Willow Creek to name Rev. Bill Hybels' successor this weekend

Willow Creek Community Church will announce senior pastor Bill Hybels' successor at its Saturday evening service, the church said in a news release Wednesday.

Hybels founded the South Barrington-based church 42 years ago, and since then it has grown into one of the 10 largest churches in the country, averaging 25,000 attendees each week at its eight locations in the area.

Church elders will announce the result of a six-year succession planning process live from the South Barrington location during the 5:30 p.m. service, and the announcement will be viewed simultaneously at the church's other seven locations and online at WillowCreek.tv.

Hybels will remain on the church staff until October 2018, at which point he will devote more attention to the Willow Creek Association and the annual Global Leadership Summit, a movement of 400,000 leaders in 130 countries that Hybels launched in 1995.

The succession planning process has been led over the past several years by Willow Creek's elders - including Hybels, who will turn 66 in December.

"Questions about succession are among the top three questions I'm asked when I meet with leaders," Hybels told the Global Leadership Summit audience in August.

"We began our planning process well in advance of my transition, because I wanted Willow Creek to be an even stronger church in the future."

More information on the church can be found online at willowcreek.org.