Rick Warren

File:Rickwarren.jpg

Photo by Blake Little [1]

Rick Warren (born January 28, 1954 in San Jose, California, is an American Evangelical Christian pastor, global strategist, theologian, philanthropist, and author. The media has often named him "America's most influential spiritual leader." and America’s Pastor.^[2] U.S. News and World Report named Warren one of America's Top 25 Leaders in the October 31, 2005 issue of the magazine.^[3]

As a pastor, he founded Saddleback Church ^[4] in Lake Forest, CA, in 1980 with one family. Today It is an evangelical congregation of 22,000 weekly attenders (2005), a 120 acre campus, and over 200 ministries to the community to groups such as prisoners, CEOs, addicts, single parents, and those with HIV/AIDS. Recently the church fed 42,000 homeless people, 3 meals a day, for 40 days.

He also leads the Purpose Driven Network, a global movement of churches in 162 countries. Over 400,000 ministers and priests have been trained worldwide, and 189,000 church leaders subscribe to Ministry Toolbox, his weekly newsletter. His previous book, The Purpose Driven Church is listed in “100 Christian Books That Changed the 20th Century.” Forbes magazine called it “The best book on entrepreneurship, management, and leadership in print.” ^[5]

As a global stratgist, Dr. Warren advises leaders in the public, private, and faith sectors on leadership development, poverty, health, education, and faith in culture. He has been invited to speak at the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, TIME’s Global Health Summit, and numerous congresses around the world. TIME magazine named him one of “15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004” and in 2005 one of TIME'S 100 Most Influential People in the World. ^[6]

As a theologian, Dr. Warren has lectured at Oxford, Cambridge, the University of Judaism, the Evangelical Theological Society, and numerous seminaries and universities. His six books are known for explaining theology in understandable ways, and have been translated into over 50 languages, Dr. Warren says he teaches theology without using theological terms and telling people it is theology. His latest book, The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold 25 million copies, is the bestselling hardback in American history, according to Publisher’s Weekly

As a philanthropist, Rick and Kay Warren give away 90% of their income through three foundations: Acts of Mercy, which serves those infected and affected by AIDS, Equipping the Church, which trains church leaders in developing countries, and The Global PEACE Fund, which fights poverty, disease, and illiteracy.

Warren is best known as the author of The Purpose Driven Life, which has topped the New York Times Bestseller list for nonfiction for over 150 weeks, and was named by Publisher's Weekly as "the bestselling hardback in American history." The book also played a role in a Georgia hostage crisis in March 2005, when Ashley Smith read to captor Brian Nichols passages from The Purpose Driven Life and convinced Brian Nichols that God had a purpose for his life so he released her and turned himself in.

Born in San Jose, California, Warren holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, California, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He also holds several honorary doctorates.^[7]

Warren and his wife Kay began Saddleback Church in 1980 with one family in his apartment.^[8] His goal was to build a model of a healthy church, and then afterwards share what he learned with other church leaders around the world.

Warren is inclusive beyond his Baptist roots Southern Baptist Convention much like his mentor, evangelist Billy Graham . He welcomes pastors and leaders from all denominations to his training programs. Warren claims to sticks to the "essentials" of the faith and focuses on "loving people into the Kingdom" of God in an attractive way without compromising his faith's essential tenets.^[9]

Unlike most well-known Christian pastors, Warren does not have his own television or radio program because he believes it competes with other local churches instead of helping them. He avoids both denominational and governmental politics, and lives in a simple lifestyle. giving away 90% of his income (which comes from book royalties)and living on 10% In 2003, he repaid the 23 years of his salary back to Saddleback Church, and he no longer takes a salary or accepts speaking honoraria. Warren and his wife Kay live in the Trabuco Canyon area of southern Orange County, California. They have three children and a dog.

The P.E.A.C.E. Plan

Rick Warren is passionate about finding solutions to the world's biggest problems. In traveling Warren noticed that around the globe, five giant problems plague our planet. These “Global Goliath”, as Warren calls them, affect billions, not just millions, of people.

GLOBAL GIANT #1 - SPIRITUAL EMPTINESS: Billions of people live without hope and purpose. They have little to live on, and even less to live for. Their lives lack meaning. They don’t know that they were made by God and for God, that he loves them, that their lives are not an accident, and that they were made to last forever. They don’t know that God wants them to know him and his purposes for their lives.

