In 1999 C. Peter Wagner, chief architect of and salesman for the New Apostolic Reformation, lists two significant members of this group. From Wagner’s 1999 book Churchquake: how the new apostolic reformation is shaking up the church as we know it (Regal) comes these two statements:
“Bill Hybels, new apostolic pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Barrington, Illinois, and a longtime friend of Robert Schuller, agrees that pastors have the responsibility of determining the purpose of each corporate gathering.” (p. 179)
“New apostolic churches, like Rick Warren’s, turn this [leadership and ministry] around 180 degrees, as he explains in his best-seller, The Purpose Driven Church (Zondervan).” (p. 213) [emphases added]
It is significant that C. Peter Wagner identifies Hybels and Warren as New Apostolic Reformation pastors. C. Peter Wagner oversaw Rick Warren’s doctoral thesis at Fuller Theological Seminary, which later became his first book, The Purpose-Driven Church. A September 8, 1989 Christianity Today “had a picture of Hybels with Dr. Robert Schuller and C. Peter Wagner at Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, according to John Ashbrook in New Neutralism II, an excellent book critical of the neoevangelical movement. Dr. Schuller is the granddaddy of the Church Growth models utilized by Warren and Hybels.
For more information on the New Apostolic Reformation see http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com, which includes further documentation on the interconnections between these men.
The Truth:
“Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.” (Psalm 119:134)