Is There Any Line in the Sand for Trump-Adjacent Christian Leaders?
By Janet Mefferd - Posted at Substack:
Published April 14, 2026
"I still believe that Christians can be engaged in politics and can and should witness to politicians. But in light of the president’s recent antics, exactly where do you draw the line in the sand as Christians on unacceptable presidential behavior, Trump-adjacent Christian leaders?"When I was a reporter years ago, I conducted a sit-down interview with Pastor Bill Hybels for a two-part story I was writing on his role at Willow Creek Community Church and the impact of his church on the Chicago suburbs.
Alongside my story, my newspaper had printed a photo of Hybels praying with then-President Bill Clinton at the White House. We had run the photo with previous stories, and it was well-known to his church and to our readers that Hybels described himself as a “behind-the-scenes spiritual adviser” to Clinton. That’s why I was surprised when one of his Willow Creek associates called me to complain about the picture.
“Bill was not happy that you guys ran that picture of him with Bill Clinton,” I recall the staffer telling me. “Janet, don’t you know how many Republicans go to Willow Creek?”
I was floored. Did this staffer really think it was some groundbreaking insight that a majority of the conservative Christians at WCCC were – gasp! -- Republicans? Not only that, but it was common knowledge at the time that Hybels had taken on a spiritual-adviser role with Clinton.
A few years later, Hybels even platformed Clinton at Willow Creek — to the consternation of many of his church members — so the disgraced POTUS could lament the “spiritual struggles” he allegedly endured after his Monica Lewinsky affair. And in a development that was shocking to no one, Clinton also used his appearance to soft-sell Al Gore, just days before the Democratic National Convention delegates made him the party’s presidential nominee.
This made me wonder: Did that Hybels staffer who complained to me also complain to Hybels about the political implications of platforming a pro-abortion Democrat president in front of so many Republican Christians? Highly doubtful.
This all came back to me as I’ve been considering this bigger problem nowadays of the evangelical church and politics.
