Recently, I shared the video interview with Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels responded to recent articles from Christianity Today and the Out of Ur blog.

I contacted Marshall Shelley, the vice president of Christianity Today International the editor-in-chief of the Leadership Media Group, for his reaction to the video. With his permission, here is his response:

Hi Tony:

Thanks for your note. Yes, we’ve posted Bill’s video on our blog www.outofur.com and we’re receiving some good comments. We’re happy to admit to our shortcomings in reporting this story. At this point, we’re confirming that all the quotes we reported were accurate. Yes, our reporting emphasized the changes Willow was talking about at the Leadership Summit and the subsequent Shift conference. We did not highlight the things that were not changing. Journalists tend to do that, I’m afraid—assuming that change is more newsworthy than continuity.

We recognize that this is a story in process. The Reveal study has set a lot of things in motion, and many of the implications are still being worked out. We’re committed to getting the story right—and we told the story as we understood it from Willow sources and others at the time. If we’ve not reported the whole truth, we’ll repent, too, and publish the fuller story as we become aware of it.

We’re certainly not anti-Willow. We’ve learned so much from Bill and the others there over the years. I still remember his article in Leadership on “Reading Your Emotional Gauges,” which was life defining for me. And the recent article about him in CT on his “Justice Journey” with James Meeks was eye-opening and convicting.

Our intent with the Reveal stories was to highlight how a church makes a mid-course correction as research indicates changes are needed. And we’re still learning how those mid-course corrections are made and the complexities that arise.

Marshall Shelley

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