Gilbert Bilezikian

Gilbert Bilezikian (born Paris, June 26, 1927) is a French-born American Christian writer, professor, lecturer. He is cofounder, together with Bill Hybels, of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., "one of America's most important churches."Christianity Today has called him "the man behind the megachurch". The publication further states that without Gilbert Bilezikian, "There would be no Willow Creek—no small groups, no women in leadership, no passion for service".

He was reared in Paris, France by parents who were Armenian refugees. Bilezikian was drafted in the French army where he served as a medic in North Africa during the Algerian liberation conflict. He first came to the United States in 1947, and then again in 1961 to serve for five years as pastor of the Loudonville Community Church in Albany, N.Y. Returning to Paris for seven years, he taught at the European Bible Institute while serving, for part of that time, as Minister of Christian Education at the American Church in Paris.

Bilezikian earned his B.A. from the University of Paris, his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Th.D. from Boston University. He also pursued a seven-year post-doctoral program at the Sorbonne in Paris under Professor Oscar Cullmann.

For 20 years he was a professor at Wheaton College. Bilezikian interrupted his tenure at Wheaton to assume for three years the presidency of Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon, and to teach two years at Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois. In 1992 he became Professor of Biblical Studies Emeritus at Wheaton College, having been designated Senior Teacher of the Year in 1981 and again in 1992. He is the only faculty member in the history of Wheaton College to have received this distinction twice within the span of a decade.

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