Posted by Jonathan Deatherage on Apr 02, 2019. It is a collection of people that we are to care for. To me, this was one of the beautiful God moves about the entire situation. And I realized that as we were discussing this, that there might be some people who have heard about what happened at Willow Creek, but somewhat superficially, through the headlines and dont really know beneath the surface. I thought that emails could always be recovered, even after being erased, by a good IT person. Those are the good guys. And the people in this story are complex characters. The Journal Sentinel reported: Elmbrook resignations are the latest to rock evangelical Christian churches. Telling another woman, how she looks in a dress and how it accentuates her body, everything up to an alleged affair, to Pat Baronowski, Bill Hybels longtime assistant, stating in the New York Times said Bill Hybels made her obtain pornography and they watched it together. With distinctly different teaching styles, you'll be moved by the emotional appeal of Jill and the compelling logic of Stuart, as they boldly proclaim God's sovereignty, grace, and love. Its one of the beauties and the deformities of social media is social media is agile. "For many of you, he was preacher, pastor, mentor or friend. And I have other thoughts about that and how that all worked out. WebHi friend, I'm Pete Briscoe. I mean, you dont need to be trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, because it is gonna manifest itself in bad ways. Jill and Stuart came to the States from England. For that we are forever grateful. Absolutely horrible. Thats one of the things that attracted me to it is that he would admit something that he had failed, like, I remember one Wednesday night at a midweek service, and he got up and he said how that day he had seen somebody who was, you know, he could tell that they were upset and in need, and he just walked right by the person and totally blew them off. And I really was hopeful that there was going to be a public apology, and yet, None. WebLearn More About Pete Today - Pete Briscoe God loves you to distraction, There is nothing you can do to make Him love them more or less, And, that Life with this Lover God is rich beyond description, regardless of your performance. I was a member of WCCC for many years. He even cites a conversation with Darrell Bock, a member who disagrees with the elders but who also says it is not an issue worth dividing over. "For many of you, he was preacher, pastor, mentor or friend. There was another documented case where he had oral sex with his assistant back in the 90s at WC. Stuart Briscoe died on August 3 "of natural causes unexpectedly" according to a tweet from his son, Pete Briscoe. The news of Petes resignation landed heavy on my heart. and so I almost feel like the elder boards are there to keep the honest person honest. If you have six members of the Board of eight, lets just say its eight or 10. Can you imagine what that does for book sales to be on stage at the Global Leadership Summit among people all over the world and touted as an expert in something? Jill and Stuart came to the States from England. A man who "dedicated his life to sharing Gods Word with the world" has died at the age of 91. Its something like Child Protection Policies. Subscribe Sign up for my daily email devotionals and to stay in touch! The ministry began in 1971 while Stuart served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, which grew into the largest evangelical church in the state. Briscoe says that he wants Bent Tree to be a place where people can agree to disagree over this issue. I know about the deleted emails. Dear anonymous. Leave them alone. I can see the elders (more than half of which were women), and people in general saying, It was only a hug. The other woman that Mitch represented will remain confidential but both these cases enabled Mitch to peek behind the curtain at Willow Creek and view upclose some of the dysfunctions that led to that scandal. You can read about them at their website Teaching the Truth. I hope you have a great day and God bless. What is it was Chicago? Yes, in the course of representing these women, it became obvious that this was not what Ill call an echelon or tier leadership problem, just at Bill Hybels level. So appreciate. So when you have someone who is trusted, whos supposed to be an expert, you know, like a pastor, like a longtime senior pastor whos supposed to be a theological expert, and someone whos in authority like a senior pastor, people are willing to do things to satisfy that person that they would not otherwise do, even if those things seem harmful to another person. I want to share that God used Petes sermon on not being isolated (Ecclesiastes) in our sons life. Talk to me about how you saw this playing out at Willow Creek. And I had a wonderful experience. My personal belief, not speaking on behalf of anyone else, my personal belief is that that structure is designed to fail, because elders cant elder in that structure. And we need to start on the work of reconciliation and repentance now. And you have two or three board members who go, I dont think so, they did nothing. And yet youre still in a megachurch, multi-site church. But before we begin, I just want to take a minute to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University, and Marquardt of Barrington. This was an excellent interview and elders need to read this interview. You can read about them at their website Teaching the Truth. In the late 1990s, Telling the Truth was blessed with opportunities to expand the broadcasts overseas with a newly formed Christian radio station in London, Premier Christian Radio, which today remains the only Christian station across the entire United Kingdom, with 1.2 million weekly listeners. The Elder Board has accepted Petes decision, and his resignation is effective March 31, 2019. He gave me a few new friends here and there, people to pray with, to share with, to be coworkers in some small ministry, etc. The Roys Report seeks to foster thoughtful and respectful dialogue. Right? I dont agree with a lot of his views, but he said something and it is true, we need to have, you know, church leader needs to have two voices, one for gathering the sheep and one for scaring away wolves. How do you recommend searching worth while places to donate too? You have to have unity among your vocational staff at the church about, you know, key issues like how do we treat other people? Pete Briscoe was Senior Pastor of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, TX for nearly 30 years. I learned that from Bill. Let the Briscoes help you experience Life in all its fullness! What is it that causes so many people who know