GLOBAL GIANT #2 -EGOCENTRIC LEADERSHIP: Most of the problems in our world could have been solved years ago if we had more unselfish leaders. There is a severe shortage of servant leadership on our planet. Instead, in much of the world, self-centered, and even corrupt leaders in both public and private sectors abuse their power to serve themselves instead of using their power and influence for the good of those who need help the most.

GIANT #3 - EXTREME POVERTY: Half of our world -- three billion people -- live on less than two dollars a day. About one and a half billion live on less that one dollar a day. One-sixth of the world’s population lives in slums, in grinding, dehumanizing poverty.

GIANT #4 -PANDEMIC DISEASES: While a cure is yet to be found for the 40 million people infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide, billions of others suffer from curable and/or preventable diseases such as malaria (300 million) parasites, typhus, yellow fever, polio, measles, mumps, leprosy, diarrhea and water-born eye diseases. What is unconscionable is that most of these diseases we learned how to cure or prevent in the 19th and 20th century, yet billions still suffer needlessly in the 21st century because we’ve lacked the leaders who will say “Enough is enough! We are going to eradicate this!”

GIANT #5 -ILLITERACY AND EDUCATION: Half of our world is functionally illiterate. 70% of the world is still an oral culture. What hope is there for these people in the global economy if they cannot read and write?

These problems are so huge that every attempt by the public and private sector has failed. Warren believes the only organization big enough to take on these problems is the network of Christian churches around the world. With 2.1 billion members, and universal distribution in practically every village, it is a sleeping giant awaiting to be mobilized. The church was global long before anyone else even thought of the idea.

The P.E.A.C.E. plan is a church-to-church plan, using small groups, to Plant churches, Equip servant leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick, and Educate the next generation. For the past 2 years,4,500 Saddleback members have been quietly testing the prototype in 63 countries. The plan will be released to other churches for use in2006

Warren ways "A stool needs 3 legs to stand, and it will take all three sectors working together- public (governments), private (businesses), and faith (churches)."

Work in Rwanda

Time magazine dated August 22, 2005, has run an article about Rick Warren's efforts in genocide tormented Rwanda. Warren has been asked by President Paul Kagame to help his country become a "Purpose-Driven nation." Over 2,000 Saddleback church members have agreed to go to Rwanda in small groups to initiate a national strategy for Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan to (P)lant congregations, (E) Equip servant leaders (A)Assist the poor (C) Care for the sick, and (E)Educate the next generation. Warren has already enlisted the cooperation of 600 Rwandan churches, key business leaders, and leaders of parliament in Rwanda

Media Quotes

The Weekly Standard - “…clearly among the two or three most influential Americans working from the West coast.”

The Economist-“Rick Warren is arguably the most influential pastor in America.”

The Times (London)-“Business and political leaders across America are turning to Rick Warren for guidance.”

Forbes - “Were it a business, Saddleback church would be compared with Dell, Google or Starbucks.”

ABC News- “The Purpose-Driven Life is the epicenter of a spiritual shockwave taking root across America in unlikely places like offices and university campuses. It has become a movement.”

TIME -“Movie stars and political leaders aren't the only ones turning to Rick Warren for spiritual guidance. Millions of people — from NFL and LPGA players to corporate executives to high school students to prison inmates — meet regularly to discuss The Purpose Driven Life.”

The Purpose Driven Network

Over 400,000 pastors, representing hundreds of denominations and 162 countries, have been trained in the Purpose Driven paradigm of church health, which is built on two statements of Jesus Christ: The Great Commandment and The Great Commission. From these two statements are drawn five purposes of the church: to know and love God (worship), to love and serve others (ministry), to share the Good News (evangelism),to baptize others in God's family (fellowship), and to teach them how to live God's way (discipleship). The Purpose Driven Church, first published in 1995, is the bestselling book on the Church, and is used as a text in hundreds of seminaries and Bible colleges.

Notes

• ^ USA Today, Wall Street Journal, TIME, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Washington Post, New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, The Nation
• ^ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31warren.htm U.S. News and World Report "America's Best Leaders"]
• ^ [10]
• ^ [11] Forbes, Feb. 16, 2004
• ^ [12]
• ^ 40 Days of Purpose/Rick Warren Biography
• ^ Ibid.

Bibliography

• The Purpose Driven Church (ISBN 0310201063)
• The Purpose Driven Life (ISBN 0310205719)
• Answers To Life's Difficult Questions (ISBN 0966089529)
• The Power To Change Your Life(ISBN 0966089510)
• What on Earth Am I Here For? Booklet (ISBN: 0310264839)
• Personal Bible Study Methods (ISBN 0966089502)

External links

• Saddleback Church
• Purpose Driven Church
• Purpose Driven Life Free daily devotional
• The P.E.A.C.E. Plan
• Rick Warren

External Links to critiques of Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven® movement

Articles, essays and audios dealing with concerns raised regarding Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven® movement, his teachings and associations.

