Relevant Flames

Thanks for the opportunity to respond.  I will copy below my response to Baptist Press.

Date: December 1, 2007

From Keith Moore, Senior Pastor, Dogwood Church, Peachtree City, Georgia:

I am saddened by the content and tone of this article.  

I am a life-long Southern Baptist.  I have served in local church ministry since college days beginning in 1971.  I have been the senior pastor of Dogwood Church for 20 years.  I am a graduate of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  My mentor is one of the leaders of the "conservative resurgency" in the SBC.  My greatest theological influencer served as one of the writers of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.  I am from a different "pack of dogs" than Bill Hybels.

I also have been a student of God's activity at the Willow Creek Community Church since 1989.  I find that much of the content of Mr. Burney's article to be simply untrue.

In his article, Burney seems to perceive that Willow is confessing that most of their philosophy, theology, and practice of ministry have been a mistake, a bust, a failure.  He states, "The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a "mistake."

This is hardly the case.

The book REVEAL: Where Are You? reports the results of the multi-year self-study conducted by the Willow Creek Community Church that focused specifically on the spiritual growth of the believers who belong to that congregation.  The sanctification of believers at Willow was the subject.  Effectiveness in evangelism, worship, missions, pastoral care, fellowship, and equipping the saints for the work of ministry was outside the scope of this study as well as outside the context of Bill Hybels' brief presentation on the findings given at the WCA Leadership Summit this past August.

I wonder if Burney has read the report.  All of the quotes in his article appear to be from the Leadership Summit presentation…not from the book.  

I applaud the Willow Creek Association for investing the time, money, and effort in conducting this study.  The questions asked and the insights discovered in this study are applicable to local churches of all shapes, sizes, and traditions.  The Willow Creek Association is expanding its research on this issue to 500 additional congregations in North America.  

My guess is we are going to find that none of us are doing any better than Willow at making disciples.  I'm going to do the study on my own congregation.  I am not optimistic about our findings. I want to get better and making better followers of Christ

Burney fires a final shot at Hybels and the WCA with these words, "Someone, it appears, still might not get it."

I'd say that they "get it" better than most of us.

Keith Moore

Senior Pastor

Dogwood Church

Peachtree City, GA