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Why Bloggers Continue To Write About Willow Creek

Dave Dummitt, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, has been telling his congregation not to complain – as he complains about people who complain.

On June 5, 2022, Dummitt spoke from the pulpit against Christians who discuss problems openly. He said, “So you go in private. Don’t go on social media and come against people. Bloggers. I’m so done with bloggers. You kidding me? If you don’t have a relationship with somebody, don’t go publicly and try to tear people down. Raise them up!”

The message seemed clear. Public talk should be positive. For negative talk, go in private. So on June 9, I and my friend and fellow blogger, Dr. Jim Bedell (drj1952.com), took action. As two of the more critical online commenters about Willow Creek’s continued problems, we contacted Willow Creek and sought a private meeting with Dummitt. And we were quickly granted a meeting time!

BUT… within 24 hours, we were told that he would “not be able” to meet with us. I suggested that we were flexible with our schedules, but there was no offer to give us an alternative meeting time with Dummitt.

Then on July 24, Dummitt again referred to people making negative comments during his sermon. “… why don’t we get rid of gossip and turn it into a good word. If you wanna talk about people, turn your gossip into a good word. … Let’s replace destructive criticism with constructive criticism or coaching … Some septic ways that we use our words – complaining … Let’s replace our complaining, our grumbling, with gratitude … “

His message, again, seemed clear: Complaining bad; gratitude good. But apparently, we hadn’t fully understood Dummitt’s point. It was really this: Don’t talk about issues in public – and don’t talk about them in private, either.

But how can leadership expect congregants to publicly “raise them up!” when their response to private inquiries is to shut them down?

To be clear, we do agree that malicious talk – or, to use Dummitt’s terms, “tearing people down … gossip … destructive criticism … complaining” – is not virtuous. But that’s not what our blogging and personal meetings with leadership have sought to accomplish. Actually, by describing our blog posts that way, Dummitt himself is the one engaging in malicious talk. He’s using his pulpit power to publicly tear us down. He has never sought to personally contact us about our blogging regarding Willow Creek.

And we think we know why.     

We think it’s because he knows we’re not looking to “come against people.” We are looking to hold leaders ACCOUNTABLE.

What do you do when a leader refuses to meet personally to discuss legitimate concerns? Just have an attitude of gratitude? How phony is that?!

When leaders refuse to be held accountable, bloggers blog.

When we asked for that meeting on June 9, there were two presenting issues that Dr. Bedell and I wanted to discuss with Dummitt.  In the last few days, a third lingering issue has also come to the forefront, for which the congregation deserves clarity.

And since we have not been afforded an opportunity to “go in private,” we’re going to lay these questions out here. As you’re reading them, please judge for yourself: are they all just destructive criticism? Or are they something else?  

Our first “private question” would have been:

Dave, how do you justify purchasing a vacation home for $1,060,000 in the midst of your plans to terminate 30% (approximately 100) of your staff?

Dummitt closed on his vacation home on April 8, 2022 while he was deciding which staff he would terminate the following month. To make matters worse, his family advertised the purchase of the vacation home as God’s blessing in May on Facebook within days of 100 staff having to find new jobs. How tone deaf can a leader be?

In Dummitt’s 2.5 years as pastor of Willow Creek Community Church he has overseen 2 mass layoffs and he purchased a million dollar second home to accompany his principal residence valued at $1,000,000.  Not a good look.

Our second private question was going to be:

Why didn’t you thank Matt Lundgren for his 25 years of service to Willow Creek at Matt’s last worship service on May 22?

It was truly bizarre. Everyone in that auditorium expressed their gratitude to Matt during that service … except for one person: Dave Dummitt. Why wouldn’t he thank Matt? Was it just an “ooops, I forgot?”

For 25 years everyone appreciated Matt leading worship on Willow’s stage. Between his instrumental and vocal talent, his creativity, his humor, and his ever-present smile, Matt was a welcome stabilizing force, especially over the last 4.5 years as Willow sought to limp past its scandals.  Matt had said  that he and South Barrington Campus Pastor Shawn Williams had really tried to make it work.  Unsaid but understood: it was Matt and Dummitt who didn’t see eye to eye. 

In fact, Dave Dummitt didn’t even stand with Matt when other leaders surrounded him and prayed for him and his family regarding their uncertain future.  At that “tender moment” (to use a favorite Willow phrase), Dummitt was nowhere to be found.  More than a few onlookers noticed his blatant snub and thought, “Why wouldn’t the guy at least acknowledge  a 25-year veteran for his service to the church?” 

If we had been allowed to speak in private, we would have privately advised Dummitt that such a noticeable slight added fuel to the sad confusion that still exists like an undertow in the Willow congregation… a sad confusion that has not gone away over the years, despite the fact that no one is allowed to talk about it.  A true leader – a servant leader – would want to know about that, and would be heartbroken to think that he was standing in the way of making things right.  

In our estimation, these two issues do not constitute complaining, or gossip, or grumbling. They are efforts to hold a leader accountable. And they provide opportunities for servant leaders to admit their mistakes and to apologize.

The third question we would have asked in a private setting was regarding church finances.

For years I have requested more financial transparency from Willow Creek.  My last request was prior to the May 2021 core meeting.  I asked for the status of their financial reserves.  Willow Creek leadership did not answer my question in the Core Meeting nor by email … ever.  

Rumors have swirled for years regarding the church’s financial reserves. Was it $12M? $18M? The latest rumor pinned it even higher, at $30M. Although Willow leadership has been reluctant to say publicly what that number is, they are required to reveal their finances to those that request their end of year financial statements.

I recently came across the church’s 2021 consolidated financial statement prepared by Batts, Morrison, Wales & Lee, Certified Public Accountants. (See a screenshot of this statement at the end of this post.)  It gives definitive insight to the question regarding financial reserves.  The statement points to $35M+ of reserves against a mortgage note(s) of $21M.  So any claim by Willow leadership that their finances are dire is simply not true.  They have a safety net, the likes of which would be the envy of 99.9% of churches in America.  

To be fair, Willow’s finances are not all rosy. The trajectory of Willow’s donation income is not headed in the right direction, as the graph of giving over a 10-week average indicates over the last few years. (See second image shown below this post.) This, despite a 5 week series on money at the beginning of 2022 that concluded with a public invitation to bring your giving commitment card forward and place it on the stage.

Asking a shrunken congregation to boost their financial commitment when the church has $35M in the bank is not a good look. When paired with a recently purchased million-dollar vacation home … it’s a downright ugly look.

The question remains: why is the Willow leadership hesitant to let its donors know the full extent of its finances? This deliberate hiding of tens of millions of dollars in reserves represents a lack of accountability in the bluntest terms. And it does not bode well for the future.

What’s next?

