Bill Hybels (second from right) with ENLACE Church Coaches, Gerson Ramirez, Felix Orellana and Marvin SanchezDuring the month of May, Willow Creek Community Church Senior Pastor, Bill Hybels, sat with eight Salvadoran pastors partnering with ENLACE in San Salvador. Their excitement was palpable because after reading Pastor Hybels’ books and hearing him speak at the Global Leadership Summit over the past two years, they had the opportunity to share their stories and experiences with him over lunch. Willow Creek Community Church has been a part of ENLACE’s Church Partnership Program for three years. Throughout that time Willow Creek has worked with 12 churches and communities in the Santa Ana region.
After lunch, these pastors joined other pastors, church leaders and some ENLACE staff at a seminar. Pastor Hybels answered questions about leadership, covering such topics as how to cast a vision, hiring the right people for your staff, and the importance of growing as a leader. Hybels said, “Don’t expect someone else to make you better. It’s not someone else’s job to develop you; it’s your job to develop you.”
The event was sponsored by the Willow Creek Association which has as its mission “to inspire and equip Christian leaders to lead transformation-minded churches.” Each year the Association’s biggest event, The Global Leadership Summit, invites a world-class faculty, from various fields, to speak for two days. Hybels says, “We give big challenges to big leaders to change this big broken world.” Since 2011, ENLACE has helped host the event in El Salvador. This year, approximately 150,000 people are expected to attend the Summit worldwide.
For Mauricio Rodolfo Reyes, Pastor of Cristo Vive Church in the Santa Ana region, the event was deeply inspiring. He recounted a story of a musician who met U2 and the musician’s excitement and awe of meeting such a legend. Pastor Rodolfo called meeting Pastor Hybels his “U2 moment.”
Both Willow Creek Association and ENLACE strongly believe in equipping and training pastors and leaders. Pastor Hybels said, “I love this country and everytime I come here, there’s a little part of me that gets ignited.”
