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This week in Christian history: Willow Creek Community Church opens, Knights Templar arrested, Henry Martyn dies

By Michael Gryboski, Editor

Willow Creek Community Church holds first worship service – Oct. 12, 1975

A parishioner cries as he signs a song of worship in the 7,000-seat Willow Creek Community church during a Sunday service in South Barrington, Illinois. Institutions like Willow Creek and Houston's Lakewood Church, each drawing 20,000 or more on a weekend
A parishioner cries as he signs a song of worship in the 7,000-seat Willow Creek Community church during a Sunday service in South Barrington, Illinois. Institutions like Willow Creek and Houston's Lakewood Church, each drawing 20,000 or more on a weekend

This week marks the anniversary of when Willow Creek Community Church, a prominent Evangelical megachurch based in the Chicago, Illinois, area, held its first worship service.

The inaugural service took place at a movie theater in Palatine, Illinois, a town about 30 miles from Chicago, with Bill Hybels serving as founding pastor of the congregation.

Hybels would serve as senior pastor of Willow Creek until 2018, when he was forced to resign months ahead of a planned retirement due to sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.

Over the next few decades, the church would add multiple satellite locations in the Chicago area, and have a reported average weekly worship attendance of around 10,000 people.

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