Russ Robinson

Russ Robinson has held a variety of ministry roles in the past several years. Russ served on the Willow Creek Community Church staff beginning in 1995, first as Director of Small Groups, and then as Executive Director of Ministries and Small Groups. Prior to his staff role, he also served as an Elder for four years.  From 2002-2004 he was also Sr. Pastor at Meadowbrook Church in North Haledon, New Jersey.

As Director of Ministries and Small Groups for Willow Creek in Chicago, he championed much of the transition to Willow becoming a “church of small groups.”  That meant connecting over 18,000 people into 2,700 small groups, where he led over 200 staff and 4,000 volunteer leaders.

Russ’s formal training is as an attorney, and in 2006 he founded a new firm, Robinson Payne LLC, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.  His legal and business backgrounds have given him experience in business and corporate matters, estate and financial planning, litigation, conflict resolution, strategic planning, mediation and risk management. He was instrumental in Willow Creek Association’s development, and served its board as legal counsel.

Russ holds a B.A. in History from Crown College in Minnesota and a J.D. from the University of North Dakota Law School.  He has great passion for the church, small groups and ministries, and is nationally known as a consultant, speaker and writer, having written Building a Church of Small Groups, The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, and Walking the Small Group Tightrope with Bill Donahue, and Walking the Parenting Tightrope in 2005.  His next book, The Open Door: A Call to Small Group Leaders and the Churches They Serve, is in progress.

Russ resides in Palatine, Illinois with his wife, Lynn, and sons Phil, Mark, and Tim.