In conclusion, it would have been much better to discuss these three issues in private.  We were not afforded that opportunity.  So we have once again taken to the public square, not to engage in destructive criticism, but to advocate constructive steps.  Steps that would improve transparency, and trust.  Steps that would  establish the kind of accountability that has been sorely needed in the post-Hybels years.   

Willow Creek Community Church is a shell of what it once was.  Consider: 

  • Most of the Willow campuses that had two services to accommodate the crowds have gone to one service with plenty of room to spare.
  • The South Barrington campus used to have three weekend services. Since they opened up after the pandemic, they went to two services. And they could easily go to one service and the auditorium would still be only ½ full.
  • The once bustling food court feeding hundreds if not thousands of people for the mid-week and weekend services lies dormant. In fact, the huge commercial kitchen is now used for storage.
  • For 40+ years Willow needed a staff person dedicated to responding to ministries requesting space to use for meetings throughout the week. Now, the campus is largely a ghost town. And the 900,000 sq ft facility in South Barrington, for the most part is unused and falling into disrepair.

Dummitt has largely blamed the pandemic for Willow’s woes. The truth is:  Willow Creek is reaping what it has sown.  The leadership did not handle the Bill Hybels scandal honestly, by owning their sin, calling out Hybels, being genuinely contrite, and doing everything they could to help bring healing to Hybels’ victims.  

Rather, their goal seemed merely to get through the Hybels’ scandal with the least amount of damage to the Willow Creek brand, and to salvage their image.

Integral to accomplishing this goal was to hire a guy who would agree that the Bill Hybels scandal was in the past. I suspect that they didn’t have too many such individuals to choose from. And then they found Dave Dummit. When asked by the elders to be the new senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Dummitt told them “no.” Then they came back to him again, and Dummitt told them “no.” And then they asked him a third time, and he said, “yes.” (Some suspect they know what changed hi$ mind.)

Dave Dummitt would be hard-pressed to point to anything at Willow that is better now than it was 2+ years ago when he arrived. He has sought to rid the church of anything that was from Willow past. The names of virtually every ministry have also changed. Do not be surprised if even the name Willow Creek Community Church ceases to exist soon. My bet? Willow Creek Community Church becomes, “Willow Commons.”

Trust them, it’s going to be great.

* * * * *

“Here are my instructions: diligently guard yourselves, and diligently guard the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has given you oversight. Shepherd the church of God, this precious church which He made His own through the blood of His own Son.” Acts 20:28 (The Voice)

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Wow!! Woke Folk Are In The Bible!!

The wisest man in the Bible, King Solomon, said this in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new under the sun…” So it shouldn’t surprise us that even though the term woke has only come into vogue the last few years, woke people have been around for millennia. In fact, some of the ‘wokest’ folk of all lived way back in New Testament times.

The woke folk in Jesus’ day tended to have different issues than woke people today, but the two groups resemble each other in a multitude of other ways. They are eerily similar where it counts most: in their characters.

What Exactly Is Woke Now?

In 2017, the dictionary defined the term woke as: “well-informed, up-to-date, especially in regards to racial or social discrimination and injustice.” Since then, being woke has further evolved to indicate support for a number of causes and ideas, including:

  • BLM (Black Lives Matter, the “organization”)
  • CRT (Critical Race Theory)
  • DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion)
  • LGBTQ+
  • abortion rights
  • man-made climate change
  • open borders
  • absolute compliance with government mandates regarding the Covid 19 vaccine.

The list of compulsory beliefs grows as today’s woke elite deems necessary.

Woke Back Then

The woke in Jesus’ time were another kind of elite: the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders of the day. They made up their own rules that could not be questioned. In their eyes, they were the only ones who were right, and they were right all the time. (Sound familiar?)

Of course, today’s woke folk don’t call themselves religious the way the Pharisees did. (They may claim to be “spiritual,” but understanding what that means is like getting a firm grip on jello.) Most don’t pretend to have any affinity to formal religion. Still, they tend to frame their ideas in dogmatic tones, and wear their wokeness with a holier-than-thou attitude. You could say that today’s woke are secular Pharisees. In reality, like the Pharisee elites of old, the woke elites of 2021 have very little room for God in their lives, because they perceive themselves as being their own ultimate authorities. They act as their own god and originator of truth.

Woke, Old And New

A belief in their own universal rightness is only one of the character traits that these two groups of wokesters share. (Note: In the following section, the pronoun “they” refers to both the religious elite Pharisees of Jesus’ day and the secular Pharisees of today, aka, the woke.)

1. They Are DEMANDING Know-it-alls

The Pharisees had a very precise picture of what truth looked like, and they concocted all sorts of rules to impose upon everyone else. 

The Pharisees made up:

  • Rules for daily living: you MUST wash your hands before you eat. — Matthew 15:2
  • Rules for working:  you MUST NOT do any work on the Sabbath. — Matthew 12:11-12
  • Rules for social interactions:  you MUST only associate with good and clean people (that would be people like them), not dirty, contaminated people (everyone else). — Luke 5:30.

NOTE:  These rules were not God’s rules.  They were wildly-exaggerated standards that distorted Old Testament Jewish laws.  

The religious elite Pharisees demanded that everyone else comply with their arbitrary rules or risk expulsion from the synagogue (which was like  being canceled back in the day). The woke of today have also created their own rules.  They, too, seek to impose those rules – and their wills – on everyone else.  

Here are some examples of modern woke doctrine rules:

  • You must support Black Lives Matter, the “organization.”  To do otherwise makes you a racist.  
  • You must support Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  To do otherwise makes you a racist.
  • You must support LGBTQ.  To do otherwise makes you a hater / homophobe.
  • You must support women having abortions.  To do otherwise means you are anti-women.
  • You must believe in man-made climate change.  To do otherwise means you are ignorant, anti-science, and you don’t care about the environment.
  • You must get the COVID vaccine and booster(s).  To do otherwise makes you an ignorant anti-science, conspiracy theorist that doesn’t care about others.
  • You must believe in open borders.  To do otherwise makes you a xenophobe. 

What is the message behind every woke doctrine? It’s the same two-part message of the Pharisees: A) We alone know what is true. B) You are an ignorant fool if you don’t agree with what we say.

In the eyes of woke folk, unquestioning submission to all their beliefs is absolutely mandatory because they are right. And to confirm that they’re right, the woke have “fact checkers” that tell the rest of the world that they are right.
In fact, they are an ugly right, because …

2. They are SELF-RIGHTEOUS Virtue Signalers —

Just like the religious Pharisees of the past, the secular Pharisees of today are very, VERY proud of themselves for how good they are. In fact, they are obsessed with their own goodness. The need to have others recognize that you are an extremely good person is at the very foundation of being woke. Most woke folks will resent you if you suggest that they’re sinners like everyone else on the planet.

