Hybels-Carter Interview Featured Amid Criticism
MCLEAN, Va. – Pastor Bill Hybels is often criticized for the guests he features at his highly prominent Willow Creek Leadership Summit, which tens of thousands of church leaders worldwide register for each year. His interview with former president Jimmy Carter this year was another one of those moments.
"How wide is the field of candidates that you as a leader can learn from?" Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, asked participating leaders at the 2007 summit over the weekend. "Is it real narrow; is it mid-range; is it quite wide?"
Before featuring a pre-recorded interview with Carter on Saturday, Hybels made it clear that all summit speakers he invites and interviews are "absolutely intentional," although they may be met with protest.
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"I know some leaders who can only learn from leaders who are pretty much like them, think like them, pray like them, vote like them, see the world the way they do," he said. "Whenever I see a leader like that, I feel sorry for the leader and even worse, for his or her followers because they're going to be cut off from a whole world of information, a world of powerful ideas that God could use to challenge that leader, to stretch them.
"Now, for what it's worth, it's my fiercest determination to keep putting faculty line-ups together that make a portion of you get your underwear in a bundle," said Hybels to laughter Saturday in the Willow Creek auditorium in South Barrington, Ill.
But at the end of the day, it's all about learning and helping church leaders expand their "learning bandwidth," Hybels highlighted.
"We think you're big boys and girls. We think you're discerning ... we think you can balance stuff out subjective to the witness of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, take the good and leave the bad," he further noted.
At McLean Bible Church, one of the largest churches in the Washington-area and one of the satellite sites hosting the Leadership Summit, the interview with Carter was not shown and was instead replaced with a 2002 leadership summit message from John Ortberg. McLean's speaker policy discourages politicians from being featured at the church, considering the church is located in a very political city.
On a more controversial matter, McLean also has a partnership with Jews for Jesus and engages in outreach to the Jewish community. Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid drew a storm of criticism and upset the Jewish community. Some have called Carter an anti-Semite and a bigot with critics contending the book is unfairly critical of Israel.
McLean does not take a stance on the issue but states, "We do not want to be alienated from the Jewish community because of showing a video of Jimmy Carter."
Out of desire to reach the Jewish community for Christ, McLean – whose founding and senior pastor, Lon Solomon, is a Jewish convert – received permission from the Willow Creek Association not to show the Carter interview and instead provided DVD copies of the interview to summit attendants after the session.
Meanwhile, some 100,000 church leaders around the world tuned in on the exclusive Carter interview Hybels conducted.
In the nearly 40-minute interview, Carter touched on his presidency, leadership, his passion for peace and racial reconciliation, his 24 years with Habitat for Humanity, and his Christian faith.
Willow Creek described Carter as having "done more since retiring from the office of president than most people accomplish in a lifetime."
"To get the theoretical or theological teachings of our Savior put into practical use are one of the ... greatest and most gratifying challenges that we can face," said Carter.
Calling the rich-poor gap the greatest challenge that the world faces in this new millennium, Carter noted how strange it can be for people to reach out to those who are different.
"It's naturally inconvenient for us to break the cocoon which every human being builds around oneself because we naturally want to be with people like us, [who] look like us, speak the same language, sing the same songs, worship God the same way," he said.
Alluding to people of all religious faiths, Carter stressed, "We have in our religious faith an inclination or requirement that we do break down that barrier and reach out to poor people in need. But it's hard to do."
He believes Habitat for Humanity is one of the best ways to break down that barrier.
Although many church leaders do not agree with Carter on his political views, some still found Carter's experiences and comments challenging and positive.
"I know some people who openly criticized Willow for interviewing President Carter. I don't know any of them who have done even a fraction of what he's done for the poor," said Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, in an online posting. Groeschel will be a featured speaker at the 2008 Leadership Summit.
Other guests interviewed at the 2007 Willow Creek Leadership Summit, Aug. 9-11, included former Secretary of State Colin Powell and British screenwriter Richard Curtis.
