Dave Dummitt stepping down as Willow Creek’s senior pastor to pursue other dreams
After five years in the senior pastor role stabilizing Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago, Dave Dummitt announced to the congregation on Sunday that he is stepping down to pursue other dreams.
Willow Creek Elder Board Chair Harold Engelmann confirmed that starting in April, Shawn Williams, who currently serves as the South Barrington campus pastor and executive pastor of weekends, will replace Dummitt as the church's new senior pastor.
Dummitt was named Willow Creek's senior pastor in April 2020, two years after the tumultuous resignation of the church's high-profile founder, Bill Hybels, under a cloud of sexual misconduct allegations.
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In his address on Sunday, Dummitt made it clear to congregants that this time around, the leadership transition is a healthy one.
"There is no moral failure. There's no scandal. No one has forced me to step down, so sorry bloggers. There's no dirt to dig up," Dummitt declared. "This is just a beautiful healthy handoff, smooth momentum building."
The outgoing megachurch pastor, who was forced to make significant staff cuts as the COVID-19 pandemic raged in 2022 and the church lost about half its pre-pandemic membership, said he was leaving the church in a healthier position.
"It's been a privilege to be the pastor of this church over the last five years. ... The board that hired me five years ago and I, in the very beginning, talked about what would need to be done. We were entering into a season at the church that was very challenging, to say the least," he said.
Dummitt said he and the elders discussed what they wanted to do to "bring beauty back to our church." They agreed that they wanted to reach lost people, raise up leaders and fully devoted followers of Jesus.
With the help of God, the staff and volunteers, Dummitt said they were eventually able to improve the health of the church.
"We ended the year last year with all those metrics up and to the right. The attendance was up; the baptisms were up; we saw that 40% of all the new people that are coming to our church weren't a part of a church before they came to Willow. So we're reaching lost people and not just transferring people from other churches," he said.
"Discipleship, the things we use to measure that, groups, teams, giving, all of those things were up and that's a beautiful, beautiful thing."
Williams was hired and mentored by Dummitt, who called him a "man of great character."
"He's a proven leader around here, and as a teacher, the only thing wrong with him is that he doesn't use notes enough, and that just makes me mad and jealous, and he's a phenomenal communicator as well," Dummitt quipped.
Dummitt plans to be at the church until July to help with the transition, but he expects to take a break from ministry after handing over the reins of the church to Williams.
"I've been doing this job, senior ministry, for over 20 years, and I'm ready for a break, and I've got some other sandboxes that I'm looking forward to playing in and dreams that I want to pursue," Dummitt said.
He said he and his family have businesses in Chicago, and he will join a friend in a consultancy business after taking some time off.
"I've got a friend that does consulting with churches and executive leaders and some development work, and I'm going to join him in that," Dummitt said. "We're not going to go anywhere; we've got businesses in Chicago. I'm going to lean into those a little bit."
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