Willow Creek Conference

Last Thursday afternoon our church staff (all 8 of us!) headed out to Cheltenham (Southwest England) for a leadership conference. The conference was Friday and Saturday, and was put on by the Willow Creek Association -UK and Ireland. Willow Creek Community Church is a church in Chicago that was started 30 years ago by 4 couples, one of which is Billy Hybels. Bill Hybels is the pastor of the church and was the main speaker at the conference. Anyway, the church began in a rented out movie theatre and has grown and grown, and now has about 20,000 members!! Bill Hybels knows leadership. How amazing is that! This church has so so many ministries, one of which is the car ministry. The way the car ministry works is when someone is about to get a new car, if they don't really need the trade in $$ from their current car, they can donate it to the church. The church then gives it to a single mother. There are some quite wealthy people in the church, and Bill shared of one story about a family who gave the car ministry their minivan that was valued at about $25,000. The van was given to a single mother of something like 8 kids I think. He shared what an emotional experience it was for all involved. What an incredible ministry! Another speaker was Erwin McManus, the pastor of Mosaic church in Los Angeles. This church sounds pretty spectacular. Their average attender is 25 and single and they have over 60 different cultures gathered together. They meet in various places, one of which is a night club in L.A. It's very artsy and creative. Sounds awesome. This guy is a super dynamic speaker, really funny and enjoyable to listen. But even better, he really makes you think. He makes you question things. And He is absolutely on fire for God. He knows his purpose in life and he is living it. So, the conference was fantastic and we came back renewed, refreshed, and refocused!