Willow Creek Community Church announced today that David Dummitt, a megachurch pastor from Michigan, will be the church’s new senior pastor.
The announcement comes just over two years after Willow Creek’s founding pastor resigned after being accused of abusing power and sexual misconduct.
Dummitt is the founding pastor of 2|42 Community Church, a Michigan megachurch with seven campuses in Michigan. According to a statement from the Vanderbloemen Search Group, which assisted with the search, the 2|42 Community Church was founded 15 years ago by Dummitt and some friends and now draws more than 10,000 people to services.
A graduate of Wheaton College who attended Asbury Seminary, Dummitt said in a statement he has long admired the work of Willow Creek. He called himself a “church kid who played in in the handbell choir” while growing up and that Willow Creek taught him church could be different.
“As a freshman at Wheaton College, I’d heard about this church that was doing creative things to reach lost people,” he said in a statement. “We attended, and I can almost point to the seats we sat in that day. The service opened with a Beatles song…I don’t know of a pastor or leader in America that has not in some way been shaped by the ministry of Willow Creek.”
Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College said Dummitt was the right person to lead Willow.
“David is a great choice for Willow – a Wheaton grad who has led a growing church that seeks to be on mission for its community,” he said.
Hybels was known for his high-intensity personality and his admiration for corporate culture and business practices.
Stetzer said Dummit is known as a “networker with a kingdom mentality – he loves people and loves connecting people for missional purposes.”
“Dave has a reputation for being a fun guy,” Stetzer said, “He takes the mission seriously but does not take himself too seriously.”
The statement announcing Dummitt’s hire acknowledged that recent years have been difficult for Willow Creek.
Hybels, the church’s entire elder board, and pastor Steve Carter and Heather Larson, both of whom had been named to succeed Hybels, all resigned in the fallout from the mishandling of allegations against him.
“Willow Creek was founded by Bill Hybels in 1975. He led the church for 43 years until retiring early amid multiple allegations of misconduct. The controversy left the church with lower attendance, giving, and multiple staff and elder resignations,” the statement read.
Hybels has consistently denied all allegations of misconduct. A 2019 report from an outside panel concluded that allegations of “sexually inappropriate words and actions” by Hybels were credible.
Dummitt begins work in early June. More information about the church can be found at next.willowcreek.org