The modern-day woke folks’ combination of pride in their own goodness, plus their belief in their own ideological perfection, makes them just as self-righteous as their first century counterparts, the Pharisees – and just as convinced that they’re better than everyone else.  

Today, we have a name for that kind of self-righteousness: virtue signaling.

The self-righteousness of the woke also makes them immune to any suggestion that they could ever improve. Translation:

3. They are ARROGANT and UNTEACHABLE —

In the Bible, the religious Pharisees are never seen engaging in any self-reflection. Isn’t that kind of amazing? They were face to face with Jesus Himself! But never did they say about Jesus, “Hmmmm, He may have a point. He could be right!” They did not consider that a paralyzed man was now walking by His command. They did not consider the genius of the parables He told. They did not consider the fact that huge crowds gathered to listen to Him. They certainly weren’t going to be duped like the ignorant masses!

The Pharisees were forever asking Jesus questions. BUT … they did not ask Jesus questions to learn from Him. No! They asked Him questions to trap Him. They played the “Gotcha!” Game. They had no desire to learn. No matter how Jesus confronted their faulty logic and false ideas and showed them to be wrong, they remained hard-hearted and spiritually blind.

Today’s woke elite are also stubbornly secure in their version of secular goodness:   

  • Defund the police – because the jobs that they perform are systemically evil.  
  • Open the borders – because we must care for the downtrodden of other countries.
  • Let boys think they are girls and compete in girls’ sports – because that is how they feel.

Though their ideas are based on premises that are highly debatable, and often seem to bypass common sense, the woke will not tolerate honest debate. They are opposed to hearing opposing viewpoints. Anyone who dares to express alternate views — whether on a college campus, in the public square, in a book, or even in a private conversation at the dinner table — will suffer their contempt.

4. They are NAME-CALLING BULLIES —

Look at the names the Pharisees called people unlike themselves:

  • Jesus ate dinner with rejects from society. The Pharisees called those people “scum.” (Mark 2:16)
  • A known prostitute humbly washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. The Pharisees were repulsed that Jesus would let such a “sinner” even touch Him. (Luke 7:36-39)
  • The Pharisees said John the Baptist was demon-possessed because he didn’t eat bread and drink wine as they did. (Luke 7:33)
  • On the other hand, they called Jesus a glutton and drunkard and friend of sinners because He attended parties with outcasts from society. (Luke 7:34)

The woke of today are no different. If you don’t agree with them, you are attacked, shamed, and branded with names such as:

  • racist
  • hater
  • homophobe
  • …and the list continues to grow.

The woke’s deployment of derogatory labels shows that, though they may speak of humanitarianism, equity, and fairness, they actually believe in dehumanizing, devaluing, and dividing. In fact:

5. They are SUPER JUDGMENTAL —

The Pharisees hated Jesus.  They were on a mission to kill Jesus – the ultimate earthly cancellation. 

“As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.” — Luke 11:53-54

“ … the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.” — Matthew 12:14 –

I find it curious that the woke of today do not tolerate a belief in a God Who judges humans and would send anyone to Hell. YET, today’s woke are always ready to judge (cancel) everyone that does not conform to their teachings and obey their rules.  

  • A baker doesn’t want to make a wedding cake for a gay couple’s wedding?  Close that bakery down!
  • A health worker who was a hero during the pandemic now doesn’t want to get vaccinated?  Canceled! Fired! Out of a job!  
  • A coworker wrote the “n” word in a social media post ten years ago?  Call HR!  Start a petition!  Tell the boss to toss out that bigot!

The very ones who used to lecture conservatives to be tolerant and accepting of differing views have now become the least tolerant and the most judgmental people around.

So tell me, how attracted are you to know-it-alls who virtue-signal their goodness, while they arrogantly bully others and judge them mercilessly?  

My next post will look at what Jesus said about the woke of His day, and how those same words apply to the woke of today. Stay tuned!

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Willow Creek Claims Transparency — You Decide

Willow Creek leadership has been accused of a lack of transparency for years. In fact, the word that nearly every blogger has used to describe Willow Creek’s communication is obfuscation. Merriam-Webster clarifies the meaning of obfuscation:

  • To make obscure
  • To confuse
  • To be evasive, unclear, confusing

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to hear Shawn Williams begin the May 26, 2021 Willow Creek core meeting by stating this:

  • “I’ve been around the staff team for about 10 months. And one of the things that I mentioned over the weekend that’s been very true [is] the more and more people that I’ve talked to around Willow — one of the things that I feel like is a constant theme in conversations — people say ‘Would you be transparent as leadership? It’s just something that is so critically important to us as a community.’ And so really in an attempt to honor that request that I’ve heard over and over again, we’ve had the …. core gatherings.” (First use of transparency)

Soon after that introductory reference to transparency, Williams used the word transparency again, this time to describe the church’s approach to volunteers being vaccinated from COVID. (Second use of transparency.)

Dave Dummitt hopped on the bandwagon next, referring to his communication in meetings like the core meeting when he said, “Especially in these environments, I always lean on the side of transparency…” (Third use of transparency)

Shortly after that, Dummitt was talking about a report on the demographic statistics of the communities where Willow Creek has campuses as well as the demographics of the staff. Regarding this topic he said, “So there’s just this transparency that is available I think to everybody …” (Fourth use of transparency.)

And then, a fifth use of transparency — in response to a question about what steps have been taken to address recommendations in the IAG Report (Independent Advisory Group that investigated the claims against Bill Hybels), Dummitt responded “If anybody wants more detail on that–you know–the efforts that were taken to make sure that we don’t slip back into any, you know, behaviors that could lead us toward something like that — Total Transparency. You come up, talk to us, we’ll get you everything you need.”

Five times in a one hour meeting, the leadership of Willow Creek maintained  their commitment to transparency. .  Is that true?  Or is this just  a “Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown to kick it” moment?  

Here are several issues to consider as you decide whether the trend is towards transparency, or more obfuscation.

The Lionization of Bill Hybels — Cancelled?

At the core meeting 2 months ago, Dave Dummitt directed Shawn Williams to share with the Sunday morning congregation the view that we can honor Bill Hybels for his unique once-in-a-generation ministry contributions, while at the same time acknowledging that he has a “shadow side.” The core of Willow Creek enthusiastically applauded the idea. That has yet to happen. Shawn Williams hasn’t. Neither has Dave Dummitt. I suspect it has not happened yet because it is not going to happen … ever.

In this public interchange, both Dummitt and Williams seemed to demonstrate their ignorance of the scope of Bill Hybels’ sexual predation.  They sounded clearly clueless about the price and pain that Hybels’ behavior inflicted on his victims.  Since there’s been no follow-up on their proposed Sunday morning mention of Hybels, it’s safe to assume that multiple sources have told them that they made a grievous error to even suggest such a disgusting gesture.  They obviously realize that they made a mistake.  

