Amen. They have a responsibility to the larger church to speak. A person whos not walking in the Spirit is susceptible to that type of behavior, even a senior pastor. Can I talk about Scot McKnight for a second? Destroyed by a staff person is my understanding. that keeps the honest person honest. Inside their system, they need to be guarded, governed, guided. If youre looking for a car I encourage you to visit my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. I think ultimately, we are still kind of under the inertia of a culture that was fomented by Pete Briscoe, which was a culture of goodness, a culture of grace and its still carrying forward under that momentum. Hes just an affectionate kind of guy. WebSince that time he has ministered on every continent, written more than 40 books, pastored a church for 30 years, and founded a media ministry called Telling the Truth which now broadcasts daily worldwide. I think that was a move of God, a move of the Holy Spirit. I mean, I cant tell you how many stories I heard just like the one that you told the people who said, Well, I was at a conference with Bill Hybels, and he was awful to me. It should be something that he learned from, right? God uses the weak things of this world to confound the strong, right? You have your identity rooted in something other than Christ, the centrality of Christ. What is it was Chicago? But we dont have time on this podcast. Pete Briscoe was Senior Pastor of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, TX for nearly 30 years. They didnt have the ability to respond to new issues as they arose. At least, thats how I saw it. Serving in the role of elder is a huge responsibility. And sadly, I think they have still. Below is a link to a PDF of the article World Magazine did on a sex abuse scandal involving VOM. So thanks again. I think the load needs to be shared. So whos supposed to hold whos supposed to hold the leaders accountable in that structure? WebPete Briscoe is a podcaster and evangelical pastor. And this is one of the I think exciting things. Yeah, my understanding of that of the history has come from interviewing witnesses, talking to people who have served in those roles and hearing their stories at Willow. That was my upbringing. Also I want to let you know that Judson University is planning to resume in person classes this fall for traditional transfer and adult students and its still not too late to apply. Hi. He even cites a conversation with Darrell Bock, a member who disagrees with the elders but who also says it is not an issue worth dividing over. If you go back and you look at Bill Hybels books in retrospect, Im amazed at some of the things that are contained in his books that people became okay with. Great question. Pete is the son of Jill and Stuart Briscoe. Also, major problems. He has been married to Jill for more than 59 years and has three children and 13 grandchildren. Theres, theres an advocacy piece to lawyering that needs to be there a little bit, but it doesnt need to be pervasive. And he committed sex acts with her. I was the senior pastor of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship for nearly 30 years. With distinctly different teaching styles, you'll be moved by the emotional appeal of Jill and the compelling logic of Stuart, as they boldly proclaim God's sovereignty, grace, and love. I would love to see Chicago experience revival. The outside investigation report said something along the lines of, Bill Hybels hundreds or thousands of emails with this woman were, not available. Well, as it turns out my understanding from talking to witnesses, those emails were actually destroyed. They need accountability. And my understanding was the elder board set some boundaries for Clinton to be able to come and speak. Its designed to be fought asymmetrically. Today were talking with Pete Briscoe, who served as the senior pastor for nearly three decades at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, Texas, and now consults with and coaches pastors. I appreciate your feedback. John and Nancy Ortberg had been at Willow Creek as pastors. A man who "dedicated his life to sharing Gods Word with the world" has died at the age of 91. Multiple services, being able to do it on cue, proves Hybels theatrical abilitiesI look back and feel sick, given all the details we now know from behind the scenes. What eventually broke the culture of secrecy and protection? Also, any comments with profanity, name-calling, and/or a nasty tone will be deleted. So if you think of Willow as being a living thing, we are willing to put other things to death on the altar of preserving that organism. So thank you. But before we begin, I just want to take a minute to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University, and Marquardt of Barrington. I wasnt throughout the representation. So to some extent, we all have a measure of hypocrisy. We have an open listing for a lead teaching pastor in a what I believe is a healthy church environment. Now, I coach pastors and business leaders in communications and self-care. To view their entire showroom online. Growing up in a ministry family, Pete watched and learned from his parents and witnessed the reach and power of Telling the Truth 's media outreach. WebPete Briscoe answers that question by pointing us to Paul as the perfect example of one who speaks with tender boldness. Well, I want to turn our discussion to what youve experienced at your own church, which is a multi-site mega church there in the Dallas Fort