Last year I was shaken to the roots when I heard that Ken Blanchard was going to be a speaker at the Willow Creek Leadership conference. Ken sits on the Board of Advisors of The Hoffman Institute, an organization that promotes personal transformational change for individuals. Though “The Hoffman Process” or the “Quadrinity Process” is not described in great detail, we can certainly get an idea of what kind of help Blanchard promotes by a survey of those who sit on the board:
- Joan Borysenko, PhD: international authority on mind/body medicine;
- Margot Anand: practitioner and teacher of Sexual Magic and Ecstasy;
- Ward Ashman, PhD: A licensed psychologist and management consultant specializing in personal and organizational evolution;
- Anat Baniel, internationally known master practitioner and Training Teacher of the Feldenkrais method for movement, mind/body integration and physical healing;
- David Bork: a pioneer in the field of counseling family owned businesses for over 25 years;
- Sonia Choquette, PhD: A third generation psychic and spiritual counselor, now concentrating on helping others develop their own psychic powers.
- Ken Druck, Ph.D.: a noted psychologist, business consultant, and author of Secrets Men Keep.
- William McLeod, M.D.: Private psychiatrist.
- Ron Meister, Ph.D.: A clinical and forensic psychologist.
- Rev. Hal Milton, M.S.: a Unity Minister who serves the Association of Unity Churches and other ministries as a Process Facilitator in conflict resolution. He has been trained extensively in body therapies, and movement education. He is married to the Reverend Sonya Milton, the spiritual leader of Unity in the Napa Valley.
- Claudio Naranjo, M.D.: A leading international authority on the enneagram and has authored numerous important books on consciousness.
- Sandra Parker, M.S.W. A therapist in private practice, Sandra is Co-Founder of the Center for Personal Growth, which is dedicated to alternative styles of healing (mind, body, emotions and spirit) and deep-process work for groups and individuals in a therapeutic setting.
- Norman Paul, M.D.: Associate Clinical Professor in Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine and Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Dr. Paul was one of the innovators of a family systems perspective in psychiatry. Michael Ray, Ph.D.: Professor of Creativity and Innovation at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Widely known for his research on creativity.
- Kathi Rose-Noble, L.C.S.W.: a licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice specializing in addictions/codependency, communication and relationship issues.
- Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi: a national leader in the Jewish Renewal Movement.
- Tony Schwartz: President, LGE Performance Systems, which helps corporate executives build capacity physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
- Anne Simon-Wolf, M.S.S.W.: Dean of Faculty of the Hoffman Institute, has been a psychotherapist in private practice since 1980, specializing in early childhood trauma using a family systems model. Anne has a strong interest in theater as a healing art form and often coaches actors, directors, and writers.
- Eileen Sullivan-Leggett, Ph.D.: A psychotherapist in private practice, Eileen specializes in treatment of adults suffering from early childhood abuse and trauma.
- Siavash Tabrizy, M.F.T., Ph.D.: Psychologist.
- Barry Taylor, N.D: A Naturopathic physician (nutrition and psycho/spiritual healing).
- Eric Utne: Founder and former publisher of the Utne Reader.
- Sirah Vettese, Ph.D.: a skilled counselor, seminar leader and teacher of spirituality and has co-produced a number of best-selling audio programs including Deep Relaxation, Stop Smoking, Lose Weight and Healing Anxiety with Herbs.
- Dr. Brenda Wade: Essence columnist, clinical psychologist and published author.
- Joseph Wu, M.D.: Professor of Psychiatry at University of the California at Irvine.
You can see why I was shaken. This is outright paganism.
This year’s Willow Creek Leadership Conference features Jim Collins, author and researcher. Supporter and practioner of Eastern Religion.
In his book, "The Highest Goal" (pub. 2004), Michael Ray, a former teacher of Jim Collins, reveals the secrets of creativity, meaningful goals, power sources and guidance. He defines “the Highest Goal” as a revolutionary experience of potential and energy that reveals the universe. Talk to my Pagan and Wiccan friends about this—they know exactly what this is all about. Anyway, Ray basically says that if you are living your life for the highest goal, you will have accessed this great power and will utilize it to:
- Go beyond passion and success;
- Travel your own path;
- Live with the highest goal;
- Find true prosperity;
- Turn fears into breakthroughs;
- Relate from your heart (seeing self first, then others);
- Experience synergy in every moment;
- Be a generative leader.
Hogwash. The Bible teaches:
- Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness;
- Take up the cross and follow Jesus;
- Love the Lord your God with heart, mind and strength;
- Gain the world and lose your soul;
- Fear God;
- The heart is deceitful and put others before yourself;
- Do not lean on your own understanding, but acknowledge God for the straight path;
- Meditate on His Word and be firmly planted, giving fruit in season.
Why do I bring Ray into this? Because Collins wrote the Forward to Ray’s book! Here is a portion of what Collins wrote:
“What I most value about this book is its personal orientation. . . . It is a deeply subversive work; if you follow it’s teachings to their logical conclusion, you will almost certainly [?] make significant changes in how you orient your life. Michael and Rochelle challenged me in my mid-twenties to forgo the structures of a traditional path, and to carve my own unique path in life. Their prodding set me on a path to find a happy, productive intersection between passion (what I love to do), genetic encoding (what I was put here on this earth to do) and economics (what I can make a living at). I discovered, in other words, the path to my highest goal.”
When I read Collin’s book “Good to Great”, which concluded with a model based on the Yin-Yang symbol, I questioned the motive of the author and re-thought the direction of the book. I was instructed that this was “only a model.” Now I am convinced his intentions were more than that after reading comments like the above-mentioned.
This is why I do not attend or support Willow Creek or Willow Creek Conferences. I do not want to be taught by pagans. The unbelieving world has nothing to teach me about leadership, especially when it looks like this.
I get stirred to EVANGELISM and the things that are pleasing to God.
