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The family of an Arizona congressional staffer who died while camping in Death Valley National Park in California have revealed that his SUV had gotten stranded with two flat tires, and his wife suffered a severe injury to her foot during the ill-fated trip last week. Alexander Lofgren, 32, and Emily Henkel, 27, were found on Friday on a steep ledge near Willow Creek, California, but Lofgren did not survive....

Shauna Niequist has apologized for failing to speak out after her father, Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, was accused of decades of sexual misconduct. In a lengthy Instagram post Monday, Niequist, a popular author and ministry leader, addressed the allegations along with a simple image that features the phrase “An apology.” “I apologize for my silence & for all that it communicated. I’m so sorry. I continue to grieve alongside every person who’s grieving,” she wrote. Niequist, whose husband, Aaron Niequist, formerly served as a worship leader at Willow Creek, said that the “season” in...

Report: Allegations against Hybels deemed 'credible' SOUTH BARRINGTON, Ill. (BP) -- Allegations of sexual misconduct against former pastor Bill Hybels are credible, an independent group of ministers commissioned to investigate the claims concluded in its final report Thursday (Feb. 28). Disciplinary action would be recommended were Hybels still pastoring Willow Creek Community Church (WCCC), the Willow Creek Independent Advisory Group (IAG) said in its report. Since Hybels resigned his pastorate in April 2018, the IAG recommended no action against him, but recommended he seek counseling. "Allegations of sexually inappropriate words and actions by Bill Hybels in the context of his...

Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois reportedly paid $3.5 million in lawsuits over the sex abuse of two developmentally disabled boys. The evangelical megachurch, which recently saw its entire elders board resign over unrelated accusations that former lead pastor Bill Hybels sexually abused women, made the payments in the lawsuits over several years, court records obtained by The Chicago Tribune show. One payment of $1.75 million was apparently made in February, while another one of $1.5 million was made last year. Former Willow Creek volunteer Robert Sobczak Jr., now 24, pled guilty in 2014 of abusing an 8-year-old with special...

In the summer of 2008, Bill Hybels stood in front of thousands of pastors and other church leaders gathered at Willow Creek Community Church and admitted his megachurch had failed. “We made a mistake,” he told the crowd gathered for the 2008 Global Leadership Summit (GLS). A detailed Willow study had found that the church had helped many people find new faith in Jesus, but had failed to teach them how to practice the spiritual disciplines needed to grow their faith. He vowed the megachurch would do be better in the future. Ten years later, Willow Creek’s leaders confessed even...

Pam Orr, chair of Willow Creek Community Church's elder board in suburban Chicago, has apologized to multiple women who publicly accused the megachurch's founder, Bill Hybels, of sexual misconduct in recent months and revealed after listening to some of them, "we do not believe the stories were all lies." In a statement released by the church late Wednesday, Orr, who had previously defended Hybels against the allegations along with the elder board, also revealed that she will step down from her role at the end of this month and will be replaced by longtime church member Lane Moyer. "Our top...

Providing more details on the sexual misconduct case against Willow Creek Community Church founder Bill Hybels, former staffer Nancy Ortberg claimed that the woman who alleged a prolonged sexual affair with Hybels was suicidal and that the founder was allowed to continue counseling the woman even after the allegation was made. Ortberg, who served on the Board of the Willow Creek Association and on staff as teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church for nine years, decided to release the details two days after Hybels announced that he would retire, because she remains "deeply concerned about the process and church...

Maintaining his innocence at a church gathering, Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor of the multi-campus Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, announced on Tuesday his decision to retire from his role six months earlier than planned under a swirling cloud of sexual misconduct allegations. "I have decided to accelerate my planned retirement date from October of this year to tonight. This decision was mine and mine alone, but after much discussion, my decision earned the unanimous support of the Elders and the Executive Team," Hybels said in a statement he read to the church. "As Lynne (wife)...

The founder Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, one of the nation's largest evangelical churches, has stepped down six months ahead of schedule. The Tuesday announcement by the Rev. Bill Hybels to his congregation comes after published reports Hybels was the subject of inquiries by church leaders. They were looking into claims Hybels engaged in inappropriate behavior with women in his congregation. He was cleared of the allegations. Hybels has been a counselor to presidents and is considered one of the most influential evangelical figures in the country. His announcement came at his church Tuesday night. "I have decided to...

Jim Palmer, a former evangelical pastor who once served in ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago and went on to preach the power of faith to hundreds as lead pastor of his own church in Brentwood, Tennessee, is now the vice president of the Nashville Humanist Association, which promotes humanism and a secular state.Palmer, 53, told The Tennessean that his journey away from faith in God was triggered about 20 years ago by two devastating events. He said his faith was shaken when he learned that a church staff member was beating their spouse. It then suffered another blow when...

