CCC goes head to head with Willow Creek

My home church finally lands a new younger Senior Pastor from the biggest mega-giga church in the nation. It is about time, and way way too long over due. Congrats Our Lady of 680!!!! Published ThursdayDecember 22, 2005 Omaha megachurch gets new pastor BY ANGIE BRUNKOW WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER A pastor from one of the most prominent megachurches in the country has accepted an invitation to serve as senior pastor at Omaha's Christ Community Church. Mark Ashton, who has served at Chicago's Willow Creek Community Church for the past six years, will take the helm at Christ Community once he wraps up his commitments in Chicago. Christ Community leaders expect he will be in Omaha by this spring, possibly earlier. The hiring brings an end to a round of major leadership changes at Omaha's megachurches. Westside Church, at 156th and West Dodge Road, picked a new senior pastor two years ago. Salem Baptist, near 31st and Lake Streets, picked one this past summer. Christ Community has been without a senior pastor for more than a year. The Rev. Bob Thune, who had been senior pastor for 22 years, announced in July 2004 that he was leaving Christ Community to become senior pastor at Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, Calif. Ashton, 38, may be a bit of an unusual pick to replace the senior pastor at a church this size because he doesn't have a formal seminary background. The Chicago native graduated from the University of Illinois with bachelor's degrees in economics and marketing and has done some graduate study in apologetics. But his on-the-job experience impressed leaders at Christ Community, a church that draws roughly 3,000 to its weekend worship services and is located along Interstate 680 south of West Dodge Road. "He's a next-generation leader," said Roger Atwood, one of the church elders. "We recognize his commitment to present the church in relevant, helpful ways, which is what Christ Community has been about throughout our history." At Willow Creek, Ashton worked as pastor of spiritual discovery and as the associate evangelism director. As part of the job, he developed and taught "The Biggies" series, a forum that invites nonbelievers and believers alike to ask the big questions. Before that, he served a number of years as a staff member of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, working with student groups at the University of Illinois and speaking at many Midwest colleges. Ashton, who is married and has four children, has published a number of Bible studies and booklets about Jesus and the evidence for Christianity, including one called "Absolute Truth?" He has earned credentials to serve as a minister in the Christian & Missionary Alliance, the denomination that Christ Community belongs to. Ashton emerged as a strong candidate during the past six weeks. He and his wife, Kelle, visited Omaha last weekend, and Ashton preached at four services before heading back to Chicago. In its search, the church developed a profile for senior pastor. They wanted someone who placed a high value on people and relationships and who would lead the church in interacting with the community and continuing existing partnerships, such as the church effort to support Omaha's public school teachers. The search committee shared the profile with Ashton. "Right away he looked down through it and he said, 'That's me; that's my life,'" said Randy Hager, Christ Community's spokesman. "There wasn't anything that didn't match." Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom