A THREAD about this story:
In the 25 years I’ve covered American religion I’ve admired Rev. @BillHybels and @WillowCreekCC. They met the spiritual needs of countless alienated Americans, empowered women and worked on global poverty and AIDS. 1/7
nyti.ms/2OcH66B
In the 25 years I’ve covered American religion I’ve admired Rev. @BillHybels and @WillowCreekCC. They met the spiritual needs of countless alienated Americans, empowered women and worked on global poverty and AIDS. 1/7
nyti.ms/2OcH66B
A white suburban megachurch, they made efforts to forge ties with Asian, Latino and black evangelicals. 2/7
When I first read that women were accusing @BillHybels of sexual harassment, in articles by esteemed @ReligionReport journalists, I didn’t want to believe it. In some ways, I reacted the same as the disbelieving members of @WillowCreekCC 3/7
But when I talked to Pat Baranowski, I saw how she and all of us could be taken in. In her telling, @BillHybels groomed her slowly, then abused her sexually - and emotionally. She thought it was her fault. And when she questioned him, he bullied her. 4/7
She was once an executive assistant so competent she organized church conferences in France or Australia for thousands. By the time she left @WillowCreekCC, she couldn’t get out of bed or get to work on time. 5/7
Yet her characteristic competence and conscientiousness helped in doing this story. Every time I asked for a date or for details, she had it, written down in a huge stack of journals. She had written the journals only for God. 6/7
She told me, “I thought I would take this to my grave.” She chose to speak, and use her name, because she saw that some people were doubting the other women. But this has been a long, hard road, and no one is feeling happy today. 7/7