Central Kentucky's largest church will break with tradition and close its doors on Christmas Sunday so that staff and volunteers can spend more time with their families. Southland Christian Church near Lexington, where more than 7,000 people worship each week, is one of several evangelical megachurches across the country that are opting to cancel services on one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar. Supporters say the change is family-friendly. Opponents call it a regrettable bow to secular culture. The list of closed congregations on Christmas Sunday reads like a who's who of evangelical Protestantism: Willow Creek Community Church,...

Today, Greg Hawkins, executive pastor at Willow, recapped the study and then shared some changes that the church is now making in response to the research. He said they’re making the biggest changes to the church in over 30 years. For three decades Willow has been focused on making the church appealing to seekers. But the research shows that it’s the mature believers that drive everything in the church—including evangelism. Hawkins says, “We used to think you can’t upset a seeker. But while focusing on that we’ve really upset the Christ-centered people.” He spoke about the high levels of dissatisfaction...

BARRINGTON, Ill. -- As dusk settles on this neighborhood of 1920s bungalows and old farmhouses northwest of Chicago, Randy Frazee strums a banjo on his front porch, waiting for his dinner guests to arrive. No cars line his curb because everyone who is coming lives within walking distance. Once the 12 guests - ranging in age from about 7 to 70 - and the Frazee family have gathered around three tables set end-to-end, they join hands, and Frazee, a pastor at the Willow Creek Community Church, says a prayer. Throughout the evening, conversation occasionally touches on favorite scriptures and "walking...

Conservative evangelicals who saw environmentalism as alarmism welcomed Richard Cizik's resignation as the National Association of Evangelicals' Washington lobbyist last week. But evangelicals and scientists who had been working on "creation care" for several years saw it as a blow to their efforts. More than 50 evangelicals — including several environmental advocates — sent a letter to the NAE President Leith Anderson this morning, signaling their support for Cizik's efforts and urging the organization to "carry out Richard's vision of a broad Christian moral agenda." Those who signed the letter included presidents of organizations, professors, pastors, and authors, such as...

Rev. Bill Hybels opens his eyes at dawn, rolls out of bed and lands on his knees. For 10 minutes, he says, he kneels in prayer, thanking God. That one-on-one time came more easily three decades ago, when Hybels was an evangelist working outside the mainstream, launching an experimental ministry called Willow Creek Community Church. Now Willow Creek is a big part of the mainstream, the South Barrington-based megachurch at the forefront of an international phenomenon counting almost 12,000 congregations. And Hybels has become a power broker in evangelical Christianity, the CEO of a movement. This year he stepped away...

Willow Creek Community Church is no longer an affiliate of Exodus International, ending a relationship that spanned across several decades. Willow Creek spokespersons say they just wanted to rethink the South Barrington megachurch's affiliations, but Christianity Today reports that Exodus President Alan Chambers believes the church split from his organization to avoid public criticism. "The choice to end our partnership is definitely something that shines a light on a disappointing trend within parts of the Christian community," Chambers told the publication, "which is that there are Christians who believe like one another who aren't willing to stand with one another,...

The White House invited four of the country’s top evangelical pastors to attend President Obama’s speech this morning calling for immigration reform. ... The Rev. Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals. NAE is the nation’s largest evangelical group and has long sought to be a moderate evangelical alternative to the Christian Right. Dr. Richard Land, President, Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. ... worries that conservatives will burn bridges with the country’s fast-growing Hispanic bloc if they take a hard anti-immigrant line. Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Council. Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of the...

By his own estimation, the Rev. Mark Batterson has preached about 1,000 sermons in his makeshift sanctuary at Union Station's Phoenix Theatres, where his congregation has met for the past 13 years. Last week's was one of the most difficult: In his remarks he told his congregation it would be the final service at their unconventional church. The train station's movie theater closed abruptly last week. Mr. Batterson said that for the past two years he had been hearing rumors the theater would close, but he had been assured they were not true. So it came as a shock when...

Marcus Grodi welcomes Dr. Steven C. Smith, formerly with Willow Creek ministries. This is open line Monday. You may call in questions to 1-800-221-9460 or email Marcus at: journeyhome@ewtn.com. Here is some background information on Willow Creek Ministries. The mission of Willow Creek Community Church is to turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.The sole basis of our belief is the Bible, which is uniquely God-inspired, without error, and the final authority on all matters on which it bears. As the Bible teaches, there is one God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and...

After modeling a seeker-sensitive approach to church growth for three decades, Willow Creek Community Church now plans to gear its weekend services toward mature believers seeking to grow in their faith. cut Since 1975, Willow Creek has avoided conventional church approaches, using its Sunday services to reach the unchurched through polished music, multimedia, and sermons referencing popular culture and other familiar themes. cut .....surveyed congregants at Willow Creek and six other churches, suggested that evangelistic impact was greater from those who self-reported as "close to Christ" or "Christ-centered" than from new church attendees. In addition, a quarter of the "close...