greg and corinne's blog
Willow
Greg was 28 and Corinne 25. We were four years into our marriage in 1984 when we checked out Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago. The service was unlike any we'd ever experienced. Greg's high school buddy Mark had been trying for the longest time to talk us into visiting Willow.
We kept coming back. We were drawn to the energy and straight talk. The messages were penetrating and healing for our parched souls. God was gently bringing us back to Himself. It felt like we had come home.
But it was never on our radar that He would completely change the trajectory of our lives, leading us to devote the next 30 years to what became a global ministry at both Willow Creek Community Church and Willow Creek Association (now Global Leadership Network) (Greg also continued working as a Chicago recording studio session singer.)
God, the church, and the ministries He called us to captured our hearts and imaginations.
There was an extraordinary group of gifted and dedicated writers, actors, musicians, vocalists, technical artists, directors and producers that we loved working with—using a wide variety of media and art forms to help people experience moments with God and come to love and follow Him as we had.
Our creative teams designed weekend services, Easter, Christmas, special events, domestic and international church leadership conferences, and the Global Leadership Summit. We traveled to countries around the world with our team advancing the cause of outreaching churches and leadership.
Corinne was Executive Producer and was leading creative teams, the vocal ministry and developing artists and leaders—nurturing their souls. Listening. Providing a safe place to deepen their gifts and their life with Jesus.
Corinne B Karpiak Ferguson with Sharon Irving Cochran
Greg Ferguson
Greg was writing and singing scores of original songs, writing spoken word scripts, videos and worship experiences.
Many of the songs Greg wrote were for dramatic scenes, expressing the emotions of a character right at his or her point of crisis. The room would get very quiet and still. I could see people in the congregation tearing up. You could hear that nervous cough, heads bowed, as truth hit home, and people saw themselves—saw their own pain in the character's face and heard the inside dialog of their souls. When hearts were wide open, God would begin His quiet loving work of rescue.
When you have the extraordinary opportunity to work in partnership with the Spirit of God—even for a moment—introducing a searching soul to the love that God has for them, inviting them to know Him and follow Him, and then helping them grow closer to Jesus—what a sacred trust that is.
What God invited us to be a part of was way beyond what we could have imagined back in 1984 when we first set foot in Willow. It was exhilarating to watch Jesus move close to, rescue, and restore so many people's lives around the globe. And we couldn't have conceived the camaraderie-- the wonderful mutual synch-up--built on a common Cause--that stirred our souls and fired our imaginations--the spiritual bond that would develop between us as we reached out into our community, our nation, and the world.