Category: Warren Throckmorton

UPDATE: Just this morning, Willow Creek has deleted two more sites. I suspect this will continue through the beginning of the conference.

As the beginning of Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit nears, the number of host sites continues to decline. Despite the promotion of 600 sites on the conference website, a count of the number of publicly available sites has now fallen to 485. According to Willow Creek Association, there are additional private sites and some in prisons. However, for people wanting to sign up for the GLS, the number of options continues to decrease as the conference draws near.

Willow Creek Association continues to say that only 111 host sites have dropped out over the sexual misconduct allegations against Bill Hybels (e.g., to Christianity Today). However, a check of the sites posted on the GLS website indicates that more sites have dropped since I last checked.  At the beginning of 2018, Willow Creek promoted the GLS with claims of 700 host sites for the conference simulcast.

Leadership Reset

Sometimes in leadership, a leader must lead by not leading. What I mean is that followers simply won’t follow under some circumstances. I believe Willow Creek leaders are now in that position. I don’t think it matters what they do, they are compromised and their best leadership move is to step down. They may not believe it is fair and they may believe they have done their best. Nonetheless, the perception is that the situation is getting worse and that a reset is needed.

The GLS will be tainted by the Hybels’ controversy and the failure to handle it properly. Much of what is presented in the sessions will be compared to what has happened at Willow Creek. Maybe I’m wrong, but I sense that a situation is being set up where it will seem that the GLS speakers will talk about leadership without actually leading.

Christianity Today on Willow Creek and GLS

New York Times Sunday article with new allegations against Hybels which he denies.

Scot McKnight’s response to Willow Creek.

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Photo: By Ianphilpot at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18726346

According to blogger and Willow Creek church member Rob Speight, the leaders of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit (August 9-10) have promised to give 10 minutes at the beginning of the conference to a “live acknowledgement” of the Bill Hybels controversy. Here is a beginning of Speight’s post:

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.

It seems obvious that Willow Creek leaders presided over a massive failure of leadership. To put on a leadership meeting and think that a 10 minute acknowledgement will address the issues is another sign that the leaders need to be taught not teach.

Go read the rest of Speight’s piece here.

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Image: Fair use from https://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/index2.html

Eagle Brook Church in the Twin Cities area of MN is not going to host the Global Leadership Summit this year. Although this decision has been made for awhile, public disclosure of it has been limited.

Back in May, Benjamin Ady tweeted this letter which the church sent to those who attended the GLS in the past.

Because you’ve been involved with the Global Leadership Summit in the past, we wanted you to be among the first to know that we’ve decided not to host the GLS this year. In all of the years we’ve been connected with the GLS, we’ve so appreciated the wisdom it’s instilled in our leaders, our attenders, and so many others in our community.

However, this year we felt it would no longer uphold the standard of excellence and integrity it has previously been known for due to the recent accusations surrounding Bill Hybels and his subsequent resignation. Because of all this, we decided to step down as a host site.

If you’d like to know more about this decision, here’s a note from our senior pastor, Bob Merritt.

Merritt’s letter is below:

Dear Friends,

From the moment the accusations regarding Bill Hybels became known, the Eagle Brook Executive Team met every week—and ultimately, we decided we could no longer host the Global Leadership Summit. We have labored over our decision and understand the full ramifications of it.

We have decided not to host the Summit this year for two primary reasons. First, we believe the value of the Summit has been compromised. Bill was historically a big draw for us, and as we evaluate this year’s lineup, we don’t believe it will offer the same value for attenders.

The second reason has to do with our own credibility and reputation. In the end, it would be a lot harder for us to defend why we’re hosting than it would for us to defend why we wouldn’t. It’s not an easy call either way, but we are simply not willing to risk our own reputation for the mistakes that Bill and Willow Creek made.

We are not trying to make a point, and we are deeply saddened by all that’s happened. But we believe this decision is best for our church.

We are grateful for the positive impact the GLS has had on our church and churches all over the world. If the GLS can right the ship and find a new leader or a greatly restored leader, we would consider hosting again.

Currently, if you count Willow Creek Church as one location, 494 simulcast sites are listed on the conference website as participating venues. Willow Creek Association started the year with 700 sites.

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Photo: By Ianphilpot at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18726346

On Wednesday, I asked Willow Creek Association how many churches had dropped out of their Global Leadership Summit due to allegations of sexual harassment against Bill Hybels. Two days later, WCA answered the question in the Christian Post yesterday saying 111 host sites dropped out as a “direct result of sexual misconduct allegations” which led to Bill Hybels’ resignation from Willow Creek Church and related ministries.

In contrast to more confident comments made to the Daily Herald in early July by WCA president and CEO Tom DeVries, WCA’s statement yesterday said attendance will be affected.  According to the July 2 report, DeVries said that attendance was not expected to suffer due to the controversy over Hybels.

Just 111?

Yesterday, I demonstrated how in Jaunary of this year WCA had advertised 700 host locations for the simulcast of the GLS. Currently, WCA is advertising 600 plus on the front page of the conference website and “over 500 locations” on their location search page. However, the actual number has fluctuated between 494-497 during the past week.  Thus, it appears the drop in venues is over 200 venues (almost 29%) since the beginning of the year. Perhaps some have dropped out without giving a reason or for reasons other than the Hybels’ controversy.

Some church leaders have declined to issue a detailed statement simply saying they want to pause their involvement due to the allegations. Others, such as the Vineyard in Cincinnati have posted statements on their website. Here is the opening part of the Vineyard’s statement:

Many of you know that we have been a host site for Willow Creek’s Global Leadership Summit for 14 years. Some of you may have heard that the pastor of Willow Creek Church, Bill Hybels, has recently resigned amid allegations of misconduct with women perpetrated over many years. (See CHRISTIANITY TODAY ARTICLES)

After much thought and prayer, we have decided that Vineyard Cincinnati Church will not be a host site of the Global Leadership Summit this year.

We are reminded from Scripture that God calls us to defend the vulnerable — the orphan, the widow, the oppressed and those who suffer under the misuse of power.

In short, God cares deeply how those who possess power use that power. We pray that women everywhere who have suffered would see that God’s people stand with them and love them and care for them.

If you are associated with a church/venue which has canceled and have a comment please get in touch with me. Likewise, if you are associated with a church/venue and plan to go ahead with the event, let me know why you are doing so.

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Photo: By Ianphilpot at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18726346