Why does everyone assume there are problems?  Maybe God is just preparing Willow for a new and dynamic next 30 years.  Obviously God has been challenging Bill about some of the methods they have used in the past.  Maybe God is pruning the church leadership.  When you prune you lose good too.  I expect great things from Willow in the future.

Bill Hybles teaching and books have impacted me tremendously. Too Busy Not To Pray revolutionized my prayer life.

There must have been some issues because Gene Appel is leaving Willow Creek without any immediate plans to go somewhere else.  Additionally, I’m sure Bill Hybels never planned to step back into his previous role and do double duty.  It’s a temporary situation until Willow is able to find Gene Appel’s replacement.

It doesn’t necessarily mean there are problems at Willow, but it does mean that the Gene Appel succession plan didn’t work.

Problems?  With Staff? Where?  At Willow?

The truth of the matter is, every church has it’s problems.

This is not about the problems that Willow has, it is about two men following the direction of God.  It is about one who wants to be closer to his family, and another who has the passion to serve a local church as senior pastor.

God calls us to various things in our ministries.  I know it happened to me.  I started off as a church pianist and that has progressed to include a wide array of ministries that God has placed me in.

These are gifted ministers who are growing and going where God is directing.  Give them a break. It doesn’t have to be about PROBLEMS.  Remember, PROBLEMS are OPPORTUNITIES in disguise.

Naw, I don’t see it as them having issues.  That happened to a church in DFW.  They had way too many great leaders and God dropped the bomb on them and scattered those leaders to the corners of our metroplex.

God is good like that.

Growing up in Barrington, before I would head out for a wreckless night of partying, I would sit in Willow’s midweek service...I was tethered to God by barely a string.
But I am blessed in my present because of God using Willow in my past.  I’m really praying for them during this time.  I hope Pastor Hybels reads this and knows that too.  Grateful, Heather

All churches, including those as large as Willow, experience change, upheaval, and even some unhappiness with their staff.

Willow has positively impacted so many for so long I would be graceful and give them a break here.  Bill Hybels doesn’t have to answer to any of us.  He has been used by God and has faithfully ministered to thousands for many many years.

I wish them the best and I am confident that whomever they choose to replace these men (if they choose to replace them) will be gifted and passionate in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

Todd—We crashed the server not because of the Willow announcement, but because we are so eager to read your posts after your vacation. Welcome back!

I think Willow we move forward with little problem. The WCA has enough of a pastor pool to find a candidate who can step up into these positions.

Where did Mike Breaux go? Does anybody know?

Derek

Mike Breaux is on the pastoral staff of Heartland Community Church of Rockford, Illinois.  Heartland is in the WCA.  They just recently moved into a shopping center (which they purchased) and renovated a huge store for their worship center.  You can check them out at http://www.heartland.cc

I understand the desire to be positive in a situation like this.

But I can’t help but think we’re also being a little naive as well.

The fact is this church lost its top three pastors in a matter of just nine weeks.  These are the guys who truly became the face of the church for most members.  They represented its vision and its future and - poof - they are all gone.

And the timing of it all begs just a little suspicion, don’t you think?

Mike Breaux had already been splitting his time between Heartland and Willow for months, so why not continue to do so until they found his replacement?  Instead he tendered his resignation pretty soon after.

Gene Appel does not even have another job lined up and yet he’s already announced his resignation.  Why not announce your resignation and your replacement at the same time if there is no pressing deadline?

I was there Saturday when they first made these announcements and three things struck me:

First, a lot of people there still hadn’t heard about Mike Breaux, which isn’t unusual given the staggered speaking schedules of the main teaching pastors.  It wasn’t unusual for several weeks to go by without seeing a specific pastor.  So, if you weren’t there the day Mike’s resignation was announced, you probably still hadn’t heard yet – as I had not, (and I attend on a very regular basis). So while Willow thought they were announcing the loss of two pastors, for most of us in the audience we were learning about the loss of three.

The second thing that struck me was how clear it was that Bill did not want this burden placed on him.  Seems to me he has enjoyed the global spotlight much more than leading the church on a day-to-day basis.  So it was not exactly heartening when he begrudgingly reassumed his local responsibilities while his eye is on the next worldwide tour.  And let’s face facts, for the better part of two years Bill has functioned in many ways as a guest speaker in his own church; stopping by every couple of months to do a two-week stint, while Mike and Gene would lead programs that would go on for several weeks. 

Third, the announcements were poorly handled in my opinion.  They made a rather cavalier five-minute announcement about how the entire teaching staff is being gutted and then tried to switch into a lesson on the bible’s view of environmentalism.  Did they think anyone was paying attention to that lesson? The only unhealthy environment most of were concerned about was the inner workings of our church. They should have thrown away the script for that weekend and used that time to address the congregation’s most pressing needs.

The end result is you walked out of that building feeling pretty shocked and saddened.  Or as my wife put when she woke up the next day, “heart broken.”

Willow Guy writes [It might be on good terms, but their is much more to this hidden story that I’m sure we will ever learn.] And so what? I would think that there was more going on in some of Paul’s splits with others in the New Testament, but all of them went on building the kingdom, didn’t they. EVEN if there is something under the surface here, Willow seems to be handling it in a gracious and biblical manner…

and [I pray nightly that God will guide the leaders at Willow to provide Bible based services instead of seeker services and to grow our congreation deeper instead of wider.] Can we please have deep and wide? And let’s not forget… how does the Bible define deep? I think deep is being more loving toward your neighbor. If all the Bible knowledge in the world doesn’t make you more loving to your neighbor, it is in vain.

I suspect that little will change, and that’s probably the way that it should be.

Derek writes [P.S. For you Willow folks, I am sorry. Leadership transitions are very often a shock. My encouragement is love the church even though church leaders are changing and don’t waste too much time speculating on what happened. It never leads to anywhere good…]

AMEN!

Peter Hamm writes [Can we please have deep and wide?] I would accept this, its just when yorur church as gone wide for so long, you are poloraized to want the opposite.

I have been a member at Willow Creek since 1996 and have seen several teaching pastors come and go.  Go had used each of them to touch my life and challenge my walk with God.
I would not agree that the information about Mike Breaux was news to “most” in the audience.  I have worked with all three of these men and have enjoyed each of them and their unique gifts.
I feel the disappointment that a couple of bloggers have expressed, however, I disagree with them regarding “junk” that is lurking in some corner.
Willow Creek has always been Elder led and though Bill Hybels is a strong leader, I believe it is mischaracterized as a regime or him as a dictator.  Willow Creek does not have a congregational form of government which may be the case with some WCA churches.
Our weekend services are designed to create a deeper thirst for God and not to create “bulimic Christians who binge on the weekend only to purge themselves all week” as Erwin Mcmanus has stated.  There are many opportunities for our congregation to grow deeper.  The whole finding of the Reveal study was that we needed to teach people to go deeper into the Word themselves and not look to the Teaching Pastor as their sole source of spiritual nutrition.
One final thought.  though it may make sense to some to think that we Willow hold off announcing about Gene Appel until he finds where God has him serve next, the church needed to be led now by those who would be here in the future.  If Gene wasn’t going to be in the picture that would have raised many more questions of people and then it would seem that the church leadership was trying to withhold information.
As some other bloggers have rightly stated, Willow will be looking inside to raise up leadership from within.  Thanks to all of you for your prayers as we move forward.

Some times what lurks around the corner is really lurking around the corner in our heart.  I will say to speculate is on the fringe of if not in the middle of Gossip.  It does not serve the kingdom nor does it serve Christ.  The reality is that we need to pray for Willow, not because something is wrong but because they are our family.