Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994                   TAG: 9412140035
SECTION: RELIGION                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PATRICK KAMPERT CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JOURNALIST TURNED ASSISTANT PASTOR GIVES THE GOSPEL A '90S SPIN

He's an ex-journalist who once turned his back on the Chicago Tribune's fast track to run a small-town newspaper. A former atheist who became an assistant pastor at Willow Creek Community Chruch, a non-denominational church in South Barrington, Ill., that's one of the largest in the country. A pastor who shuns the "reverend" tag - "just Lee," he says - at a church that tells visitors (many of whom aren't Christians) to ignore the collection plate - this rock-inflected, humor-infected service is on the house. And he's also an author whose book about Jesus is attracting attention far afield from the stained-glass crowd.

Keywords:
BART SIMPSON

Memo: NOTE: PLease see microfilm for text.