Pastors may have more in common with the slim-hipped gunslinger of the Old West than the well-groomed corporate CEO of today. In ministry, OK-Corral shootouts at high noon are more frequent than carefully planned red-tie power lunches.

Bill Hybels knows conflict. While leading the innovative Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, he's faced sunset showdowns and ambushes not only from cynical media types and governmental regulatory agencies, but also from critics within the Christian world and even people within his own church. Contrary to megachurch-pastor stereotypes, when Bill Hybels speaks, even at Willow Creek, not everyone listens.

LEADERSHIP editors David Goetz and Marshall Shelley sat across the table from Bill and asked him about his survival tactics-physical and spiritual-when the lead starts flying. Bill leaned back in his desk chair, kept his back to the wall, and talked straight with us about standing in the crossfire.