Visit to Willow Creek – Meeting my host family

The next day I left the hotel and drove an hour north to my hosts. I purposefully drove along Lake Michigan, and as the Chicago Skyline was getting smaller in my rear view mirror and I again thanked God for the great opportunity that it is to be here, ‘Roxanne’ by the Police came on the radio. It was one of those unforgettable moments.

An hour later, involving accidentally driving illegally through a freeway toll, and then not having enough money for the next toll, I arrived at my hosts. For those attending conferences at Willow Creek Chicago, Willow’s global hospitality team has hundreds of Willow families who open their homes to guests for free. I would see again and again in the coming week just how deeply sacrificial and servant hearted the Willow Community Church members are – Global hospitality is one example, and the Stein family are another.

When I pulled up on the drive, Brian Stein came to greet me and warmly welcomed me to his home. This was repeated inside when I met Denise, Bethany, Claire and Rachel. Within minutes they all helped me to feel like I’d known them for ages. Here is a family that have a passion to support Pastors getting trained and they generously offer their home for this. They’ve attended Willow since about 1984, and during our conversations demonstrated to me great examples of the kind of mature, compassionate and generous Christ-followers Willow has helped to grow. I couldn’t help but think of my two girls and I hope they’ll be as good at welcoming guests into their home as the Stein’s girls had been with me. This is one inspiring family.