better, to look the other way and allow evil to prosper? Think about the people whove done it historically, you know, the Chuck Swindolls that I mean, we can we can run off a list of names, we can also run off a list of failures. Now, I coach pastors and business leaders in communications and self-care. They wont produce any vanilla beans. Explain that. Its scripturally rooted. But lets talk about since were talking about the media, Willow Creek had unbelievable resources at its disposal, right. God uses the weak things of this world to confound the strong, right? And another womans situation, theyre in an elder board meeting, and Bill Hybels, you know, has his hand on a womans leg, and no one else can see. I mean, that is just huge. And I think it wasnt a problem, Mitch, because everybody always agreed with whatever the senior pastor wanted. Subscribe Sign up for my daily email devotionals and to stay in touch! And thats not what this is about. At the same time, hes writing a book and writing articles for Christianity Today about marriage purity. But if you have a pastor with a glaring character flaw youre fooling yourself if you think youre gonna keep that character flaw in line with a pastor who doesnt put Jesus Christ first in his life, am I right? Its not okay. They were almost sacred and benevolent and unable to do wrong. I hope someday I can overcome this cynicism because I need Church as it should be. God uses the faithful and generous support of people like you to continue to change lives through the ministry of Telling the Truth. This is a calling. You have to have a strong culture of accountability. So I was quite taken aback when this scandal came out. Happened so often, I quit altogether. But I have to say that in the middle of dealing with a lot of tall weeds and bugs, God has also given me some flowers and fruit trees to enjoy. Theyre not holding anybody accountable then. WebHi friend, I'm Pete Briscoe. Because I often wonder what would have happened if he had come back and you know, not been well are not been really able to do his job but said, You know what, Ive got to do this. This is the you know, erither, I need the job, or, This ministry completes me. or whatever, whatever the excuse is. And I saw this at Harvest Bible chapel when I was doing reporting there. But they spoke. Character always has to come first in hiring, then competence, and then chemistry. Likewise. But I had limited contact with him. Its good to be visiting with you again. And what lessons can we learn from Willow Creeks mistakes? Theres, theres an advocacy piece to lawyering that needs to be there a little bit, but it doesnt need to be pervasive. And this is a huge problem in the Evangelical Church in the southern baptist church, I mean, just absolutely massive problem where so often the predators covered up instead of brought to justice. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about in you mentioned this in earlier discussion we had about the identity of elders and how so often, and I dont think its just elders, I think its a lot of the senior pastor leadership and staff that their identity tends to become enmeshed with the success or failure of the organization theyre a part of. In fact, I know some of them. And its like, now someone inside the tribe has said, Something is wrong here and it must be dealt with. And it took someone of Scot McKnights gravitas to be able to shift the discussion at Willow. For the next 90 minutes, Pete Briscoe enraptured us with his presentation of The Bema.. Not so much at Willow till after, because I was so wrapped up in the Harvest stuff at that time and the Moody stuff that I didnt really have the capability or the bandwidth to do much reporting about Willow. And today Im excited to be speaking with Mitch Little. At the end of the day the aftermath of destruction is felt on so many levels by so many people and we all react differently in our humanness. The outside investigation report said something along the lines of, Bill Hybels hundreds or thousands of emails with this woman were, not available. Well, as it turns out my understanding from talking to witnesses, those emails were actually destroyed. And I still havent been able to get her to visit with me. And I think Christian leaders need to start stepping up. And its pervasive, and people are, theyre using it. Judson is located just 36 miles outside Chicago on a beautiful 90 acre campus. How do spot a safe pastorand can. JULIE ROYS 23:38, What I meant by that comment is that unanimity didnt create any problems for the board and senior pastor because everyone agreed with James MacDonald. Pete Briscoe, Stuart and Jills youngest son, was a key contributor to the ministrysteaching team from 2003 to 2021. Inside their system, they need to be guarded, governed, guided. Why didnt others support them? This is simply a place where I share the message of Gods unadulterated grace through my preaching sermons and bible teaching. When you have a woman who says I was molested by a staff member, or you have a staff member who says, Bill Hybels just threw a punch at me, or dog cuts me up and down the hallway, those arent matters of policy, Julie. Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Thats what he was. To me, Bill did not come across as a predator, flirty or suggestive with women. All the times something didnt seem right. Hi Julie, my name is Teresa and I was wondering if Voice of the Martyr was a good place to donate. That goes to the guarding role that Attorney Mitch shared. About Stuart and Jill Briscoe Youre its just not its not a matter of if its a matter of when. So Im very much looking forward to our time together today. Hes like, I wasnt trying to protect the man, who by chance was his brother in law. Continue Reading The Upper Room: John 15 Posted by Nate Murray After a failed attempt to travel alone in his truck out west, he came to church with us that very day. I think one of the ways that Willow tried to reckon with the situation was to permit Bill Hybels to retire from his role at the church. But so far, I havent seen that. And Willow lost the battle of PR on social media. And I think there was, but I think that theres a spiritual stronghold around celebrity culture within evangelicalism writ large. As I look back on my own four years on staff, Im thankful for the teaching and leadership that Pete Briscoe has brought to Bent Tree, and I know that so many of us have been impacted by his attention to the Lord and quick obedience to however God leads him. , Something is wrong here and it took someone of Scot McKnights gravitas to be guarded governed... From his son, was a key contributor to the guarding role that Attorney shared... 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