One of the highlights of the summer, along with an England innings of 710-7, was the trip Sarah and I made to Chicago to attend the Global Leadership Summit hosted by Willow Creek Community Church. The conference took place over two days and offered insights into the practice of leadership from some of the world’s most innovative leaders. The speakers were from a wide range of backgrounds including academic institutions, government, the corporate world and the church. Speakers, past and present, have included Colin Powell (US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Bill Hybels (founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek), Jack Welch (‘Neutron Jack’, Chairman and CEO of General Electric), Steve Furtick (leader of one of the fastest growing churches in the US), Richard Curtis (producer, writer, and founder of Comic Relief), and Leonard Schlesinger and Michael Porter (Professors of Harvard Business School). The conference was an extraordinary event for all delegates, business leaders and church leaders alike.

Willow Creek is an exceptional church (see www.willowcreek.org). Every weekend over 20,000 people participate in services at the church and many are engaged in social action programmes which are changing the lives of people who are under-resourced, grieving or who live on the margins of society for whatever reason.

As you sit in the vast church building it is easy to allow one’s attention to be drawn to where they are now. The problem with such an extraordinary accomplishment is that it seems unobtainable for the rest of us because of the size of gap between where we are and where they are, even allowing for cultural differences. Perhaps the answer is to make a different comparison and instead to ask about where they started? What was happening at the beginning rather than in the present?

The answer to that question is even more startling. Willow Creek started in 1975 with nothing. There were just four couples who had an idea of how church could be done differently. At that stage the whole church could fit into an ordinary sitting room. With faith, innovation and hard work people began to be attracted to what was going on. Soon, they began to rent a cinema, but with no money they had to sell fruit and vegetables door-to-door to finance the hire costs. Within two years the church had grown to 2,000 people and by 2000, 15,000 people regularly attended. This year, the average weekly attendance has been 24,000 people.

The point is this: it all began with just eight people, with faith and a common cause, who were willing to pray hard, sacrifice their own personal security and do some things that others thought foolish.

Great things happen not because people seek greatness, but because they have the faith and courage to take a first costly step, then another, and then another.

Stephen Pullin