Leaders acknowledge when they make mistakes, right?  Nothing has been confessed, or even acknowledged.  There has been only silence.  Is this an example of transparency?  You decide.

Willow Finances: Dire Straits, or a Deep Stash?

In my last post, I mentioned that I had texted a question that I wanted to be addressed at the core meeting in May — a question that I have yet to receive an answer to. Here is the question I texted on May 25th:

  • “In following the finances, I am concerned over Willow’s financial stability. SPECIFICALLY, how much money does WCCC have in reserves?”

That is a reasonable and fair question, is it not? Despite the $$ reserves being a carefully guarded secret, it is understood that Willow Creek has multiple tens of millions of dollars in reserve. So, it appears finances are far from dire.

Does avoiding to disclose monetary reserves reflect transparency? You decide.

PPP Loans – More Money No One Talks About?

On July 9, 2020, Dave Dummitt wrote a blog post to the Willow congregation. It mentioned that the church had received substantial PPP (Payroll Protection Program) funds from the government (almost $5.7M — see below). Up until that post, the congregation had received no communication on that topic. It is suspicious that the Daily Herald, a Chicago newspaper, posted the local companies that received government funds just two days earlier, on July 7, 2020.

Only after  the PPP loan recipients were made public did Dummitt inform the congregation later that the church had in fact received a PPP loan.  WCCC had actually been approved for the government assistance funds three months earlier.  

The Global Leadership Network (GLN – previously known as the Willow Creek Association — WCA)  has received PPP loans  twice. Yet its website contains no mention of any PPP funds received.  The PPP loans to that organization totalled $2,591,200 — see below.

WCA (GLN) Loan #1:

WCA (GLN) Loan #2:

Is it good leadership transparency to solicit donations without disclosing that you have received millions of dollars from the government — funds that you do not have to repay? You decide.

“May We Be One” staff training — Is this CRT (Critical Race Theory)?

Willow Creek has contracted with World Vision to train Willow staff on the topic of racial justice.  These are once per month training sessions for twelve months.  There is reference to white supremacy, white privilege, white guilt, and systemic racism.  I emailed the World Vision contact person the following on May 15, 2021:

Thanks for tackling this relevant topic in the church today.

As someone that does not know a lot about the curriculum of “May We Be One,” I have a couple of questions.

1) How does “May We Be One” differ from Critical Race Theory training? (I know this is a VERY broad question, but a few differences shared would be appreciated.)

2) After a year of training and education, how does World Vision hope to measure the success of the training?

Thanks for your response.

Sincerely,

Rob Speight

Unfortunately, I haven’t received a response from World Vision other than that they are very busy. 

The outcome of these training sessions on Willow Creek staff has not been more oneness and unity, but rather increased division and distrust between the races.

Twelve sessions on racial justice, spanning the course of a whole year, seems like a major investment of staff time and training.  Do you think the Willow Creek congregation has a right to know what the staff is being taught in these sessions?  Does keeping the contents under wraps give the impression of transparency?  You decide.

The Rebranding of Willow Creek

Dave Dummitt could not be more excited about what will be happening at Willow in the Fall.  In fact, he thinks that so many more people will be coming to Willow that he fears they won’t have enough volunteers to serve the guests.  One might wonder, what does he think will cause this new influx of people to Willow?  Is there going to be a revival?  Is there going to be repentance?  A renewal of commitment to the Savior?  A rededication to engaging with Scripture?  

No, Dummitt actually said that these yet to be identified new people will be coming to Willow Creek Community Church because the church is rebranding.  Yes, Willow Creek has hired Storyland Studios out of California (storylandstudios.com) to do a major rebranding.  Although Dummitt has told the staff that this is happening, the staff doesn’t know what the rebranding entails, but it’s going to be major.  

Essentially, rebranding is a publicity campaign designed to improve how people think about an organization.  Storyland Studios itself  describes the process like this under its website’s Brand and Guest Experience menu tab:

  • How do you want people to experience your brand? We love to take the strategic story of a brand and shape it into something people can walk into, interact with, and inhabit. Whether you’re developing a new brand from the ground up or building on an existing one, our team can help you define and create experiences that bring your brand to life in ways that propel your strategy and keep your guests engaged, immersed, and coming back for more. When we work with brands to shape immersive experiences and activations, we leverage our three-dimensional storytelling approach to add layers of meaning and connection for guests and employees alike. From concepting and executing the experience, our team of digital marketing strategists and designers are able to build an executable marketing strategy to promote your brand and experience in the world.

Willow’s obsession with the image that they portray to the world has not waned one iota. Repentance, revival, rededication, and renewal are better ideas than rebranding. Jesus said it this way to the self-righteous Pharisees when He confronted their love affair with image in Matthew 23:26-27 —

You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

So, does the fact that virtually the entire church knows nothing about this rebranding effort reflect transparency? You decide.

In the words of Jack Welch, “Trust happens when leaders are transparent”.  

Trust has been broken by the leadership of Willow Creek for years. If trust is ever to be rebuilt, the maneuverings of the leadership will need to become a lot less obscure. Maybe it’s a good idea for Dummitt and his crew to try actually practicing transparency. Because ironically, the more they merely claim it, the more we see right through them.

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Willow Creek Asks The Wrong Question

Everything had been going relatively smoothly at Willow Creek over the past couple of years.  The decision to never invoke the name of Bill Hybels had worked.  His victims and their advocates had appeared to fall silent.  Willow could finally move forward.  Sure there was the pandemic, and the choosing of the new senior pastor, Dave Dummitt.  But there was a dull calm on the campus in South Barrington.  

That all changed on the evening of May 26.  Boy, did it change.  The problem:  Dave Dummitt and Shawn Williams didn’t realize what they had done.  While they were fist bumping and congratulating one another on how they handled the name that was never ever to be mentioned, the 200 member geriatric core in attendance applauded their performance.  Little did they know they in fact … pick your metaphor: 

  • Whacked the hornets’ nest. 
  • Poked the bear.  
  • Did not let sleeping dogs lie.  

This is what happened. 

Williams claimed to have received the following question from the congregation which he chose to address to those in attendance.  (Mind you, he had to CHOOSE to answer that question and CHOOSE not to answer other questions — I know this because he did not answer the question I texted to him.  That ignored question will be saved for another post).  Here’s the question that Shawn Williams chose to address:

“Why is Bill Hybels’ name rarely mentioned?”

