Talk:Bill Hybels

I take issue with this statement: "There are no known controversies surrounding Hybels personally, as is often the case with well-known religious figures.". This statement is an opinion and gives readers the assumption that most well known Christians are controversial. (J. D. Hunt 04:27, 31 October 2005 (UTC))

I may have written the original statement, and my intention was to indicate that Hybels personally has avoided the problems surrounding other popular Christian leaders such as Benny Hinn and Paul Crouch. I see how the statement could be misinterpreted, and have made changes to the statement to clarify my intent. - (original writer not J.D. Hunt)

Problems with the POV in this article

The problems with this article being very wikipedia: POV start right at the beginning (POV Noted in bold):

Bill Hybels is the founding and Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Willow Creek's innovative ministries have made it one of the most attended churches in North America. He is also an author of several Christian books, especially on the subject of Christian leadership. His charismatic personality, coupled with his sincere style, has made Hybels one of the most popular faces of the modern evangelical movement.

There is simply no way to qualify these statements (in bold). For example, regarding the attendence, who audits the attendence numbers, etc.? This reads like PR/Fan fiction. Stu 15:44, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

In Australia, nearly all churches record their attendances, and AFAIK these figures are accurate. The Australian National Church Life Survey regularly publishes figures on general attendance, and again I believe they are accurate. What makes you think that the Willow Creek figures are not? Andrewa 12:56, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

This article needs to be broken into 2 or 3. The first needs to be a straightforward biography of Bill Hybels. The second needs to be a discussion of his church movement/strategy. The third should be a discussion of the criticism of that movement. Otherwise, it reads like a hatchet-job on Hybels. --Conrad Alexander 05:37, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Conrad Alexander's comments. The content and tone of this article is overwhelmingly negative and critical, and contains very little actual biographical information.

--Ron Stock 09:17, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. About 85% of the article is critical. That is hardly NPOV. I added the POV tag. Also, a photo or two would really brighten up the page. --Colin MacLaurin 03:45, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the negative tone on this. This is a pretty poorly researched and biased article.

This is an absolutely awful article, the overwhelmingly critical content is almost as boring as it is bias.--Kbomb 03:06, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

There are many critics of Hybels, but his leadership in the Christian community has touched many lives. How about some articles that affirm this? (How does one view web authors who constantly bash others ministries?)

External links

These are all critical, very POV. Please choose the most relevant 2 or 3, and also make sure that it is balanced by at least as many positive and neutral links:

• The Gospel According to Hybels & Warren by Nathan Busenitz
• Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek/Seeker Sensitive/Church Growth movement.
• Hybels: "I Couldn't Be More Pleased"
• Church Growth Gone Mad A sobering look at the church growth seeker-sensitive models by Clay Miller
• Schuller Planted, Hybels Watered, Warren (Peter Drucker) Gives The Increase By Orrel Steinkamp, The Plumbline, Volume 10, No. 3, November/December 2005
• Protestant No More: Willow Creek Infiltrated by a Mystic Quaker Movement Called Renovare by Mary Fairchild, March 2003
• Willow Creek Church & Bill Hybels' Theology - Biblical Christianity Or Church Of Laodecia? by James Sundquist, Rock Salt Publishing
• Sounding Out the Idols of Church Growth by Os Guinness
• The Feminist Seduction of the Evangelical Church by Susan Olasky
• Highly Questionable Methods by Robert Reymond
• Evangelicalism Divided by Iain H. Murray

Colin MacLaurin 14:20, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Biographic Information

Is there any source of biographical information that can be added to this article? I know that he is from Kalamazoo and went to Kalamazoo Christian High School and was born around 1950, but that's about it.69.208.175.130 18:16, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

He is a Dutch-American.

I'm pretty sure Bill never went to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He DID go to (then) Trinity College, though. Now called Trinity International University. KateM —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.250.197.206 (talk) 19:27, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I believe he attended the seminary but did not graduate. Check to see if it says on Willow Creek's website. -manutdglory —Preceding unsigned comment added by Manutdglory (talk • contribs) 05:28, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

He never attended the Sem School. He was given an honorary degree from the Sem School, however. Scotti

Criticism Section

The criticism section has been removed and added here until it can come up with sources that meet WP:V standards for Biographies of Living Persons ref. WP:BLP

One of the most well-known criticisms of Bill Hybels was his invitation of then President (and personal friend) Bill Clinton to his Leadership Summit in 2000. In front of leaders from all over the country, Hybels questioned the President about a variety of topics. In light of his recent sexual affair and lies under oath, many evangelicals highly disapproved of Clinton's appearance at the church and Hybels was heavily criticized. Hybels' rumored liberal political views have also put him at odds with fellow evangelicals, the vast majority of which are politically conservative.

Hybels is also a firm egalitarian or "evangelical feminist," which has brought him into further criticism from many. In particular his statement (which can be seen on the Willow Creek website) that Willow Creek believes that women can be in leadership roles over men. This is also seen in the use of the controversial "Today's New International Version" Bible as the Bible available to congregants during services.

I also removed a WP:Coatrack linkage to criticism of Rick Warren. This is not Warren't biography.--Lyonscc (talk) 20:11, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The NY Times published an article in January 2000 regarding the Clinton's appearance at the church, which also mentioned the criticism of the appearance. I think that paragraph can be re-written to be NPOV along with this cite. Lacey, Marc (2000-01-21). "Repentant Clinton Reviews His Presidency". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-21. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Best regards. Jogurney (talk) 17:01, 21 January 2008 (UTC)