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Saddleback Church

Coordinates: 33°39′48″N 117°38′51″W / 33.663291°N 117.6473844°W / 33.663291; -117.6473844
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Saddleback Church
File:Saddlebackchurchlogo.gif
Map
Address1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, CA 92630
CountryUnited States
DenominationSouthern Baptist Convention
Websitesaddleback.com
History
Founder(s)Rick Warren
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)Rick Warren

Saddleback Church is an evangelical Christian megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, situated in southern Orange County, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The church was founded in 1980 by pastor Rick Warren. Weekly church attendance averages nearly 20,000, currently making it the eighth-largest church in the United States (this ranking includes multi-site churches).[1]

History

Saddleback's first public service was held on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1980, with two hundred people in attendance at the Laguna Hills High School Theater. Warren's innovative church growth methods led to rapid growth and the church has used nearly eighty different facilities in its 30-year history.

Saddleback did not build its first permanent building until it had 10,000 weekly attenders. When the current Lake Forest campus was purchased in the early 1990s, a 2,300 seat plastic tent was used for worship services for several years, with four services each weekend. In 1995, the current Worship Center was completed with a seating capacity of 3,500. The Children's Ministry Center (housing the All Stars children's ministry) and staff office building were completed over the next few years. In 2008, former Pastor of Life Development, Doug Fields, saw his dream of over 15 years come to fruition with the completion of the Refinery, Saddleback's first permanent student ministry facility. Costing $20 million, the state-of-the-art facility is considered the premier student ministry facility in the world. The Refinery houses Saddleback's middle school ministry (Wildside), high school ministry (HSM), college ministry (Crave), and young adults ministry, (Fuel). Since moving into the Refinery, all the student ministries have seen tremendous growth, with more than 2,500 young people attending services in the facility each week. The Refinery was built using the resources and voluntary giving raised through the "Extending the Vision" campaign.[2][3]

The Purpose Driven Church (PDC) curriculum[4] and Celebrate Recovery program[5] were founded at Saddleback Church. Saddleback currently has 4 regional campuses (not including the Lake Forest campus): San Clemente, Irvine, Corona, and Laguna Woods. Several more campuses are planned in the next few years. In addition, Saddleback is "virtually" attended by those around the country who listen to services on the live webcast.[6]

Campus

Global Summit on AIDS and the Church

In November and December 2006, Saddleback Church played host to the second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. The summit featured 60 speakers, including Senators Barack Obama and Sam Brownback. The appearance of Obama at the church was controversial because of his pro-choice stance, while Rick Warren and most evangelicals are pro-life. The controversy was reignited when Hillary Clinton spoke at the 2007 summit.[7]

Civil Forum on the Presidency

On August 16, 2008, Rick Warren arranged a meeting between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback called the Civil Forum on The Presidency. The format of the forum was structured such that Warren first asked Sen. Obama a series of questions; he then asked Sen. McCain very similar ones subsequently. Held inside Saddleback's Worship Center, the event is notable as the first time the two Presidential candidates met during the campaign.[citation needed] It was broadcast live on national news networks and streamed online. Tickets were distributed to church members through a raffle with seats listing as high as $1,000 and the event was sold out.[8][9]

Fox News Specials

Fox News Channel has aired Saddleback's Christmas and Easter services nationally on its network.[10]

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ http://www.sermoncentral.com/articleb.asp?article=Top-100-Largest-Churches
  2. ^ http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/refinery/index.html
  3. ^ http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/etv/images/etvnewsletter01.pdf
  4. ^ US/International/South+Asia/AboutUs/WhatIsPD/PD_Process.htm "What is PurposeDriven?". Purpose Driven. Retrieved 2007-09-01. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ "Message By Pastor Rick". Celebrate Recovery Website. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
  6. ^ http://saddleback.com/internetcampus/live/index.html
  7. ^ Ross, Larry. "Press Release: Statement by Saddleback Valley Community Church Regarding Senator Barack Obama as One of Nearly 60 Featured Speakers at the Second Annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church". ChristianNewsWire. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  8. ^ Barboza, Tony (July 21, 2008). "John McCain, Barack Obama will appear together at Orange County church". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  9. ^ http://saddlebackcivilforum.com/index.html
  10. ^ http://www.saddleback.com/foxnews/index.html

33°39′48″N 117°38′51″W / 33.663291°N 117.6473844°W / 33.663291; -117.6473844

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