Lynne Hybels, co-founder of the well respected Willow Creek Community Church, an often copied Chicago area evangelical mega-church, has become a national voice for the front group for the George Soros funded National Immigration Forum, a leading advocate for the crony capitalist laden Schumer-Rubio “Gang of Eight” immigration bill.
Ms. Hybels was not only featured at a Thursday press conference at which the front group, Evangelical Immigration Table, announced the launch of a $250,000 ad campaign designed to pressure members of Congress to vote in favor of the “Gang of Eight” bill, she provides the narrative voice on one of the national radio advertisements included in the campaign. You can hear her make the case for her understanding of immigration reform here Note that Ms. Hybels also states the disclaimer at the end of the ad “paid for by the Evangelical Immigration Table. “
However, Breitbart News reported on Sunday that the Evangelical Immigration Table does not exist as a legal entity. On Monday, Breitbart News reported that “Evangelicals Mislead on Funding of Immigration Ads.” Though the ads that are now airing in 13 states contain a disclaimer that they are paid for by the Evangelical Immigration Table, however, the ads were actually paid for by the Soros-funded National Immigration Forum.
Other evangelicals disagree with Ms. Hybels, and the way in which the evangelical label has been manipulated by left wing secularists like Mr. Soros. Mark Tooley, President of the Institue on Religion and Democracy, for instance, thinks that “[t]oo much of the verbiage from religious activists outspoken on immigration mimics the soaring and unrealistic ostensibly biblical rhetoric of old-time progressive social gospel crusaders for other sweeping political causes.”
According to Tooley, “for them, caring about the poor has long meant endorsing an unlimited social welfare state, which, despite lofty intent, often breeds dependency and social decay, while being financially unsustainable.”
At Thursday’s press conference, Ms. Hybels described how she became involved in immigration reform. “About a decade ago we realized that we as a church were in the same community that we’ve been in for 30 years. But the demographics of that community had changed drastically in those 30 years and so there was a sizeable population in our community right around our church that wasn’t being served by any church and that was the Spanish-speaking community.”
As a result, Willow Creek Community Church started a Spanish language church service and ministry. As Hybel describes it, “[t]hey became a very vibrant part of our church community over the years. We grew to appreciate their beautiful language their rich culture, their strong family ties, and their warmth and expressiveness just really changed us as a congregation and it softened us, enriched us.”
As Ms. Hybel tells it, the Spanish speaking illegal immigrants who attend Willow Creek Church services “we thought God brought to us” also “drew us as a congregation into the immigration debate five years ago.”
“Our country does not look the way it looked 25 years ago and neither do our churches,” Ms. Hybels said, adding that “we’re seeing are bringing with them major changes in how we view the world around us.”
Breitbart News emailed Ms. Hybels on Monday and asked for her comments on several questions related to her role as one of the voices for the George Soros funded National Immigration Forum. We received the following auto-response to our email inquiry: “For the next few months I’ll be on a writing sabbatical with limited access to this email account. If you need a timely response, please email my assistant. . .Thank you, Lynne.”
On Monday, we emailed Ms. Hybel’s assistant and have not yet received a response.