October 2 2000

ARTICLE TOOLS

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In what some viewed as mixing the water of politics with the oil of spirituality, President Bill Clinton discussed lessons he has learned in leadership with Willow Creek Community Church pastor Bill Hybels Thursday in front of 4,540 church leaders."I think I have given evidence that I need to be in church," Clinton quipped as the crowd laughed in response. "This job [the presidency] can overtake you. It can crowd out all that other stuff that keeps you centered."Hybels asked Clinton questions regarding the president's spiritual life during the first half of their 75-minute interview at the South Barrington, Illinois, church site. In this presidential election year, the national news media turned out in force. Willow Creek's chapel was transformed into a press room for dozens of reporters.Referring to his infidelity with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky as his "personal crisis," Clinton, said:"I feel much more at peace than I used to. As awful as what I went through was, sometimes when you think you've got something behind you and it's not behind you, this sort of purging process, if it doesn't destroy you, can bring you to a different place."I'm in the second year of a process of trying to totally rebuild my life from a terrible mistake I made," he continued. It's been an amazing encounter trying to rebuild my family life … which took a lot of effort and that I never talked about and probably never will because I don't think it's anybody else's concern."A month ago, Clinton accepted Hybels's invitation to speak at Willow Creek's annual three-day Leadership Summit Conference, which this year is being broadcast via satellite to an additional 6,300 people at 15 locations in the United States and Canada. An announcement ...