Worth area, because those are things where youve been able to apply some of these lessons that youve learned from watching the negative example maybe of Willow Creek, youve learned an awful lot from going through crisis at your own church. Heres to better days and better church health. And a lot of us who sat in the congregation and received from them were, you know, duped and we bought it. Mike is a dear friend and Im sad this day has come. Yeah, I just saw you ran a story on MacDonalds massive mansion in Illinois being held in the name of Vanilla Bean LLC. You know, when you have somebody like Bryan Loritts, who when hes talking about why when he was at a former church, he didnt disclose to the church that they had a sexual predator among them for six months. Thats a bad default state. Pete Briscoe, Stuart and Jills youngest son, was a key contributor to the ministrysteaching team from 2003 to 2021. Would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help our journalists continue to report the truth and restore the church? And that set the course for some of these more severe things to continue happening, and then to even get more and more severe. Again, thanks so much for joining me today. And I thought, I think I knew what he was doing when he named it that, but heres why I think its so ironic. God is doing a new work both in the lives of the Briscoe's and in the life of Bent Tree. Continue Reading The Upper Room: John 15 Posted by Nate Murray and I found these people in those imperfect churches! Put a skin tag on it or a flesh tag. Everything started to make sense. Pete Briscoe, our pastor at our church came out in support of the Dyers, which was bold, and it was brave. Jesus said, I call you My friend. Thankyou in advance. Pete has offered to So when you have a culture thats willing to, you know, exfoliate spoiliate, destroy documents in order to preserve a narrative, theres really very little that the culture will not accomplish at the cost of innocent people. The small tape recording process drew the attention of many people who were eager for a copy of the teaching they heard at church to share with friends and neighbors. When I came onto our board, the terms that Pete Briscoe used were, guide, govern and guard. And I think policy governance has the governing part. Stuart Briscoe died on August 3 "of natural causes unexpectedly" according to a tweet from his son, Pete Briscoe. Is that correct? Its a serious analog for what happened at Willow. There were some areas or some some critical times when things could have gone differently, but the elders caved in essence to Bill Hybels. Let the Briscoes help you experience Life in all its fullness! I think he lost it. Thank you so much. Manipulative theatrics. And if you dont have a character to lead, no manual is going to help you. We needed to go to the hills and fight as guerillas, you know, what is guerrilla warfare? When you say the IT department, its my understanding you came into some information about emails getting destroyed. A man who "dedicated his life to sharing Gods Word with the world" has died at the age of 91. He now coaches Pete Briscoe | Brookfield WI. Also, make sure you subscribe to The Roys Report on Apple podcasts or Google podcasts. And I had a wonderful experience. He was like one of these, I think until Scot decided to speak up, it was, Willow had credulity to say, These are people outside our tribe who are criticizing us. I dont think I could survive the corruption I see today had I not seen so much thats good and beautiful in the church growing up. The news of Petes resignation landed heavy on my heart. My husband and I actually bought our last car from our court and we had a great experience. He makes sure the good things stay in the church and the bad things go out. Its the biblical admonition, you know, to hold a knife to your throat lest you desire the Kings delicacies. Hes also a strong believer and advocate for abuse victims. Yeah, right. We are egalitarian and sophisticated, and we are Gods chosen church to show how ministry is supposed to be done. And he came back and said, I cant do this anymore.. Okay, how it didnt bring accountability. He has been married to Jill for more than 59 years and has three children and 13 grandchildren. But when we look at it from some practical ways that God used people to undo this, explain what you see as being the key forces. It was a huge fixture in evangelicalism. I think its incredibly dangerous. So, Mitch, how is it that a lawyer from Texas ended up representing victims of sexual harassment at a mega church in Chicago? And so I thought it was so funny that James MacDonald had his house in the name of an entity called Vanilla Bean LLC. I know from hearing from men, that that Bill abused men emotionally, spiritually while they were working there. I will let you know as soon as I figure it all out. But its an analog. Theres another circumstance that I became aware of where The board had a 360 Review done on Hybels and his leadership and some problems they were experiencing with his management style from, you know, bullying, abusive style. WebHi friend, I'm Pete Briscoe. Like they didnt read a book, figuring out how to do it, but there are warning signs that people need to be aware of. Yes, I totally agree. None at all. But I had limited contact with him. This was something that was very deeply ingrained in their culture. He even cites a conversation with Darrell Bock, a member who disagrees with the elders but who also says it is not an issue