Things to Know (April)
Stay up to date with what's going on among Chicagoland Baptists
Jonathan de la O and I rode down to Springfield together on Tuesday to meet SBC president Bart Barber. As we talked along I-55, we discovered that we had both sensed a call to ministry at age 15… and were given opportunities by our pastors to test and develop that in our churches even as teenagers.
I hear about many churches without pastors or who have pastors near retirement and are struggling to find good candidates to take the church into the next generation. There is definitely a shortage of new leaders emerging. One of the answers is for pastors to see part of their job as being to raise up new pastors (see 2 Timothy 2:2).
Pastor: what are you doing to preemptively address this coming crisis? If you got hit by a bus today, would there be someone in your church that could step into your role? And what if your church actually produced more pastors than you could use and you were sending them out to fill empty pulpits across Chicagoland and beyond?!
If you want someone to bounce ideas off of about how to develop a plan to identify and equip future pastors for your church and the Church, I’m always willing to talk and brainstorm with you!
Here is someone to know about – Ryan Hall
Ryan Hall is pastor of Anchor Church Palos in the southwest suburbs. Ryan was saved in college when the bass player in his heavy metal band invited him to church. Scott Nichols, pastor at Gospelife Church in Wheaton, led Ryan to faith and baptized him in 1997. Ryan was originally a public school teacher, but God called him into ministry in 2002. He earned his Masters Degree from Moody in 2009. Ryan planted Anchor Church Palos in 2009 through the Harvest Bible Fellowship. After partnering with Harvest and then helping to launch the Great Commission Collective, Anchor Church returned into the IBSA last November to help plant churches in Chicago.
Ryan and Lauren have been married for 24 years, and they have 3 kids – Ellie (22), Cassie (20), and Jared (17). Ryan loves running, sci-fi, chess, and Portillos. He also developed a new tool to help preachers grow. Check it out at www.sermonmapping.com!
You can see all past ‘Someones to Know’ here.
Here are some events to know about –
Weekly Prayer Calls every Wednesday from 9:00 to 9:30 AM. Just click here to join anytime.
Monthly Discussions on the first Wednesday of the month from 9:00 to 10:00 AM.
On 5/1 we will have Lainey Greer on the call. Lainey has her PhD from SBTS on the theology of the body. We’ll be talking about how to pastor women struggling with body image issues. Feel free to invite your women’s ministry leaders too!
Upcoming Pastors’ Lunches for fellowship:
The IBSA Priority Women’s Conference is 4/26-27 in Springfield. More info here.
The next Chicagoland Baptists Women’s Hangout is 4/30 at the Send Relief Ministry Center. RSVP here.
There will be another Multiply Hub on 5/9. Find out about it here.
Any interest in reaching Eastern Europeans? Or know someone who might be? Elmwood Park Community Church is hosting an Eastern European Church Planting Forum 5/11. More details here.
The Ignite Evangelism Conference is coming to Alpha Baptist Church on 5/19-20. Check it out here.
Who wants to come with other Chicagoland Baptists to participate in the Serve Tour in Flint, MI, 8/9-10? More info here or contact Jason Stuckey (see his info below).
Here is something else to know about –
Anybody on your staff taking classes at Moody Bible Institute can get 30% off and any member can get 20% off tuition by signing up here.
For the Sake of the Name,
Nathan Carter
Executive Director/AMS
1356 N. Rockwell Street, Chicago, IL 60622
nathancarter@chicagolandbaptists.org
You can apply to officially affiliate with Chicagoland Baptists here.
You can donate to Chicagoland Baptists here.
You can see past editions of ‘Things to Know’ here.
You can sign up for our weekly ‘A Quick Word’ here.
The mission of Chicagoland Baptists is to facilitate relationships among the Baptist churches of this Great City so that they can more effectively fulfill the Great Commission and live out the Great Commandment.
Here are our state and national partners for resourcing the church and reaching the lost:
Dr. Bryan R. Price
Illinois Baptist State Association
Zone 1 Church Consultant
bryanprice@ibsa.org
630.908.0853
Dr. Scott Nichols
North American Mission Board – Send City Missionary
snichols@namb.net
630.668.5900
Jorge Rodríguez
North American Mission Board – Send Español
Midwest Champion
jrodriguez@namb.net
312.934.4040
Qusai Mahmud
North American Mission Board – Send Relief
Chicago Ministry Center Director
qmahmud@sendrelief.org
312.296.4615