In the 3+ weeks since that meeting, there has been a lot of criticism of Shawn Williams and Dave Dummitt’s infamous 8 minutes on YouTube.  You can find able insightful critiques of their interaction in the following posts:  

Before I suggest a more important question that Shawn Williams and Dave Dummitt ought to have answered, I’d like to reflect on the contrast of responses to Dummitt’s and Williams’ reflection on Bill Hybels’ life.

Affirming Applause vs. Disgust

On the one hand, it appeared that all those in attendance enthusiastically affirmed (via widespread applause) the notion of somehow, in some way, at some time, honoring the legacy of Bill Hybels for all that he had done and meant to Willow Creek and the evangelical church across the globe.  Dummitt also made a point of stating that Tom DeVries, the President of the Global Leadership Network (formerly the Willow Creek Association) was in attendance at the Core Meeting as he made his remarks about Hybels.

I ask you:  why did the core of Willow Creek applaud the notion of honoring Hybels, while so many others want to throw up at that idea?  

I believe it is because Willow’s remnant core does not know / understand / believe / or appreciate the depth of Bill Hybels’ sin.  They have no idea of the devastating impact of his conduct on his women victims, both named and unnamed.  And why would they?  For three years, ALL of Willow Creek’s leadership, both past and present, told the Willow Creek congregation a different narrative.  They were NEVER told the depth of Bill’s sin.  

To this day, Willow Creek leadership has NEVER told the congregation the specifics of Hybels’ heinous conduct. Rather, they fed them and the world a much-sanitized version called “the women’s claims are credible,” without ever saying what exactly those claims against Hybels even were.  They took this mum approach even though Bill Hybels’ women victims described his horrific conduct in graphic detail to multiple groups of elders both past and present. 

Willow Creek leadership never explained what Bill did.  Nor did Willow Creek leadership ever state that the women are telling the TRUTH. 

That’s why I don’t blame the core for applauding the memory of Bill Hybels.  Based on what they were told over the last three years, Bill simply had a “shadow side” — whatever that is (as per Shawn Williams).  And it seems that the leadership at Willow Creek feels that it’s possible, and maybe even honorable, to hold in tension both the incredible worldwide impact that Bill had along with his “shadow side.”  

Weighing Hybels’ much-ballyhooed impact on the church against his foggily-referenced “shadow side,” the congregation appears to believe that Bill Hybels has suffered enough — and perhaps now he needs to be celebrated for all that he has meant to the world.

If they feel that way, I suspect it’s because they’ve been deliberately groomed to feel that way —  just as Bill Hybels’ victims were groomed to accept his attentions as vaguely understandable and okay. 

A MUCH BETTER QUESTION

Considering all that has been left unsaid, I propose that the question “Why is Bill Hybels’ name rarely mentioned?” is not the most useful question to pose at this point.  Rather, the WCCC congregation, and the public, deserve an honest answer to this question instead:  

  • Why have Bill Hybels’ actual sins never been named?

Again, Willow Creek leadership and GLN leadership have never told the congregation and the world that… 

  • Bill Hybels groomed women for his own deviant pleasure.
  • Bill Hybels is a serial sexual predator.
  • Bill Hybels is guilty of sexual harassment.
  • Bill Hybels’ sexual predation spans decades.
  • Bill Hybels’ conduct constitutes sexual abuse.  

As a result of their silence, the loyal but ill-informed core of the congregation, and the worldwide group of devotees to the Global Leadership Summit, may tend to conclude that poor Bill has become the real victim here. They may feel sorry that such a ground-breaking figure had to retire so suddenly, without any accolades. Wasn’t that punishment enough, they may feel?  As I’ve heard many say, “What more do those women want?”

Naming Bill Hybels’ actual acts of malfeasance would allow everyone to make their own evaluation of how the heights of Hybels’ public achievements compare to the depths of his sexual abuse of so many women.

At this point, Willow Creek’s decision-makers are facing a tough choice:  

  • Do they admit the truth (and alienate their base) by naming Hybels’ sins NOW, after three years of pussyfooting around the topic?  

Or …

  • Do they continue to ignore Hybels’ real legacy and start to reintroduce his name and rehabilitated image into the church’s organizational culture and identity?

It seems that they made their choice on May 26, 2021.  But one awkward discussion at that core meeting won’t keep the Bill Hybels issue from hanging over the heads of Willow Creek’s leadership FOREVER if they do not name his sins.

Scripture is clear:  

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”  Proverbs 28:13

The “not prospering” part of that verse should also concern GLN’s president, Tom DeVries, who attended the Core Meeting.  His response to the Q & A interchange:  silence.  

What do true leaders do when they see — and are a party to — injustice?  They speak up for victims!  They admit their own wrongdoing!  Tom DeVries, Craig Groeschel, please don’t lecture the world about leadership if you won’t defend the abused victims of your founder.  Please don’t tell us how you’ve apologized to the women and have sought reconciliation.  Not one of the women victims is content with the paltry response of either the Willow Creek or GLN leadership.

ADDING INSULT TO INJURY

It’s ironic that Willow Creek Church started a series of messages on Courage soon after the May 26 Core Meeting.  Courage has seemed to be in short supply for the past three years.  Now I say, YES!  Be courageous, Dave Dummitt and Shawn Williams!  

Dummitt breathlessly told Williams at the Core meeting on May 26, that he needed to talk about Hybels to the entire congregation on a Sunday morning.  Okay, if this is so right and good and wise, then be COURAGEOUS!  And do it!  Tell the whole congregation your admiring musings about Bill Hybels, the pioneer of so much good in the church. You seem to be expecting an ecstatic response. Will you receive it? Will the people — and the press — welcome the “tension” of a newly revised Bill-Was-Pretty-Great-After-All take on everything?

I would make the same challenge to the GLN frontmen.  Be courageous!  Go ahead and give Bill Hybels a plug at the Global Leadership Summit this year, Craig Groeschel and Tom DeVries.  Invoke his name for all the good he has done.  Honor him for his great legacy.  

After all, the applauding core congregation at Willow wants to hear his name, so the GLN crowd will, too, right?  It’s been three years since his absence from the Summit’s world stage.  He has paid a big enough price.  So, go ahead!  Show the courage of your convictions and talk about the positive impact of Bill Hybels on global Christianity.  

Give that hornets’ nest another good whack. 

Not going there, you say?  Leave Bill to stay in the shadows?  Well, that’s understandable.  After all, do we hear Matt Lauer’s name invoked any more for being such a wonderful early morning TV host?  Where are Hollywood’s accolades for Harvey Weinstein for all of the great movies he produced and the stars he made? Why isn’t Bill Cosby celebrated any more — by anyone — for his transformational comedic genius? 

Oh, right.  

Add Bill Hybels’ name to the list of sexual predators that no one wants to praise any more.  And rightly so. 

