The Rev. People stop to chat with the Rev. Willow Creek Community Church on Jan. Last October, the Rev. Bill Hybels stood before worshippers at his packed sanctuary and made a stunning announcement.
After introducing his successors, he invited church elders onstage at the expansive church to lay hands on them and pray. The inquiries had cleared Hybels, and church leaders said his exit had nothing to do with the allegations.
An investigation by the Chicago Tribune examined those allegations and other claims of inappropriate behavior by Hybels, documented through interviews with current and former church members, elders and employees, as well as hundreds of emails and internal records. The alleged behavior included suggestive comments, extended hugs, an unwanted kiss and invitations to hotel rooms. It also included an allegation of a prolonged consensual affair with a married woman who later said her claim about the affair was not true, the Tribune found.
Pushing for the investigation were two former teaching pastors and the wife of a longtime president of the Willow Creek Association, a nonprofit organization related to the church. Hybels sat down with the Tribune for a lengthy interview this week and at times grew emotional as he flatly denied doing anything improper and dismissed the allegations against him as lies spun with the intent of discrediting his ministry.
There still to this day is not evidence of misconduct on my part. She later denied the alleged affair when contacted by an elder investigating the matter, according to internal documents and interviews. Hybels also denied the alleged affair during an initial inquiry in The elders said they believed him.
