CHICAGO (RNS) — Steve Carter was supposed to be in front of his congregation interviewing Ira Glass, the famed NPR journalist and host of “This American Life.”
Instead, the lead teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church was throwing up backstage.
Carter, 38, had become physically ill that Sunday, Aug. 5, after reading an article published that morning in The New York Times about the church’s founding pastor, Bill Hybels. The newspaper reported allegations from Hybels’ former assistant Pat Baranowski, who said that Hybels had fondled her breasts, rubbed against her and once engaged her in oral sex.
For months, the evangelical Christian megachurch in the Chicago suburbs had been rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Hybels. Reading Baranowski’s story was “a breaking point,” Carter said.
“I felt like my body was shutting down,” Carter told Religion News Service.
While church leaders scrambled to respond to the Times report, Carter walked out the door, went home and began typing out his resignation. As soon as services ended, he announced his departure on his blog.
“The new facts and allegations that came to light this morning are horrifying, and my heart goes out to Ms. Baranowski and her family for the pain they have lived with,” he wrote. “These most recent revelations have also compelled me to make…
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