• Seeker Sensitive, Purpose Driven Churches - According to the recent Business Week set of essays explaining the business models of the mega-churches in the seeker/church growth movement, the church in America is not growing overall. In fact the overall growth of evangelicalism in the US is flat. So what is all the talk about God doing a magnificent work or revival in America, especially as boasted by many of the Rick Warren clones? The reason is similar to when a Home Depot or Wal-Mart moves into a small town. All your needs can be met in one place so the mom and pop shops close up. The same kind of market driven philosophy is taking place in the church.
• The Purpose Driven Church and Life - Review of The Purpose Driven® Life referencing the NewsNight with Aaron Brown discussion of Rick Warren and Purpose Driven® related controversy. Site includes a book review, reader comments and links to other websites.
• The Person of Christ Driven Life: A Purpose for a Person
• Biblically Speaking Essays on the Church Growth Movement - Further essays that critique the teachings of the Purpose Driven/Seeker Sensitive movements
• Spirit-Led or Purpose-Driven?
• Earthly Empires - How evangelical churches are borrowing from the business playbook
• 'Purpose Driven® Madness
• Rick Warren: Three Primary Concerns
• Saddleback Attempts a Balancing Act Between Predestination and Free Will, and ends up embracing "Evangelical Deism" and the Ancient Heresy of "Dualism."
• Book PREview - Redefining Christianity Redefining Christianity is a book that has much to say on the topics of Rick Warren, the Purpose Driven® Life and other aspects of the Purpose Driven paradigm.
• The Gospel: A Method or a Message? How the Purpose Driven Life Obscures the Gospel by Bob DeWaay - "Warren’s man-centered theology comes with more evangelical ideas than does Schuller’s. Warren includes many more Biblical truths than Schuller ever did. In my opinion this makes Warren more deceptive than Schuller. Schuller ignored the Bible and depended on psychological concepts. Warren uses perverted Bible translations that change God-centered passages to man-centered passages. By carefully selecting the right mistranslation for each of his teaching points he has made the man-centered theology touted by Schuller seem Biblical."
• The Gospel According to Warren July 2005 - Volume 11, Issue 7
• The Adulation of Man in the The Purpose Driven Life Part 1 By Richard Bennett
• The Purpose Driven Life: Demeaning the Very Nature of God Part 2 By Richard Bennett
• Faulty Premises of the Church Growth Movement Issue 89 - July/August 2005 by Bob DeWaay
• The Purpose Driven Life – Guidance or Misguided? Reasons Not to Join the 'Purpose Driven' Life' Movement by Marshall C. St. John
• The Purpose Driven Life: An Assessment
• An Examination of Rick Warren’s Teaching on “Exponential Growth” by Brian Jonson "The video on exponential growth, presented by Warren, is one of the most shocking teachings I have ever seen emerge from a Southern Baptist. Our denomination is considered conservative and thoroughly Bible-based. When a minister in the SBC presents philosophies or doctrines that are contrary to scripture, he must be rebuked. This is true of the pastor of the smallest congregation as well as the largest. The fact that Saddleback Church is the largest in our movement makes this action so much more urgent."
• The Purpose-Driven Life: An Evaluation Part I & Part II by Southern View Chapel "Once we believe we have the right to change the meaning of God's Word to suit our agenda, there is no limit as to how far the misrepresentation of God's truth can go. This is exactly how virtually every cult and heresy is started."
• Rick Warren: the quintessential evangelical...
• Dealing with Resisters

A Critique of Rick Warren's P.E.A.C.E. Plan & UN Goals

• The Emerging Global 'Church'
• Equipping Leaders to 'Lead like Jesus'?
• Whom do we serve?

Pyromarketing

Rick Warren's use of Pyromarketing to sell his Purpose Driven® products.

In 2005, Zondervan senior marketing editor Greg Stielstra published Pyromarketing, which in part described how The Purpose Driven Life was marketed. This led to a dispute with Rick Warren, who felt that it was inappropriate to associate the success of his book with marketing, rather than with spiritual explanations.

• Pyromarketing and The Purpose Driven Life by Tim Challies
• Purposeful Interference July 25, 2005
• Purposeful Interference - An Update September 15, 2005
• Pyromarketing God of Small Things