problems, social media blows things out of proportion. In real life it wasn’t anything like what we were led to believe it was going to be like from the internet.
If you’d like to talk about how the meeting went or anything you heard, we’d be glad to share more! We left generally encouraged and excited to get back to the main work of our local churches and building camaraderie among pastors in Chicagoland to advance the gospel here.
Here’s someone to know about – Pastor Michael A. Bruce. Pastor Bruce is a former Principal, Vice Principal, and is currently an 8th grade Science and Social Studies teacher. For the past six years he has been the Senior Pastor at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Good Hope is a beacon of light in the Englewood Community in Chicago. Today the church has an After School Program, a Safe House for Battered Women and Children, and a Community Garden. In the summer, starting in June and ending in October, Good Hope gives away free fresh vegetables to the community. You can reach out to Pastor Bruce at revbrucem@aol.com.
Here are some events to know about –
Tonight (6/22) is the ProPresenter Training at Uptown Baptist Church from 6:00 – 8:30 PM. You can find more info here.
There’s a gathering for Hispanic Pastors in Chicagoland this Saturday, June 26th, hosted at the Romanian Baptist Church in Des Plaines from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. Contact Bob Evaul for more información.
DiscipleLab is an event designed for the church pastor together with one other church leader to learn about, discuss, and develop an individualized, practical, and sustainable plan for disciple-making in their church. There’s one coming up in Springfield on July 17th. More info here.
Mark your calendars for Training Nights on September 17th (Des Plaines) or 18th (Bolingbrook). Bring leaders from your church to get equipped with practical tools for ministry.
On September 26th-27th there will be an Evangelism Conference at Tabernacle Baptist in Decatur with Dr. Fred Luter as a keynote speaker and Chicago’s own Corey Brooks as a break-out speaker.
Here’s something else to know about – One of the entities your Cooperative Program giving supports is the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. In addition to providing resources for churches that address the most important ethical questions presented by our culture (e.g. check out this podcast on how to think about technology), the ERLC also advocates for our values in the public square. Read here about the role they played in the recent 9-0 Supreme Court decision upholding religious liberty. And read more here about their ambitious goal for placing ultrasound machines in pregnancy centers through the Psalm 139 Project.
We are continuing with weekly cluster lunches. This week we’ll be with the pastors in the Far Southwest Suburbs. Next week we’ll be getting with the Far West Suburbs guys. If we haven’t taken your cluster out to lunch yet, we’re working our way to you!
Advancing the Kingdom,
Bryan R. Price
Zone 1 Church Consultant
Leadership Development Team
Illinois Baptist State Association – Chicago
630-908-0853 (Cell)
Nathan Carter
Zone 1 Church Consultant
Leadership Development Team
Illinois Baptist State Association – Chicago
312-493-3726 (Cell)
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