Rev. Bill Hybels opens his eyes at dawn, rolls out of bed and lands on his knees. For 10 minutes, he says, he kneels in prayer, thanking God.<\/p>\n
That one-on-one time came more easily three decades ago, when Hybels was an evangelist working outside the mainstream, launching an experimental ministry called Willow Creek Community Church.Now Willow Creek is a big part of the mainstream, the South Barrington-based megachurch at the forefront of an international phenomenon counting almost 12,000 congregations.<\/p>\n
And Hybels has become a power broker in evangelical Christianity, the CEO of a movement. This year he stepped away from Willow Creek’s day-to-day operations to concentrate on expanding the ministry to the unchurched abroad and to broaden its urban, multicultural reach at home.<\/p>\n
“In the early days I was the father, the mother, the uncle, the aunt, the grandmother. I was really the only teacher, the only pastor,” he said. “These days … the church’s dependency on me has gone down just exactly the way we planned it.”<\/p>\n