So, Willow Creek and GLN leadership, if you aren’t going to be courageous about defending Bill Hybels’ legacy, then be courageous about naming Bill Hybels’ sins of sexual harassment, grooming and abuse — so that people can be truly informed, instead of ignorant by default — of the full bandwidth of his “achievements.” 

My suspicion:  the WCCC and the GLN boards will do neither. They won’t come clean about Bill Hybels’ dark deeds, and they won’t try to resurrect his name, either.  They’ll be content to let the past record of Bill Hybels stay unapplauded, AND undefined…  because they are NOT courageous, as it turns out.  For them, image is more important than character.  Keeping the money rolling in is more important than truth.  Keeping the institutions going is more important than facilitating the women victims’ healing. They talk a good game of honoring women, but when it costs the Willow machine, the machine is more important.  

No, they are not courageous.  They are cowards.

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IS THIS THE NEXT WILLOW CREEK ELDER UPDATE? HOPEFULLY!

 

During the last 23 months since the Bill Hybels / Willow Creek scandal went public, the elders of Willow Creek have sought to communicate on a regular basis both from the main stage at Willow Creek and through written communications to the Willow congregation called Elder Updates.

Unfortunately, none of these Elder Updates have caused Willow Creek to move any closer towards healing. Wishing that the past 23 months of scandal would be in the rear view mirror does not make it so. If anything, the scandals keep coming. Though carefully-tailored messaging would seek to portray that the worst is over and church conditions are returning to normal, a spiritual PET scan would actually show that the cancer cells have spread.

Directly below, I have created a potential update for the elders to use in their next communication.  I believe that messaging of this kind would be an honest and essential next step towards true healing for Willow Creek.  

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We, the elders and senior leaders of Willow Creek, are truly sorry.  We thought we could control the damage at Willow, but we admit now that we can’t.  We placed Willow Creek’s future above all other priorities. In so doing, we have failed … utterly.  We failed the women victims of Bill Hybels. We failed Bill Hybels. We failed the congregation of Willow Creek.  We failed the Willow Creek staff. We failed the churches around the world that trusted our church and looked to the Global Leadership Network to be an example of godly Biblical leadership.  We failed the watching world that points at us, shaking its head with confusion, dismay, and even derision. Ultimately, we have failed our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are sorry.

WE FAILED THE WOMEN VICTIMS OF BILL HYBELS

We are so sorry that we did not believe you and your advocates.  We are sorry for calling you liars and colluders against Bill Hybels.  You told the truth about Bill Hybels. We are the ones that lied and colluded against you to the Willow Creek congregation and the thousands of churches in the Global Leadership Network (previously:  Willow Creek Association). We confess that we have never fully made this right, no matter how much we have tried to convince ourselves that we did.

We are sorry that we did not hire a reputable third party clergy abuse investigatory organization that are experts in this field, such as GRACE.  We acknowledge that you and your advocates requested a thoroughly independent third party clergy abuse investigation repeatedly for the last six years.  We confess that we accused the advocates of trying to “control” the investigation, making “demands” and setting unreasonable parameters. We confess that we sought to control the narrative as well as limit the damage of this scandal.  We confess that we have not trusted God enough to tell the truth regarding your abuse at the hands of Bill Hybels.  

You are heroes.  You are brave and courageous.  We will be forever indebted to you for sounding the alarm to potential future victims.  May there be no more.

We recognize that if ten women have come forward, there DEFINITELY must be other women victims of Bill Hybels … many that have suffered in private agony, some for years, some for decades.  Whether from embarrassment, humiliation, and / or incalculable personal cost, they have not stepped forward. We confess that our actions toward the women who have come forward have only made it that much more difficult for others to find personal resolution and freedom from the nightmares that plague them due to the cruel interactions they endured from Bill Hybels.  We confess that we did not create a safe harbor for other women victims to come forward. We confess that we wanted to control the damage that the women’s stories would cause to Bill and the church. We placed Bill’s and Willow Creek’s reputation above your healing. We are truly sorry.

We confess that we have not presented victims of abuse at Willow Creek a safe conduit to share their stories.  We confess that we made a mistake to offer the following instructions to abuse victims in our January 30, 2020 Elder Update: 

“If you have experienced abuse from leadership at Willow, past or present, please contact us at 630-682-9797, ext. 1291.”

We confess that this phone number is to an organization called Capin Crouse.  Their website describes themselves as:

 “… a national CPA and consulting services firm, … providing support in the key areas of financial integrity and security,” 

We have had a 30+ year financial relationship with Capin Crouse.  We confess this is not a good first step towards sharing your stories of abuse with the elders.

WE FAILED BILL HYBELS

We confess that our interactions with Bill Hybels have been cowardly.  We did not hold him accountable. We confess that we chose to believe and defend him rather than the women victims and their advocates, even when there was a preponderance of evidence against him.  

We confess that we have continued to treat Bill Hybels with misplaced deference, meekly asking him to meet with us and when rebuffed by him, concluding that we can’t force him to talk with us.  

We confess that we failed in the handling of his severance / retirement package.  We failed by not including a morality clause in that package. In fact, we failed him by not withholding his severance payments, even though there was not a morality clause. We could have been brave enough to refuse payment and then force him to take us to court where he would have had to justify being paid millions of dollars despite the accusations against him. We know in our heart of hearts that he would not have taken us to court because he does not want to face any cross-examination.

We confess that we feared Bill Hybels more than we feared God.  We confess that we should have declared to Bill Hybels, “You are that man,” just as Nathan confronted David in II Samuel 12:7.  We confess that we ought to have removed his ordination and stated that he was no longer fit to be a minister of the gospel due to his unrepentant and arrogant heart.  We confess that we also failed to excommunicate him from membership at Willow Creek Community Church for the same reasons. 

WE FAILED THE CONGREGATION OF WILLOW CREEK

We have failed you, the congregation of Willow Creek, by not leading you well through this scandal.  We have allowed you, even encouraged you towards faulty thinking and conclusions regarding the women victims.  We have not given you a Biblical reason for how we handled Bill Hybels’ sin. And when asked repeatedly to Scripturally justify our responses to the scandal, we confess that we do not have a Biblical foundation to stand on.  We have not corrected you when some of you have expressed, “What more do these women want?” We did not correct you when so many of you expressed that you wanted to “move on.” We confess now that we can’t move on until we deal with the sin in our own house.

We have not taught you what the impact of sexual abuse and the abuse of power, especially by clergy, has on women.  We failed to explain the insidious nature of Bill Hybels’ grooming and sexual abuse. We have not revealed to you how these women felt utterly confused and alone when they tried to process the sexual advances by their world renowned pastor.  We did not teach you that women sexual trauma victims can suffer from PTSD. We failed to teach you that a woman does not have to be raped to suffer excruciating trauma. We failed to teach you that victims can block out the memory of sexual trauma for years in order to cope with the pain, only to be triggered later and have its ugliness recalled. We sought to minimize what Bill Hybels did to the women, and we are sorry for not telling you the truth.

