August 9-12 - Willow Creek Leadership Summit

This was our first trip, one of many to various locations that we will take as a part of the Beeson program. Willow Creek Community Church is a very, very, very large (10,000+ per Sunday) church that claims no denominational affiliation. However, they clearly have a high view of scripture, accept only a adult believers baptism, and practice a congregational form of church government. Basically the only outward difference between them and the average Southern Baptist is that they allow women to preach. As if one could actually stop or "allow" the Holy Spirit to "blow where it will."

While they are governed congregationally, they have grown to five satellite sites, each with a different preaching pastor. The founding pastor of Willow Creek is now the senior pastor of the whole Willow Creek Church complex. His job description is very similar to what United Methodists would call a district superintendent, or even a bishop. It amazed me that those who would be the most critical of an Episcopal system seemed to be reinventing it before my eyes.
Another thing to note is that there is a Willow Creek Association: a collection of "non-denominational" member churches that are United in Method (caps intentional) and pay an annual membership fee for reduced prices on the Cokesbury ... ahem ... I mean ... uh ...Willow Creek curriculum. There is a "president" of the Willow Creek Association, as well as a governing board which Bill Hybels is on. Again, those Congregationalists who would condemn an Episcopal system seem to be doing all they can to reinvent it.

Here ends my criticism of Willow Creek. Let the praise begin.

People often criticize Willow Creek for being "too much like a business" ... "too corporate." These critics are usually members of dying denominations and are locked in passionless hierarchical systems of government that look more like 19th century, big-government, fill-out-these-form-in-triplicate train wrecks. Talk about corporate! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
The difference is that Willow Creek has passion as every level: clergy and laity, from the board room to the Bible study. Everything is about passion.

Bill Hybels opened the conference by identifying different cycles of leadership development and the unique demands these places on a leader to make adjustments to his or her approach along the way. I found this talk helpful because I learned about the different stages of church leadership and why most churches get locked into a certain size: because the pastor thinks that they have to do everything and be everything.

The second speaker was Rev. James Meeks, an African pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. He spoke about the ten inhibitors of church growth. James Meeks' teaching flowed out of his experience as a leader in the local church, education, and in socioeconomic and political circles. He is also an Illinois State senator in addition to being the pastor of a 20,000+ member church. This was a refreshing dip into positive waters. Many times I am surrounded by negative people: "we can't grow this church ... we're too rural ... we're too near downtown ... people won't cross the highway ... people won't drive over the mountain." It is disheartening to hear trash like that when we all know better than God wants the church to grow. We can sit around and make excuses for our failure, when all we are really doing is blaming God.

One thing about Rev. Meeks ... he's like Paul. He's not the best speaker in the world. But he knows his stuff. I was expecting a slick, almost-Hollywood speaker. He wasn't. He was just a man. And his greatest ministry is yet to come ... and the following might be it.

Also, Rev. Meeks, an unashamed evangelical himself, has done a mighty ministry at Willow Creek. He has put the social justice issue of racial reconciliation on the front burner at this predominately white church. He took 50 leaders from his church and 50 leaders from Willow Creek on a Civil Rights Tour through the Deep South, ending in Selma, Alabama marching over the Edmund Pettis Bridge. What I saw this weekend was an awakening of a social consciousness in the evangelical movement. Rev. Meeks is a big part of that. He is most likely the biggest part, apart from the Holy Spirit. However, I will wait until I write about the Bono interview to say more about that.

The third speaker was Andy Stanley, the son of Charles Stanley. He started a church in Atlanta, Georgia that now has over 15,000 members. Andy Stanley addressed the complex challenge of keeping a church on mission as it deals with the intense pressures that naturally arise in an expanding ministry. Andy is a young fellow, or seemed so. I identified with him the most: he said that most pastors work insane hours at church (70+) and pray that God take care of the family at home. He suggested that we do the opposite: put the priority on the family and let God grow the church. Andy had a great example: he gives the church 45 hours per week. His first challenge was a pastoral care issue: a key family was struggling with an issue, Andy gave them all the time allotted (hang on Methodists) and then went home. After the church member calmed down, they recollected their spiritual maturity and started the congregational care ministry at the church. Instead of expecting the pastor to do everything, someone found a ministry.

The forth speaker was Peg Neuhauser who talked to us about conflict in the workplace. Managers spend between 25 and 60 percent of their workday dealing with conflicts or fallout from people-related problems. Peg Neuhauser helped us deal with the reality of these internal "tribal wars" and gives practical strategies for communicating to bridge the gaps that often create destructive conflict between various people groups. The results include decreased stress levels, better communication, and increased productivity. She was a good speaker, but she talked more about communication than conflict. I would like to have heard more about conflict. Here is a link to all her books.

