I Freaking Signed Up for the Dip!
I’m looking forward to the annual Global Leadership Summit—I believe it’s THE premiere leadership conference, and love that we get to host it at Willow Creek.
www.globalleadership.org
A couple years ago, Craig Groeschel taught a session called Leading Through the Dip. He illustrated the normal life cycle of an organization, and said, because of Covid, “A lot of you find yourselves leading through the dip.”
I heard that and said loudly, “I didn’t find myself leading through the dip. I freaking signed-up for the dip!”
It’s true. I knew what I was getting into. For nearly a year, I worked with the elders at Willow Creek Community Church as they sought God’s will for the next senior pastor. I’d read the headlines, so I knew these were tough days at Willow. The elders gave even more context—they wanted the next senior pastor to know what he or she was going to be facing. As they painted the picture for me, and I painted it for potential candidates, I knew this was going to be a challenge for the next leadership team.
But strangely, my heart was pulled toward Willow in ways that are even now hard to explain. When the new senior pastor, Dave Dummitt, asked me to consider joining him—I had no illusion about the challenge. I knew Willow had been in an organizational dip way before the fractures in leadership integrity began to emerge. But I also kept hearing story after story of the people of Willow — those who were still around — those who had decades of stories of God’s work in their life through this church — those who never gave up believing He was still working. Their stories touched my heart. Even people who were no longer at Willow would talk with deep love and passion and respect for this place.
When I said “yes” to this new role, we were in the early days of the pandemic. The “stay at home” orders were fresh, church had only been canceled for about three weekends at that time, and we thought it was possible we might be gathering again for church in person by Easter. Wow, little did I know then that four months after I started a job working for a church, I still had not actually met the congregation. I hadn’t attended any services in any buildings. I had only met about half the staff in-person. All my in-person introductions were made awkwardly through a mask. It would actually be a full 13-months before we’d be allowed to meet in-person.
The “dip” got real pretty quickly. Dave and I started in the office in May 2020, and within a week the tragedy of George Floyd’s murder was front and center for the entire world. We quickly heard the pain of many of our people of color and how the Church had in some ways added to the pain. Riots and looting were happening in Chicago as in other places. In the days when we were still getting keys to the building and trying to find the bathrooms, we found ourselves in video conversations with staff we had never met who were demanding change. With tears they would share the raw pain of their stories and ask why the church hadn’t done more. I don’t blame any of them—emotions were high and people were rightly incensed by the injustice. I was playing catch-up trying to understand the history and find a way forward.
The “dip” had real ramifications, and early that first summer we found ourselves having to make the difficult decision to furlough folks who, for no fault of their own, were unable to do their jobs. With buildings closed and gatherings not happening, we just didn’t need as many staff members. Those decisions were hard to make—but even more difficult for the families that felt the impact.
Pandemic. Racial tension. Furloughs. Restructuring for a new reality. All of it has been hard. Some days it was brutal. But I signed up for it. I have zero buyers remorse. I’d make the same decision again in a heartbeat. We assembled a world-class team—some already at Willow, some who moved their families from across the country—and we began the hard work of envisioning dreams for what God might do with Willow in our next chapter.
And the more people I met at Willow, the more I became convinced of a bright future. The dip lasted a long time. But we are now seeing really bright spots of hope, transformation and growth. Some are still skeptical. I get it, they can’t see it yet. Some believe things should go back to the way things were, nothing needs to change. I understand, change is hard.
But many have bought into our efforts to rediscover our DNA of reaching people far from God. Many are beginning to believe there is a vision that includes healing, but is bigger than healing. Many believe the idea of having a greater impact in Chicago through multiplication is a really good idea. Many are signing on for a church that has an aligned vision, where our effectiveness is greater because we are all working for the same thing.
I freaking signed up for the dip. I’ve joined others, like Matt Sundstedt, who have been here for decades and hung on serving faithfully through the dip. Even now, God is prompting others to join us in the dip. Because someday in the not too distant future, we’ll be looking back to see what God did in us through the dip, and how he brought us out to the other side.
And although my role is shifting in the coming weeks, Willow is my church. I’m planning to stick around to see what happens.