We also hid the truth from you about Dr. B’s sexual harassment and worse.  We did not hold him accountable. Instead, we permitted him to minister as though  nothing had happened. We’re sorry for the pattern of dishonesty we persisted in creating.  And honestly, we don’t know how to correct all of these grievous errors. We have betrayed your trust.  

We confess that we, the elders of Willow Creek, have perpetuated the protection of the Willow Creek image and brand over the terrible truth of sexual and power abuse.  We have failed to be appropriately transparent with you.

We confess that we have terminated other staff for affairs, and we have been silent.  We have allowed them to simply … disappear. 

We confess that we have not been forthcoming to you regarding other staff departures of individuals who were a part of the abusive culture.  We confess that we wanted to hide how deep the abuse ran in our church.  

We confess that we did not hold accountable the leaders that so publicly lied, disparaged and slandered the women victims and their advocates, some of whom are still on staff.

We confess that we have hidden from you the financial terms of Bill Hybels’ and Heather Larson’s severance packages.  We have not been forthcoming regarding the financial costs to the church of attorneys, skyrocketing insurance premiums, and legal settlement costs out of fear that you would stop giving.  We confess that we have not been financially transparent with you.

WE FAILED THE STAFF OF WILLOW CREEK

We have failed the staff by making the wrongheaded decision to not have  the senior pastor be a member of the elder board. Rather than holding the senior pastor accountable, which we did not do with Bill Hybels, we decided to eliminate such a problem from happening again by not having the senior pastor on the board.  We are part time volunteers, and we confess that we are in way over our heads. 

We confess that we have not kept the staff informed of our deliberations, and as a result, they feel like they are doing their jobs (ministries) in the dark.  We know that we have lost their trust, and in many ways we have caused them to lose yours  And we are truly sorry.

WE FAILED THE GLN CHURCHES AROUND THE WORLD

We confess that WCCC and the GLN are inseparably linked, no matter how much we publicly deny it.  We confess that we have minimized Bill Hybels’ influence and impact on the GLN and GLS.  

We confess that we have never made right the damage we did to the reputations of the women victims who stepped forward.  

We confess that we have avoided any topics at the GLS that could possibly cast a bad light on Bill Hybels regarding his sexual abuse of women or his abusive leadership.  We confess that we sought to avoid the optics of the obvious hypocrisy of teaching churches around the world how to lift up women and be better leaders when the founder of the the GLN and GLS abused women and often led by bullying.  

We confess that we decided that the ends justify the means.  We confess that the ends of helping others around the world justified lying about who Bill Hybels really is.

WE FAILED THE WATCHING WORLD AND ULTIMATELY OUR SAVIOR

We confess that we have been a poor example to those whom we say we want to reach with the good news of forgiveness from Christ.  The very mission of WCCC, upon which the church was founded, has been sullied by its founder and its leaders. We are sorry.

Ultimately, Father, we have sinned against you.  All of the above transgressions against others are ultimately sins against You.  We are ashamed, and we are sorry for damaging Your Name. We agree with David when he confessed that his sins against others were ultimately “sins against the Lord,” II Samuel 12:13.

HAVING RECOGNIZED OUR ABOVE FAILURES, WE WILL:

  1. CEASE BEING THE CONDUIT FOR WOMEN’S COMPLAINTS AGAINST BILL HYBELS,  DR. B., AND POTENTIALLY OTHERS IN THE CHURCH

We must take this action because we recognize that we have irretrievably lost the trust of victims.  

  1. HIRE GRACE (Godly Response To Abuse In The Christian Environment) — netgrace.org

We are sorry that we did not hire GRACE  years ago when it was suggested by the beloved former Willow staff when they first learned of troubling indications (still unresolved) regarding Bill Hybels’ alleged 14-year affair.  

We must take this action because we admit that we do not have the expertise to deal with clergy and church abuse.  GRACE does.

  1. WE WILL HIRE AN INTERIM PASTOR THAT WILL WORK WITH GRACE

We confess that it has been a mistake to try to lead our church out of our scandals towards healing utilizing our own long-term staff.  We confess that the temptation to protect the church’s image rather than reveal the ugly truths that we discovered has been too great.

In fact, we insist that the interim pastor must agree to work with GRACE to lead Willow Creek towards healing.

  1. WE ARE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDING OUR SEARCH FOR A PERMANENT SENIOR PASTOR 

We have concluded that it would be unfair to hire a new senior pastor when we have failed to address our scandals and take significant steps toward healing first. 

  1. WE ARE DIRECTING THE GLN TO ADDRESS CERTAIN TOPICS AT GLS 2020 

These topics will include:

      • The painful truths contained in this update
      • How to identify narcissistic and abusive leaders
      • How does a church board hold its senior leaders accountable
      • How to create a safe conduit for sexual abuse, power abuse, and grooming allegations to be heard 
      • Honest discussion regarding narcissists being attracted to the GLS

We will strongly recommend to the GLN board that these topics be included in their advance messaging to GLS 2020 host churches, that host pastors will be afforded ample time and opportunity to understand and process the information, and that these topics will not be treated as optional messaging in-between sessions, but as part of the sessions themselves. 

We want to say again how sorry we are for the pain that we have caused so many.  We cannot say it enough. We are appealing to God for His help to carry these commitments through to their conclusion, mindful of  the wisdom of Solomon when he taught in Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”  

May our confessions and resolutions above finally begin to bring healing to our church.

A Live “Acknowledgement” at the Global Leadership Summit

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WC Elephant in the RoomP.S.  DON’T FORGET THE ELEPHANTS  

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“He who heeds discipline shows the way of life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.”   Proverbs 10:17

I have become aware of some disturbing news about the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) 2018, and how it will be kicked off.

The WCA has made the decision to make a “live acknowledgement” approximately 10 minutes prior to Session #1 on August 9, 2018.  The webinar that described this announcement was directed to the host site producers and tech staff of the GLS.

The Summit is God’s Event

By way of introduction, the following statement was made on the webinar:

“First off, the Summit is God’s event.  It’s always been God’s event, not about one person.  So it’s not something that we felt the ministry had to pause for a year.”

