It is a joy to hear on a regular basis from people all over the state of Indiana. What do I hear? This year hardly a week has gone by that someone has not told me about people trusting Jesus as savior and following Christ in believer’s baptism. Four at this church, two at that one, five at another and many with one. Jesus said that He came “to seek and to save that which is lost (Lk 19:10).” That is the main thing. Way to go SCBI churches.

Many are seeing the positive effects of evangelism because of their use of the “Who’s Your One” campaign which was initiated through SBC president JD Greear and Johnny Hunt at the North American Mission Board. It is exciting to see what can happen when we choose to be on the same page as a convention of partnering churches. Be watching for more information about the E24 Conference coming to SCBI this coming October at the conclusion of our annual meeting (October 28-29).

Let me share some good news with you about some other partnerships that we as a State Convention are part of today.

  • Legal concerns – you can now get some help from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADFChurchAlliance.org) group as we are a partnering convention. Your church can sign up and save money on legal help. This page will give you more information about our partnership and the special code to enter.
  • Mission Partnership – is your church interested in a great missions’ experience? You should check out our partnership with our own missionary, Dave and Deb Wilson in Ecuador. God is doing some amazing things in people’s lives through the teams and trainers who have been going there. See this link for more (https://www.scbi.org/missions-links/missions-resources)
  • It’s camp season at Highland Lakes. I love this time of year because we will see young people who will come to know Jesus as savior and others who will deepen their relationship with our Lord. Others will make steps toward being a better leader. One of my favorite things about camp season is to watch as local churches work with associations and with our state convention to impact the lives of your young people.
  • Are you going to Birmingham? Yes, that is where this year’s Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting is being held.  The annual meeting will also be available on a live link to watch if you cannot attend in person.
  • A historic year is right before us as we have seen Southwestern and New Orleans Seminaries name new presidents. The SBC Executive Committee has also named a new leader, while LifeWay Christian Resources continues its search.
  • PLEASE invite church members to subscribe to the Indiana Baptist on-line so they can keep up with the news and updates about their own State Convention of Baptists in Indiana (https://www.scbi.org/ministries/indiana-baptist-magazine). Click on the subscribe button. It is FREE! Help us spread the word.

This year’s emphasis in the Mile Markers 2025 is evangelism and revitalization. I have already mentioned the new life we are seeing in evangelism. We can also see churches helping churches in revitalization. Several associations have begun to emphasize this need and started working with churches in need. Bob Weeks and the Church/Leader Development team have scheduled several “Revitalization” conferences later this year which you should consider attending for one of two reasons. 1) Your church is in need of help, you have hit a place of stagnation and you are looking for answers, 2) your church is doing well and you need to be helping another church. Come and learn how to engage on either of these levels.