Hybels Disappoints

Just got back from the National New Church Conference and got a chance to hear Bill Hybels speak. I like Bill Hybels and think he had made unbelieveable contributions with Willow Creek Church and then the WCA, especially the Leadership Summits. Bill Hybels was the final speaker and followed the Mark Driscoll video where Mark called out church planters to be men of integrity, to be men on a mission and to bring the clear message of the Gospel to our patch of the Kingdom.

The 1,800 church planters in the crowd reacted warmly to Jon Ferguson’s introduction and gave Bill a standing ovation out of reverence for the trail that Bill had blazed over the last 30 years in reaching out to lost people who matter to God. Obviously annoyed by Driscoll’s comments, Hybels first words after the standing ovation was to say, something like“there are women in this world and many of them are used by God in church building and they have spiritual gifts useful in church planting too. Just to set the record straight.”. He clearly wanted to make a point at Mark Driscoll’s expense and clearly knew that his words would imply a position for Driscoll that Driscoll does not hold.

I found this to be distasteful on several fronts –

1. It was disrespectful to the hosts of the conference who had worked hard to make this conference about unity of cause, unity of the Gospel and unity of the planting movement. It was an awkward moment for the conference leaders, who had seen momentum gaining through the three days. I’m sure Dave Ferguson was cringing in the back.

2. We had heard over and over at the conference from the different younger speakers that let’s not tear each other down, let’s stand together at the foot of the cross, let’s all commit to spending more time in the presence of the Lord in order to be able to build into our teams and our churches.

3. It was disrespectful to Mark, who does not hold at all to a view that women are not used by God in ministry. Bill tried to make points at someone else’s expense, knowing that Driscoll was not able to respond.

4. It was dissappointing for me to hear that from a leader of his stature, whom most people at the conference look up to as the pioneer in effective church planting.

It was an unfortunate incident and put me in an downer mood to hear his comments, which are always good.

What did you think? I’d love an open discourse here……

In his reflections, he made several challenging points –

Know the difference between a hankering and a holy discontent. Don’t start a church if you have a hankering to….you will be burned out within three years.

Know who has what gifts on your team. Make sure you have a team of complementing folks and that everyone is working in their giftedness.

We walk by faith and not by sight. A church planter will continually face problems that if God is not in it , the CP is doomed.

Figure out early on if you are going to take the high road or the low road. The world is watching and there are lots of ministry leaders that have had public failures. Do everything for the glory of God.

Most great works of God can be traced back to a defining moment in time. Mark the place where you when you felt the defining moment of God calling you to plant a church.

All of us are called to move out in to the deeper waters and not just stay putt-putting around the calm waters of the harbor.