worth dividing over. Yet Mitch isnt just the lawyer whos seen megachurches as an outsider bringing accountability. However, whenever he would do that quavering voice, etc., I would wonder how he could do that for all three identical services? In context, I think my meaning becomes clear as I say soon after, agreeing with Mitchs assessment that unanimity is bad: Absolutely horrible. Heres my belief, Julie, I think the church at large, the big leaders in evangelicalism, we can name names if we want to, and Im sure that people have names on their mind when theyre hearing this, Why were they silent? Likewise. And its like, now someone inside the tribe has said, Something is wrong here and it must be dealt with. And it took someone of Scot McKnights gravitas to be able to shift the discussion at Willow. He currently leads a multi-faceted media ministry called Telling the Truth which he shares with his parents Stuart and Jill Briscoe. And Willow lost the battle of PR on social media. And really, I came back to the Lord at Willow and He used that church to help me reestablish my relationship with Him and with His church. You know, Hybels daughter had her own book on Oprahs book club. Yeah, yeah, I think I think thats a good word to Julie. Subscribe Sign up for my daily email devotionals and to stay in touch! In another area, it might be used to groom someone and use vulnerability as a mechanism to draw people into something that is corrupt. At that age, I had never had someone in spiritual authority lie or manipulate me. "For many of you, he was preacher, pastor, mentor or friend. I agree, Pastor Bob. Theyre not holding anybody accountable then. I know about the deleted emails. Then, I did what all good Christian college students did at that time I acquired a boot-leg copy of the drama and listened to it several times on my own. But they spoke. I was just following following lawyers advice. So its okay. If you have six members of the Board of eight, lets just say its eight or 10. I think, as believers, we should be standing for truth, we should not look the other way. And today Im excited to be speaking with Mitch Little. Briscoe stepped down as senior pastor at the end of 2000 but remained involved in the church and active in overseas missions. I understand that the desire to have elders dealing with what Ill call Echelon or tier level, theological topics: What does the church think about, you know, for example, racial reconciliation? Pete served as the senior pastor at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas for nearly 30 years, and he now ministers to pastors and organizational executives through personalized, professional coaching. Well, since you brought it up, youre gonna youre gonna have to address the Vanilla Bean. When you think about the economic reach of an organization that was that size within evangelicalism, my goodness, even Christianity Today was scared to run articles about it. Guest Bios Show Transcript Spiritual abuse has become an increasingly hot topic, as more and more stories of bully pastors and hyper-controlling, Guest Bios Show Transcript After years spent in an abusive church, how do you heal? Get new articles and breaking news delivered to your inbox. It took a variety of forms. That is not a matter of policy. To us, he was Stu, Dad and Poppa and we already miss him achingly." WebPete Briscoe is a podcaster and evangelical pastor. And yet here we see a church thats ostensibly about serving God, and its about proclaiming the gospel and yet this is happening within the church. They have to be theyre incredibly convincing. Glad that Jesus is still our anchor! I mean, there were some things that you learned specifically, that were done to potentially cover wrongdoing by Bill Hybels. And I really was hopeful that there was going to be a public apology, and yet, None. And if you think its not, you know, go and look in your church building right now, if youre quarantined under COVID, or youre not gathering. I totally agree with you Julie on how I viewed the Clergy and Church growing up. It is also the church in which Pete Briscoe, my former wonderful pastor, grew up in. Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Gifted with wisdom, discernment, and a bit of English humor, the Briscoe's bring God's Word to life. Was there any evidence found that he actually had an affair? With that purpose in mind, they launched theTelling the Truth ministry. I have plenty of authentic friends just not at church. Im so grateful now for that heritage. He currently leads a multi-faceted media ministry called Telling the Truth which he shares with his parents Stuart and Jill Briscoe. WebSince that time he has ministered on every continent, written more than 40 books, pastored a church for 30 years, and founded a media ministry called Telling the Truth which now broadcasts daily worldwide. At the same time. Telling the Truthis the international on-air and online media ministry that distributes the teaching content of uniquely-gifted Bible teachersStuart and Jill Briscoeto help people know Christ and experience Life in all its fullness. This is simply a place where I share the message of Gods unadulterated grace through my preaching sermons and bible teaching. Like if you go back and you actually read his books line-on-line, there are some things in there in those books where you go, For a pastor, that should be unacceptable. But he was attenuating his church culture and culture at large to him in his behavior. Because I often wonder what would have happened