We arrived back in Wilmore this afternoon, my head full of different reflections from the Willow Creek experience. There were a number of excellent speakers at this first class event, and a few thought-provoking nuggets of wisdom that captured my imagination. Here are some of the highlights:
- I noticed a significant shift in theological tenor of evangelicalism at this conference. There was much more of an interest in talking about the Kingdom of God as a transformational movement for this world, rather than a focus on a heavenly future somewhere in the clouds. Three of the speakers were what I would call "Kingdom entrepreneurs. Gary Haugen, with the International Justice Mission, works at exposing and stopping practices like child prostitution and slavery. Wendy Kopp of Teach for America started an organization to attract the best and brightest college graduates to teach in some of America's poorest schools, and Catherine Rohr gave up a Wall Street job to teach entrepreneurship and business skills to inmates in the Texas state prison system through the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. These were powerful stories of people who have taken the call of the Kingdom seriously and are making a real difference in the world. I was challenged by the fact that much of what we do as Christians can be quite trivial. These folks were empowered and released to do their ministry in the world rather than simply operating in a church environment. It makes me wonder how much more we can do as a church to empower and equip people to change the world in their own workplace and according to their own God-given gifts and passions. Park City has many entreprenuers–what would it take for us to engage that spirit and raise it up for the Kingdom?
- One consistent theme throughout the conference was risk-taking. Catherine Rohr, for example, talked about praying to God, offering her life and actually saying to God, "Bring it on!" Bring on the mission you're calling me toward. Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor at Willow Creek, talked about Mother Theresa's personal vows. She vowed to:
- o Give God absolutely anything he might ask for – “to refuse him nothing”
o Throw herself fully into anything he asked her to do
o Do God’s bidding without delay
o Be faithful in the little practices of lov - What would it be like for us to really give ourselves completely to God? That "carte blanche yieldedness" is a powerful thing to reflect upon. What am I still holding back from God? What does it mean to say, without qualification, "Here am I, send me?"
- o Give God absolutely anything he might ask for – “to refuse him nothing”
- Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy, had a couple of interesting nuggets to share:
- Best Buy works on what he calls a "Results Oriented Work Environment" (ROWE). The ROWE means that it is results and not hours or pay scales that determine an employee's performance review and compensation.
- He said that every day he deals with "complex puzzles in the form of human beings." He doesn't deal with problems, he deals with people. That's a good word.
- Craig Groeschel challenged us to think about the things that our church can do better than anyone else in the world. Too many churches try to do too many things rather than focusing on the one or two things that they are especially wired and equipped to do. A similar sentiment is offered in a book I was reading on the way down here: Church Unique. It's an interesting question for reflection: What can our church do better than anyone else? What are we going to try and be the best at? Too often we compare ourselves to others and have to have what they have, but we're not all the same. This is a question I'm interested in exploring together.
- Perhaps the best part of the conference, though, was simply being together with other church leaders in a learning environment. Our conversations at lunch, going back and forth from the hotel, and in between sessions were wonderful. Also, a church the size of Willow Creek is able to offer some excellent resources like video that really told some of the stories of these leaders in powerful detail. I'm more and more convinced that those kinds of tools are going to be important for us. When you can show ministry happening instead of just talking about it, it makes a tremendous difference.
Tomorrow I'll be attending two very different church services: a service at a Willow Creek style church in Lexington (Southland Christian) and a declining United Methodist Church in the area. Should be an interesting study in contrasts. I'll report on that tomorrow.
Blessings on your Sunday!
