Willow Creek Pastor Refuses to Teach to Mostly White Churches: ‘It’s Casting Pearls Before Swine’
A megachurch pastor has pledged he will no longer preach or teach at churches that aren’t sufficiently multiethnic, likening his refusal to Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 7:6 which talks about not casting pearls before swine.
Ed Ollie Jr. made the divisive comments during a dialogue on Black History Month with fellow staffer Shawn Williams. Both men are pastors at Willow Creek Community Church, a multi-campus 20,000 member church founded by Bill Hybels.
Willow Creek pioneered the church growth and seeker-sensitive movement – the demonic practice of gearing everything about a church service to be as comfortable and friendly to non-believing “seekers” as possible. Notably, in 2007 a major study was released that was commissioned by the church itself, finding the church was failing catastrophically at producing deep, mature followers of Christ.
Now, it seems they are repeating that pattern. Ollie Tells Williams:
I think Willow Creek is this really unique and weird place in that we are aspiring to something that is extremely difficult, and it’s fraught with all kinds of misunderstanding and pain. Because even in this room as we sit, we have Asian, African-American, white. When you start to look at that and you start to look at the reality of what the kingdom really looks like, and we’re trying to bring it on earth as it is in heaven, you will come against all kinds of challenges in doing so.
So I think it’s important to know the environment that you’re in and then be true to who you are and bring all of who you are into the circles that you come into. So there’s some places I don’t go and preach and communicate. Why? Because they don’t have values that are important to me and my family. I will talk to you privately. I’ll help build relationship with you. But until you as a pastor or church take steps to be more honorable to the scriptures, I don’t have to come into your environment and give my pearls in the midst of the reality of swine. I don’t need to do that, and I won’t do that.
And I think what happened in George Floyd was there was an eye-opening moment that happened for all of our culture, Shawn. What happened is people stopped apologizing. And I don’t know fully where this is all gonna go, but people of color, particularly who are evangelical, said, “We’re not coming to your events anymore. We don’t need your validation of our voice. We’re not gonna take that anymore.” There is a new level of awareness that has hit, and I don’t think that we’ve fully gotten to the bottom of where that’s gonna go.
But I think that it will take many moments like this and learnings like we are doing as a church and even our church staff. I have a very diverse staff, and I have a community that is 34% Asian that I’m pastoring. So it’s a part of our life. It’s something we value. But I don’t know if that’s the case for everyone else.
h/t to @wokepreachertv for the clip and transcript
Bonus awful thing said by Williams
Got a great tip on a Black History Month dialogue at an Illinois megachurch.
— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) April 8, 2021
"My experience was all fairly myopic…[A] mentor of mine says, 'For the next two years, you can't read a single book by another white guy.' And that was actually really helpful to me." pic.twitter.com/aQgcoKPwIb
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I’m not sure if I should be concerned that this type of racism has become so casual within evangelicalism if I should be thankful that my church won’t ever be subjected to an Ed Ollie Jr sermon because we don’t have enough melanin in our skin.
Why would anyone want a racist like this guy preach to them?
This man knows a different god than the God I know. Paul said there are no divisions if you are in Christ. Racism is real, it is practiced by false prophets in thousands of churches everyday. I hope Ed Ollie repents of his sin and turns to the Truth. He is leading people away from Jesus.
Most negroes whine too much and are very ungrateful for all the White man has given them. This is how the jew taught most of them to behave.
oy vey you bad racist goy!
I agree. Segregation is the only answer. Separate but equal was working fine. They can have their own groups and institutions, but don’t complain when we have ours.
Imagine if Jesus had given this message to the woman at the well!
Apostasy at it’s WORST. Such a BIGOT. All those that follow this piece of crap will suffer the same fate as this , I don’t know what to call him.
I know exactly what to call him but I won’t.
that ‘pastor’ is the actual swine
I know many of you will take this the wrong way but ….. “May God Bless him according to his works!”
That’s actually a superb post.
I am really fed up with this anti-White horse manure. White people have been giving everything to the blacks since the 1960s and look at what it has gotten then. Entire generations of entitled, arrogant, selfish, ignorant, racist fools who still think the world owes them something.
We should go back to segregation. They don’t want us in their space and we certainly don’t want them in ours. The values of each race are wildly different from each other and it is apparent that we cannot live in harmony. The irony of it all is that race relations were just fine before 2007. A majority White America elects a mixed race president (twice) this somehow means that White people are racist.
Nothing about it makes sense because it’s not supposed to make sense. Communists and people like Soros are doing everything in their power to divide the country and it’s working like gangbusters.
I must say that this “man” does not have God in him, he is definitely not a Christian and absolutely does not read the Bible, but as the revelation to saint john the divine told us end the end times many false prophets will emerge. And have no fear, we are all judged according to our works and seeing how this man is obviously not a born again christian, he will have to account for all of his sins as well, it would be better for him to have a millstone around his neck than to have engaged publicly in what he has done, his space in hell will be especially hot, for the Lord’s eyes are everywhere and he searcheth the heart.
African hominids are 13% of the US population but they represent 75% of the criminal activity. As we can all see, this fat fool is a perfect representative of his degenerate species.
Ollie You are the pig wearing the pearl in your nose. You are NOT preaching Christ’s gospel, but a false gospel. You are young enough to be left behind.
Although I thoroughly disagree with this pastor, I’m much more disillusioned with the comments that are appended to this article. I have many African American friends who are delightful people. Most of them are sincere, mature Christians, but not all of them are. They are all honorable, law biding, decent people. Certainly, many of them have cultural preferences that are different from mine, but that is true of my own children too! These comments that are disparaging all blacks are completely wrong.
Thomas, I agree with you. Ollie is preaching a false gospel, but many Christians are led down the sinful path of hate by his remarks also. In John 10:10, Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. The words of Ollie are meant to divide and destroy, but many Christians are willing to follow that same path when they read about his bigoted remarks. If we follow only Jesus’s words, we experience joy and love when we meet other believers, regardless of the color of their skin.
Agree, these comments are what the dividers were hoping for. Create hate of one race to the other, then having that race respond in kind. And most certainly NOT what Jesus would do.
Truth is in God’s world, there are NO black, white & brown races, diversity or minorities on this planet. Man’s divisive social construct myth of races opposes God creating the singular human race in & through Adam who is mankind’s genetic genesis, therefore we’re ALL cut from one cloth.
Acts 17:26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUyA8TeR1Yg
Truth is in God’s world, there are NO black, white & brown races, diversity or minorities on this planet. Man’s divisive social construct myth of races opposes God creating the singular human race in & through Adam who is mankind’s genetic genesis, therefore we’re ALL cut from one cloth.
Acts 17:26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUyA8TeR1Yg
I don’t know what’s worse. Ollie’s implications or some of the comments here. It appears some on both “sides” are arguing over who’s the lesser, irredeemable “race” – true to the doctrines of their lord and savior charles darwin.
So the title is he won’t teach and mostly white churches. Under his conviction is he not teaching at mostly black churches mostly Spanish churches mostly Asian churches? Has this guy read the Bible does he not know where God teaches? This guy is so racist it’s heartbreaking