Last week's edition of Newsweek magazine included a 2-page article at the very back, written by long-time columnist Anna Quindlen. For 9 years, Anna has been writing "The Last Word" piece every other week for that magazine. While I don't always agree with her, I have great respect for...

Yesterday we received two offerings at Willow Creek - the regular one about 20 minutes into the service, and a second offering at the end. One hundred per cent of the second offering will go directly to the under-resourced in Africa and Latin America - food and clean water for the poor. This offering...

Our church launched a 3-week Celebration of Hope campaign yesterday, with a focus this year on serving the under-resourced who are both hungry and thirsty. The campaign includes several aspects, including 17,000 volunteers packing food bags to go to Zimbabwe through our partner, "Feed My Starving...

For over 10 years, I have attended countless creative brainstorming meetings about service programming, marketing ideas, and creative events. As much as I hate to say it, I have concluded that brainstorming DOES NOT WORK. At least not the traditional model used by most teams. It does not yield the type...

For the past several Easters, our creative team at Willow Creek has sought to find an image that we could leverage to help tell the Easter story and to provide a visual anchor for the entire service. I think this practice dates back to the year we created a "Bridge" - a prop we used in Bill...

The year was 1969. It was a tumultuous era full of war, strife, and political unrest. In that year, 250,000 people gathered in the largest protest in American history! A new (and now infamous) president was attempting to lead a divided American government and country into a better future. The world was...

Let's face it, the Bible is weird. It's filled with spectacular stories, mystical beings, and strange laws , such as: You shall not marry your wife's sister You shall not trim the corners of your beard You should not lie on a bed where a menstruating woman has lain, and you can't sit...

Okay, I know you are busy preparing for Good Friday and Easter Services. But ... after Easter, if you haven't already read John Ortberg's book Faith & Doubt , pick it up. In the mean time, here is what to keep in mind for this weekend. God will be leading thousands of people to churches this...

Throughout the history of war, the flame thrower has been one of the most iconic symbols of power and destruction on the battlefield. Used in almost every war this century, this weapon is capable of spreading maximum amount of carnage in a maximum amount of space from a single soldier (I have to admit...

I have heard leadership described in many ways. A leader is a: visionary, role model, problem solver, teacher,strategist, chearleader, shepherding, and the list goes on and on. These are all great leadership qualities. However, what does leadership ultimately boil down to? What is the stuff that really...