Bill Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Willow Creek is one of the largest churches in the country and Hybels has been in ministry for 37 years. So, when he speaks, we should probably listen.
I found this interview he did with Todd Rhoads fascinating and highly recommend it. Much of it is focused on church planting but there’s broader implications than just that. Below are some excerpts:
So, I would spend a lot of time coming up with the rationale for why would I be starting another church. What’s going to be different? What’s going to keep it from becoming like these others…Start with a White-Hot, Differentiated, Compelling Vision.
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One thing I really got right is that I started Willow with my friends. The founders are still with me today and we’re still best of friends. I had an incredible team of proven people around me, and we had established a loving and joyful community before we held our first service.
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Whenever I’m asked about my biggest mistakes in the early days
of Willow, I say that I put undisciplined, untested people into positions of responsibility prematurely. And then I watched every imaginable kind of hurt happen as a result of that poor judgment.
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Over the years I’ve learned you need to look for character, competence and chemistry. In the early days, I looked for warm bodies. I didn’t have the discernment grid. I didn’t know what would make or break a leader. So I didn’t know to the extent that I know it now that any little chinks in the character armor are going to be lethal. It’s not going to be a little problem. It’s going to be a major problem. So I have much higher standards now and have ways of determining who are people of character and who are not.
[…]
So when I started Willow, I loved reading God’s Word and I loved communicating with Him in prayer and reading good Christian books. I liked that just because of my relationship with God. But I dramatically underestimated how often my colleagues and the people in the church practiced the classic spiritual disciplines. I just thought everybody spent time with God and surrendered their spirits before Him every day.
