My relationship with Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois began back in the 1990's, just as the worship wars were beginning to heat up in earnest throughout the American church. I was a young, earnest, evangelical know-it-all--I grew up in a traditional Lutheran (ELCA) church where my beloved pastor, perhaps the last of the great Christian orators, faithfully and forcefully preached the Gospel. "A Mighty Fortress" was standard fare in regard to musical worship, and it did not occur to me that drums and bass might have an appropriate place in a worship service.
Newly married to the worship director a Reformed Church in America church plant in West Des Moines, Iowa, I was introduced in 1995 to Willow. Our church, Westview, was a member of the Willow Creek Association, and I began to hear all the tales about pretty-boy Bill Hybels, the huge numbers Willow was attracting, the shopping mall -like church (though heaven forbid one should call it a "church") in which their worship services were conducted, and I was surrounded by the increasingly ubiquitous Willow resources in discipleship, evangelism, and music. I began to hate Willow Creek for the same reason people hate the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys.
I made my first trip to Willow for the 1996 Arts Conference (now defunct). My level of disgust for Willow had peaked, and I was eager to smugly share with anyone how I thought Willow was the epitome of the rampant consumerism that had infiltrated the Christian church in America. With a huge chip on my shoulder (betraying a serious inferiority complex, I guess), I drove the long, winding drive-way to the greatest mega-church of the Midwest. Julie, a Willow apologist, was my tour guide. Sitting down in plush theater seats to listen to Hybel's opening address (after nearly crumbling during the opening worship set), I had my face and heart set on continuing and increasing my hatred. First, Hybel's broke me. Then, I was won over by a Christ-centered dramatic sketch. Finally, I was utterly enthralled when the very person who had won me over in the drama was the same guy emptying trash bins over the lunch hour. I thought, "Something is going on here..."
My defenses shattered, I soaked it in. Not everything Willow did was my cup of tea, but all that they did they did very, very well. And, they were committed to both a) the Gospel, and b) the vibrancy and health of Christ's church. In the years that followed, Julie and I attended many conferences, worship services, and concerts at Willow. Now pastoring a small suburban church twenty minutes from Willow's South Barrington main campus, I continue in somewhat of a love/hate relationship with Willow. One of my best friends in Chicago-land is on the leadership staff at the WCA. Julie, the kids, and I have been blessed to worship at Willow several times. My co-pastor, Shane Sterk, and I recently came back (and are in the process of processing all that we learned) from Willow's Global Leadership Summit.
As to what I continue to find a bit rankling about Willow...well, I don't need to spend a lot of time on all of that. Suffice to say, a mega-church is not quite my cup of tea (for practical and theological reasons). I find some of what I hear, especially at the GLS, to be more human-centered than Christ-centered, more synergistic in nature than monergistic (if you don't know these terms, look them up...they are important). That is not Willow's problem. That is my problem. Pastor Hybel's was unapologetically clear about the nature and purpose of the GLS--to train, equip, and inspire leaders from business, NGO's, and the church. While the production values at Willow are almost absurdly slick (again, this is generally something to be lauded), the entire two days were also unapologetically Gospel-oriented in scope. Do you feel my ambivalence?
In any case, here is what I took from the 2011 GLS:
(From Pastor Bill Hybel's opening lecture)
Question: At what level are you in regard to being challenged?
Dangerously over-challenged;
Appropriately challenged;
Under-challenged?
Hybels pointed to statistics and his own personal experience to suggest that leaders lead best when they are right on the edge between being appropriately challenged and over-challenged. Currently, I feel that I am appropriately challenged. For the last two years I've a) healed, and b) worked hard at developing relationships with the people of FCC in order that I may lead them forward well. Both Shane and I have recognized that we are heading into tougher territory: the church is growing, systems are being restructured, created, or discarded. Ministries are evolving. Leadership is emerging. More is being asked of people in different ways than they've done before. It has been a hard season, but the really hard work is yet to come. Shane and I listened, prayed, and resolved (with God's help) to get our game-faces on and dive in. It is game on.
Question: What is your plan for dealing with challenging people within the organization?
What do you do with (in our case) an unpaid leader who has a bad attitude? Or is under-performing? Or who do not possess the elasticity to grow into the organizational growth?