This statement is fraught with troublesome issues.  Several inferences are obvious:

  • The WCA is reassuring the host sites that remain that they are participating in an event that belongs to God.
  • At the same time, the WCA implies that the host sites that have pulled out of the GLS have made a mistake by choosing to not participate in this event because it belongs to God.
  • By ascribing God’s name to and ownership of the GLS, one is not permitted to argue against it.  It compares to the age old dilemma posed by “that” friend who would say to you, “God told me . . . (and then fill in the blank).“  If God told that person something, then the conversation ends.  One can’t debate or question that which is of God.
  • The WCA falsely concludes that because the GLS belongs to God, they must automatically hold the event this year.
  • It could well be argued that if indeed the GLS is God’s event, the WCA ought to hit the pause button this year!  After all, God is the Defender of the oppressed.  The women have been oppressed at the hands of the powerful.  First, by Bill Hybels, and more recently by the leadership of Willow Creek.  Until the truth is revealed regarding the women’s claims, would it not be wise for the WCA to err on the side of caution and on behalf of the women who claim personal violation?
  • It is technically true that the GLS is “not about one person.”  But:

○ That one person originated the GLS.

○ That one person traveled the world representing the GLS.

○ That one person was the face of the GLS.

○ That one person was looked to by all other WCA senior leadership to give them their marching orders.

○ That one person raised untold millions of dollars for the WCA and GLS.

○ That one person’s own star power attracted other stars to participate in the GLS.

○ It is this same one person’s inappropriate conduct (while traveling globally on behalf of the WCA & GLS) with women (not his wife) that is at the center of the biggest scandal in the 26 year history of this iconic ministry.

No one but no one would ever say, “Michael Jordan was just one player on the Chicago Bulls.”  Technically true, but it would be disingenuous.  Michael Jordan was the Chicago Bulls.  And so it is also true:  Bill Hybels was Willow Creek Community Church and the Willow Creek Association and the GLS.  His fingerprints cover, and his DNA permeates every aspect of these ministries.

Transparency and Criticism

The WCA communicated to host site leaders that they have valued transparency, but they feel that transparency has resulted in them being criticized.  So, to avoid more criticism, they are keeping this “live acknowledgement” secret right up until the last possible minute.

First, this conviction that the WCA has been transparent, as stated in the webinar, contradicts what I have heard from the women.  I have spoken to the women and I believe their testimonies that the WCA’s claims to previous transparency are not true.

I wrote an entire email to the WCA pleading for clear (transparent) communication (Email 6).  When something is transparent, it is clearly seen. When words are transparent, the meaning behind those words are clearly understood. The WCA has not communicated clearly.  They have not been transparent.

Second, the WCA feels that they have been criticized.  I submit that the WCA has not been criticized.  Criticism has no redeeming value.  Criticism is a put down.  Criticism makes the recipient feel smaller.  What I and several others have sought to do in communicating with the WCA (and elders) is to instruct, give advice, admonish, correct. Correction has great redeeming value . . . if received and acted upon.  When words of correction and admonishment are NOT received humbly and processed by those to whom they are directed, those same words are often viewed as criticism by the receivers of those words.

“Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser.
Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.”   Proverbs 9:9 (NLT)

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.”  Proverbs 12:15 (RSV)

Third, it appears the WCA thinks they will again be “criticized.”  This time, for their “live acknowledgement.”  May I assure the WCA that:

  • There is no time like the present to announce their sorrow over how the women have been treated.
    • Apologize specifically to the women for each of the false accusations uttered against them.
    • Since you cannot prove Bill’s innocence, show immediate concern and compassion for the women as secular corporations have done.  Note:  you can only do this if the WCA and GLS have truly separated themselves from Bill Hybels’ influence as well as devotion to and communication with him.
  • They do not have to wait until August 9 to apologize to the women for any communications that have gone to other parts of the world supporting the elders’ initial narratives of Bill’s innocence and the women’s lies, and the former leaders’ collusion.  
    • Apologize in full for exporting Bill’s and Willow Creek’s narrative as truth to your global leaders.
    • Apologize for sending sales teams into the field to reassure WCA partners with that same false narrative.
  • They do not have to wait to announce they agree that a totally independent third party investigator with expertise in clergy abuse is needed to find out the truth behind this sordid affair.  
    • STAND UP AND DEMAND a gold standard investigation into all of Bill Hybels’ actions OUTSIDE of any construct from the WCA or Willow elders or Willow attorneys.  
    • Then let the outcome stand on its own merit.

These announcements could be made TODAY.  And there would not be a word of “criticism” from those who want to know the truth.

But it does not appear the “acknowledgement” will include any such thing.  If it did, it would be wise and advisable to make the acknowledgement NOW.  

As a former staff person from Willow Creek has communicated:

Willow’s leaders need a total commitment to discover truth and then do what’s right. They can do that anytime.  If they think the women are obstructing or lying, they should say it.  This can’t be (and shouldn’t be portrayed as — tho’ it will) a ‘negotiation’ between two ‘sides.’  It’s not about a ‘list.’  It’s about a will-to-truth that will be unmistakable should it ever make it to the forefront of this sorry story.  The women’s stories are already on record!

The House of Cards Narrative Continues

I have been struck as of late, how much great insight and wisdom and advice and admonitions, etc. have been offered to the WCA and elders since late March 2018.  These truths, many times difficult to read, difficult to admit, difficult to face, appear to have been largely ignored.  I have been told, “We hear you, Rob.”  I suspect others have been told the same thing.  Yet the narrative from Willow Creek platforms continues largely unchanged.  And when the narrative does change … ever so slightly … it causes MORE questions because the new narrative contradicts the old.

I have not forgotten about the elephants in the room from my first post.  I want to believe that the elders and WCA have not either, but all indications point in the opposite direction.  Please heed the hard truths and difficult discipline that have come your way these last 4 months.

Rather than address the #MeToo issue which is waaaaaay premature, in my view, how about addressing the subject of narcissism in ministry at the GLS?  Some session recommendations:

  • Identifying Narcissism in the Pulpit

  • The Almost Impossible Task of Holding a Narcissist Accountable

  • A workshop for elder boards dealing with a narcissistic leader

And whatever you do, please, please, PLEASE do not follow through with the suggested segment at the GLS addressing how men are not hiring women because they don’t know how to act around them — that men don’t want to put themselves in that vulnerable* position (*my word).  Such a segment would be the ultimate slap in the face to the women who have bravely stepped forward, the same women to whom the leadership of Willow Creek has vainly expressed their deepest care and listening (sarcasm intended.)

Would that the WCA heed the instruction, advice, and correction from the many voices that have sought the ultimate good of the women, Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Church and the Willow Creek Association.  To ignore a myriad of well-intended admonitions would indicate at a minimum, a less than humble and teachable spirit.  At its worst, it would sadly reveal a direct contradiction to the event scheduled just days from now that bears its name, the Global Leadership Summit.

Who will ultimately suffer if the WCA fails to heed discipline, and responds to this “controversy” with anything less than a fierce commitment to righteousness and the truth?

Who will be led astray?

What global consequences will result?

The need for true leadership from the WCA has never been greater.  May the Global Leadership Summit choose to use their influence wisely.

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