David Aschraft

David Ashcraft is pastor emeritus at Pennsylvania megachurch LCBC, where he was senior pastor for 32 years, during which time frame the church grew from fewer than 200 people to more than 20,000. In 2023, he became the President and CEO of Global Leadership Network, formerly known as the Willow Creek Association.

Mr. Ashcraft interviewed Mr. Hybels and the interview was shown at LCBC in October 2016, as part of LCBC's 30th anniversary celebrations. During the interview, Mr. Ashcraft told Mr. Hybels he thought of him as a mentor and thanked him for his positive influence. "So I want to start by just saying thank you, and thank you to Willow, for the influence you guys have had--the impact you've had on LCBC." Later in the interview, Ashcraft said repeated this praise: "leading well and uh just seeing what it means to be a good leader. Teaching with relevance. We have used many of your sermon series and your talks and adapted them to us and claimed they were ours. So we've done that often. And then I look at you, whether whether you would ever realize it or not, I look at you as definitely somebody that has mentored me uh in my younger years. And I always it's always fascinating to me because people tend to think mentoring means you've got to sit down with each other once a week and spend 30 minutes or an hour. It didn't happen that way for me. So so appreciate you very much, so thank you for all of that, and appreciate you and what you've done for us as a church and it's a big influence for us as we celebrate 30 years."

Later, in his 2022 book What was I thinking, Mr. Ashcraft falsely described his mentor Bill Hybels retirement service, writing "After pouring most of his adult life into this organization, rather than ending his career by being honored and revered for all the good he had done, (Mr. Hybels) walked off the platform one last time. No celebration. No honor. Only humiliation. Only disbelief.” In fact, video of the service shows Mr. Hybels receiving a 40 second standing ovation."

References

Ady, B. (2024). David Ashcraft praises his mentor Bill Hybels [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/tTY_XfA5_Ds?si=eCxdLErlz7I_oBog (excerpted from LCBC Church (2016, October). We are lives: Interview with Bill Hybels [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/188707566).

Ashcraft, D. (2022). What was I thinking?: How to make better decisions so you can live and lead with confidence. B&H Books.

Blair, L. (2023, July). Bill Hybels’ mentee pastor David Ashcraft named new CEO of Global Leadership Network. The Christian post. https://www.christianpost.com/news/david-ashcraft-named-new-ceo-of-global-leadership-network.html.

LCBC Church (2016). Interview with Bill Hybels [podcast]. Crossmap Podcasts. https://podcasts.crossmap.com/episodes/Interview-with-Bill-Hybels/41263