Willow Creek Church Is Not Anti-Gay, Pastor Clarifies
Willow Creek Community Church is not anti-gay nor anti-anybody, the founding pastor said Thursday as he addressed the sudden decision by the CEO of Starbucks to cancel his speaking engagement at the church this week.
“Jim Mellado (president of Willow Creek Association) and I spent 45 minutes in a very constructive conversation with the senior leaders at Starbucks explaining to them in no uncertain terms that Willow is not anti-gay. But at the end of the day they decided that the downside business risk was just too high for them,” Pastor Bill Hybels said on the first day of the annual Willow Creek Leadership Summit in South Barrington, Ill.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was scheduled to speak about his book, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul, at the leadership summit on Friday. More than 7,000 people are attending this year with an additional 65,000 people watching...