These are tough questions. I've thankfully been treated graciously during those seasons when I've had a bad attitude, have under-performed, or haven't grown at the rate expected. The point of the lecture was not to necessary provide answers (beyond best practice at Willow) but to encourage leaders to think very deeply and prayerfully about these concerns, prepare a plan of action, and then act. We cannot afford to be passive about challenging people within the church. Whether the response is counseling, coaching, or discipline, we have a responsibility as leaders to lead people and in doing so care for Christ's church. I've seen way too many instances when the easy way out (namely passivity) in regard to dealing with challenging people has wrecked (hear me, WRECKED) church irrevocably. We cannot afford to be passive!
Question: Do you have the courage to name, face, and solve challenges in our church?
(Consistory of FCC...here we go!) What are the ministries here that are accelerating? Booming? Decelerating? Tanking? We can measure every ministry at FCC on this type of bell curve to discern whether what we are doing is actually our best work in living out the mission God has given to us ("To reach the lost and grow the found through the life-changing truth of Jesus Christ"). We must do this, or FCC will look exactly the same 10, 20, 50 years from now as it does today. The Holy Spirit is on the move. We must faithfully follow, and this will likely involve doing things different. The comment or response of, "We've always done it this way" will not be tolerated at FCC.
Question: When is the last time you clarified the core of what your ministry is about? What is central to your mission?
Man, I hope we can each rattle off 5 words to succinctly respond to this! Here's what I came up with:
Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
Sin--the reality of evil and our guilt;
Love--the distinctiveness of Christianity...it is premised on love, as shown through God's grace for us in and through Jesus Christ and His salvation;
Gratitude--our response to this grace in service, obedience, and love;
Church--all of this lived out through the community of faith, aka the Church, and a people set apart to declare Christ's salvation as we grow into Him.
Question: Have you had your leadership bell rung lately? Are you stuck?
Yeah, I've probably been stuck. Being stuck feels kinda good because it demands nothing. It gets very comfortable. But that is not what we are called to. As leaders, we must create action--following Christ (reading, praying, serving, loving, worshiping) and then rallying His people to get in the game. This involves making bold new solutions instead of staying in defeatist positions. Things will change at FCC. They must. Our God is on the move, and so we must be as well (if we are actually going to follow Him). Hybels certainly rang my bell. Over the last year, as I've trained for Ironman Wisconsin, my mantra (and that of my fellow endurance athletes at FCC) has been "Pump up the jam!" It's time to pump up the jam at FCC...
(From Dr. Len Schlesinger, President of Babson College in Boston)
Regarding entrepreneurship, Dr. Schlesinger notes that there are always three generations of leadership within any organization: 1) those who create; 2) those who enjoy; 3) those who destroy.
What is being asked of us? In the church, the call is always to create! God is building his kingdom, and using His church to do so. The church does not go it alone, but is led by the Holy Spirit, God's word (Holy Scripture), and now 2,000 years of orthodoxy. Rome fell because its leadership and thus the people became sensualists, enjoying the fruits of all that was created. (A side note, I would contend that America is in very much the same place today.) The church for the last fifty years has enjoyed the hard work of the apostles, the church fathers, the martyrs of the faith, the reformers, and the preachers/teachers/leaders of previous generations. We are safe, comfortable, and often content to sit in our padded pews critiquing the songs of worship and color of paint on the wall. Is that the church? We must continue to be serious about creating! Ministries, buildings, and, ultimately, transformed lives.
(From Hon. Corey Booker, Mayor of Newark, NJ)
"Do something. Anything. Do something."
(From Seth Godin, blogosphere wonderkid)
"If anything is worth doing, why aren't you doing it?"
This makes me think of Paul's words to the church in Ephesus: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (5:14).
There was a rousing sermonette/Bible study delivered by an eager, engaging young pastor that brought the house to its feet. I was engaged. The Bible was championed and held forth winsomely and compellingly. Interestingly, however, Jesus Christ wasn't mentioned...
Day two of the conference found me still trying to process all that was ringing in my melon from day one. The president and CEO of Compassion International gave a wonderful testimony. Mama Maggie Grobran gave a stirring testimony of her work with street children and women in Cairo, Egypt. Many others gave accounts of the work of Christ and His church around the world. It was stirring.
All of it made me think of FCC and our role right here in West Chicago. God is at work here, as evidenced by the wonderful ministries, emerging leaders, and transformed lives already being shaped in our midst. Are we ready to lead? Are we ready to go? To fight? All for the sake of Christ and His church. To Him be the honor, glory, and dominion, now and forever, amen.
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