Hybels Challenged to do More for Poor by 'Notting Hill' Writer

MCLEAN, Va. - Some 100,000 church leaders across the globe were inspired to greater action against poverty by an interview between influential pastor Bill Hybels and British Oscar-nominated screenwriter Richard Curtis over the weekend.

|PIC1|The interview with Curtis, a comedy writer and a leading figure in campaigning to fight global poverty, featured as a pre-recorded interview at the highly prominent Willow Creek Leadership Summit with live videocast in cities around the world beaming from South Barrington, Illinois, near Chicago.

"This was a very disturbing interview for me to do," said Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, to tens of thousands of pastors, "because I'm interviewing a guy who doesn't even have his faith figured out and he's doing 100 times more work than I am to alleviate the suffering in this world."

Part of Curtis' inspiration to fight poverty came from the Sermon on the Mount, one of the best known teachings of Jesus, Curtis told Hybels in the interview. But he did not indicate that faith was the driving force behind his passion to care for the poor.

"All I know is that a guy over there should not be dying when I have so much," he said.

Curtis may be best known for writing "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Notting Hill", "The Girl in the Cafe", and the "Mr Bean" television series, but he has used his comedy writing to rally millions of dollars to alleviate the poor.

"I can only really do one thing well. I can write comedy," he said in the interview. "But I'll ruthlessly do the thing that I do to try to rectify this general injustice."

Curtis is co-founder of the Make Poverty History campaign and Red Nose Day, a comic relief campaign which last year raised $130m in one day and has become a national day of giving for the poor.

His latest effort was "Idol Gives Back" on the popular TV programme "American Idol" in the United States. The US public contributed some $73m during that campaign.

While Curtis has helped make strides in halving global poverty, he made it clear that if all the churches in the world took a central stance on the issue and on their "God-given duty", the goal could really be achieved within the next decade.

"You can't just pray for people," said Curtis. "You've got to do something now."

It was a major challenge posed to Christian leaders participating in the three-day Leadership Summit.

"Looking at all the well-educated, smart, well-resourced Christians that come to summits by the tens of thousands ... I go home at night and think how much of that potential is really being leveraged to serve the needs of the world?" said Hybels. "The older I get, this stuff bothers me more."

More churches are beginning to leverage their time and resources to those suffering around the world.

|PIC2|Out of more than 100 church applicants, the Leadership Summit awarded three churches a check of $100,000, sponsored by World Vision, on Friday for their courageous work in the area of HIV and Aids, particularly caring for children overseas orphaned by the pandemic. Hoek Baptist Church in Cape Town, South Africa, won first place while Rockland Community Church in Golden, Colorado, and West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles tied for second.

This was the first year the 12-year-old summit gave out the Courageous Leadership Award, which was established to encourage more churches to get engaged in the struggle against HIV and Aids. Next year, the award money will be $200,000 to the three top churches that demonstrate effective and innovative work in Aids alleviation.

As HIV and Aids continue to be identified as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and poverty continues to afflict millions, many point to the church as integral to healing the world's ills.

"I'd love to feel that 10 years from now that the best thing I did was to try engage the churches in this [fight against poverty], which turned out to be their great victory," said Curtis.

Hybels dreams of the day when it is normal for every church in the world to help alleviate poverty.

"We've got a guy who's not even sure about his faith, cheering the church on, saying we can knock it (poverty) out," said Hybels of Curtis. "The local church is the hope of the world but we've got to be engaged in it."

The Willow Creek Leadership Summit is one of the world's most premier leadership training events and this year featured a world-class line-up of guests and speakers, including exclusive interviews with former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state Colin Powell.

The August 9-11 summit was beamed via satellite from Willow Creek Community Church to more than 138 cities worldwide. An additional 76 cities will view the videocast in the fall.

The Willow Creek Association (WCA), host of the annual Leadership Summit, is a growing multi-denominational worldwide network of more than 12,000 churches from 90 denominations and 35 countries. The WCA equips churches and church leaders with strategic vision, training, and resources.