“We are sorry that we allowed Bill to operate without the kind of accountability that he should have had,” elder Missy Rasmussen told the church in announcing the resignations. “Our desire going forward is to retain what is good and pure about Willow, but to drive out the dark places that are unhealthy.”
Scandal was not the only factor haunting Willow. Times had changed since Willow built its massive sanctuary. While stadium-sized churches were cutting-edge in the first decade of the 2000s, they were falling out of fashion. Today, newer megachurches hold multiple services in smaller satellite campuses that are cheaper and more effective. Willow now has five satellites but has trouble filling its big room in South Barrington, except for special events or when it rents it out for concerts.
In mid-May of this year, Shawn Williams, who’d been named senior pastor of Willow six weeks earlier, led a meeting in his office to talk about the future, about six months ahead of the church’s 50th anniversary.
For the first time in years, the church had good news. Attendance was back up to nearly 10,000 per weekend, and the budget was back in the black. The turnaround was credited to David Dummitt, who had just ended five years as pastor.
Pastor Shawn Williams preaches at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., on Sept. 7, 2025. (RNS photo/Carlos Javier Ortiz)
Senior staffers sat on couches and comfy chairs in jeans and other casual wear, chatting about the Chicago Cubs, who had been doing well and were up 8-3 that afternoon.
“You never know with the Cubs,” warned Matt Sundstedt, Willow’s executive pastor of operations. “A good April doesn’t mean anything.”
Williams, who joined Willow in 2020, said that for the past few years the church has focused on getting healthy and strengthening its core values. Now, he said, it’s time to start dreaming. “We’re going to put vision back in front of us,” he said. “We’re going to chase some things — and if God were to honor that, we can grow.”
Williams cited new baptisms, the church’s growing diversity and the Willow Care Center, which includes a grocery store, a car repair ministry, dental and legal clinics and other services, serving thousands of the church’s neighbors each year. The staff was looking forward to anniversary services on Oct. 11-12 at the South Barrington campus.
Willow’s leaders realize there is a tension in the church’s story. Great things happened in the church’s past, and important ministry still happens today. Yet Hybels’ misconduct and the church’s failings in dealing with his fall still haunt the church. Many church members who left have never returned, while critics say the church still hasn’t done enough for the women who accused Hybels of misconduct.
Hybels has rejected a formal attempt from Willow to reconcile.
The Willow Care Center in South Barrington, Ill., offers a variety of resources to thousands of people each year. (Photo courtesy of Willow Creek Community Church)
Katie Franzen, the church executive pastor of ministries, said the church does not want to bury the past, but learn from its mistakes and continue to move in a better direction. The church’s 50th anniversary, she said, is a chance to tell the church’s whole story and “to really celebrate the pieces of our history that highlight God’s beauty and his faithfulness and his ability to use broken people.”
“But also, to say, here are the mistakes and the brokenness that we had a chance to really learn from and to turn a new page,” she said.
Williams said he was asked, after being named senior pastor, if he wanted Willow to regain its former prominence, when the church saw itself as one of the best ministries in the world. He said the church has different goals these days. “Our goal is not to become the most influential church in America or to make a cover of a magazine,” he said. “That’s not our goal. Our goal is to be our best for the world.”
He was mindful of those across Chicago’s metro area — Chicagoland, in TV newsspeak — who are far from God and need the kind of community Willow can offer. And many of their neighbors have day-to-day needs — like trying to put food on the table —that the church can help with. There’s still a lot of work to do.
“We want to be a church that helps reach unchurched people, or de-churched people or disconnected people. How you go about it is different today than it was in 1975, but the heartbeat hasn’t changed,” he said.
Dan Egan, a Willow Creek member since high school, said he is hopeful for the future. Now 38 and a new dad who plays in a Willow worship band, he attends the church’s Huntley campus, about 25 minutes from the main location. Egan said he trusts the new leadership, in particular the leaders at Huntley. And that matters.
“I wouldn’t stay with Willow just to stay with Willow,” he said. “But I will stay with Willow if they continue to do good things.”
