Visit to Willow Creek – Departing England Part Two

The weeks leading up to my departure had been extremely busy. Preparing to be away for about 10 days was not easy, not least the idea of being away from my beautiful wife and two precious girls. There was also lots to be done at church, and at home, including a heavy teaching and course programme, as well as preparing the church for its crucial presentation of our future building project, which will be the biggest building project in PBC’s history.

I was so excited. Deep within me I had a giddy excitement that I can only compare to the feeling that you have as a child approaching Christmas: you know its going to be great, but you’re not quite sure what exactly to expect. I found some great flights with BA and an excellent deal at a hotel in Downtown Chicago for the first two nights of my trip. I knew I’d need a couple of days to adjust to the time difference before heading to my host family and attending Willow Creek.

Bren took me to the airport, and we had a great coffee together in terminal 5. I still couldn’t believe I was really going. We made an agreement together that we would each read a chapter of Proverbs every morning as a spiritual discipline in these coming days. God was knitting this trip together, because Bren’s gift to me in those last few minutes was to help me begin preparing my heart to be in the right place for what he knew would be a life transforming experience. It had been go, go, go at work, and he began ‘slowing me down’ and centering me on Christ. I’m so grateful for his friendship.

In the security queue at Heathrow, I stood behind Howard from Take That. He was a really pleasant guy.  On the plane I sat next to a lovely Christian lady from Chicago who was flying home to the US for Thanksgiving, who went to a Vineyard church in Chicago. When I told her where I was going, she was really complimentary about Willow and said that it had provided her own church with about a 1000 hampers of food to give away to its own neighbourhood. What a great piece of positive news; how Willow had helped one church to bless its neighbours. Very cool. I wonder what news is shared in similar kinds of  ‘chance’ conversations about PBC?

The 8-hour flight went really quickly, particularly because I’m used to travelling with a toddler and a baby to look after! I was already really missing them – it felt so strange to be on this adventure without my family.