if he had come back and you know, not been well are not been really able to do his job but said, You know what, Ive got to do this. This is the you know, erither, I need the job, or, This ministry completes me. or whatever, whatever the excuse is. He was running and we were praying that he would surrender fully to God. Jill The woman had come forwarded, but then later recanted her story. You know, I believe in spiritual strongholds and things like that. To me, this was one of the beautiful God moves about the entire situation. At the end of the day the aftermath of destruction is felt on so many levels by so many people and we all react differently in our humanness. Yeah, totally agree. Pete Briscoe was Senior Pastor of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, TX for nearly 30 years. I learned that from Bill. Its about serving God. Im Julie Roys. Briscoe says that he wants Bent Tree to be a place where people can agree to disagree over this issue. It grows over time. I think they can do it effectively. I think the larger the platform, the more rigorous the accountability needs to be. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about in you mentioned this in earlier discussion we had about the identity of elders and how so often, and I dont think its just elders, I think its a lot of the senior pastor leadership and staff that their identity tends to become enmeshed with the success or failure of the organization theyre a part of. Thank God I have Jesus. Briscoe says that he wants Bent Tree to be a place where people can agree to disagree over this issue. A man who "dedicated his life to sharing Gods Word with the world" has died at the age of 91. So Im very much looking forward to our time together today. That night we had a guest speaker come in for a special presentation. I had no idea what to expect as this lone man stood on the stage. WebLearn More About Pete Today - Pete Briscoe God loves you to distraction, There is nothing you can do to make Him love them more or less, And, that Life with this Lover God is rich beyond description, regardless of your performance. The church is nondenominational and has woman pastors and elders. WebPete Briscoe, Stuart and Jills youngest son, was a key contributor to the ministrys teaching team from 2003 to 2021. I mean, I Timothy 5:20 says that we should publicly expose elders who are sinning so that others may take warning. I know the owners Dan and Kurt Marquart personally, and I can say without reservation that they truly run their business with honesty, integrity and transparency. Its How do we protect the entity and the entity as expressed through the person of Bill Hybels? Once you make that decision that youre willing to protect the entity or the person in charge of the entity to the detriment of members of the body or members of the staff, youve made some poor choices that are going to have consequences. As a lawyer whos represented some of Bill Hybels victims, Mitch Little has seen a side of Willow Creek that few others have. Im so glad that theyre godly men like you serving. Scott Dyer was the worship pastor at Bent Tree Bible fellowship. And another womans situation, theyre in an elder board meeting, and Bill Hybels, you know, has his hand on a womans leg, and no one else can see. Who hasnt given a friend a friendly kiss once in awhile? And its so important, I think, for any of us who are doing any kind of ministry at all, if we get our identity wrapped up in what were doing, then what were doing is no longer ministry, its no longer service to the Lord. You can choose from more than 60 majors and learn in a Christian environment known for its spiritual values, leadership opportunities, and strong financial aid. Vonda was at one time the director of Willow Creeks vocal ministry, and she was one of the first women to come forward and speak publicly about Bill Hybels alleged sexual misconduct. One of those is that you had your senior pastor resign kind of suddenly. But theres something wrong in the whole business of Church. And there was also a service at WC where the board interviewed him and was he was questioned about an affair. In this Milgram experiment, they found that people are willing to do things under collar of authority and that they would not probably otherwise do. Julie, you may want to review this pointwasnt a problem? I think there was a culture of pride at Willow that basically said, We are the elite of the Christian world. We were fighting asymmetric warfare, right? Do we have a theology of goodness at our church? Growing up in a ministry family, Pete watched and learned from his parents and witnessed the reach and power of Telling the Truth 's media outreach. And yet youre still in a megachurch, multi-site church. Well, and that is one aspect of the story that I wanted to explore together because I know that what happened at Willow from my understanding of speaking with Vonda and several victims is that it was far worse, the abuse there and far more pervasive than most people know, and thats one of the frustrations I know of a lot of the victims is that Willow hasnt publicly acknowledged that or publicly said how bad it was. So Scot, its like the scene in The Avengers when Iron Man just kind of drops out of the sky. And I think that Bill Hybels created an advocacy structure around him by having that many lawyers on the board. To help our journalists continue to report the truth which he what happened to pete briscoe with parents. 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