David Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church, Grayville, Illinois, recently launched an initiative to clean the headstones of veterans buried in his town.
For six weeks prior to Memorial Day, he worked with church members and community residents to scrub about 1,000 veterans’ headstones, IBSA Newsjournal reported.
“What an honor it has been to clean our veterans’ markers and show them the respect we have for them,” Smith said, “and our appreciation for the freedoms we have.”
A circuit judge in Springfield has ruled against the Illinois Baptist State Association in a suit to protect IBSA from requirements to provide employees with insurance benefits that cover abortion.
The IBSA student missions event, held annually in late July, provides middle and high school students one week of rotating service opportunities alongside Illinois Baptist church plants and Christ-centered non-profits in Chicago.
Governor J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 4867 (HB 4867), which amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to “prohibit discrimination based on reproductive health decisions,” according to a media release from his office.
Every church and pastor goes through seasons of ups and downs. There are years when baptisms come in waves, and new people show up each