The second day began with an interview between Bill Hybels and Dr. Ashish Nanda of the Harvard School of Business. Dr Nanda taught that organizations, including churches, often look elsewhere for first rate talent because developing your own people can be more difficult and take more time and money. In an interview with Bill Hybels, Ashish Nanda talks about the risks associated with hiring great leaders from the outside versus developing leaders from within. His talk was wonderful and has radical implications for the current incarnation of the United Methodist Clergy Appointment system. The article may be read here or ordered here. Perhaps clergy are not just cogs in a machine that can be interchanged at will. Perhaps the craft of ministry is more beautiful than that. I was fascinated by that whole talk.

The second talk was by Dr. Jim Collins of Stanford University. He write Good to Great. He has recently published another book called Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. This was an awesome book. I read it in one sitting. So often in ministry we hear people say that the church should be run like a business. Collins claims that is just silly: most businesses stink, too. The problem is not business strategy, but following the models of great organizations, whether they are for-profit or non-profit. I recommend reading his monograph soon.

The third talk was by Dr. Patrick Lencioni (that's "Lench-ee-o-nee") ... he is the leader of The Table Group consultant firm and is the author of Silos, Politics and Turf Wars. He also wrote a book called Death by Meeting. He had some great insights on focusing the immediate and long term goals for a group and some good ideas about handling dysfunction in an organization. I just did not connect as well with this talk because he tried to have small group discussions about 6500 people about 5 different case studies.

The fourth talk was a video interview with Bono, the lead singer of U2. I was literally stuck to my seat and amazed at Bono. He preached on of the best sermons that I had ever heard on social justice. He showed a masterful range of scripture in the interview. He had really, really good exegesis ... all the time. When he got through I was just numb with joy that God was working through him like that. He is shockingly orthodox in his thought. This may be a stretch, but he's a bit of a modern C.S.Lewis: an intelligent poetic layman. On the surface this interview promoted his campaign against AIDS in Africa called www.one.org. However, this was just so much more than that, it was a rallying cry for evangelical Christians to get on board with issues of social justice.

One of the great sorrows that I have is that mainline churches are obsessed with social justice to the point that they don't seem to realize that heaven and hell are very real and we have a commission to "offer people Christ" and have "nothing to do but save souls." On the flip side, evangelical churches seem addicted to leaving this world to the demons and preparing everyone for the sweet by-and-by. What we need is a church that attacks in both directions: win and love every last soul to Jesus Christ as well as stand against all injustice.

John Wesley is the only one that I know that could hold those together. Willow Creek, with the ministry of Rev. James Meeks and ... even Bono ... indeed the whole evangelical movement in America may be having a social justice awakening. About 60,000 people took part in this conference on site or via satellite. That's thousands of evangelical churches. And these people are focused and passionate. A United Methodist who is a snob might sneer ... "Well, we've been doing that since before the Civil Right Movement. Welcome to the party!" Don't take such an arrogant view! There was a man who had two sons ... one demanded his inheritance ... went out and fornicated with floosies, wasting his father's money. The other stayed home and sneered and complained, even whined when the other brother returned and repented. You know the story ... unless you can exegete it away like we have done so many other things! : )

The final day was headed up by Wayne Cordeiro. Wayne is pastor of the New Hope community of churches (similar to Willow Creek) in Hawaii. I have rarely seen a more genuine communicator. He is about 50 and was able to shares his recent pain of ministry fatigue, and with his unique perspective, identifies warning signals of burnout and ways to create or rebuild a sustainable life. Andy Stanley shared something similar with us, but I don't know if Andy had as much pain to speak from as Wayne did. No offense to Andy. There was just a steady, happy maturity behind Wayne's playful voice. I got alot out of this talk about setting boundaries in ministry. I appreciated the ethnic diversity that Wayne and James brought. Note well the social justice undertones in this message outline from Wayne.

Bill Hybels ended the conference with a stirring call to clarity in our preaching. He gave a spirited defense of Sacrificial Atonement. He seemed a little pressed for time and very excited, but I wish that he had tied this in with the obvious social justice currents that were in the rest of the conference. He took us from the animal skins that covered Adam and Eve to Christ on the Cross. I loved this talk, but the whole thing could be summed up in one sentence from our preaching professor Dr. Ellsworth Kalas: "It's just wicked to speak for 20 minutes or even longer and people leave without any idea of what you said." Amen! Sound the trumpet call!

The journey to Chicago was long. The return trip was long, but a good time and a blessed time was had by all. "So comes snow after winter ... and even dragons have their end. I wish now to only to be in my own arm chair."

Grace and peace,
Trav Wilson